To become successful you need three things...

April 29, 2012
Norway

See one thing I want to tell you, don’t judge yourself too much.
We have this tendency, we judge our self too much, or we judge others.
Either you start blaming yourself, or you blame somebody else. Either you find you are not right, or you find someone else is not okay. You should wake up and stop judging.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. You are part of a phenomenon that is happening. Like there are trees, there are rivers, there are birds; like that you also are here.
So many birds are born, so many birds are dying. Isn’t it? So many trees are coming up and they all vanish. Like this, so many people, so many bodies have come and they will all vanish. And then new people will come and they will vanish.

This planet has been there for billions of years. See your life from a bigger context then you will stop blaming yourself. The first rule on the spiritual path is to stop blaming yourself, because whom so ever you blame, do you like to be with them? Do you like to be with someone you are unhappy with? No! So, if you blame yourself, you can’t be with yourself.

The first rule on the
spiritual path is to stop
blaming yourself. That does
not mean that you justify
all the mistakes you do.
It is not to justify
your mistake but recognize
your mistake and at the same
time, not blaming yourself.

Spirituality is an appointment with yourself.
If you keep blaming yourself, you can never keep an appointment with yourself. So the first law on the spiritual journey or path is to stop blaming yourself.
Now, don’t say, ’Oh! That means now I can blame others.’ No! Every time you have blamed somebody, when you see what you blamed them for, from a broader perspective, you will find that it was wrong and it was futile.
Now, when you found that your judgments were wrong, then very quickly you can start blaming yourself.
So, why I say don’t blame others is because if you blame others, it is going to re-bounce on you. You should not blame anybody.
I have not said one bad word to anybody all these 56 years. The worst that has come out of my mouth is ‘You stupid.’ Sometimes, when I was angry or upset, all that I said is, ’You stupid’, nothing more than this.
I have never blamed anyone or never said any bad words. It has not come out of me at all. I didn’t do anything to make it happen; it was naturally like that from the very beginning. I could never abuse anybody; verbal abuse or any other abuse.
When you pay attention to this, when you stop using bad words, your words gain the power to bless. And your blessings will work. Do you see what I am saying?

So, stop blaming yourself and stop blaming others. Things are the way they are, just move on and that is it. You know, sometimes people say, ’Oh! This person is a fraud. He is not genuine.’
But one should have some criteria to say, what is genuine and what is fraud. Many times, you don’t even have a criteria to judge somebody, you simply blame somebody, ’Oh! He is a fraud.’ And that’s it, finished.
This is an unconscious tendency that has developed in society to blame others, and to blame oneself and then feel guilty about it. And the spiritual journey is to remove this and reverse it.
It is such a delicate thing.
That does not mean that you justify all the mistakes you do. When you make some mistake, they you say, ‘Oh I am on the spiritual path, I cannot accept my mistake and I cannot blame myself. So whatever I did is right.’ No!
It is such a delicate balance. It is not to justify your mistake but recognize your mistake and at the same time, not blaming yourself.
If you don’t accept and recognize your mistakes you will never improve. That’s the end of the story. At the same time, if you recognize your mistake and you feel so guilty, and you keep blaming yourself, then also, it is a hopeless case. So, you need that very delicate balance. Walk on the razor’s edge, neither this side nor that side.

Q: If we are insignificant, then why are we using so much money, time, resources and energy on ourselves here at this course? Why should we become spiritual and all that if each one of us doesn’t even matter? Who are we helping by being good if they don’t matter either! 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do you need the answer for this question? It doesn’t matter either! Why are you bothered about this question? It doesn’t matter!

Listen; there are many levels of existence, but two levels of knowledge.
One is the applied knowledge, and the other is the pure knowledge.
Pure Science and Applied Science.
Pure science is what? In this room, everything is made up of wood. The sofa is wood, the table is wood, and the door is wood. So this is all wood. Everything is atoms, to be even more precise!
What is it? Everything is atoms!
So, everything is made up of wood, or everything is atoms – This is pure science.
But you can’t use the sofa as the door or the door as the sofa, even though everything is made up of atoms. Do you understand?

See, diamond and charcoal, they are made up of the same material. It is virtually the same. But, you can’t hang charcoal on your ears, and you can’t put diamonds in the stove, correct?!
So, they are different at one level. It is like saying that ice and water is the same, it is only H2O. But you can make tea out of water. You can’t make tea out of ice. Ice has to become water, only then you can make tea out of it. Isn’t it? So that is applied knowledge.

So, in pure knowledge, it is said that you are insignificant. Why? It is because suddenly you see your life in context with the universe.
That doesn’t mean you should not eat. If you are insignificant, then why exist? Why eat? Why sleep? Why do anything? Right?! You need to do all that, and so you need to be in the course also. Got it?

Being here what happens? The mind gets energized, the body gets energized and the knowledge gets lodged in you. So many things happen.

Q: Is it okay to cry during meditation and while resting? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is okay to cry. Once or twice it is okay but don’t encourage that habit all the time. Especially, when everyone is meditating and when there is stillness, it is better to observe those sensations and let it pass.

Q: Is it ok to take a little nap during day-time?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you have crossed 45 then yes, but not before.

Q: What if I don’t feel anything at all?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You feel emptiness? That is something!
You know, sometimes you want to feel. You hear about others’ experiences and you sit and you want to feel it, and that is when it doesn’t happen. Just let go of wanting to feel something. Are you with me?

See, an expectation or too much alertness puts you in the frontal lobe of the brain, and you are too alert. At that time, you can’t sleep, you can’t relax, and you can’t even go deep and experience something. So, that is one possibility.

Second, many of you have asked, ’What do I do, all the time I fall asleep.’
We must have deprived our system of sleep that was needed and so the body takes it. You will fall asleep very often if your sugar level is low or high, this is number one.
Second, if there is not enough prana in the system, then also you will fall asleep. So some pranayama will help. Just before meditation, a few deep breaths will help. And definitely look into the minerals and sugar levels in the body. Sometimes when you lack them then also you feel that dullness and you fall asleep.
Then another possibility is the body is so tired. There are times when you are tired and you feel sleepy, and sometimes you are tired and you can’t sleep.
How many of you have this experience? You are tired but you can’t sleep.
So in meditation these things get reversed, and that is one reason why you may just fall asleep during meditation. But never mind.

Q: Why is my head always singing?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t say always. I don’t think it is always singing. You must have used that part of your brain more, i.e., the right side of your brain, and so music comes to you naturally.

Life is a combination of
a fixed destiny and an
amount of free will also.
It is a combination of both.

Another alternative is to spend some time solving puzzles. Like crosswords, then you use the other side of the brain. You can sit down and count numbers; do some mathematics, or count money. Do those activities that will the balance the other side of the brain. Or read something, or listen to knowledge. 
Now you are listening to knowledge and your mind is not singing. So, reading, listening, counting, all this will help you to activate the left brain as well.

Q: We are all born with the breath and with all the knowledge inside. So, why is everybody not a Guru like you? Using the knowledge why have you become a Guru? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know in the grand design we all have come here with some grand plan. It is like – you do this, you do this and you do that.
See, when this building was built, all the material was kept somewhere. But, then the architect said, ‘The window will be here, and that will be the door, and that will be the roof.’ The architect planned everything and put it all there, right?
Similarly, that is how all our lives are!
A grand plan has said, ‘You will be born there, and you will be born there, and you will be born here.’
So, we all take birth in different parts of the world and at some particular time, we all come together here.
I tell you, it is so fascinating peeping into the reality. It is much more than what we consider here in this world. What we see here is only the tip of the iceberg, and we think this is what the whole world is.
We are like a frog that sits in a well and thinks this is the whole ocean. We live life very similar to that. If we wake up and see that the world is beyond the well, then many things open up to you and many things make sense.
So, in the subtle world all the plans are already done. If someone has to be a doctor, it is already done.
Now, you may ask me, ‘Then there is no free-will at all?’
I say, yes, there is! Life is a combination of a fixed destiny and an amount of free will also. It is a combination of both.

Q: My sister is mentally ill. She is really good at pulling our energy down and making us upset. I stay away from her, as much as I can. But she is very lonely. How to find the balance between responsibility for others and for yourself? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you know someone is a patient, don’t listen to them. Be with them with ear-plugs.
You get upset because you take their words and behavior inside your head. You should make your head foolproof so that you don’t absorb things from others, and help them whenever possible.
There is an ancient saying that says, ‘There is no giver of pleasure or pain.’
If you are suffering pain, it is your own doing; it is not that somebody has given it to you. And if you are enjoying, if you are joyful, that is also your own merits that is bringing you joy.
When you know this, you don’t blame someone else for your happiness or unhappiness. Because you get happiness from somebody, you tend to blame them for not giving it as often as you want. Are you getting what I am saying?
Why love turns into hatred? It is because you love somebody and they gave you so much pleasure, and then you are angry at them because you have become sort of a slave to that sensation. So when they don’t give you that pleasure you blame them, you are angry at them, you hate them, and the whole relationship goes away. Isn’t it? So, know that your joy and your happiness come to you on your own merit. Others are there only as postmen to deliver it to you. Thank them! Then you will always have a good relation with everybody around.

Q: Please bless me to find my way in life.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are already on your path! You are in the right place. I tell you. Relax!
See you only need to make an effort till you catch a train or a plane. Once you are in the plane, there is no point in running up and down the aisle. The plane is not going to reach any faster.
Just imagine, someone got into the train and they are running with the luggage saying, ‘I want to reach before everybody else.’
Just relax! Put your luggage down. You are on the path, you are into meditation.
If you have not learnt Sahaj Samadhi Meditation then learn it. Listen to Ashtavakra Gita.
How many of you have heard Ashtavakra here? Has it made a difference in your life? The others, who have not heard it, listen to it. You must hear it, and discuss it and dwell on it. Spending a few minutes in knowledge everyday is very useful.
You have the books, Celebrating Silence and Intimate note to a Sincere Seeker, take these books in your hands and keep flipping them around. It just changes your way of thinking, and your way of dealing with problems. This will definitely help you.

Q: If I don’t wish to keep contact with a person, how do I cut contact or let them know that I don’t wish to have contact with them anymore, without hurting them, but still being clear, loving and caring? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If you are suffering pain,
it is your own doing;
it is not that somebody
has given it to you.
And if you are enjoying, if
you are joyful, that is
also your own merits that
is bringing you joy.

You can always do that when you want to. It is not a big issue. 
You can very gently say this. 
You don’t have to say everything verbally. Life moves so fast, why do you have to yap, yap, yap? 
I feel like this today; I felt like that yesterday. Who cares about your feelings? Who cares about your joy? Life is moving at such a fast pace. The Earth is revolving so fast, it is going around the sun so fast. 
Everything is changing, leaves are falling and new leaves are coming. Who is counting how many leaves have fallen from a tree? So, why do you worry about how you feel or how you don’t feel? 
You should bundle all your feelings and throw them in the ocean, and relax. Who cares?! Your feelings change all the time. Isn’t that so? How many times have your feelings changed? How often have they changed? So what is the big deal about it? We make such a big issue of our feelings. 
I feel this, I feel that. Who cares? Just stand up! What you want to do in this world, just do it and just finish it. That’s it. Time runs like that. 
30 years of the Art of Living is done. We started Art of Living in 1982, but we started our organization a few months earlier. We registered our Ved Vigyan Maha Vidhya Peeth, Bangalore Ashram on 13 November 1981. 
What has happened? Already 30 years are over. In March 1982 we started the first basic course. We have already stepped into the 30th year. Time has gone! 
I think this is my 14th stop in this month. I have visited 14 cities around the globe, from 1st April to now. I see everywhere there is so much joy and enthusiasm.

There is no time to express our love or to express life, where is the time to sit and think how we feel, how we don’t feel. There is so much to do in the world and yet nothing to do. They go together. There is so much to do, and yet there is nothing you need to do. It’s all done; total fulfillment.

Q: Can the self exist without the other six layers of existence?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. Definitely! All other six layers are its own projection. Like the spider, it weaves the whole web from its own saliva. But, the spider can also exist without its web.
A consciousness has created all the layers, yet it can exist without any of those layers.

Q: I know the silence is about filling my batteries, but why do I get this lonely feeling? There is so much to share with so many people! 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This lonely feeling is only a temporary in-between phase.
You never felt lonely when you came to this world. You came alone. Even if you had come as twins, even then, it is as good as coming to this world alone. And when we go, we go alone from here.
If you sit and say, ‘I feel lonely, I feel lonely’, no! Drop that. Go deep into the feeling that there is no other.

Q: Guruji, how can I become successful and happy?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: To become successful you need three things.
1. Skill
2. Energy, and
3. Dynamism
If you have skill, you have energy and you don’t do anything, then you can’t be successful. And you simply doing things without having skill, then also it doesn’t work.
Also, if you have skill and dynamism, but don’t have the energy then also success will not come.
For success to come what is needed are skill, energy, and then dynamism. You have to be dynamic. You have to work hard. All three things are needed!
There are people who sit and plan and plan and plan. They spend all their life planning but don’t do anything.
Around 15 to 20 years ago, a youth used to come to our satsangs in Bangalore. And he would buy every month about 25 magazines on How to be successful and How to make money. And he would go on reading them, and go on planning, and every time he would come and say, ‘I have this great magazine, I got this great idea, please bless me.’ I said, ‘Okay! Go do it.’
The next week he would come with another magazine and ask the same type of blessing. One year passed by; I also had patience and thought one day he would start something. But he never started anything. He would only keep buying magazines, keep asking me for advice, and keep making big plans, typing it all on the computer and that is it. 

You should bundle all your
feelings and throw them in
the ocean, and relax! Who
cares?! Your feelings change
all the time. Isn’t that so?

We have 100 acres of land for agriculture at the Bangalore Ashram, and this other gentleman, he would sit on the computer and make all these plans of where he will sow which seed, and how he will cultivate. He was the Head of Department for Agriculture.
All other people at the Ashram would say, ‘He does agriculture only on the computer.’ 
He would sit in the room and plan. Never went to the field to sow the seeds. 

Similarly, this man was buying all these magazines and reading. One day, I called him and said, ‘Look, no more blessings. I do not want my blessings to go waste. Blessings will work only when you make an effort. So, you keep all these magazines aside. Don’t read or buy anymore magazines. Take up one thing and work on it, and you will be successful.’
Why I said this is because sometimes people with great idea don’t bring it into the practical field. And there are others who do a lot of hard work without thinking and without planning. They also can’t be successful. So you have to do both. 
Without blessings things don’t move, I know. Blessings are essential, but blessings alone will not work, because somebody has to do work as well. Yes! 
Work along with blessings, will make you successful. 
I would say, even after you do your hard work and you find success, the real success is in your confidence. The real success is how confident you are, how much you keep smiling, and how boldly you can walk. That indicates your success.

Q: I have done the Part 1 Course and the Art of Silence Program two times. I am doing seva from the last one year in my area. My area has no teacher, so can I become one? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Definitely! I want more and more teachers now. As many teachers as is possible because we need to cover a large population. How many of you here want to become teachers? Yes, you should all become teachers. You can do so much for people around. Very Good!

Your hankering for pleasure is causing depression in you.

Your hankering for pleasure is causing depression in you. Wake up and see all pleasures are momentary. How long will it stay? 5 to 10 minutes you find joy and then it’s gone!

October 15, 2011

(Below is the transcript of Satsang with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.You can watch the Live webcast of future satsangs)

Q: Guruji, we have focused a lot on the solar plexus this week, the solar plexus is also known as our second brain. You said it’s usually the size of an almond but it grows in size as we meditate. Can you comment on the importance of the solar plexus?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Solar plexus is the center of gravity of the body. Your body can be balanced with a stick on your solar plexus. It will balance. And all the functions of the brain are done by the solar plexus, so it’s important. Your emotions get locked up there. And I heard from a doctor, a scientist he said that the solar plexus is small, but in those who do yoga and who are yogis who do a lot of meditation, it really becomes much bigger, almost 3 or 4 times the normal size. So then you have control over your parasympathetic nervous system and all those things. Also much more control over your body, your senses and your mind. That’s what a very well known doctor said, and it is also the experience of many people.

Q: Guruji, many of us who are surrounded everyday by electronic devices, TV, Internet, cell phones; do they leave an impression on us? Do the electronic emanations from all the devises have a harmful effect on our spiritual life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes you can’t avoid them. Use them but don’t use them too much. You can have one or two televisions at home, but having it in the bathrooms?! I don’t consider it a wise thing to do. At least in one place you should leave your mind to be free. Don’t keep newspapers and magazines in toilets and bathrooms. (Laughing) We should limit our use of electronic devices. These days you cannot avoid them. There is radiation everywhere, there are TV towers everywhere, and there are telephone towers everywhere. You hardly find a place where there is less electromagnetic radiation. In the ashram there is no cell phone, it doesn’t work, even for me. In a way it is good. So you come to ashram, there is no cell phone in the ashram, finished! No cell phone communication for ten days. But still internet and other things are there.

Q: Dearest Guruji, I’ve been noticing in the midst of the course that I’ve been getting emotions of love, which then change to fear, to hatred and then to love again changing from one to another constantly. What can I do to keep my consciousness coming out of love only?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Take life in its totality. Don’t try to choose, relax. Got it? That’s a trick. Because you always say I want only love. Suppose it doesn’t happen, you get angry. You’ll start blaming yourself, start blaming others. You will start blaming the technique, so the best way is to be hollow and empty. Allow things to come the way it is coming and move on further. Just be aware of it and then move on further. Only love should come is not possible, unless you are so detached from everything. If you have total detachment then nothing but love comes from you. And to grow into that level is natural on the path. Once you’re on the path, in this knowledge, you’ll suddenly see you are growing. ‘Oh wow! This is it, this is it’, that awareness just comes up, isn’t it? Tell me for how many of you it’s already happening? See look at that, so many.

Q: Guruji, can you please talk about who your Guru was or is? And also the tradition of teachers that you come from, thank you!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have already spoken about it in a Guru Purnima talk, but another time we’ll talk about it.

Q: What is the significance of looking at the moon and then towards the beloved in the karva chauth offering?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See festivals are celebrated with significant events in the history. You celebrate Christmas because there is a significant event. People celebrate Eid because some day in the past something good happened on that day. So, like that we celebrate. So each festival has a story behind it or has an astrological significance. Like that, Karva Chauth is the 4th day after the full moon, where women fast the whole day for the well-being of their husbands and then they celebrate and eat. This is practiced and there are some stories behind that. Like Diwali, several stories are connected with Diwali, the festival of lights, one being the coming home of Lord Rama after 14 years of exile. Another story is how a wicked person who was bothering everyone was defeated and when he was defeated he was asked what your last wish is? He said that on this last day on which I am exiting this planet I want everyone to light lamp and get rid of darkness and celebrate my leaving this planet. See that’s a very good wish of someone who was like Hitler, who tortured people. Lord Krishna wife Satyabhama, she defeated him. He was so powerful that no man could defeat him, but when woman stood before him, he took it very lightly. What can this woman do? But really, the woman defeated him. Krishna’s first wife defeated him and Krishna was behind it. The name ‘Narakasura’, which means man of hell; this came because he created hell for everybody and he tortured people. So then he was asked, ‘what your last wish is now that you are dying?’ He said my exit should bring light into everyone’s life. So everybody should light a lamp, light as many lamps as possible, celebrate their life, forget all the bitterness and celebrate life and so Diwali came to be. So like that there are so many stories. Karva Chauth, there is one story. There was a King Satyavan and his wife was Savitri. He lost everything and he lost his life also. When death came to take him she prayed and her sankalpa was so strong that she brought him back to life. The soul which left the body came back to life again. So that is known for Karva Chauth. And there are so many mythological stories. She said sun will not come and sun did not come for that many hours, whatever. Something like that, there are many stories. So Karva Chauth is one other festival. Celebrate, doesn’t matter for what; fast and then feast. That’s all life is about. Isn’t it?

Q: Dear Guruji, I have had thoughts of suicide many times in my life. Please help me. What happens if one commits suicide?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh ho! Suicide is the most foolish thing a person can ever do. It’s like someone is shivering in the cold and they went out and removed their jackets. What do you call them? Foolish! You are already so cold. You are feeling cold in a heated auditorium, in a heated hall and you go out and say, ’I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m cold’, and remove all your jackets. Leather jackets, your t-shirts, and your inner garments, everything you are throwing out. Will the cold become any less? No! People who commit suicide find themselves there because they are so attached to life. They are so attached to some pleasure, so attached to some fun and joy that they want to kill themselves. So when they kill themselves they find themselves in a bigger soup. ‘Oh my God, this restlessness, these desires which has created such an intense agony inside has not gone. Body has gone but the agony has remained’. It’s only through the body that you can dispel the agony; you can get rid of misery. Instead you destroy the very instrument by which you can get rid of agony. That is why this knowledge is so important. If people do pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, meditation they will realize that, I’m not the body. So what? What is it that I’m hankering for in life? Hankering for love? Attention? Money? Pleasure? What is it that you are hankering? These hankering are boiling desires and it’s creating this foolish idea inside you to commit suicide. Dedicate your life for social cause, for some higher cause. If you feel you have to commit suicide, I tell you I need you to do my work, (clapping) so you better stay back. When you think only about yourself, me, me, me, me, what about me, then this is what happens. Depression comes in. Forget about yourself, you die for a cause but don’t kill yourself. It’s worth dedicating your life for something higher. I need you. You come here do work there is so much work to be done; help me out. Know that you are useful to me. At least if everyone else says you are useless remember, no I am here born at this time because I have to be, I have some use and Guruji needs me, so I’m not going to commit suicide. Got it?! So, do my work, if you cannot do yoga, meditation, then sweat and do my work. And I have lots of work that I can give you. I can give some work for the entire nations and entire population. I have plenty of work to do. So whatever you need, a square meal I will provide you. You need a roof above you, I’ll provide you. I guarantee you, but don’t kill yourself. The human body is so precious you know! After so many different lives and different bodies we get human body, human birth. Being a frog, a scorpion, and being a chicken somewhere, being a mouse somewhere in some hole, and after being a cat jumping around here and there and a dog somewhere, and a bird somewhere, and worm somewhere, then you get a human life after going through all those births. It’s so precious. Your hankering for pleasure is causing depression in you. Wake up and see all pleasures are momentary. How long will it stay? See they are so momentary, 5 to 10 minutes you find joy in them and it’s gone. Then what other things do you hanker about? Some people appreciating you? My dears it has no meaning. People may appreciate you in front of you; behind you they may feel jealous about you. That’s what happens. They praise criticize you today, tomorrow they criticize you. So what? Do you see what I’m saying? What are you hankering for? Appreciation from people? What is appreciation? Just a few thoughts that are passing their mind and you think they are going to do it forever? They have limitations. So what? Good comments come; some people have bad comments, so what. They criticize you, so what? Those who criticize you are also going to die, so what? All finished! And you the one being criticized will also die one day. Why are we so much bothered about adulations, somebody’s appreciation, or criticism? Why can’t we just be our self? You know it takes such a big load off our head, not being bothered by anybody’s criticism, anybody’s adulations we are just ourselves, natural. If you live so lightly where is the question of depression? Do you see what I’m saying? So those who get these thoughts of committing suicide, it is just your prana which is low, so do more pranayama and dedicate your life to a higher cause. There are millions of people who are suffering more than you, look at them. When your suffering becomes smaller you will never think that you want to commit suicide, number one. Second, you know that you are needed, you are useful. You have to do something in the world. Know that. Third is, forget about what people think about you. People commit suicide because they think they lose their prestige, their status. What status? What is prestige? Who has time? Everybody is entangled in their own problems, their own mind. They can’t step out of their own mind. Where they have time to think about you? You know I remember a case of a very respectable lady in India, she was very proud about her family and her children. Her son went and married a girl from a lower class, lower strata of society. They are from a higher class and much wealthier and he married a girl from a very poor area and it was not a match because her shape and look was very different than him. It was very different. So the mother got so upset, so upset she said how can I go meet anybody. I cannot see anybody. And she went into such depression. I called her one day and told her, ‘look, who has the time to think about you?’ The whole time she was like, ‘how can I show my face to others?’ ‘How can I go to others weddings? They will all make fun of me’. I said, ‘who has time for you? It’s all in your head.’ She would not go to any other party, anybody’s wedding, nothing. She would sit in her own house; blame herself or her daughter-in-law or son for being very miserable. I told her, ‘no! You get up and go.’ You know it just needs that little push. Once she started going she found suddenly, she realized that yes, I was just caught in my own maya of my own mind. Everyone welcomed her properly, there was no need to put her head down and melt in such shame. These types of tendencies come because you think others are going to disrespect you. Many people do this. Honor killing that happens in Pakistan and other places, it’s horrible. Honor killing is not because God is going to be angry at you. It is, ‘how to face the society, how to face people around you?’ This is what bothers many people and they commit suicide. I tell you it is worthless; what the society thinks of you is useless. Recently it did happen, that one monk, a Swami wanted to marry. I said, ‘yes, you can marry, no problem. I don’t mind what people think, don’t worry what people think. If you want to marry you marry.’ But I said, ‘you don’t remain a Swami. You should write a one line letter that I don’t want to be swami because this life, monastic life is very difficult for me. So I would like to renounce this and not be a swami’, and everyone will accept. There is no problem. It’s okay he couldn’t be a monk he married, so what? But he said, ‘no, no, I want to keep it secret. I want to be a Swami and also live somewhere else in Europe secretly, six months there and six months here.’ I said, ‘I won’t like that. I would not let anyone deceive anybody else. This is deception. On one hand you pose to be a Swami and on the other hand you want to keep it a secret.’ I said, ‘I will not talk about that. Why you are worried what people think about it? Do you see what I’m saying? These are the things that because a person inner anxiety so natural and be open.’ I don’t find it is difficult, I find it’s the easiest.

Q: What if somebody commits suicide not because they are upset but because their body is in a suffering state?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Someone commits suicide because the body is in a suffering state that is okay. Suppose somebody is in deep, deep coma or has incurable diseases or something where the body is a big, big botheration. Then I would say it is okay, that is my personal opinion. But even then it is not the best because anyway you have to finish that karma. Why not just prolong it, whatever another 6 months suffering. There’s no need even there to commit suicide. But those people who go like that they come for short period to experience that period you know. That is the aborted children or children who are born dead. Sometimes these people have those sort of karmas in which in a short period they come to the world and they go and then come back again. But mainly we must realize that suicide is the worst thing and we need to help people who have that mentality. That is one of the major reasons that we should conduct Art of Living programs as much as possible. Wherever we can conduct that we should do. At least now they have something to hold on to. Do you see what I’m saying? When it starts, the breathing (Guruji breathing) and couple of bhastrika, it’s all gone! (Clapping)

Q: Jai Gurudev, can a Guru change the karma of a disciple? Basically stop something from happening or change the course of one’s life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, knowledge and wisdom is that which change the karma. You should read Celebrating Silence, Intimate Notes to the Sincere Seeker. The very first one I spoke about karma. Seven years we did it every week. Once every week we did the knowledge for seven years. I would send it to all the satsang groups. There is so much knowledge. Three hundred and sixty five days of knowledge sheets. You must use that, you must read that. You see what I’m saying? One knowledge sheet per day, that’s profound.

Q: Dear Guruji, is there anything in reality called negative energy or negative vibes from other people that can affect us? I have a tendency to fear certain people whom I think pass on these negative energies to me.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, in the absolute sense, no but in relative sense there is. You can feel those things but it is not a permanent thing. It is limited by time. Like smoke comes; smoke is not a permanent thing. Smoke you could find in somebody’s farm when they are burning the leaves then smoke comes. But it’s not going to be there forever, you are not going to live amidst smoke 24 hours. Smoke comes and it vanishes. When fog comes, planes wait for that little time. Once the fog is clear the planes take off. You think planes are worried about the fog? No. It’s just matter of time. Similarly some negative energy comes, you feel it, you feel upset, you feel something in the stomach, you feel something in the body but it’s only for a few minutes and it just goes away. See it goes even faster with a few pranayamas, bhastrika and mediation. All this will chase away those negative vibes. Why do you have to be worried about negative vibes? You should never be paranoid about negative vibes. Negative vibes are just like passing smoke or fog. You know of course in L.A. there is smog but the people don’t leave L.A. The city is not deserted. Millions of people live there. It just comes for a while and then disappears. And negative vibes don’t even come as regularly as the smog in L.A. They just are there for a few minutes, at the most few hours and then they go. And you have the key to get rid of them. Excellent! And one more thing is salt. Bathing in salt or putting salt in the bathtub can also take away any negativity. You know why people feel so happy in the ocean? Because there is salt in the water that cleanses the subtle and not just the gross. But when there is mantra chanting it’s even more powerful than the ozone or salt in water. That’s the strange thing in India. You will find the beaches are empty, nobody goes to the beach. Do you know this? Nobody goes. Even if you go to Bali, the Balinese people are not fond of the beach. They don’t go to. Only tourists go into beaches. Same in India, you will find local people do not go to beach. It’s not a favorite spot. Maybe in evening they may just take a walk. If you are in Chennai it gets very hot so you get little breeze. They are not fond of salt water, going into ocean. People seldom do because there is no inner craving, that it gives more than the inland. Are you getting what I’m saying? You already get so much energy so your system doesn’t crave to go near the ocean or take a swim in the ocean to feel better because on the land mantra chanting has been happening for millenniums, for ages. So it’s still vibrant. So prana is already high. It’s not especially high along the coast.

Q: Dear Guruji, is organizing more and more courses and growing the organization the main goal of Art of Living or is it being loving to other people? Some teachers get lost in advertising, PR, so much that they become so much like business people rather than exponents of your love. They don’t represent you well even an iota but they do represent Art of Living. What can be done to balance this out?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It’s good. In the TRM (Teacher’s Refresher Meet) let the teachers sit and brainstorm and see what they can do. This is good; you need to balance, yes. You need to speak the language of the society at the same time the essence should not be lost, isn’t it! You know what is very difficult is to put Art of Living in one category; very difficult. You know why? Because it is such a heterogeneous group, it is not a homogenous group. Not everybody is alike, not everybody is same. It is so heterogeneous that you find the most educated and the completely uneducated. You find the worst case and the best case also and you find people who have just come out of prison too. You find people of all strata here. People completely cuckoo will also be part of Art of Living. And if you see four or five of them who are cuckoo you can’t say, ‘oh Art of Living is all cuckoo’. And you can’t say, ‘Art of Living is full of executive like people.’ No! Here we have the cuckoos as well as executives. An executive is also here. We welcome everyone. And you know I am caught here because the first thing I said, ’Accept people as they are’. (Laughing) And we have all sorts of specimens. Sometimes people ask me, where did you get this bunch of nuts? Its assorted nuts, we have all of them and we are tied up with them, and that’s it, we can’t do anything about it. Because I’m tied up with my own first course point, ‘accept people’, you know. I’ve never preached anything that I’ve not practiced. This is a fundamental thing. One thing for sure is never say anything that is not in your experience or which you’ve not practiced, simple. So you can never ever put Art of Living in one category. You can’t say Art of Living is all good people. No there are crooks also. And I tolerate them so that they can become better. If I also send the crooks away, where will they go and become better. I don’t see a better place. If I see a better place it would be a great relief for me. But so far I have not found any. If you find somewhere, someplace, tell me. I can pick them all and then show them the way there. So there are crooks. In the name of Art of Living there are people who try to be selfish and do things. But fortunately their numbers are insignificant, minimal. There are a few here and there that there is no doubt. So there are all types of people. So we must acknowledge that this is most heterogeneous group or place. So anyone holding any such concept in their mind, tell them you are mistaken. Saying, ‘oh all are bad, you are mistaken in that’. It’s in your head. All are bad? Impossible! Same with the society, whatever is society is what we are. In the society, it’s not that everyone is bad or everyone is good. There are all types of people out there, right? There is a proverb you must remember it’s a very nice proverb. When we were in school we learned it, even before we were teens we learned these things. ‘Adore the wicked first, and then thank the good man for the wicked is teaching you at his own cost and the wise are only teaching you.’ So the wise that is teaching you is not teaching at his own cost, but the wicked is going down, falling into a pit and warning you, you better not fall. So you should first thank the wicked and then the wise. This was a couplet we used to learn in school. It is so, so good. It brings that acceptance inside you. It shields you from getting paranoid and angry. Do you see what I’m saying? Either you are paranoid about someone who is bad or you are angry. And then you become worse than someone whom you think is no good. But when you know that they are teaching you some lesson, warning you what you should not do. It is such a shield, such a relief for your spirit to glow in its splendor. What do you think? It keeps the mind so clean.

Q: Guruji is it alright to do Reiki or other healing techniques on yourself or other people? I’ve heard that some healing techniques pass on the healer’s karma or create a spiritual debt. Can you speak more about this? Thank you.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it does. It’s okay, sometimes you can do Reiki, it doesn’t matter. But I would say just meditate and bless, that is better. Blessing doesn’t bring you any karma, it keeps you free.

Q: Guruji I’m waking up in the middle of this course and discovering that I have played the role of a victim throughout most of my life. How can I step out of this role and not fall into it again.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You have already done it now. By not wanting to be a victim, you are already not a victim anymore. Got it? You know, when you go out to vote, you have already voted, so relax. You know, I’ve seen people ask, ’How? How? How? How?’, A student keeps asking and the teacher keep saying, ’Do! Do! Do! Do!’, and both the student is tired and teacher is tired. ’How? What I should do? What I should do?’ And teacher says, ‘Do this! This! This! This! This!’ So you have to do this and this and this and this but oh my God! But then, ’How? How? How? How? How?’ (Laughing). Relax. Don’t ask me how? (Laughing) Then I’ll be in trouble. You are in the train and train is moving. You are in the flight and the flight has taken off. No point in running in the flight from this end to that end, you are not going to reach any faster. Got it? Did you get the clue? Relax!

Q: You’ve said that many souls take bodies to cleanse themselves, to purify themselves for some other purpose of growth. Are there other reasons that people take bodies? And how did you choose this life or this body for this lifetime?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, one is you come to cleanse yourself. Another is you come to cleanse others. Two options; One is you’re a prisoner and you experience your sentence, whatever 6 months, 8 months, 2 years, 3 years or 20 years life imprisonment. Another is you are a jailer and take care of them and bring them out. These are the two options that I know of. And how you choose your parents depends on the energy field that you are. When someone leaves the body the last thought matters. If the last thought is about chicken you will find yourself in the poultry farm. So there are many stories in India about what your last thought should be. It should be of something wonderful, of service, of love, of compassion or something bigger. Think about God; think about some generous act or good people. And also first thing in the morning, there is a word in India which is very commonly used, ‘Pratha Smarana’. Pratha smarana means one who is worth remembering first thing in the morning. You know don’t remember your enemies in the morning, but remember the wise people. So you should aim at becoming pratha smarana. Everyone should become the one that could be remembered first thing in the morning so that everyone feels fresh and energetic the whole day. That’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?! That word is so beautifully called; people whom you can remember in the morning. And whomsoever you remember in the morning, the same person you’ll remember last in the night also. So whatever is your last thought in the night will be the first thought in the morning. I think this is in all traditions. Just before going to bed, mums tell the kids to pray, isn’t it? Pray before going to bed. It’s an ancient tradition all over the world I suppose. Just pray, think about nice things when you go to bed. And when you wake up first thing look at your hands and what do you say? ‘Oh let me do good things from my hands this morning’. You look at it feel let my luck be good, let my lines be favorable and let me do good things. Let there be knowledge, let there be good work happening, let there be good wealth coming to my hands; this is the Morning Prayer. The old ancient Vedic prayer is. ‘God of the wealth is in the beginning of my palm, residing in my palm. God of wisdom is residing in my palm. God’s valor is residing in my own palm. So let the good things happen through me’. This is how we are supposed to wake up and look at our hands.

Blame and Misery - Knowledge Sheet 42

Wisdom from Sri Sri's updates

Your body belongs to this world & the world will take care of it, You belong to the Divine & the Divine will take care of you

Blame is what you call that criticism which you cannot accept.