Ancient rishis and modern physicists both say the same thing

22 July, 2010, Hartford, Connecticut


Look around and see who is not smiling. Now for the next few days you should take care of them.

Q: I am often outraged by the injustice happening around me, but realize there is also a need for love and understanding. How can I balance these feelings?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When many bristles are put together to make a broom, they are far more effective in sweeping a large hall than they would have been individually. Similarly, as sangha (group), you can achieve more. Whether it is for service or justice, you should work in groups. This is very important. Injustice is there. It is your work to turn it around. In Chinese, there is one word for both crisis and opportunity. If you only see the problem, you become frustrated. This is no good. Work with the group and just see what you can do. In many parts of the world there is so much corruption. Money is required for everything. When our sangha stood up against corruption, we accomplished a lot. Our youth refused to pay any bribes. When officers see this kind of conviction, it is so refreshing. They are also human beings after all. For our Ayurveda projects, we needed 10 different licenses. People said it would take two years just to get these! We applied for the licenses and resolved not to give any bribes. We said that we were prepared to go there 50 times if necessary. Within one month, we had all 10 licenses! So do fight against injustice, but without anger. Fight with a calm and serene mind. This is said even in the Bhagavad-Gita.



Q: My father recently passed away. How can I know how he is, where he is and what he thinks of me?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Those who have passed on to the other side shower their blessings on you. They don’t judge you and have no concerns about you. They know you will be taken care of.



Q: On one hand, desires need to be dropped, but is it okay to have a desire for liberation? When will that get dropped?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it is okay to have a desire for liberation.



Q: If God is within us, why does God not guide us all towards good deeds alone? Why is there so much crime and violence in the world?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Imagine a movie with no villain. Imagine there is only a hero who is eating, sleeping and generally just hanging around with nothing to do! Would you watch such a movie? Opposite values are complementary. Thorns and petals both exist. You have the choice to pick up either the thorns or the petals. God is there within. He is sometimes sleeping and hiding, sometimes awake and dancing. After some sadhana, God is awake. Then He is rocking. Awaken the God and Goddess in you! A stone does not feel, but a living being does. Waking the godliness in you is essential. This is why there are particular hymns sung in India in the morning. Wake up and bless us, O Lord! On one level, it sounds ridiculous. It is the parents’ job to wake up children, but in this hymn, human beings are singing to the Gods to wake up and bless the creation. This is a paradox, and in this paradox, is hidden a deep secret of existence.



Q: Why does love always come with attachment? Is it possible to love your partner and still be dispassionate?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Attachment brings pain, but nothing comes without pain. We came into this world in a lot of pain. The process of birth itself is very painful. For nine months, we were comfortable and then suddenly the ocean around us disappeared and we had to come out! Attachment happens when your focus is not on the Being, but on the outside. Wanting to control, possess and hold on brings pain. When we are relaxed and content, love transforms to bliss. Demand and control only bring pain. Wisdom, along with love, is the answer.



Q: How can I control my anger?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Anger comes out of your love for perfection. Create some space for imperfection around you. Make a list of all the things you consider to be wrong. Then have people around you do everything on that list! When you get angry, just observe that sensation. Observe how your teeth are clenching and how the mind becomes. Take a few long deep breaths and see if it changes. However, I have no experience, since I myself have never had this problem. So my advice may not be authentic. You should ask others. There are many here who will tell you. After regular practice of Sudarshan Kriya, anger tends to settle down.



Q: What is the whole point of this life? We are born, we study, we work and then eventually one day we die. I am losing my passion for life.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Good. You are on track. What you are saying is like our intro talk. Imagine we live for eighty years. Out of that, twenty-five or thirty years we simply sleep. Ten years we spend in the bathroom. Another ten years, we are stuck in traffic. Then so many years we spend being sad and miserable. Ultimately, only some two or three years we spend in prayer, service and so on. Good that you are thinking along these lines. You are definitely on the right track.



Q: What to do when a loved one is diagnosed with a potentially terminal condition?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Bless them. Carry on. Sing, dance, meditate. If you think too much about the illness, it pulls down your energy. Medical attention is required, but have faith also. A turnaround can happen at any time. There is divine grace that is present with you. Anytime, anything is possible.



Q: Is it possible for all of us to get enlightened?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Definitely. Anytime! The seed is there. It can sprout anytime. It can become a big tree anytime.



Q: For fifteen years I’ve been with the same job and my boss doesn’t respect me at all. Should I quit and start my own business? Please give me some direction.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Choice is yours, blessings are mine.



Q: The knowledge in the Vedas contains the truth and laws of nature. Is modern science also a part of this body of knowledge?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. Knowledge is infinite. Many scientists of modern age are the rishis (sages) of today. They explore the universe. All are to be honored, whether ancient or modern. Today’s quantum physics discoveries are startling. There is so much similarity to Vedic knowledge. For instance, dark matter and String Theory are both present in the ancient knowledge. Dr.Hans-Peter Dürr, the physicist has told me that whenever he is giving a lecture, he feels as if he is speaking on Vedanta. The whole universe is made up of one substance, and not two. This is Vedanta. There are three things. They are the trigunatmika. With two qualities, there is no stability. Three qualities are essential for the existence of the universe. Ancient rishis and modern physicists both say the same thing.

© The Art of Living Foundation

The space within

The Washington Post, 29th April, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

You cannot measure the amount of energy inside an atom. Similarly, you cannot measure the full potential of a human being. The nature of a human being is quite similar to that of an atom. The core of an atom is positive. The negatively charged particles are only on the periphery of the atom. Similarly, the negativity of a person is not their true nature; it is just on the periphery. One is said to be "centered" when he or she is calm, steady and pleasant.

How do we know whether the knowledge that we have is correct or not? Even 10,000 years ago, people knew that Jupiter had 63 moons. They used the subjective way of knowing things - by intuition and quieting the mind. When the mind becomes calm (it is like being in a state of deep rest though one is totally alert), then an intention is taken. With that intention comes intuition, knowledge as well as inspiration. Using this method, ancient sages derived knowledge about the universe and developed mathematical techniques that are valid today. Age-old calendars can still tell exactly what time an eclipse will happen. Ancient societies in the East knew that the sun is at the center of the solar system and planets move around it. They used the method of intuitive awareness in which one feels that every cell in his body is fully alive now, and the mind is quiet. You call that Samadhi.

If we take out some time - say two or three days in a year - to keep silence and simply observe our own thoughts and emotions, then we get a sense of what quietness means. Freedom from the jugglery of thoughts is the basis of intuition. And, intuition is part of innovation.

In our normal lives, we are bombarded with so many thoughts and stimuli that attention and retention is simply not there. Today's children have problems like attention deficiency disorder and so on. They seem to have lost the ability to focus on simple tasks. When you become quiet in your mind, it is not as if you lose your intellect. In fact, the intellect becomes very sharp and the attention span increases. The first outcome of mediation or any self-development technique should be to increase our perceptual ability, which in turn, should help us in expressing ourselves better.

One aspect is getting rid of stress, the other is seeing that stress doesn't enter our system. For the latter, we need a change in our attitude towards things happening around us. We can bear the heat - with a sense of humor, a sense of ease, and with confidence. One needs to create barricades so that tension does not enter the mind. But it's impossible not to have tension; it might slip in through some other way. Just learn to take it easy. The ease with which you are able to handle your environment, or the situation around you, is what I would call being able to utilize your full potential. When you are in touch with your full potential, nothing or nobody can shake you. You will have the smile and the confidence.

Attaining a spiritual mindset is simply recognizing that there is life everywhere, that there is spirit everywhere. I do not see a division between what's spiritual, and what's material. The finest aspect of matter is spirit. The gross aspect of spirit is matter. It is like body and mind. You see through the eyes, but actually the eyes are the means through which the mind sees. The mind is the spirit. The whole world is combination of spirit and matter. Therefore spiritual practices too are not something that are any different from you being spirited and being happy and compassionate and being in love.

The way of prayer is to be in amazement - looking at the cosmos and saying wow, how many planets! How many stars! How big is this Universe! Your consciousness expands, and this is meditation. The creation and the creator are not separate. The creator and the creation are one and the same. The creation is formed out of the creator, just like dance comes out of the dancer. I usually say we must have the 3C's in our lives - cosmology, commitment and compassion. These three things make life beautiful.

Billions of years have passed since existence began on earth. Compared to it, the span of human life - 80 years or 100 years - is nothing! In this vast space, where are we?

Seeing yourself in the context of the big creation shifts you to a different level of consciousness. As per one of the scriptures in the ancient Vedic tradition of India, there are almost 112 ways of realizing consciousness. One of them is to observe the sky on a clear day, and let go, and relax. Wherever the mind goes, it makes an assumption and becomes quieter, as it assumes that space. And in that quiet state of mind, an intention fructifies very fast.

A calm and clear state of mind also has capacity to heal and to elevate itself. It is full of joy, ease and love. You can look at your entire past as a dream. Just remember all the activities you did in the morning after waking up. Isn't it all like a dream? All of those activities are now an impression in your memory - and a dream is also just an impression. See your whole past as a dream. In future, in the next 10-20 years, you will be doing many things, they will all pass like a dream. Knowing this and being aware of it, the space within us starts to open up and we start experiencing heightened awareness. You start seeing another dimension of life. Just wake up!

Rekindle Vedic knowledge

The Pioneer, 6th March, 2010
H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Whatever we see in nature has a perfect mathematical structure. The rotation of the Earth, the movement of the stars, the growth of trees, etc, all have perfect underlying mathematical structures. Recent research is bringing to light the perfect mathematical structure of the Vedic texts. As a matter of fact, whatever we do in life has mathematics in some from or the other. It is not possible to prepare even a delicious cup of coffee without a precise sense and application of mathematical proportion of different ingredients used. It is a pity that such a wonderful subject of fundamental and vital importance is today creating the problem of Maths anxiety among students the world over.
The gravity of the problem is quite clear from a recent survey report published in the US. The cream of students good in mathematics was asked whether they truly liked the subject. As many as 60 per cent of them said “no”.
Further, irrespective of whatever we become in life, we always have a large number of alternatives and choices. How strange is it that in mathematics there seems to be almost no choice and most of the time we have to follow a unique, fixed, monotonous, and tedious procedure in completing an arithmetical operation. Anything fixed naturally becomes monotonous and boring. But Vedic maths, on the other hand, makes maths a playful and interesting subject with its multiple choices.
The Vedas are the source of all knowledge and, thereby, of all sciences. They have guided millions of aspirants on the path of knowledge. With the passage of time, most of our Vedic knowledge has been scattered or lost completed. Vedic mathematics is no exception. Nonetheless, it is inspiring to observe that deep interest is being taken the world over in reviving the Vedic science.
The sixteen Vedic sutras provide a structured system which is capable of explaining almost any facet of the cosmos, both abstract as well as applied. These sutras in their philosophical interpretation even explain the functioning of human psychology. Thus, every effort should be made to rediscover this lost reservoir of knowledge and pass it on to our next generation.

Wisdom from Sri Sri's updates

Your faith, your love, your beauty, your truth is a 100 times more powerful than the doubt

You have Infinite Potentialities within You!!

Sri Sri Ravishankar's talk at the Confederation of Indian Industries at IIS, Bangalore, India, 2002

It is wonderful to hear that the students are taking a lot of initiative .When the institution moves with an idea to bridge wherever it feels to have some gap - among people, among ideologies, among sciences, among cultures; it needs to be welcomed. That’s what is needed today.

Humanity as a whole is part of one divinity. When I say part, I don’t mean they are apart. Science and Spirituality or Humanity are not apart at all. It is all looking at the reality from various different angles. In the Upanishad it is said, “Avidhyayam mrutyum teerthava vidyayam mrutamashmeta”. It is two sides of the same coin. Avidhya, doesn’t mean ignorance, Avidhya means the knowledge of the relative, of THIS. The knowledge of THIS takes you away from death and knowledge of ME, of the self, gives you immortality. It’s like saying either one thing that darkness vanishes, or by saying the other thing that light comes in. It cannot happen one after the other, it is a simultaneous happening. Darkness comes when light goes ; and light comes when darkness goes. It is a simultaneous happening.

Same with Humanity and Science; The Science is there for human beings, and science is understood by humans, animals don’t understand the science. So in that sense Humanity cannot be the perceiver, the observer cannot be separated from the seen or the observed. Science is all about the observed, about the seen and Humanity is about the seer. And now let’s see what the seer consists of. The seer consists of all that is abstract. Love, Beauty, Peace, Joy, Intelligence. And the seen consists of all matter including our own physical body, physical existence. This understanding is because of ‘Vivek’, discrimination, the seen and the seer.

Then seeing that the seen and the seer are all part of one whole. “What is this?”- is Science and “Who am I?” - is Spirituality or, if you want to call it as Humanity, its the same. ( may be lighter and a softer word! ) Spirituality looks a little up in the air, Humanity looks a little down on the earth. But it matters the same. It means the same. But when we think they are separate even while trying to bridge them up also, you know, we will keep them separate. All that we need to know and notice is that there is a link or that they’re all the same. In our ancient scriptures they have “Padhartha Gyanadh Moksha” They didn’t insist you must believe in God. One of the Darshanas, Vysashika Darshanas said this – ‘ padhartha ….’ That is : even if you understand or know one tiny particle of this creation, you will be liberated. Because in that one tiny particle of creation the entire creation is reflected, is present there.

The more we know Science, the more we know that we know very little. It leads us to a place that I know very little about the creation. The mystery deepens. And the same happens when you try to ponder upon “Who am I?” The deeper you go, you find you are much vaster than what you thought you were. So this is the unending mystery in both sides, if you go within or out, the mystery of the ‘Self’ and the mystery of the creation. And it is a welcome idea to ponder more on this, bringing in the dialogue. This dialogue would help us to understand THIS and ME better. THIS meaning, which creates the world around us and ME is the depth that you are. Very nice !

It is said that Vyas, formed the Humanities. I would like to tell you a story. {Are you all here? Is everyone here? You know, usually when you keep listening to some talk there is a tendency for the attention to go away. We take several coffee breaks in between. Unofficial, mental coffee breaks !! So I want you to be here.}

Here is the story about Ved Vyas. The creator created the world and Vedas then Ved Vyas was asked to categorize them, make them into proper curriculum for the people to study and he agreed. Because Vedas are infinite.( Veda means the knowledge and it is infinite)-there is no beginning to it and there is no end to it , he was asked to categorize them. Then he was shown, where was the Vedas. They showed a huge mountain-bigger than Himalays. Ved Vyas asked how much he could take? He went and took handfuls of .. just handful of that mountain. And from that one handful of mountain he created all the Vedas. He categorized them all. The Vedas were already present, it was not created. But he took just handful from that mountain and what did he make? He made the four Vedas - The Rig Veda, ten thousand verses-written by many thousands of Rishis; ‘Yajur Veda’, ‘Sam Veda’ and ‘Athurva Veda’. And then he made four Upavedas - the Ayurveda -science of life, all about medicines, herbalogy ; Dhanurveda, Sthapasyaveda - diagrams ; and Gandharva Veda –about music, phonetics (the origin of music ).

From the four Vedas which are more like Pure Science or abstract, came four Upavedas which are more practical and applied science, for day to day life. And then the six Darshanas (even more applied science): Vaishaishika, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta- these six applied sciences were derived from it. And then more humanities, more arts and science followed by the epics Ramayan and Mahabharat which have the cultural part or the heritage part .And then the Puranas. The word Purana indicates just the opposite what we think it means. In Hindi language also when we say purana we mean old. Purana in fact means “Puree Nava Ithi Purana”. That which is the new in the town is Purana. Pura means the town and nava means new. That which is new, the latest fashion is called purana. See, how over a time that has lost its whole meaning ( the meaning became different rotated by 180 degree !) So these aspects of humanity need to be brought into our awareness.

We need to be aware of our own selves, our body, our breath, our mind, how the mind works. In the gurukul as initiation ,the first thing a student was given was to make him realize Who you are and to get confidence in oneself . They called it ‘Brahmopadesh’. Brahmopadesh means what? The greatest advice, initiation. And what was said- You are not what you think you are. You are bigger than this whole universe. ‘Thou are that’ - you are that.! -That was the first knowledge imparted to a student before he could understand and study more. So increasing the capacity of a student to study more, to instill the confidence in him. the teacher would look into the eyes of the student and say, “Look, who do you think you are? You are not just somebody. You are more than that somebody you think you are. You have infinite possibilities , Potentiality in you. Wake up.

Wisdom from Sri Sri's updates

What Sri Sri said today (Aug 25th, 2009)

Lost and Found, by A.R. Natarajan

Ramana would repeatedly point out that the mind's natural state is of silence. It is only because of this that such strenuous effort is being made by everyone to control the mind when it is wayward or turbulent. Such effort for a quiet mind can be compared to medication to get rid of a headache. Because health is natural and ill health is not, even a mild ailment such as a headache is something we want to get rid of straightaway. Similarly, since silence is natural, looking for ways and means of attaining it is inescapable.The loss of our natural state of a restful mind and our happiness in discovering it again is illustrated by Ramana through stories which highlight the point. The first is the case of a woman wearing a necklace but imagining that she has lost it. Initially she searches in obvious places where she could have kept it. Then she searches every nook and corner of the house. Thereafter she proceeds to various friends and relatives and anxiously enquires whether she has left the necklace in their house when she had visited them. Finally a friend points out to her that she is wearing the very necklace, which she had been frantically looking for. She had 'created her own anxiety about the loss, and happiness at finding it'. One is unaware of the truth of one's inherent peaceful nature. Hence, means must be found to achieve the silent mind.

Another illustration referred to by Ramana is the case of ten foolish men who were to cross a river in spate. All of them had crossed to the other shore safely. However, to check up, they started counting. Each one counted the others leaving himself out and said 'I count only nine; sure enough we have lost one, who can that be?' So, they all agreed that one was lost but could not find out who it was and concluded that the 'missing' man was drowned. One of them burst into tears and the rest followed suit. Seeing the ten men weeping on the riverbank, a sympathetic passerby enquired for the cause. On hearing the story he counted and found that all the ten were before him, and could guess what had happened. In order to bring home the fact to each one that no one was lost, he said. Each of you count for yourself, but one after the other serially - one, two --- while I will give you a blow that all of you may be sure that you are included in the count and included only once. The tenth 'missing' man will be found'. Even at the very thought of finding their lost comrade, the ten men were very happy and excited. The passerby gave a blow to each of the ten in turn. 'Ten' said the last man as he got the last blow in his turn. Then, they looked at each other and shouted 'We are now ten'. They thanked the passerby heartily. Having stated this story, Ramana would point out that the tenth man was always there and was never lost. When the tenth man was properly counted, he was not a new man. Their grief was due to their ignorance and mistake in counting. Their joy was nonetheless real because they had found the 'lost', tenth man.

Peace of mind has to be striven for because we are ignorant of the truth in our present state, that peace is our very substratum.There is yet another illustration given by Ramana to underscore the same point. A man goes to sleep, in the old hall at Sri Ramanasramam. He dreams he has gone on a world tour, traveling in different countries and crossing continents. After many years of strenuous travels, he returns to India, reaches. Tiruvannamalai, enters Sri Ramanasramam and walks into the hall. Just at that moment, he wakes up and finds he has not moved an inch, but has been sleeping where he lay down. He has not returned after great effort but had always been in the hall. Similarly, having lost the awareness of the mind's inherent peace one has to find it again by appropriate effort.

Courtesy: OneIndia.com

Vedic perspective on environment

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Speaking-Tree/Vedic-perspective-on-environment/articleshow/4613346.cms

Vedas on Leprosy

According to the Vedas, Leprosy has been a prevalent disease since the ancient times.
Here is an interesting article which talks about it.

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/527/1