Wisdom from Sri Sri

Bangalore ashram, Nov. 17, 2009:

Everyday you should meditate. You brush your teeth, you have a bath to keep your body clean. Similarly, you should listen to a little bit of knowledge and meditate. Cleansing of the intellect happens through knowledge - that knowledge which tells you that everything is impermanent. Music and harmony cleanses the emotions and enriches the heart. By giving, the heart becomes pure. With knowledge and meditation, everything becomes pure.

Q. Guruji, when someone dies why do we say Ram naam satya hai {Ram (the divinity within) is the truth}?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When someone dies you realize that this is the truth. One day everyone is going to die. When you are alive you don’t realize the truth. You are caught up in unwanted things.

Truth is something which you cannot avoid.
Beauty is something which cannot be renounced.
Love is something which cannot be expressed.

These three things are more than enough to remember. It enough to digest.

Q. What does a yagya consist of?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In any yagya, there is dhyan (meditation), daan (giving), gyan (knowledge) and gaan(music)
Gaan nourishes the right brain. Gyan nourishes the left brain and dhyan nourishes both.
One grows due to yagya.

Q. Guruji what qualities should we look for when we choose our life partner?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, (smiling) I don’t have the experience! Ask those who have the experience. And you can take more help from the matrimony department!
You know why they say that marriages are made in heaven? It is because the choice is already made for you. You just have to take it and move on. You are free from choices. Move on with what you have on your plate.

You know the best thing is that you don’t focus on the drawbacks. Focus on the positive. In a relationship if both the people have their focus on spirituality then they will move ahead together like parallel lines move, without clashing, to infinity. The moment they will shift their focus and focus on each other, there will be clashes. So it is very important that both are on the spiritual path.

Q. Guruji, how was the Vishalakshi Mantap (the five-tiered, lotus-shaped meditation hall in the Bangalore ashram) made?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Manuji (a devotee) said, "Guruji, we must have a hall where people can meditate. So I made a drawing and it was made. Earlier, there was no hall. The Ashtavakra talk (Sri Sri’s commentary on the Ashtavakra Geeta) happened under a thatched roof, where rain water would be leaking.
Yet when we inaugurated the Vishalakshi Mantap, the hall was already too small! So many people had come. You know when people meditate together then the energy radiates in the world.

Q. Guruji, what is the secret of this place?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar(smiling): The secret is here (pointing to his heart).


“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”
~ H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar



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