Wisdom from Sri Sri

Bangalore ashram, Feb. 5:

Q: Guru, I often see people bow down to you. Is doing all that necessary?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, no, not at all. These things are really insignificant. You know, these outer gestures are insignificant. Don’t give too much importance to them. All these gestures don’t matter. We all are connected from a deeper level, the level of the heart. That’s how we have met and we are all here.

Q: Yesterday you talked about leela (game). One can comprehend it intellectually but how to make it an inner experience?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t have to make it an experience. You simply have to wake up and see that life is a game. Wake up this moment as I am speaking. Whatever happened till now, is it not like a dream? You had dinner this evening, meditated in the morning, did yoga in morning and went to bed last night, and if you go over your own memory there were good / bad events, you had profit, you had loss but right this moment it’s all gone. Wake up this moment and you will see that tomorrow, the next 10 years is also like a dream! When you realize this whole phenomenon, that has happened in the past and future, it's all like a play, a game. You don’t have to think this is a concept and I have to experience it. My dear, memory is memory. Your thinking that you have to experience memory is a concept and your thinking that you don’t have it is again a concept. You simply have to realize right away that it is all a dream. This could be a dream. That very moment you feel a sense of relief. A soothing wave overtakes you. Don’t wait till someday you will experience - it’s all a game.May be after you leave the body you will experience one day. Then also you will realize I could have done that much before.

Q: What is the difference between dispassion and indifference?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, in indifference there is a sense of apathy, rejection and disappointment while in dispassion there is joy and enthusiasm.

Q: Do we all have a purpose in life or we all come and go whenever? If there is one purpose, what is it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, it’s best to take out a paper and pen, and list out what is not the purpose of your life. By negating it will be easier for you.

Q: Is Art of Living the best spiritual path? People say it is the best. Isn’t it a seed of war, calling my belief to be the best? The symbols of other religions in Vishalakshi Mantap tell us that all other religions are also good.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I leave it up to you. You discuss and decide. Go through all the confusion and come to your own conclusion. I never say it is the best and I also don’t say it is not the best. It is up to you. It will not be the truth to say it is not the best. And it sounds very funny for whenever someone says ‘it is the best’, you have a sort of resistance for that.

So sometimes some of these questions are best not answered. I am not here to clarify your doubts. I am here to create more doubts. Doubt is always about something, which is positive. When somebody tells you ‘I love you’ and you say ‘really’? But do you ask ‘really’ when somebody says ‘I hate you’? You doubt your capabilities but you never doubt your weaknesses. You are so sure of your weaknesses! You doubt in the honesty of people and never in their dishonesty. The nature of doubt is such that it always clings to something, which is positive. So if you have a doubt, I will encourage you that this is very positive.

Q: Guru, you said being a perfectionist is a cause of stress. Yet everything about you is so perfect. You are perfect, your actions are perfect, your words are perfect, your understanding of God is so perfect, this Ashram is perfect and so many other things. What is the difference between your perfect thinking or, mine or ours?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just that you have to look at yourself in the mirror. That’s it. You move from perfection to perfection. You move from one perfection to another higher perfection. That’s how you have to look at life. Otherwise you see this is not perfect, everything is imperfect, everything is hopeless. And we tend to get into negative framework. Isn’t it?

Q: What is Upanishad?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Sitting close and listening is Upanishad. Upanishad is a collection of discourses of high knowledge, and the manner it was transmitted from a Master to students is very interesting.

One of the Upanishads beautifully brings this out well. Once a boy went to his father who was also his Guru and asked, 'What is God?' To which the father replied, ‘Food is God’, for everything grows from food, everything is sustained by food and when there is a lack of it, everything dissolves and everything again becomes food.

So the boy went and thought about it for several months, understood all about food and came back to his father, and again asked ‘What is God?’ The father said, ‘Parana is God’. The boy went, thought and understands all about prang, how it is going in and out of body, how many types of prang there are and read all experiments about prang. He again came back to his father and asked, ‘What is God?’ The father looked at the child’s face, so glowing and so vibrant. The father said, 'Ok, the mind is Brahman, mind is God'. The boy went and thought till he found the ultimate bliss.

Notice, that the student didn’t complain to the teacher that he was earlier told ‘Food is God’ but later something else. He simply came and again asked the question. So this is an ancient way of teaching, step by step – food, then prang, then the mind, then the inner spirit, then the universal spirit, Bliss. Bliss is Divinity, the space. You are like the space. Then he said, 'There is no difference between you, me and the infinite self. We all are one. The Self, Guru and the universal energy are not different. All are made up of one substance.'

Today if you talk to scientists who study the string theory, who study quantum physics, they will say the same thing that is said in Upanishads. In the Upanishads, it was said thousands of years ago that 'God is not a person, sitting somewhere up in heaven but God is present everywhere. He is omnipresent and omnipotent, the energy of which you are also made of, everything is made up of.' Don’t confuse God to be a person, somewhere sitting up in heaven. Godliness is your own nature.

God is Vibration. God is Love. God is Truth, Existence. God is Beauty.

People right through history have told this. Lord Krishna told Arjuna, ‘People think I am a human being but I am not. People confuse the Divine to be a human being. But God is the force, He is energy. That is Divine and not a person.’

Q: What is secret of selfless service which is devoid of personal conflict?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just do service. Don’t think too much, whether it is selfless or selfish. Never mind. Don’t analyze too much. Let’s keep it simple. If you enjoy doing service, it’s good. If you don’t enjoy, never mind because someone who is benefitting, is enjoying. It’s better not to analyze too much. Where is the time to think? If there is an intention only, it will make you feel uncomfortable. Just think I am doing it with all my heart because it has to be done. Finished. That’s it. And if you are enjoying then don’t think, “Oh I shouldn’t be enjoying” because whatever you try to push down, fight with, it simply comes up.

In my commentary on the ‘Narad Bhakti sutras’, I have said: ‘Without any conflict, repose in the Self’. Now suppose there is some conflict, then don’t try to get rid of it. Simply embrace it and you will find it disappears.

Q: Guru which is your favorite quote from the Gita?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have so many. There is no point in you picking my favorite quote. You read it and find your own favorite quote and keep reviewing it every few years because it may change. You can’t find a more contradictory scripture than Bhagwat Gita. In every chapter Lord Krishna says something different. It is like climbing one step after another. And all that is said is relevant from a bigger picture. Arjuna also said, ‘Krishna, you say different things at different times. I am so confused. Please tell me one thing that I should do.’ Then  Lord Krishna says intelligent people know there are many facets, many angles, all is spherical whereas dull people think everything is linear.

Q: Guruji, how do I know if I am growing on Spiritual path?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Look, there are no criteria. See from the past if you are more calm, or drop all spiritual practices for a month and see how do you feel, whether it makes a difference, or ask people around you if you are behaving better than before. Now none of these are benchmarks. And after listening to all these opinions, throw them all into the basket. If you learn to relax well, if you are able to see everything as a dream – nature of the universe, you are progressing. There is no other way. You are on a conveyor belt, you can’t be stuck, you have to move, or you will be pushed. When you are on conveyor belt, you will be moving.

Q: Guruji, I have my partner whom I love with all my heart but I still get attracted to other people even if I don’t want to. How can I get rid of it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, the mind always gets attracted to something new but the heart always recognizes something which is old. You always say, ‘It is an old friendship’, Preet purani, ancient love. Whatever you are attracted to, if it becomes a little difficult to get, you develop love for that. If you get it easily, it is finished. When love gets deeper, it becomes devotion. When love matures along with wisdom, it becomes devotion.

Q: Guruji, I get bored nowadays. I am contented in my heart but nothing gives me joy except from your talks. What should I do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: My dear, why do you have so much time sitting and thinking about yourself? If you are happy, go and do seva (service). We have lots of things to do. Care for others, do some service. There is so much to learn. Learn more. Don’t run behind joy. Let joy run behind you. If you follow joy, misery will follow. If you follow wisdom, fun and joy follow. Wherever you go, fun tags behind you.

Q: Guruji, if human being knows that if one is born then he has to die, then why does he worry so much about death?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, there is lack of spiritual education, broader vision and knowledge of who one is. Ok, let me ask you all a question. You know, all those who have grown old don’t feel that they have grown old. How many of you feel this? (Many raised their hands). You are 50, 60 or 70 years old and you feel that everybody else has grown but you haven’t changed. You see your little 1- 2 year-old child has grown to 16 years but you don’t realize that you have also grown equally. You know, many times father and son, mother and daughter have this conflict because neither father nor mother think that they have grown older. It is the same problem with mother – in – law and daughter – in – law in India, perennial household word because you feel that you haven’t changed, you haven’t grown. This is because there is something deep inside you which never dies, which never grows old. Time doesn’t touch that aspect deep within you.

Q: When we do mistakes, people get angry. But even when we rectify the mistake people don’t leave their anguish? What to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Bring them to the course. They are not living in the present. Bring them to the present. They keep on hanging on to the past. You have changed but they forget to change.

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



© The Art of Living Foundation
For Global Spirituality

Bangalore ashram, Jan. 26:

Q: Guruji, during the course I feel very good but once I go out, I feel misery again. What to do to get rid of that? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Imbibe this knowledge. Independence means depending on the inside. Your independence is only when you are dependent on the inside. You are miserable when you want things from others for your comfort. How much can you take? And even if you take everything, it is of what use? This is what I think. I am independent means I am inner dependent. So I want nothing from anybody. Just this aphorism, reminder of this, time and again, will take your mind, which is sticking to the outside, come to its center. You will feel the relief. Misery simply means you are stuck to the outside. Joy means you are in your element which is inside. If you depend on others for your comfort, you lose your joy. First, have this faith that nature will provide whatever I need or I deserve, it will never happen that nature doesn’t provide you with what you need. Secondly, I want nothing from anybody. And third whatever I have, be it be intelligence, great voice, qualifications, skill is only for others and not for me and I serve others as much as I can. Finish! Where is the misery then?

Q: Guruji, you love each one of us so much. I feel my love for you is much less as compared to your love for me. How can I increase my love for you? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No way, you can’t increase your love. It is already there. You simply have to relax and realize it is there. Never question or doubt your love. You think, ‘Oh, others are having tears in their eyes and I am not having any’. Never mind, never look from at things that angle. Every child from the mother’s womb is complete. It is not that the first child is more complete than second and third is further less. Every mother knows that every child is full, complete. Same way your love is total, complete, at its height. Never doubt that and never compare it with others.If you feel your expression of love is less, it is because of your selfishness. All that you can do is be generous, be less selfish and you can’t do it overnight. Day by day, slowly be more generous, be more centered, and be more dispassionate. Then the love which is inside you, will start expressing itself.Even in the expression of love it should not be too much or too less. It should be the middle path. The problem in the world is that in the West, they express love too much. Husband and wife keeps on saying ‘honey’ and then they become diabetic (laughter), can’t touch honey any more. (laughter) It is just the opposite in the East, they never express love at all. Both ways are extreme. There should be a middle path. It’s like you want a seed to sprout, it neither sprouts when buried deep down in the soil nor when it is put on the top. It needs a little bit of soil and put in it and that’s it. Take the best of the orient and the best of the occidental. That is the middle path.  

Q: What is surrender? Does that mean doing nothing and letting nature do whatever it wants to? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This word ‘surrender’ has been used, misused and confused so many times. I think we should use some other word. (laughter) Just relax, be in your element, feel the connection, have a sense of belongingness. In fact, the connection is already there, you simply have to feel it. This is a better word. What is it that you have that you can surrender? Worries, anxiety, tension, and depression! And those, too, you don’t know how to surrender.I want to be done away with this word ‘surrender’. I want none of you to use this word hereafter. It’s like a straw out of which juice has already been taken out, like sugarcane straw that you keep chewing and nothing comes out of it. Some better word is to be used now. Let go, relax, feel the connection and that’s it.  

Q: How to be one pointed on the path? There are so many distractions pulling us back. 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With wisdom, you come back. This very question tells you that that you are coming back, in fact, you have already come back, you are not distracted. Through wisdom or misery, you are brought back to the center. When you go off center, you are beaten, you start crying and then come back to your center. The wise come back to the center through wisdom. The not-so-wise face problems here and there and then come back to the center. This is the law of nature. This is how things are.

Q: In my country, most people are of the opinion that you can’t raise a child without a non - vegetarian diet, as the body will lack amino acids and the brain won’t function properly. What should I do? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Ample research has been done to contradict this theory. Look into that. There are millions of people who are vegetarian in the West and they are very brilliant. In fact, all the genius people in the West, including Einstein were vegetarian. Many of the top scientists have been vegetarian. This theory that the brain doesn’t work needs to be questioned.

Q: While Ayurveda is considered to be an indigenous system of medicine then why did English (allopathic) medicine have permission by a government to take over Ayurvedic medicines? Also English (allopathic) medicine claims to have a faster recovery rate? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, statistics show contrary to this. Even in modern medicine, the probability factor of medicine not affecting is very high. Research says that the placebo effect with modern medicines is nearly 40 percent. 40 percent of the effect from medicines being administered can be brought about using a placebo. Modern medicines are being discovered every day and those which were used 10 – 12 years ago are being discarded. The problem is that these pharmaceutical companies have a lot of western interest. It is the economy which is ruling modern medicine rather than their effectiveness. I feel we should have a combined, holistic approach. Ayurveda has some very good qualities, allopathic medicines also have some very good aspects and also homeopathic. Holistic medicine is the best. It is wrong to completely discard modern medicine and it is equally wrong to discard natural cures, ayurveda. In case of emergency, allopathic does well and ayurveda has a unique way of attending to the root cause of disease. Not only symptoms but also healing without side effects. Today, much research has been done on this and many have experienced this. For instance: The probability of remission of piles by allopathic treatment is very high but in the case of Ayurveda it is less than one percent. These are the things one should adopt about Ayurveda. Ayurveda is, anyways, adopting modern methods of investigation. So, the best is to adopt the holistic approach. Our aim is not to benefit pharmaceutical companies but people.  

Q: What is the spiritual path? How does one know if one is on the spiritual path? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Anything done to uplift your spirit, to make you walk towards the truth, that brings up human values within, that connects you to the innermost and outermost is spiritual. Meditation, pranayama, yoga, service, singing, chanting, creating happiness around you are all part of spirituality.If you create misery, then that is not spirituality. If you can create joy, it is spiritual. But not momentary joy. Such joy, in the long term, creates misery that is not spiritual. Alcohol, drugs can create momentary joy but they are not at all spiritual. That is the spirit.

Q: Krishna is ‘bhavana bhahit’. What does that mean? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You have used some phrase, you tell its meaning.God is hungry for feelings. He doesn’t need your sweets or flowers. So if you sit with feelings, that is enough. See Krishna everywhere. Lord Krishna says in the Gita, “Wherever you see in any form, I am there. I am knowledge in a knowledgeable person, wherever there is knowledge I am there, I am strength in the strong, beauty in the beautiful, all is me”. Read the Gita deeply and best is to meditate. Be a yogi, yogi is the best. 

Q: Why do some people not smile at others but are happy with themselves only? What is good? To maintain happiness with oneself or to be happy with people around also? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: (Jokingly) Ok, somebody didn’t smile at you and was smiling at himself being adjacent to you, is that your problem! (laughter) The world is like that, some people don’t smile at you, you don’t smile at someone. Leave others. Are you smiling? We maintain our smile that is good enough.  

Everybody has one’s own set of problems and if that much compassion has arisen in you then you go and ask, ‘What is your problem? Why are you not smiling? Do you need any help?’ But then see whom are you asking (laughter) and in case you are slapped by someone, then give them your second cheek too. (Huge laughter) If that compassion is there, then ask everyone, ‘Why are you not smiling?’ 

Once in Switzerland, we were waiting for some conveyance and we saw that nobody on the road was smiling. I thought, everything is here and still people are not smiling. I had so many flowers with me and so I asked the devotees who were accompanying me to give flowers to those who were not smiling on the road and ask them to smile. That was such a fantastic program. After that we raised a wave called ‘Spread your smile’ in Netherland, France, Germany, Switzerland where people give flowers and said, ‘ Please smile and make others smile by passing on this flower’. Some people were shocked initially that nobody till that day bothered about their smile and suddenly somebody coming and asking them to smile.  

But if you are in India, take care before giving flower to anybody. (laughter) Be a little cautious before giving a flower here in India. In India, if a girl smiles at a boy it is taken in a different sense. It is not normal, and a boy giving a flower to a girl is not taken as a very nice gesture. (Huge laughter) But in Europe, it is not considered bad. (Somebody from audience asked, ‘Let’s start this in New York also’.) Yes, we are doing there also, something called ‘A Rose of friendship, Pass it on’. 

Q: Guruji, I am from Kerela. I want to ask – what does it mean to do puja (worship)?  

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a saying that talks about puja. Yen ten prakaren,Yatra kutrapi dehina,Santosham janaye pragyaTadaye vishva lochanCreate patience in people. When you bring a wave of happiness, wherever you go, that is puja. Whatever way when you create happiness and patience, that is puja, truly worshiping God. How beautiful it is!

Q: Guruji there are mental hospitals for mentally challenged people, what is the place for people who are in love with the Divine?  

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For them, this whole world is their own. Such madness is welcomed everywhere. Everybody will invite them; everybody will welcome them and would love to talk to them. Because they know, we spread such fragrance.

Q: I feel lustful at times. What to do and how to get rid of that? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When there is no joy in life then lust increases in you because then you get joy in that only. But when you find joy in life otherwise also, then the frequency of such desires starts reducing. When you start finding joy in sadhna (spiritual practices), joy in service, joy in satsang, joy in devotion, joy in surrender - that is the only way to come out of lust. No other way exists. When all are done together slowly, you come out of lust. Otherwise, you will have to wait for age. May be then you will be out of it. You won’t be capable physically to do it but you get rid of it from the mind or not, that is not sure.No guarantee is there. Usually very old people see all obscene stuff and try to get satisfaction from it.  

Q: South Indians are deep into rituals. Are rituals very important to reach the spiritual path or the ultimate goal?  

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Man can’t be without ritual. Let’s be clear about it. Today is the Republic Day of India. What happens today in New Delhi and the capitals of other states is a ritual. There is a particular way you walk, a particular way you hoist flag, a particular way you behave. It is a national ritual. Even in communist Russia in Kremlin, three guards shot three gunshots in the sky everyday and perform a ritual.This is a ritual. Human beings can’t be without rituals. If your ritual is meaningful and environment friendly, then all the more better. A wise ritual is offering flowers, lighting a candle, creating love, planting a tree, distributing sweets, these are rituals with more meaning. And not killing an animal, that is not at all a good ritual. We don’t have any right to transgress other life. Violence or anything that pollutes environment can’t be a ritual. It is not a kind gesture to nature. If caring for the planet is considered a ritual or worship, that is the best ritual.In ancient Vedic times this is what they designed or considered. In one other school of thought around the world, going to temples and give bali (animal sacrifice) is a ritual. I won’t approve of those inhuman rituals. Ritual should be something that uplifts your spirit, that which elevates your spirit.In ancient times they call ritual puja. Puja – pu means out of fullness and ja means born out of it. So when you do something with full of gratitude, it is ritual. Even that has been distorted today.Human beings can’t be done away with rituals altogether. You can’t say, 'I don’t want ritual at all’. Have you noticed in homes where no ritual is performed, the energy is low? For there is no celebration, no vibrancy. Performing some sort of ritual, some sort of chanting or reading in home creates positive ions in the atmosphere and also has a good impact on children. That’s why I would say don’t be stuck too much with ritual but also don’t drop rituals altogether. Adopt a middle path. Like on Christmas you light a candle, you put up a Christmas tree.On Diwali you light lamps, decorate homes, exchange sweets, burn a couple of incense sticks. Also on Eid you clean homes, perform prayers, there is function. Whenever there is little bit of ritual, it creates a good atmosphere especially for children and develops a healthy, social, religious and spiritual kind of mind. Don’t you think so? 

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



© The Art of Living Foundation
For Global Spirituality

Bangalore ashram, Jan. 18:

Q: Why do we need to put in so much effort to physically meet you or is it that the Guru creates unavailability for some purpose? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Not at all! I am easily available. I am most easily available. You know you enjoy putting effort and whatever you get after putting effort, you enjoy more. You don’t enjoy what you get easily. This is normal human psychology. 

Heart yearns for the old. Mind yearns for the new. Ego yearns for the difficult and unique.  

Ego takes pride in doing difficult things. ‘Look I did such a tough job! I achieved such a tough thing! No one has achieved what I have achieved. I did something unique.’ Just be aware of these laws of nature, how the mind and heart works. I am not saying that is good, or that is bad. That is how it is. 

Heart yearns for old. Heart takes pride in old friendship. Like wine is sold when it is old. New wine has no value. You don’t say, ‘This is my latest love, my fresh love.’ We go for the latest model - latest computer, latest car. We don’t say, ‘Oh this is a two decade-old car which I bought now’ - unless it’s an antique. We take pride in having the latest model or something which is unique. Like climbing the Mount Everest.

 ‘Oh, I climbed the Mount Everest.’ A very tough job. What do you get after climbing the Mount Everest? You don’t know! People go in hot air balloons across the world. Very tough job. Why you want to go in hot balloon when planes are available (laughter) and create so much heart ache, anxiety? Because the media is after you for you are doing something tough. Why do you want to do the impossible because the ego wants to do something. The memory clings to the negative. If ten positive things happen and one negative thing happens, the memory just goes and holds on to it. The Self is just a witness of all this phenomenon.

Untouched, unruffled, unconcerned with what happens to the mind, intellect, ego. It is just there, just enjoying. That is why if you have got just a glimpse of the Self, it doesn’t matter. The Upanishad has also declared that once you get glimpse of that unchanging aspect in you, the very central aspect of you, then everything else is futile. Knowing this, everythingbecomes glorified.When you are centered,ego becomes all encompassing,body glows,intellect becomes sharp,memory becomes sharp.All layers of existence simply glow when the Self is realized. I don’t like to use word self realized. It has been used so many times and distorted too much. I would say when you have a glimpse of Being.

Q: How does one know when to put effort and when to have patience once we are on the spiritual path?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are getting onto the spiritual path, you have to put effort. You have to put effort to come here (to the ashram). You don’t get a holiday, you don’t get train or plane ticket. When you want to come here, someone will come and distract you saying, ‘Let’s go to Goa and enjoy, have fun and this and that. Let’s go to watch movie. Why to go? What’s the fun in meditation and sitting with the eyes closed? Let’s keep our mind open and take everything from a movie.  

Like this 100 obstacles and 1 million temptations will come. Then you put effort, ‘I want to go, I want to meditate, I want to be centered, I want to go within’. That much effort you need to put in. But once you reach here, no effort is to be put. You simply sit. That’s it. You don’t have to do anything. 

This doesn’t apply to ashramites (ashram residents) here. (laughter) You have to get up in the morning and go for sadhana. You can’t say, ‘I have come to the ashram, now let me sleep and relax.’ I give you another example. To get into a train, you put effort. You go, stand in a queue, get to the right platform and then the right coach with all the luggage. At times you have to forcibly get your seat, especially, here, in some of the trains in India. (laughter) But once you sit inside the train or plane, then that’s it! Then there is no effort. If then, also you keep the luggage on your head and run inside the compartments, it has no meaning. You are not going to get to the station any faster. Then you either end up in a police station or a mental hospital!

To begin a practice you have to put in effort. But once you are on the path, you have to relax. You won’t reach any faster if you keep running inside the train. Know that all is done for you. You don’t have to put effort. There is effort to light a candle. Once it is lit then no effort is required to pull the light out of thecandle. Light is coming to you on its own. But you have to light the candle. You have to put that much effort to switch on the lamp. If you don’t even switch on and say, ‘There is no light’, then you have to put that much effort. (Once you do that), then you find light is pouring on you. So you have come here. Just relax.  

In hindi, it is said:Shamma jali hai tere liye,Tujhko kuch nahin karna hai. 

(The candle is lit for you, you don’t have to do anything)

Q: Guruji, the Master and the Self are most charming. Obviously, the mind moves towards that which is most attractive. How to effortlessly establish the mind on the experience of the Self?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I think I have already answered this.

Q: Guruji, even after being on the spiritual path, feverishness is still there. What to do to get rid of this feverishness?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It’s good to have little bit of that feverishness. That’s ok. Maharishi Patanjali also said in the yogasutras ‘tivra savenganam asana’If there is little feverishness, there is intensity of longing. It’s easy. It’sgood. It takes away laziness in you. It takes away procrastination in you. That is why the path needs to be attractive so that it takes away lethargy in you. The Master has to be attractive. That is a professional need. (laughter) So that you are able to handle distractions, so that worldly, small things don’t hold you back. Movies and little pleasure hold you back and keep you in the same circle. I am not saying don’t watch pictures. But prioritize your life from small material gains to higher values. That is what spirituality is all about. That is what the Master is all about. Higher values have to be more attractive to keep you on the higher plane,higher path.

Q: What can we do on our level to get people of all cultures and religions together in celebration?

 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We are already doing it. We continue doing the same thing. Call everybody and say, ‘Let’s sing together, let’s do service together, let’s sit together in silence.’ Silence is the best form of prayer. Often prayer is in some language – German, Hindi, English, Spanish. In fact, they all mean the same. But silence is one step further, one step beyond the barriers of language which the whole universe can understand. Nature resonates with it. Silent prayer! Prayer in words also has to lead you to silence in the heart. Purpose of words is to create silence. Purpose of action is to bring deep rest. Purpose of deep rest is to bring you fulfillment. In fulfillment you find joy, bliss. Purpose of love is to create blissful state deep within.

Q: What is the difference between prayer and meditation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have already said it. Prayer is asking, meditation is listening. In prayer, you ask, ‘Give me this, give me that, giving instructions,demanding.’ In meditation you say, ‘I am here to listen, what is it that you want to tell?’ Listening to God is meditation. Asking God is Prayer.

Q: How to be non-judgmental?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By studying your own past. Look at how many times you have been judgmental. Every time you have been judgmental, you have been on the wrong foot. So just be aware of that. The moment you are aware that you are judgmental, you are already out of it. You can’t be judgmental in the present moment. You are judgmental in the past.

Q: Guruji, you say, ‘I am you and you are me’. But I feel a difference. How to realize that I am you?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In silence, in service.

Q: I don’t have a job and parents and relatives worry about it and keep on asking, ‘Where am I? When am I going to have a job?’ What to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t have a job (Yes, came the reply). Keep looking for a job. Don’t be too choosy. Once you get a job that they won’t ask the same question. They will ask something else. (laughter) When are you getting married? And once you get married, the question will be, ‘When will you have kids?’ One after another,people will keep asking questions and you are not to satisfy them all. Count on those paths, status.(Then the person asks, ‘Guruji, I am contented but my parents…’ to which Sri Sri replies: There is no but - if you are contented - the ‘but’ disappears!)

Q: Why does our mind run after fame money and glamour? Is it necessary?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, you got this question! First, you understand that the mind is running. Then you get this question, ‘Is it necessary?’ I leave this question to you. It is very personal, very individual. I don't think it is necessary. But myanswer will not necessarily suffice for you. It is has to come from within. Otherwise, it will be just a mood making. ‘Oh, I don’t want money’, but one part of the mind will say, ‘No, I need money.’ One mind will say, ‘I don’t need fame andanother will say, ‘No, I need fame’. Like this, the conflict starts happening. But when you wake up and see, and see those people who have had all this - how shallow and hollow they are, then naturally you find there is no significance in all this. Then neither will you crave for it, nor will you make any effort to renounce it. People who say, ‘I don’t want fame’, inside, somewhere, the mind is saying, ‘Oh, I want fame, I want fame’. When the sun hasarisen, what is the use of a torchlight? You are moving with a torchlight and suddenly you realize there is no meaning in moving with the torchlight, when the sun is there.Then that is your experience, your true experience. So when you run behind things which are illusive - you will realize that it is causing more pain, more suffering and ‘it is not giving me what I really want’.

Then there is fulfillment, centeredness, a subtle solid strength comes from within. Then if fame comes, money comes, it doesn’t touch you. It comes or doesn’t come, doesn’t matter to you. ‘I want it’ or ‘I don’t want it’ are two sides of the same coin. Somewhat we need to be – let it be.

Q: How does one handle disappointment when something undesirable happens or you lose a dear one? How one can still smile and be centered?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Come on, wake up and see. It’s all a dream. Things happen or don’t happen. It is still a dream. An intelligent person won’t sit and cry, ‘Oh,yesterday this happened in the dream, I was the Prime Minister’.

Just imagine someone is very happy because yesterday, (in his dreams), he was the prime minister or became the richest man in the world. What will you say? What to tell them? It’s foolishness, stupidity. You are overjoyed about a good dream and you are miserable about a bad dream. A dream is a dream. Come on. Wake up. Have a cup of tea. (laughter) Herbal tea. (Huge Laughter and applause) By the way, I don’t drink any tea, not as a habit. Sometimes, if I go somewhere and they only have tea and nothing else, just to satisfy them I will have.

Q: When to use dispassion and when to use compassion?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you are bothered about an attachment, use dispassion. And at all other times, use compassion. In fact, you can’t use compassion. Either you are compassionate or you are not. It is not a screwdriver which you can use at sometimes and keep aside some other times. Compassion is like your nose. To realize it is there you have to be there and if it is not there, you are also not there. (Huge laughter) Got it? To realize you have a nose, you have to be there and to realize it is not there, you won’t be there.

Q: What is the alternative solution for white sugar and tea?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, don’t be too fussy about anything. You can’t go to a restaurant and say, ‘You can bring me only jaggery tea and no white sugar tea’. Your body has got enough capability to adjust itself. So, sometimes you have to have white sugar, it’s ok. Your immune system is strong. But don’t make it a habit. Every day, eating a lot of white sugar. Jaggery is the most desirable one.

Organic food is the most desirable one. But sometimes you don’t get organic food, don’t think you are immediately going to fall sick. People who are too finicky about food, their immune system keeps going down and down and down. People who are too fussy about food and all that, they don’t have thestrength to defend themselves. When do you give your immune system a chance to work? When something challenging is given to the immune system. So now and then, once in a while, the immune system should be challenged. Then the self defense will come up from within. Otherwise, you become so finicky and you become so weak and then anger comes in the mind. ‘Oh ah.. I want only organic food. I want only this. I can’t have junk food.’ Your system should be flexible, adjustable. And that can happen when you make itmentally strong. You resolve mentally that ‘this is not going effect my body so much’. I am not saying eat unhealthy food. No, not at all, but I am saying, ‘Don’t be too finicky about food, quality of food and this food.

Chose a middle path. You know, people in India live or are born in slum areas, and their immune system is so strong. They don’t get affected by diseases easily because their immune system is getting to work. They can come out of any illness. Chose that middle path.I suggest internationals who have come here not to go for hawker food unless you find it hygienic. Don’t have cut fruits on the street for knives may not be sterilized. You better not go for that. You can go for whole food.

Q: When do we know we are on the middle path?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you don’t fall off, you are on the middle path.

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



© The Art of Living Foundation
For Global Spirituality

26th December 2009

Q. Thank you very much for all I have received from you till today. Even I know you are available on an emergency basis, twenty four hours. I am ashamed toask you a help. When someone of your family passed and relationship between you and this person was not clear, what can you do to help the process to help that person live peacefully and also to be peaceful yourself? Thank you Guruji.

Sri Sri: Whenever you have to console a bereaved family, keep silent! Too many words does not make any sense there or have any meaning. Someone is in grief, you just be with them, with peace in your heart. They will absorb the peace, they will bask in your peace. They will absorb your peace - they will feel comfortable, happy.So when you are peaceful, you radiate it. They will absorb the peace and they would feel that inner calm, inner peace. So don't have to say, ‘Oh poor thing!This thing has happened with you. Oh, it shouldn't have happened.’ Talking all that type of pity or sympathy is not going to help either you or them. So justbe with them and say, ‘God will give you strength’. Just give that to overcome this situation. This is the only thing that you should do. ‘God will give youstrength’ or the person who departed, take their name and say, ‘That person will give you strength to go over this tough time, this difficult time.’ These one or two words are good enough. Don't talk too much but just be with them. Few minutes- you being with them will help them. OK?

Q. Dear Guruji, how can we teach the world that there is abundance of food, love for everyone? We don't need to fear lack, and therefore be greedy?

Sri Sri: We have to spread spirituality. We have to make people realize the importance of spirituality. They will have to meditate. Only through meditation would they ever feel the inner richness, inner abundance. Whatever you feel inside, that’s what you project outside. If you have fear inside, you will project it outside. You feel lack inside, and you will feel lack everywhere. So, that abundance has to arise from within. For that, one has to do meditation course like this, no?

Q. Dear Guruji, despite being on the path for almost six years now, we didn't worry about what the results would be later. You know, when we started, so manypeople ridiculed us and we didn’t mind any of those humiliations. None of those humiliations stopped us from working and reaching out to people. We keep doing it, because we know what we are doing is good and it’s not for our sake that we are doing it, we are doing it for the simple fact that it brings benefit to people. If not today, tomorrow they will understand, recognize it. Right? So you need not be a football of others’ opinion. As long as we know that we need to continue doing this and it helps people, it makes our life worth living. So we continue doing this.

Q. Dear Guruji, what can you do when you doubt the Master? How to overcome the doubt? How to prevent it from happening?

Sri Sri: You know, your doubt is always about something that is good. You only doubt the honest, you never doubt the dishonest. You doubt happiness, you never doubt depression. If you are depressed and someone asks you, ‘Are you depressed?’ Then you are very sure, you don't say, ‘Well, I am not very sure!’With happiness you say that, ‘Well, I am not sure whether I am happy or not.’ So we doubt love. Someone says, ‘I love you so much’, you say, ‘Really?’ If someone says, ‘I hate you’, you never ask, ‘Really?’ You doubt! So our doubt is always about something that is positive.And doubts - they come and they go. Doubt more. I won’t say, don't doubt. Doubt as much as you can. See I tell you, it will fall away by itself. It cannot stand. So doubt more. A Master only encourages the student to doubt more. He will not clear the doubts. In fact, the job of the master is to create more doubt so that you can bake well and become really solid. Because if not today, ten year later you may get the doubt, better get the doubt right away! Get asmuch as you can. Once they come, they don't come back again. Same doubts don't arise twice. Different doubts keep coming and when they come, don’t push themunder the carpet. Don’t shelve it under, go with it. And a time comes when you become solid. It only makes you stronger, powerful, focused and responsible.I would say, good! Doubts have come about the Master, let them come. Hmm? Cook with them. They are fuel by which the mind can really cook. Hmm! And you willsee that you are much stronger than your doubt! Your faith, your love, your beauty, your truth is a hundred times more powerful than the doubt. The faith islike the sun, the doubt is like a cloud. No amount of clouds can cover the sun for long. They just come and they disappear. Yes, there are some cloudy days and it can be there, let it be. The sun will eventually shine.

Q. Beloved Guruji, I have a new job that gives me economic and social stability, it’s good. On the other side, it is based on lies and on taking advantage of peoples' faith. The environment is polluted and colleagues poison me with depression and dishonesty. Still I work hundred percent and I give a good example. But I feel this situation is not good for me. What do you suggest me to do?

 Sri Sri: In a situation like that consider yourself like an oasis in the dessert. Just imagine even the oasis disappears from the dessert, how will people survive? So, your being there has a good influence on the people and keep influencing and see if you can create even one two, three or four people like you in the same work environment. It can change. You have the power to change your situation. On request from people like you who are in the corporate business environment, we tailored our course and changed its jargon, its processes to fit to the corporate world. We call this the APEX course. Today the World Bank and many other institutions are taking it and they are benefiting greatly by this. Yes? So, do it!

Q. Dear Guruji, I feel that my coming to you now has become an ego issue. I come to you to see what you will say to me or to get attention from you and not because I feel deep love and gratitude. I would like to feel the true deep love and gratitude like I have been before. I want to serve out of love and not out of feeling that this is what I am expected to do.

Sri Sri: You know, feelings are like clouds. They are like the waves on the surface of the ocean. They arise, they come and they go. They change. We shouldn’t be bent too much by our feelings.Do you see what I am saying? Life moves with commitment, not just feelings. And love is a gift. You can't force anyone to feel love. Your wanting to feel love becomes a hindrance to feel love. Just relax. I have spoken about this in the Bhakti sutras. When you want love, that want itself is turning or delayinglove from manifesting.So all that you need to do is to let go and relax. You will see your nature is love. Love is always there. It will manifest when it should. Like the sun is always there but it comes at its own time. Yes?The sun doesn’t come up all the time though it is there twenty four hours. But it is in different places. In the same way, all the beautiful feelings in yourlife are there with you all the time. You can’t forcefully manifest them. They will manifest at different times in life. And that’s why be more relaxed and take them as they come. Yes?

Q. Sometimes I get very angry. It is like something gets inside me. How can I get rid of this inner demon?

Sri Sri: I tell you, there is no demon inside. No! If anybody tells you, don’t listen to them. Just walk away. There is no demon inside you. Got it? You arepure light. You are born of light. You are light. All that you need to do is wake up, little more silence, little more meditation and observe the sensations.Start observing the sensations in the body, in the mind. Yes? And such an outburst of anger comes and then subsides. It will take little time so that itdoesn't arise at all. The more we are in the state of dispassion or centeredness, lesser is the anger. Behind the anger is a desire for perfection. Wanting perfection makes you angry. Want brings anger in us. So when you keep observing, the want dissolves. You loosen up from inside. You start blossoming from inside. You will see, you will get very few opportunities where you have to get upset. It is ok to get upset once in a while, doesn't matter.

Q. I want to become a therapist but since I have become spiritual, I have come to realize that western psychology is not everything. How can I combine western and eastern psychology?

Sri Sri: Yes, sure! You must! Western psychology gives certain ideas about behavioral patterns, certain impressions and effects of certain chemicals in themind. Whereas eastern psychology studies the nature of consciousness, studies consciousness itself! So it will be very useful that you would like to combinethe both. You study eastern and then you study western so that you can explain to the west what the east says. Because the eastern psychology or knowledge ofconsciousness is time tested, it’s age old. Ten thousand years, this has been practiced. Hmmm? And it should be interesting. If you take one aspect, say suppose love and examine how love is viewed in both eastern and western psychology. It’s very interesting. Hmmmm?

Q. Dear Guruji, how old are the Vedas? Do we have all the Vedas now? I hear we may have lost some knowledge?

Sri Sri: You are correct! There are four main Vedas. Vedas means a collection of poems- verses heard by Rishis, sages when they went deep in meditation. When someone went deep in meditation, they heard something and whatever they heard, they started telling their students, disciples. So these were truths which were derived or heard and downloaded from the cosmic consciousness. They had a way to download it in those days. The downloading is - close your eyes, meditate and what you notice, what you see - you click and then you download it. Surfing! Surfing around and downloading. So Vedas were downloaded like that.More than one thousand sages or those who are called Rishis - Rishi means the one who saw or one who heard. They saw it, they heard it and they wrote them.They didn't write themselves, they recited and told their students and they recited and so for a long time it was just passed on from one to another - verbally, vocally. That’s why they are called Shrutis.Originally these Vedas were divided into four. Originally the Rigveda had so many- twenty one different branches but today only three are available. Similarly, Yajurveda has some two hundred and eleven branches, but today only few - five or six - are available. Similarly, Samveda – thousand different Samvedic hymns, branches were there. Today only three branches are there. Rest is all lost. During the medieval times in India, when there was so much repeated aggression, those Vedas were all lost.

Q. Which Veda has medical knowledge?

Sri Sri: It is called the Ayurveda. It is the subordinate Veda of the main four Vedas. So both, the Atharvaveda and Rigveda - the first and last Vedas have aconnection to Ayurveda. So all the Ayurveda stories are so very, very beautiful. It’s said that one thousand Rishis were sitting and meditating. And a Rishi named Bharadwaja told them, ‘You keep awake. We are going into deep trance, meditation and we are going to say just what we see. But there should be somebody to note down, write everything down’. They told once person, ‘You don't meditate. You sit, watch and note down everything’.And that is how Maharshi Bharadwaja noted down, wrote down in a forest when thousands of the Rishis meditated together and they were downloading it and thenthey were saying it. Bharadwaja went from one to another, to each person and started noting them down and that is how the Ayurveda books were written. So even today, after so many thousands of years, it holds good. It is a Materia Medica - which herb is for which part of the body and what functions, what arethe combinations, what one should do and what oneshould not. Everything about health is written.When the British ruled India and the man who was in charge of India, the British gentleman, wrote to Queen Victoria of England saying, ‘You know, people should come and learn plastic surgery over here. How people can fix your nose, your skin, your legs,’ he said. It’s amazing that when knowledge was zero or nothing in England, it was so advanced in India. Lord Macaulay said in the parliament, that if you want to rule this country (India), first you must destroy the spirituality. Much has been written about Lord Macaulay's statement. He said, ‘I traveled the length and breadth of India and I did not see one beggar,one poor man. And people know science and medical things so well. 88000 medical institutions were there only in the south of India.’He said, if you want to rule this country, you must stop this. So they systematically closed down the medical institutions, Sanskrit colleges so that people could no longer read the books. You know, when all your books are in Sanskrit and they shut down all the Sanskrit schools by rule, your next generation getsno access to the knowledge and that is what exactly happened in India. There is a whole presentation about Lord Macaulay's vision that they could rule India only by doing this. Anyway, that is all history.What I am saying is that Ayurveda is still very potent knowledge- it’s a science even today. Hmmm? But many books are missing. Many were burnt down. India had a very crazy king at one point of time, he was called Aurangzeb. He came to power by putting his own father in jail who was the king then. And then he burnt big libraries in India like Nalanda. History says that the books in Nalanda library burned for six months. He called all the scholars and he told them, ‘What is in your library?’ They said, ‘A lot of knowledge.’ He was very fanatic. He took the Quran and asked, ‘Do you agree that this book has all the knowledge that is there in the library?’ They said, ‘Yes’. He said, ‘Then what is the use of having a library and so many books? Burn them down.Then one of them said, ‘No. There is other knowledge that is not in this book.’ Then Aurangzeb said, ‘Then they shouldn't exist. Anything which is not in this book shouldn't exist anywhere, it is not correct. It is not God’s! Burn them down. Thousands of years ago, philosophy of the Buddhists, Hindus, Jains,Sikh were available; medical, archeology, astronomy, metallurgy, engineering, science - all these books - were available. They were all burnt down. So whatever people could take overnight and memorize it, those things remained and it continued. So these are all past histories.

Q. In Muslim countries we have some resistance even with some new teachers. One of them read on the internet that the translation of the word Sohum is ‘I am god.’ It is not ok with Islam. Can you explain what it is meant and what is the intention by Sohum?

Sri Sri: Sohum is the natural sound of breath. When you breath out the hum is there. Sohum is the natural sound. If you read it the other way round, it is Humsa. Humsa is that which uplifts, that which floats, that which discriminates. That consciousness which discriminates right from wrong, from the permanent to impermanent, from the beautiful to ugly - discrimination.Sohum does not mean ‘I am God’, it is ‘I am that’. What is the ‘that’? ‘That’ could be love, ‘that’ is truth, ‘that’ is love, ‘that’ is the beautiful space,‘that’ is what I really am! First I think I am just the thoughts, the emotions, the mind, but the true realization, I am not the thought, I am not the body, but I am that! What is that? It is the experience that is beyond words! That truth which is beyond comprehension! That beauty which is beyond any imagination. That reality which you cannot totally catch. That love is what I am! And if love is God or God is love and I am love then I am God too!Jesus said love is God! And said, I am love! I am that, I am. This is there in the Bible also. I am that I am. Thou art that! All this is there. But it is not the meaning that is important. What is important is the vibration of the sound. The sound Sohum, has some definite vibrations in the cosmos and that helps our spirits to blossom and that is what is most important.

 Q. Dearest Guruji, I sit here with you and after all that happened in my life in the past, today I know it was worth going through it to live and experience what I feel today. Fullness, love, gratitude, excitement and inspiration. All because of what you have given to this world. Eternally yours!

Q. Does the strength of the Guru lie in the fact that he represents a symbolic father who helps to heal the wounds from the real father?

Sri Sri: The wounds need to be healed, that is more important. Whatever relation you put, whatever attachment you put, it is secondary. See the world from a fresh eye, from a fresh look. Anybody who has inflicted pain to you, know that they have done it because they have no knowledge. They were deprived of this spiritual knowledge. That is why they were behaving that way. They were handcuffed, they were blindfolded, they were dumbfounded and they acted the way they acted. They are victims themselves. See them from this angle, you will feel compassion for them and you will feel grateful for what you have got in your life, ya?

 Q. Please explain to me how we are responsible for how we feel? For example when we see a beautiful girl, a thought appears and then pleasure comes to me. But yesterday in the video, I understood it is the opposite. Why the desire appears only with beautiful girls? How do we choose that?

Sri Sri: I think you forgot how you felt when you were five year old. When you were five, six, seven or eight- year-old, it was not a beautiful girl who attracted you it was beautiful food that attracted you!I will tell you a story. There were people of three generation- father, son and grandfather. They all went out for a holiday- vacation. So the youngest of the family, the grand child was so excited, he got good food.And the adult, the father, was so attracted with the beautiful girls at the camp. He said, ‘What a beautiful day! I saw so many beautiful girls here. I hadgreat time!’ Now the grandfather's turn had come. The grandfather said, ‘It was such a relief here. So nice. We came out to this holiday camp. I had such good bowel movement! I never had like that before! What a relief!’ He said, ‘You both talk childishly. He talks about food, you talk about girls but in my age you will understand what the really happiness is’. So when someone is so old if they have a good bowel movement, that is great relief for them. They get good sleep, that is heaven for them. So, wait for some more time and you will see what is more beautiful in life!

Q. Dearest Guruji, I had a question in my mind when we were speaking about energy centers today, in the knowledge tape. I feel constant energy in my secondchakra but I don’t have any desires to do sex because I know it leaves me tired and dull. On the other hand my creative energy has not manifested itself. I would like to use my creativity and write, sing, dance, etc. How will it come to this point? Please show me a way. Give me ability to make my creative energy alive.

Sri Sri: Ya! Continue your meditation. If a particular chakra has been used a lot then automatically energy goes there quite a bit. But it will keep moving,definitely moving. You focus more on navel center and then dance, sing. Singing and dancing, that is all part of our practices. You know, it uplifts you in more than one way.

Q. Dear Guruji, I can’t forget this guy. He is not good for me but still I am in love with him. Even though I haven't seen him in ten months and I hardly know him. Can you explain?

Sri Sri: Wait till you find somebody else. Then you will forget all about that guy. Our mind is very strange. You know, the greatest, real stranger to us isnot somebody else but our own mind.

Q. Dear Guruji, only today I have fallen in love with nine people. One cute Serbian, one beautiful Croatian, one irresistible Bulgarian, one very nice German, two gorgeous Italians, and two delightful Russians and one really hot Indian. Clearly I can't make up my mind. Can you please help me?

 Sri Sri: I tell you the choice is too little for you. Go for more! Only nine? We have one ninety four countries in the planet! Don't be in a hurry to choose right away. Go slow. You know? Good!We have come to rise in love and on the way, it doesn't surprise me if you keep falling in love here and there. But don't be in a hurry to choose. Hundred and ninety two countries in the United Nations, Right? 

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



© The Art of Living Foundation
For Global Spirituality

Bad Antogast, German ashram, Dec. 25:

Q. Can a relationship enhance or suppress your spiritual growth?

Sri Sri: Yes, both can happen. If your partner is also on the path and understands you, it can enhance you both. If one is in doubt, the partner will help you to get over the doubt. If one is not doing the practice, the other one will pull them to do the practice and give them encouragement. Make them move on the spiritual path, so that much help comes from that. I have seen many couples - when one is going astray from the path, the other will pull them back onto the path. Because of the sake of the wife or husband, they continue being on the path, on the knowledge, on the spiritual path. This I have seen happening in many, many families. Though, on the contrary, if both go in different directions and if one of them is not really on the path, it can be a hindrance for the other. It can be, though not necessarily.

Q. What is the secret to having a strong will power? Please tell me as I have so many bad habits that I would like to change about myself.

Sri Sri: Now, three things can help you to get over bad habits.1. Love- If you love somebody or something, then promise them for their sake that you will continue the good habits.2. Fear - When there is a fear that this bad habit is going to bring great problems to me, then you will get out of it.3. Greed - If someone tells you that by leaving this bad habit, you will get a million dollars, you would not do that (the bad habit), you want a million dollars in your pocket. If someone tells you, don’t drink or smoke for the next one week, then you will be entitled to one million dollars. Will you smoke, will you drink? No ways! If someone tells you that you will get 10 million dollars or 10 million euros if you don’t smoke for one month or 30 days, they will say, ‘Why only 30 days? I will not smoke for 35 days. I am sure of the number of days, as I want to be sure. Not 29 days. Some months are only 30, some are 31, so let me do for the maximum of 35 days’. Because you know, when you value some thing much more than the habit and you know that you are going to get that, then the habit will drop out of it. So through love, fear or greed you will stop doing it. You know, promiscuity has reduced to a great extent because of the fear of AIDS. After the dreadful disease of AIDS started appearing, then promiscuity came down to a great extent. So similarly, commitment to a higher cause can help you get over small little attractions.

Q. Whenever I come in the ashram, it feels like I am in love with everyone here, but when you go outside, it is hard to maintain this feeling. When peopleare not open, they embrace the feeling of love . It is hard to feel love for them. Why is it so, how to love everyone?

Sri Sri: You know, you feel love but don’t get attached to it ok, and don’t try to feel love for others. Love is a gift. If it is there , it is there, if it is not there, it is not there You cannot force yourself to love somebody. Can you impose? If you do it, it will be contrary to what is. You just be relaxedand go deep in the knowledge and suddenly one day, you will find that all are part of me and everybody is same. Then love is not a verb, it’s not an action.You don’t have to love somebody, you are love, you will understand that love is a noun. You are simply there as a sparkling love. And that’s it. Yes, obviously, it’s not the give-and-take love of which you are talking about. You love somebody and they gave you something. Here people radiate that peaceso it is easy. They know all the basic course points of acceptance and not to be football and all these things. Definitely, it is much easier here and our job is to make the world like this so that anywhere in the world, it becomes much easier. All over the world, people say, ‘Art of Living people have a smileon the faces’. There is a certain radiance, a certain confidence, a certain smile which is unparalleled. People comment on that all the time.

Q. Dear Guruji, why do we cry in your presence?

Sri Sri: When the heart opens, tears flow. It’s quite natural .When heart opens and these are not bitter or salty tears, they are sweet tears. These aretears of love, of gratitude. So let it be. Don’t try to stop it or don’t try to enhance it, just let it be.

Q. How do I know that I am in a right relationship or the person is right for me? Or I am right for the other? Many thanks.

Sri Sri: Listen to one thing now, you are right for the other person when you can adjust. Relationship means adjustment, it is giving. You give what you can to the other person and wait for them to give back to you. If you are demanding from the others, the relationship is not going to last long. Demand destroys the love. Demand and blame destroys relationships. So, you should only know how to praise others and uplift a situation instead of blaming, finding fault. Uplift the other, this should be your commitment . Then you are the right person for anybody, and everybody will love you when you don’t hurt them intentionally. This is the first point. Number one.Second, you are open to correction and changes, you have the patience to listen to criticism.Three things, I am counting. You have patience to take in criticism. Fourth, you know the other persons’ point of view, or where the shoe pinches, you know. You should see the other person beyond their words and their actions.You know, when someone is working for 8 to 10 hours, when they come back home, they are very tired. If he is a businessman and when the stock markets fall, he is so upset and he comes home to find solace. So you should see the circumstance, situations, how the spouse is and allow them the space to express their genuine feelings of frustrations, anger whatever.

You know, there is only one option when a person is angry or is frustrated. The whole world expects them to keep the frustration to themselves, no one wants to share their frustration, but when they come home it is with their spouse. They explode and express and show all their frustration. At that time, the spouse should be there like a midwife - allow them to deliver. When someone is in labor pain, and if you say, ‘Don’t deliver, keep it, keep it, keep the babyinside.’ What can they do? How long can they keep it inside? Somewhere they have to explode. When they come with their stress, the spouse should allow them to express. Say, ‘Ok, download it. Download. Let go of all your stresses, ok whatever you want to blame, blame. You want to beat me or beat yourself, do it’.Then, you know, keep that type of space for them to un-stress and download. What you can say is ‘Let go of all that you have carried all the day, all the stress of the stock market or whatever else.’ If a person commits a mistake in the work place or injustice is done to him or her, they come back and they want some place to offload it. Offload is the right word I think, offload all that thing and one must keep that space for them to offload. Understand why there are upset, why they are unhappy - then your relationship will work. But if you expect them not to tell anything, be nice to you all the 24 hours, seven days a week and 365 days and find fault with them all the time.

Pricking them that ‘You are useless, you are hopeless, you are this, that...’ Poor lady or man! What will they do? They find that they have no support. Nobody is helping them to grow, helping them, uplifting them and then they get depressed. Right? So first, we will see. Greater is the person who has greater capacity to absorb, accommodate, adjust with anybody. If you can adjust with anybody, that much greater you are, you know and the degree can come less, less, less. If you know your acceptability is only 10 percent, then you are thoroughly miserable if it zero percent. There is no way you can grow in your life. Wisdom is to have this patience, grow from zero to one hundred percent.  

Q. I don’t understand why we are here, why are we here for such a short time? Why do we have to grow old and weak? How do I stop wanting and needing others’ approval and love?

Sri Sri: This is a good question - why am I here, what do I do? Keep asking. When you keep asking these questions, either you go crazy or you become wise. I wish you become the latter, become much wiser, ok? Don’t tell me crazy people are very wise. It’s the other way round - wise people are sometime crazy too.

Q. Dearest Guruji, I am so fortunate to be on a path like this with you. I want more people to get this experience and be more happy by living in the knowledge and practicing the technique. But some people are not willing to be approached nor understand when I would like to share. So how to speed this tothe people who are in need? Maybe their time has just not come.

Sri Sri: No, no don’t think their time has not come. You keep doing your work. You keep telling, you don’t have to push everybody but gently you have tofacilitate people to get into the knowledge. Yes, this is necessary.

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



© The Art of Living Foundation
For Global Spirituality

Bangalore ashram, Dec. 8, 2009:
Today’s satsang was a beautiful glimpse into the secrets of the universe which is beginning-less and endless.
It began by celebrating Acharya Ratnanda’s (Guruji’s father) 86th birthday. He spoke a few words filled with love and enthusiasm to the several hundred currently training to become Art of Living teachers.
Pitaji: Today I am very proud and humble: proud to be seated next to a mahatma (an elevated soul) and humble because I am one of his millions of followers. All my life, I have said, “Life is for Living.” Today I know, “Life is for living ONLY.”
L.I.F.E – L is love, I is integrity, F is fellowship – a sense of belongingness with the whole world and E is enlightenment. For me, My Master is the cause, the reason and the result of enlightenment.
To progress in life, be young. Be receptive. Even a child can teach you.
You say, “I know everything!” We can be and should be young because we are following a young Master!
As the audience applauded, Pitaji’s birthday cake was cut. Then Sri Sri spoke:
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “There are four levels of speech – para, pashyanti, madhyama, vaikari.
The language we speak is vaikari. It is the most manifest form of speech. Chatvari vak parimita padani – there are four levels of speech and the intelligence knows all forms. Human beings speak only the fourth level. Subtler than vaikari, is madhyama. Even before you say it, the thought form is cognized. When you catch it at that level, it is madhyama. Pashyanti is cognitive. There is no need for spoken words. Para is the untold, un-manifest knowledge that is beyond.
The whole universe is spherical. It was never born nor will it ever die. It is anadi, beginningless, and anantha – endless. Then what is the job of Brahma, the creator? They say there are many, many Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in every yuga (age). In time and space this keeps happening. So what is the source of this creation? Parame vyoman – beyond the akasha (space). Knowledge lies beyond the akasha. Knowledge lies beyond the five elements.
Richo akashare parame vyoman
Vedas which were cognized are not vaikari. This cognition is beyond the space. All the Divine impulses are established in that field which is all permeating.
What is akasha? Akasha is described as vyoma, vyapti – it means all-permeating, all-pervading. What is it that is beyond akasha? It is unimaginable to think of something that is beyond space. Only a scientist can understand this. Everything is contained in akasha, all the four elements are in akasha. The most gross is earth, then water, fire, air and space. Air is finer, subtler than fire. Space is the subtlest. Then it is air-fire-water and earth. What is it that is beyond even akasha? That is the mind, intellect, ego and the Mahatattva. This is tattva gyan – knowing the principle of the universe. Unless you know the principle of the universe, you cannot know the Self. When you go beyond the akasha, it is an experiential field. The whole realm begins beyond the akasha.
The ancient seers have spoken about the Dravya guna sambandha or relationship between the substance and its quality. There is a very interesting debate if we can separate the quality from the substance. The whole philosophy is very interesting and the conclusion was that you cannot separate the quality from the substance. Can the sweetness in sugar be separated from sugar? Will it remain sugar still? Can heat and light be separated from fire? Will it still be fire after that?
What brings the quality into the substance? What comes first – the quality or the substance? There are many questions like this. The subtler you go is the paramevyoman. yasmin devaadhi vishwe nishedu. -All the devis and devtas reside there, in that space. Yattanaveda yati vaanaveda - What is the use of knowing the vedic hymns and mantras without knowing the parame vyoman, without understanding the principles of the universe?
Swarupa is the quality of that space. It cannot be fully translated in English. Swarupa is that consciousness. From the Swarupa happens the Sputa or explosion from which Svarita, creation flows and Sakaara – manifests with name and form. All the millions of beings in the creation were formed from the Swarupa.”
After this most astonishing revelation about the creation of the universe, was a presentation by Archana Sharma a Particle Physicist from CERN, Geneva, Switzerland who shared a few glimpses of their efforts to identify the god particle with the help of the LHC (large Hydron Collidor). Sri Sri has often said, “Spirituality begins where Science ends.” In today’s satsang we had the opportunity to hear about that which is beyond space, beyond expression and the attempt of science to know the unknowable.
“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



© The Art of Living Foundation for Globalizing Spirituality