Depressed? Here is a solution

Q: How do we balance our material and spiritual lives?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do you know how to ride a bicycle? How do you balance it? Balance your life in the same way. Take both of them together in life. 

When the focus is too much on spirituality, I will say that you need to take care of the responsibilities at home. If you drown yourself in material activities and neglect your health, I will tell you not to get stuck in this mud and to start doing your spiritual practices.

 

 

When the mind is full of
doubts or is depressed,
it means that the level of
prana has come down.
When the level of prana
goes down, doubts arise
and we become sad.
So, the remedy is to
increase the prana level,
through pranayama,
proper food, exercise,
singing and fasting.

 

 

When you watch television, can you say, ‘I will first see and then listen?’
Some people say, ‘I will finish all my worldly activities and then come to spirituality.’
I tell you, it never happens. Both should go together. Both are needed in life.
We need peace of mind, love and joy, and we also need to take care of our responsibilities in life.

Q: When the mind is full of doubts or depressed, how do I convince myself that the fears that come up are not true?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When the mind is full of doubts or is depressed, it means that the level of prana has come down. When the level of prana goes down, doubts arise and we become sad. So, the remedy is to increase the prana level, through pranayama, proper food, exercise, singing and fasting.
Go on a fruit diet for a few days. We keep on stuffing ourselves with food, even if we are not hungry.

Q: My twenty four year old son went into depression and committed suicide three months ago. The thought that I could have understood him better and saved him is haunting me.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There are so many such youth who are committing suicide in Karnataka and in our country. His life span was only this much. Do not spoil your health by worrying about it.
Work towards bringing youth to this path where there is singing (Gaan), knowledge (Gyan) and meditation (Dhyan), and bring a new light in their lives.

Q: My husband has been diagnosed with a tumor in his lung. Doctors are saying that it could be cancerous. 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Let him do pranayama, and also use the Shakti drops. Shakti drops improve the immune system.

Yesterday, an oncologist mentioned that they had done research on three to four patients, and observed that with the use of Shakti drops, the cancer cells dropped by forty percent in just forty-eight hours.
They are going to do further research. We cannot claim it right away, but they were so encouraged to take up this research.
Many people have been benefitted with Shakti drops. You all should use it.

Q: Gurudev, according to you, what are the basic priorities in a student life, other than studying?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The basic priority is to be studious and study well.
Second, have one vision for yourself, and one vision for the country.

Q: Gurudev, can you please throw some light on the recently discovered God particle?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In the discovery of the God particle, the scientists say that the entire universe is made up of one substance, one thing, and the one thing then became many.

Vedanta also says the same thing. In the olden days, they said that the whole universe is made up of one consciousness. One consciousness manifests itself into many.
It is similar to how you prepare bread, roti, samosa and halwa from the same wheat.

The universe is so diverse, but yet, it is made up of one vibration, one consciousness, and that is what they call the God particle.
It is that one thing from which all these multitudes of creation has come up.

 

 

When the focus is too
much on spirituality,
I will say that you need
to take care of the
responsibilities at home.
If you drown yourself in
material activities, I will
tell you not to get stuck in
this mud and to start doing
your spiritual practices.

 

 

Q: In olden days, sages used to sit on animal skins for meditation. However, when we do the Sudarshan Kriya, we are told to take out all leather articles. Why is it so?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In olden days, they used only the skin of deer. Also, they used the skin from deer that died natural deaths.
They did not have cushions earlier, so they used the skin of deer.
There are other reasons for not using dead skin. You will get to know them if you do the Teachers Training Course.

Q: Can we talk to souls who have departed from earth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First, connect with those who are alive! This in itself is a big task!
There are so many languages in India which makes communication so difficult.
Yes, there are ways to connect with departed souls. Meditate, and that channel will open up too.

Q: The Vishalakshi Mantap is very beautiful. I feel very happy to see it. Can you please tell us a little more about it? Is the building in conformation with Vaastu Shastra?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I just prepared a sketch of how it should look like. There is no big architect for this building.
Yes, when the Vaastu experts checked the building, they said that the building has been designed well, and conforms to the rules of Vaastu Shastra

*Must Read* There is no short cut for making money

April 02, 2012

World Forum for Ethics in Business (Singapore)

What is most essential today are role models. Young entrepreneurs need to see role models; industries which have ethical practices, which are fair and which have corporate social responsibilities. This can happen and in fact this should happen, for there are ample number of businesses who have grown steadily following code of conduct and ethics. They only need to be highlighted and that is the main purpose of this forum, to highlight such businesses, which can be role models for the coming generations to be ethical in their practices.

You know, one can gain money in many ways, but one cannot gain good sleep in many ways. A good sleep and inner comfort will only come when you feel everything is clean; everything is straight forward. When there is transparency, clarity and sincerity.

Usually I recommend meals and meditation for everyone in the afternoon, in companies, in factories, etc. I would recommend people to meditate for 10 minutes to 20 minutes and share a meal together. You will find such coherence in the group. You will feel like working together, team spirit gets built up, creative ideas come up. So it is always good to have food together.

That is all! I believe in talking less and doing more. So, I have said what I need to say. If you have some questions, I shall take them.

Q: Earlier we had a very interesting discussion around ‘redefining the self interest’. Could you once again say something about that. 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, self interest is very important. On a long term basis, you need to know that if you go about doing things in unethical ways for short term gains, then you are putting yourself into a risk of long term disaster. Then you are not doing it in self interest. It is actually self disaster. It may appear to be self interest, but in fact it will turn out to be self disaster.
Another angle I would say, in yourself, include more people, include the society also. When you say self, you think about only yourself, or your employees, or your company. Now, your company cannot stay on if there is no sustainable growth in the society. If there is no buying power in people, there is no point in you manufacturing so many things. Nobody has the power to buy them. What do you do? So, you need to in your self interest also keep in mind the buying power of the people. This is equally important as the manufacturing power that you want to possess. So this buying power of people also gets included in your self interest.
I think that is one good way to look at one's self interest in terms of the whole society.

Q: I teach leadership, particularly public leadership and am very interested in helping people when they are faced with pragmatism and corruption, how to make decisions. How do you make decisions on a bigger scale and how do you make sort of personal decisions in terms of contentment.
Could you advise on how to help people with these kinds of decisions, be it for inner contentment or decisions around pragmatism? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You just need to expand their vision. ‘Come on, wake up and see what you want to do. You want to evade taxes only to be caught again next year, and then you will have to pay fine. Or do you want to pay your taxes? Pay and move on.’
You know, this vision, this idea needs to be given to them.
Sustained development and sustained growth is possible when you feel clear from within yourself. This is the first point.

Second is, there is no short cut for making money. This point we need to drive in to the entrepreneurs; especially the young entrepreneurs. They just want short ways to get richer and richer, and then they have the risk of a big fall. This education is very important.
I see a big difference in the society; the attitude of the people today is very different from that which was five to ten years ago because today we see many of these entrepreneurs, in many companies that grew very fast and then simply collapsed. So nobody wants to be counted in that list. These examples have helped people to not walk in that wrong path.

Q: In this world of stress, violence and corruption, what is your message for youths starting out in business? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We must know that not the whole world is corrupt. There are a few people who indulge in corruption.
We must also remember that corruption begins where the sense of belongingness ends. This is what we should note. Nobody can do corrupt practices with those whom they think belong to them. Wherever there is sense of belongingness, corruption becomes simply impossible.
Corruption begins where sense of belongingness ends. So you need to educate people in values where the sense of belongingness is extended. This is what I call spirituality.
Spirituality is that which enhances the sense of belongingness among people, so there is that natural tendency to be honest and to care for each other.
Corruption simply becomes impossible in these cases.

Q: Guruji! We discussed about ethics, morals and personal interests. My feeling is that there should be a certain amount of spiritualism in evey human being, irrelevant of their religion. Some principles in mind that would help one think along the moral or ethical lines. Only then will one be fair and square. What are your feelings? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I want to give you an example. You know when there is a crowd there always are thefts, especially in countries like India. When there is big crowd, there are thefts. But, when the Kumbh Mela (mass Hindu pilgrimage at the river Ganges) happens, where 30 million people assemble in one place, not a single theft is reported. Why? Because there is some sacredness, some religiosity, and there is some feeling, ‘Oh! I have come for a pilgrimage!’ People just keep their things, keep their laptops and just move or walk around, and nobody would steal them, which is unthinkable otherwise.
Otherwise, even if you keep an old spectacle somewhere unattended, that would be stolen; your slippers would be stolen. And in a Kumbh Mela your laptop is also not stolen, it is an amazement!
Sense of giving, contributing to others, reigns more.

I would like to tell you of an incident. It was a very cold winter day in January in Allahabad; it was very cold, nearly zero or minus one degrees. So, at the night I set out with fifty of my volunteers to distribute blankets. There were some very poor people, who had come from far off to take a pilgrimage there and to take a dip in the Ganges there. They didn't have enough amenities. So we were giving out blankets to very poor people.
A boy was standing under the bridge and he was shivering. He was about 20 or 22, something like that. When we offered a blanket to him, he said, ‘No, I don't need it tonight. I will manage tonight. But you know there are those old ladies under the bridge, some elderly people. They would make better use of this blanket. Please give them.’ He pointed towards them, ‘You see, 500 meters away, there are these elderly people, please give there. They deserve it more, I can manage. I am young.’
You know this sense of caring for others, really touched me. This boy is also with the T-shirt, he is shivering there, but, he says, ’No! Care for them first. If anything is left, I shall take it.’ That sense of caring for each other is amazing and especially in poor people this is already there.
So, ethics, or spirituality, brings out the good qualities, the humane qualities that we all have. It just needs to be brought to the surface.

Three months ago the Police Commissioner of North West Delhi invited one of our teachers. He told him that he has about 350 rowdy-sheeters.
Do you know what rowdy-sheeters are? They are the anti-social elements who do robberies and other mischief. You cannot really put them behind the bars, but they are a nuisance to society. You call them goons in the society.
So the Commissioner put them all together, around 350 of them and he called our teacher and asked him if he could do something about them. He wanted to bring about some ethics or spirituality in them. It was very tough to deal with these people, but in 6 days what a big transformation happened in them. We spent two or three hours each day with them, and we took a few minutes of meditation, some breathing exercise, a few talks, and after 6 days they were totally transformed. The same anti-social elements started doing cleaning campaign, health awareness campaigns, and the crime rate in North West Delhi fell by 90%.
Of course the Police Commissioner was extremely thrilled and said, ‘Why don’t we do this all over.’
We said, ‘Yes, we are all the more ready to do it.’

See nobody teaches one how to get rid of stress. It does not go away by talking or advising. You need to teach them some techniques, some tools or mechanisms to get rid of stress and calm the mind. You need make them think from a calm and collected mind, this is essential. So we did the same thing in Panama also.
In Chicago, in many schools where the incidents of violence were very high, we taught them the breathing exercises and meditation. After we taught them, the number of violence incidents in class rooms reduced from 268 to just 60.
The education department was very thrilled. So finally we could do something about violence and something about stress. Bringing people back to themselves.
I think our education system should inculcate ways to release stress. Stress is such a common thing. I usually call it a mental hygiene. We teach dental hygiene, but forget to teach them mental hygiene. We need to teach children right from school and college days on how to keep their mind sane and not go insane due to stress and anxiety.

30% of Europe is reeling under depression today; I don’t know what the percentage of depression in Singapore is. May not be that high, about 20% people are depressed. This was not the case a few years ago, right. The stronger we are growing economically,we shouldn’t be facing these problems. But in fact we are. That is why we need to educate our people in spiritual values, what do you think?
Don’t you think so? Spirituality is something that helps you to be centered in all occasions; spirituality is not just sitting and following a religious practice, but to see life from a broader perspective. Of course religion is part of one’s life but spirituality is a little different. It is to see one’s own life with values and with a broader vision.

Q: Many counties in the world, they respect greed as good culture. We have been fortunate here in Singapore because our government tries to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor by intervention. But that is not the case in other counties. Guruji, coming to your teachings and the work of the Art of Living, and as volunteers we can participate in this. But, it is still a huge challenge, because we live in a society which is ruled by a system of laws and government policies, where greed, making profit, becoming a billionaire, are upheld as the values for human existence.
So please explain and give us some divine guidance.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, entrepreneurship and competition is very good. They are needed in society. But not following the rules of the game and trying to win a game without following the rules of the game will be disastrous.
So, one can be greedy to get a desired result, but not at any cost. Do you see what I am saying? You know, you should eat as much as you can. You want to eat, you eat. But, don't succumb to Bulimia, where you can't stop eating and you have to be throwing out in order to eat.
That explains very well, the disease Bulimia.
So, I am not against entrepreneurship, I am not against companies making huge profits. Get as much profit as you can, but ethically. And also the more profit you make, the more you should invest in the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Do social work.
So, if that could be managed, then the business that you have started will go on. Otherwise it is very easy to go up fast and come down fast. And that is what the past years have taught people. Today people have become aware of that.

Karma is very interesting and very strange

July 12, 2012; Bad Antogast, Germany

Q: Guruji, please give us Gyaan (knowledge)? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For that you have to ask questions. Knowledge means you have to pull it out.

Q: What happens after death?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What happens after death is the mind gets freed from the body, the spirit. The mind has memory and intelligence, so these two things become like a balloon. The karma, the deepest impressions form a balloon. It is like in sleep.
Death is nothing but a long sleep. Before going to sleep, see the last thought that you get, and as soon as you wake up, see what is the first thought that comes. Have you noticed? It will variably be the same though. 

Love is indescribable. You
can’t describe it. And there
is not a creature on this
planet which doesn’t know
it. Wherever there is a force,
or there is energy, or a pull,
or attraction, you call it love.
And where there is repulsion
that is also love in the opposite
direction.

So the physical body decays and the pranic body with all the impressions forms a balloon and leaves the body and hangs around.
Don’t imagine a balloon hanging around! It is a light; an energy.

I will give you the best example. In a television station, they conduct a program and then they transmit it through the dish and the program remains in the atmosphere – it is the same way.
When you send an email from the computer, you type all the letters and then you press the send button. What happens? It goes into the space. Does your email remain in the space till it is downloaded? Even after several days you can download your email. Even one year later or ten years later you can download an email. There is no expiry date, isn’t that so. It is not like those greeting cards which sometimes people send you that expire in 24 hours.
The messages or letters you send don’t hang as letters in the space, it remains in the space as energy.
Like that every soul is a particular frequency and every thumb is different because a thumb is like a particular cell phone chip.

So after death, every individual energy stays, and the impressions it has taken, accordingly to that it experiences those stages there. But then after sometime that soul comes back.
The soul enters the body at three times – this is all a secret. It is called the birth secret and death secret.
So the soul enters at the moment of conception, or it enters in the fifth month, or at the time of birth. So the three sections are there, but there is no way to determine when it enters.
So if at conception time it comes then what one should do to care for that?
Keep yourself happy. Usually pregnant women are kept very happy in India. Whatever she wants is provided to her.
I would say, don’t watch all these violent movies, and scary songs, and scary things. Generally light flute music would be good because it is soothing. It is good to listen to music, knowledge and wisdom. All these things would be preferable.
The soul also chooses where to be born, the place to come. According to its wish it will just come there.

Q: What is love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The basis of all existence.
All the cells in your body love each other, that is why they are together. The day they stop loving each other, it all disintegrates. Got it?
If there is one substances by which everything is held together and you want to give it a name, you can call it love. Love is not all wiggly wiggly and mushy mushy, ‘Oh I can’t live without you, I love you so much’, and so on. It is not that. That is just an emotional something. Love means (silence)… that is it.
Love is indescribable. You can’t describe it. And there is not a creature on this planet which doesn’t know it. Got it?
From the sea to the birds, from a chicken to an enlightened person, everybody has experienced love. Love for life is what we think it is, but life itself is love. So see through this knowledge that this whole universe is love.
Love is an existence not just an emotion. Emotion is also love, but the existence itself is love.
The Earth loves the Sun that is why it keeps going around the sun. The Moon loves Earth that is why the Moon goes around the Earth. Wherever there is a force or there is energy or a pull or attraction, you call it love. And where there is repulsion that is also love in the opposite direction. Got it?
You are drawn to somebody or something, why? Because you love it.
You see a cheese cake and you are drawn to it, why? There is a pull.
You see a beautiful girl or a girl sees a beautiful boy, there is a pull, and what do you call that? You call it love! Why? It is because there is a pull, there is an attraction, there is a force. And that force is what manages the whole universe.
Some places it is more obvious and some other places, it is not obvious. The day the Earth stops loving you, you will start flying. The Earth loves you so much that the gravitational force keeps you glued to the earth. Did you get it?
So love is that force in human life. And all the negative emotions are also a distorted form of love only.
In anger there is love. Ask me how? You love perfection and that is why you get angry. Greed is love. Greed is when you love something much more than life. When you love objects more than life, it is called greed. Hatred is love upside down. Fear is love upside down.

On bad days don’t go down
and on good days don’t just
go off the roof. Maintain your
equanimity and your dignity.
This is what knowledge
teaches you.

Q: Guruji, my mother passed away on Christmas. Is there any special meaning to this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, do you know around the world, many people die on Christmas day or New Year day. Death knows no dates. Got it?
So, you feel uncomfortable because she died on that day which you celebrate. But another way of looking at it is – on that day she became bigger. She got over here suffering, her sickness from being in the body. She got liberated. So that is a good thing for her. It is a Christmas gift to her from nature, from God. Think that way, then your mind will be at peace and you can celebrate Christmas.
She got liberated on Christmas day. And on Christmas day she ascended. Isn’t this a better way to see? So celebrate her liberation and her freedom.

Q: What to do if people around me are always very negative? I have a friend who is extremely negative about everything and with time he seems to be getting worse.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, if someone goes to that extent of being totally negative, it is not easy for a human being. It is almost inhuman to be that negative. And when he has gone so far, there is no way for him to go any further, he will have to come back because everything is cyclic. Got it?
When you go to the rock bottom, there is no way you can go further down. You have to come up. And that is what he said. He has gotten so bad that now he has to come back. And also to demonstrate that originally nobody is bad, it is only the action. The spirit is never bad. The spirit is always free and blissful.
Actions have a limited sphere and time. See if you do a bad act, you are not condemned forever. Even a punishment given to you is only for a few years or so. And even in those few years, you are treated well, isn’t it? A prisoner, whatever crime he has committed, is he treated badly? No, he is treated with compassion. The same thing was said in the Puranas – even a person who has gone to the highest level of crime, when he comes in contact with someone who is pure, someone who is so brilliant, someone who is full of positive energy then the influence of that positive energy is so powerful that it can bring light even to darkness.
See, in the darkest place a candle is good enough to bring light.

Q: (A member of the audience spontaneously asked a question and it was inaudible in the recording)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, see human life is mixture of pleasant and unpleasant days. You take the life of anyone including Sri Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Mahavir or Guru Nanak. Take anyone in the history they all had some bad days while some days were good.
What is important is on bad days don’t go down and on good days don’t just go off the roof. Maintain your equanimity and your dignity. This is what knowledge teaches you. Yes, there are some bad days but if you have wisdom you will just sail through them and get over them. It does not affect you so much.

The law of karma is very interesting and very strange. If it has to rain, it will rain. But it is your choice whether to get wet or not. If you walk in the rain with a raincoat you will not get so wet, just a few drops will fall on your face. But if you walk without an umbrella you will be fully drenched and you will have to come and change your clothes. All this – sadhana, meditation, satsang, singing, knowledge, all these are umbrellas and raincoats.
So people say, ‘Oh, if you are having a bad time now, do hollow and empty meditation, do some Om Namah Shivayachanting and singing.’ You may feel some negativity in the mind but they just come and vanish. And when you go deeper into it, a time comes that they don’t touch you at all, and they don’t come anywhere close to you. That is enlightenment.

The law of karma is very
interesting and very strange.
If it has to rain, it will rain.
But it is your choice whether
to get wet or not. If you walk
in the rain with a raincoat you
will not get so wet.
Sadhana, meditation, satsang, 
singing, knowledge, all these 
are umbrellas and raincoats.

Q: What do you think about astrology?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why I am saying this is a sort of lost science. Astrology is a science but not the astrologers. They just make things up. You must follow your intuition. You don’t have to worry too much about these things.
A general idea of it is okay. Like on a new moon or full moon day, the moon has an impact on your mind. How many of you have had this experience?
How many of you can’t sleep on the new moon or full moon day? Moon is very much linked to the mind. So it happens.
Just be watchful that is all, don’t be paranoid. There is big difference between being paranoid and just having an idea. Be watchful about it.

Q: Guruji, I read and hear a lot of knowledge, but almost immediately forget what I heard. What do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t worry; I will keep talking to you. So even if you forget a hundred times, never mind, I have enough patience. I keep telling the same things.
Those who are talking to you are also in the same boat. Many people here, they say, but they too live from the other side. Never mind!
Have you ever heard Ashtavakra Gita? Forgotten, right?!
Have you heard the saying in that, ’Blessed are those who have forgotten.’ So you must belong to that.
There is one talk in Ashtavakra Gita where Ashtavakra says, ’Those who can forget everything are the blessed ones.’
So you seem to fall in that category. But this at least you don’t forget that you are blessed. Just this one thing if you can remember, ‘I am blessed.’

Q: Guruji, I have lost my intuition. What do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are in the right place, no problem.
See, yesterday we were having a meeting upstairs in Krishna hall and suddenly I said that I want to go and see the basement. I have not been to the basement for probably more than a year now.
So I said that I want to go to the basement and so we all went to the basement. In the basement, I suddenly went to this room and asked, ‘Who is staying in this room?’
They said, ‘We don’t know, somebody is staying.’
So I said, ‘Open the door’, and so we opened the door and we found a candle burning there. The candle was almost finished and the flame was about to catch on to the bed and the cot. We would have had a fire there because the flame of the candle was all over. If we had gone ten minutes later, perhaps the bed would have caught fire. Somebody lit the candle and forgot. There was no business for me to go there to that room.
That is intuition. I felt I should go there and I opened that room only.

I would never go and open somebody’s room. But now you know anything is possible. I may just barge into anybody’s room.
So I barged into that room and we found that nobody was there of course and the candle was burning.
So intuition is something that everybody is born with and everybody has it. The more hollow and empty, the more meditative you are, it is very obvious then. Isn’t it?
So, don’t light candles in your room and then disappear from there, okay!

Q: Where is the world of spirit?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is not somewhere, it is here only.

Help someone uplift their state of mind

You can give people everything else but if you don't teach them how to come out of their own misery, they will still be in misery.There is no better service than helping someone uplift their state of mind.

Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness

Q: Guruji, sometimes, dealing with kids gets so tricky that I tend to lose my patience. Everyday I decide to be calm, but when the situation arises I am not able to control myself. What should I do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You can’t do anything about it now, you have to live life spontaneously. Do you see what I am saying? It is okay to sometimes lose your temper, never mind. You should leave a little room for imperfection in life, and start accepting.

What did you learn in the Part 1 Course? Accept people and situations as they are. It is a lifetime process. Every day you get reminded of this. When these situations come to you, you get reminded, ’Yes, I have to do this, this and this.’

So this is the direction in which we go. Sometimes you slip here and there, never mind, keep moving. Definitely one day, you will achieve perfection.

The other day, one teacher who has been in The Art of Living for around 20 years said to me, ‘Guruji, sometimes it feels so strange that I am happy all the time. Come what may I am happy’.

And I said, ‘Finally!’

20 years is not too much time, it is okay. But you don’t need to take 20 years. Turn back and see the growth in you; this is why these celebrations are done. What is the purpose of Guru Purnima? Once in a year, you turn back and see where you were and how much you have progressed. How you respond differently to situations now and how your reactions have reduced and responses have increased.

So, life is a continuous process. Isn’t it so?

How many of you feel that a lot of transformation has already happened? (Many raise their hands). No one can say that nothing has happened. No one can say, ‘I have not transformed. There is not an iota of change in me.’

If someone says that you should salute them because they are born enlightened.

Some kids are there to teach you a lot of lessons. And it is okay for mothers and fathers to sometimes get upset with their kids. You don’t have to bring them up with all rosy, rosy, nicey, nicey and sweet words all the time. Then you will make them very weak.

I have seen parents who have never scolded their children. These children when they grow old, they can’t stand any criticism. A little criticism, a little disrespect from someone or a little bit of failure rattles them. They become so upset because they never experienced anything like that at home.

So at home, being upset with kids sometimes (not all the time), is like giving them a vaccination so they get stronger to the world outside home. But don’t take this as an excuse to all the time get upset with the kids, it does not work. Too much of it is also bad. If you are scolding your children every day on a routine basis, they become so thick skinned and they go all the way to the other side, which is also not good. A little dose here and there is okay.

People who irritate you, in some way or the other can bring about the best in you. When everyone around you is wonderful, you don’t need any skill to handle a situation. It will only happen when there are people whom you think are unreasonable.

Q: How much importance should one give to astrology, particularly when choosing a partner?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is good; you can compare the charts to see how much you naturally match with each other and how much you have to compromise.

Usually in the Vedic astrology they say, ‘Out of 30 points, 20 matches and 10 you will have to compromise.’ So these calculations are there. It is good to know this, so if one of you gets upset you get reminded that you need compromise a little more; yes!

Of course, planets do have an influence, but don’t think it is one way. You too have an influence on the planets. It is two ways. In the universe it is all two ways.

So what you can do? You can do chanting. That is why it is said, ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ is a chant which controls all the planets. On top of all the planets is the Shiva principle. So correction is available there. The correction is Om Namah Shivaya because this chant has all the elements which can nullify any bad effect.

Do you know the reason why there is the number 108? How many of you don’t know what 108 signifies? 108 signifies the nine planets and 12 houses, the constellations. When nine planets move through 12 constellations, they make 108 different changes. So to nullify those changes or any unpleasant effect, we say Om Namah Shivaya.

So it is like a shield. It is considered a very auspicious mantra. Even the steps to this hall are 108 steps from the bottom. That means you transcend all planetary effects and rise to pure consciousness.

Sadhana, pranayama, meditation, satsang, chanting, singing, what is the point of doing all this if everything is being ruled by the planet? No, these are like the checks and balances. They will counter the effects and bring more independence; otherwise our consciousness is dependent on time and space. Also, sadhana brings freedom, to a great extent. I won’t say 100%, but yes, to a great extent.

It is like, when it is raining and you go out, you have a choice, either you go out and get drenched, or take a rain coat and not get drenched.

Q: If you are not sure of a decision, for example, getting married, should you just go with the flow and get married or wait until you are certain?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should ask your partner with whom you want to get married.

There are some who are fickle minded, who need a push to do anything, including marriage. And there are others who face such situations once in a while. So I leave the choice to you.

And there are yet others, who would like to marry every time they see a beautiful girl or boy, and the moment it starts becoming a little more concrete, they have doubts whether they should or they should not, or if somebody else may be better.

Again, here I would say, take the opinion of your partner, whether they want to get married to you, to such a fickle minded person.

Do you know what my usual answer for all these questions are? Choice is yours, blessing is mine!

Q: I have a sincere desire to bring the Prison Smart Program to Miami, Florida. My degree is criminology and psychology. Our state has more money allocated to prisons, buildings and education. How can I help?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is good, go ahead. And when you go to meet the prison officials, don’t go alone. Go as a group of four to five and talk to them and convince them. Show them the videos and show them the experience of people who have undergone the program, and what transformation has occurred in their lives. I know, no sane person will say no when they see all these experiences. They are simply amazing and touches anyone’s heart.

Q: Death has no age. So when a person, young or old dies, is their soul of the same age?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Soul does not have an age, and you said it correct, nor does death.

Death does not have a time and soul does not have an age, correct! Everything starts from the beginning.

Q: How do I get clarity when things are very ambiguous?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a proverb in Chinese which says - When you feel so confused, take a pillow and go to bed. When you wake up next morning, you will be much better.

You know it is our ambition; our over ambitiousness does not let us choose things.

I just received an interesting SMS from somebody. A devotee went to a very rich person’s home and they asked him, ‘What would you like to drink - coffee, tea, coke, hot chocolate, milk, ojasvita’, and the list went on.

Then the devotee said, ‘Okay, I’ll have tea.’

Then he said, ‘What tea would you like to have? Ceylon tea, Fruit tea, Darjeeling tea, Indian tea or Burmese tea’, they gave a choice of another ten teas.

He said, ‘Okay, Ceylon tea. ’ And then they said, ‘Do you want black tea, milk tea, cold tea, or tea with lemon in it. What type of tea?’ He said, ‘Milk tea.’

‘What type of milk do you want? Pasteurized, unpasteurized, whole milk, 2%, 2.5% or 10%?’

He said, ‘Oh my god! Let me have black tea.’

‘So then do you want sugar in it?’

He said, ‘Yes please.’

Then they said, ‘What sugar do you want? Crystal sugar, brown sugar or honey; what do you want?’

He said, ‘Oh! I am dying out of thirst!’

And then the person asked, ‘How do you want to die? Become a shareholder in our company or our supplier?’

So too many choices can make your head reel.

Q: Please comment on this. I see so many people who are very close to you. I feel that I am not special. How do I feel the personal connection with you? I feel it is necessary to have personal connection in order to be 100% on the path.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Certain things you should assume, and this is one of the things that you should assume – we have a personal connection; that is it, full stop. Now, don’t question it another time.

No point in questioning your connection. We are all connected. There is no choice. Neither do I have a choice, nor do you have a choice. So relax, put to rest this particular question if it bothers you. Don’t think some are close to me and some are not; someone is special and someone is not special. No, you are as special and everyone is unique.

Engage yourself in any of the project. The more you engage in some or the other project, the more we will have to interact. Otherwise what is there to interact? ‘Hello! How are you? Are you doing fine?’ And you will say, ‘Yes’, and I will say, ‘Yes’, and that is it, we part. But if you have something to do, like Sushant has done something on Twitter, so I said to Sushant, ‘Let us see, come and let us discuss. I want to learn what Twitter is.’

Sushant got an award, do you know about that? He was in Obama’s campaign and he did something with Twitter and was awarded for that, just two days back.

So when everyone was scratching their head, he came up with an innovative idea. He thought out of the box and the company honored him. The company Twitter honored him for thinking out-of-the-box.

So take a project like that. Take a project on whatever you like.

Now Meenakshi came up with a wonderful cookbook. Meenakshi and her team have come up with a cookbook. It is not a book actually but pages that cooks can keep in front of them and start cooking.

So it is a project and like that if everyone comes up with a project then there is something to sit and talk about. Otherwise in silence, in meditation, we are already connected, we are linked.

And anytime you need any help anywhere, when you ask, do you get it or not? How many of you get it? (Everyone raises their hands).

See, everyone gets it. So I am doing my job!

When someone comes and apologizes, it is our magnanimity to say, ‘Oh, okay never mind.’ I tell you our magnanimity is in forgiving. Not forgiving, doesn’t show or speak very good of you. You should give ample chances for one to correct them self.

Q: I have many erotic thoughts. Are they harmful?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Never mind, don’t worry; don’t identify yourself with the thoughts. Thoughts are thoughts, they come and go, don’t worry. As long as you don’t give them power, you don’t act on them, you are very safe.

It takes time for your consciousness to be so dispassionate and so centered that such thoughts don’t occur to your mind, and it doesn’t happen right away. I tell you, it takes its own time.

You might have noticed, as your sadhana improves, these sorts of thoughts are fewer and fewer, isn’t it? Erotic and violent thoughts are fewer and fewer.

Q: Thank you so much for blessing me to be here on this inauguration. It was so amazing. Each of the speakers touched my heart with their words.

I would like to thank my sister and parents who have been a combination of mediation, commitment and service. In the least of my imaginations did I ever see myself here, this moment!

I also want to thank my Art of Living teachers, brothers and sisters, who at different times have inspired me to stay on this path. My husband has been an amazing inspiration and my son as well, whom I consider my first Guru. He has made me a seeker. Thank you so very much for everything.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is good. This is what we need to recognize. Our company is something important. Our friends, our relatives can take us up and they can pull us down too.

You also have to see, anyone who tends to go towards negativity, you should try to pull them up. Get them out of the negative tendencies. It is very easy to succumb to negative emotions; blaming, complaining, world over this is so prevalent, isn’t? But it is the knowledge that is so precious. When we soak ourselves more and more in knowledge, we gain that strength to move up and pull everyone up.

Usually formal programs are very boring, half the people fall asleep or dose off. But today’s program was very good, everybody was alive. And another thing, don’t think the whole credit goes to the speakers; it depends on the audience as well. It is the audience that brings out the good things in a speaker as well. So, when you are all here, very conscious and aware people, when you are all sitting here with such a beautiful heart, beautiful intentions and big vision, the speaker can’t but speak appropriate things.

So it is always a combination of the speaker and the listener.

And the speaker, however good they are, if the audience is not receptive, the right words simply won’t flow. There will be a block.

Q: How do we deal with anger and hatred towards somebody whom we cannot avoid; especially when both are completely at different frequencies?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First realize you are magnanimous. If you believe in your magnanimity and your inner beauty, it will become easier for you to handle all such situations. When you don’t look within, when you are simply focusing on the behavior of others, it will definitely rattle your mind. Then you try to correct the other person and you will be unsuccessful.

People who irritate you, in some way or the other can bring about the best in you. They can bring out the talents and skills in you. See, when everyone around you is wonderful you don’t need any skill to handle a situation. It will only happen when there are people whom you think are unreasonable. So it is an exercise, take it as an exercise as much as possible.

I know it is not an easy job. At least, you save your mind.

I have spoken a lot about this in the books Celebrating Silence and Celebrating Love, go over it.

The moment deep acceptance starts coming from within you will suddenly find the other person also changes. It is strange, but true. When we change, they also change.

Q: I do a lot for my family members and yet they are all always saying I am wrong. What should I do? How to deal with it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, don’t say that they always say you are wrong. If they always say that you are wrong then it would not bother you or even touch you. You would take it as their nature. Sometimes they would have said that you did right as well. Isn’t that so?

If you can appreciate them when they say you are right, and when they appreciate you, you should also accept when they don’t appreciate what you are doing, and say that you say wrong.

You should find a middle path.

You know, often, we generalize and externalize the problem. ‘Oh, I am always wrong’, ‘Oh, I am always right’, ‘Oh, I am always like this’, ‘Everybody is bad.’ This sort of generalization and externalization of problems is very common. We should make an effort to step out of that and go beyond that. Just smile. If you feel that they are unreasonable in their comments and they are always criticizing you, just smile. Don’t be bothered about it at all. Educate and ignore, and walk your path.

What can you do? Every time you sit for meditation, someone comes and complains, ‘Why are you sitting and closing your eyes, it is useless, don’t do it’, never mind. When you wake up, smile, and sit again the next day and they will turn around.

Q: If love is our true nature then why does it feel so good to hurt someone when you have been hurt yourself? How do you stop yourself from retaliating against others?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Again, you should read Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker. I have spoken in so many words on these issues.

Do you want the chain to continue? You hurt them, they hurt you and they retaliate. Do you like to be retaliated? I am asking you a question.

Unintentionally a mistake has happened through you. Suppose someone starts retaliating because you did something wrong. Whatever you said or did hurt them deeply, and you said sorry a hundred times. Still they want to retaliate and take revenge, what would be the state of your mind? How do you like it? Why don’t you get into the other person’s shoes and see for a minute? You wouldn’t want that. You would say, ‘No! I asked forgiveness. I asked to be pardoned.’

Just imagine if someone refuses to pardon you for small things which you did unintentionally or out of ignorance, would you like it? When you like to be forgiven, how come you don’t want to forgive?

And this, enjoying hurting others, is not the right thing. It is simply you wanting attention that is all. This you need to correct. This is our mind’s sickness. It is the sickness of our own mind being happy making someone miserable. What do you call it? Sadistic! Enjoying someone’s suffering makes you happy.

‘Look, you made me suffer and I make you suffer’, that type of joy is not for you, no! It appears to be a joy momentarily but it comes back to you a million times more, so don’t go for it. There are better ways of joy. When you forgive, see what big joy, what big comfort it brings to you.

When someone comes and apologizes, it is our magnanimity to say, ‘Oh, okay never mind.’ I tell you our magnanimity is in forgiving, and that is what we do.

But if they continue to do wrong, if they don’t respect your forgiveness, then take a stick. Then go, challenge them; go to court or whatever. But you should give ample chances for one to correct them self. Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness; it should not be taken for granted. At the same time, not forgiving, doesn’t show or speak very good of you.

What do you think? Isn’t it?

Our company is something important. Our friends, our relatives can take us up and they can pull us down too. You also have to see, anyone who tends to go towards negativity, you should try to pull them up.

Q: How to cope with a troubled marriage, a marriage which has two kids? How to guide and give comfort to two young daughters who are caught in the middle of this marital issue?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know when marriages break down you have to deal with the children’s psychology with care. Often parents pour all their grievances onto those young minds. They say bad things about their spouse so that the children remain closer to them. Don’t do that. Don’t say your father or your mother is very bad; this does not help in any way.

All that you should make them understand, both of you together is that, ‘We have chosen to go in our different roads but we both care for you.’ That is it.

It is a very delicate and very tricky situation, but it is a momentary one. You know this hard time will pass; you must know that. Just have patience and devotion. Your devotion, your meditation, your sadhana, all this will come to your help, okay?

Sometimes we will have to take the hard reality of life and not brood over it; and have a better vision. Also, give your children a bigger vision of the future. If you keep them engaged in something about the future they don’t go on chewing on the present bitter moment and take it too much to heart. So you should give them a vision of a better future, or talk to them about what they should do when they grow up, or what is needed for the country. As bigger challenges and bigger problems come in front of you, then the small individual personal bickering and issues lose their significance. That is the best way to handle this situation.

Q: What is the purpose of performing a long pooja as opposed to a short pooja.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, it is just like your daily meditations and your advance course with longer meditations. They all have their impact. Poojas don’t have to be too long, but these poojas are done for the masses. Not for one individual, but for the entire population.

Q: Why do we turn to the right side and not to the left side at the end of Kriya? I have asked this before, nobody gives an answer.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, they are wise! They expect you to come for the Teacher’s Training Course (TTC), and Teacher’s Refresher Meet, that is where we discuss these things.

Those are the real secrets!

Life has challenges, but wisdom equips you to face them

You should sing, dance and dwell in knowledge. Knowledge does not mean simply information, like you read books and get some information. That is not knowledge.

Knowledge is experiencing the reality the way it is. When knowledge becomes very strongly embedded in our consciousness, it is called wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge very well lodged in our self. That makes you wise.

Everybody has wisdom. Some may have a little and some may have more. It is only a matter of time that life takes you from a little wisdom to more wisdom.

Words appear very futile. Still, we use it sometimes since we need to use it. You go to a hospital and ask someone ‘How are you?’ You know they are not well, still you ask them, ‘How are you?’ And they say, ‘Fine’. They know they are not fine, still they say, ‘Fine’.

Similarly, I see you are all so happy and still I ask you, ‘How are you?’ I can see that there is so much happiness and radiance on your faces. It is just to engage on another level of communication.

The wise communicate first from the heart, from the being, and then engage in the outer level of communication, just to keep in touch. The ignorant rely on the outer communication. Between a mother and a child, whatever the child says is immaterial, because the child has not even learnt the language. But the mother communicates to the child from a deeper level.

Even before you learnt a language, you started communicating with your mother, and your mother started communicating with you. This is a deeper level of communication.

Similarly, when you communicate with your dogs or cats, you are doing it from a very subtle level, from a deeper level. It is not language. Later on, you try so much to put some language into its brain. They don’t require language. You just make a sound and they will come to you. You don’t have to say, ‘Come, come, come.’ Simply make any sound and they will come.

They don’t relate to you with language.

Similarly, the entire creation is relating to you; the trees, the breeze; all the creatures are communicating with you. There is a certain communication happening at a very subtle level, at a deeper level.

There is an old Sanskrit proverb that says, ’Vacarambhanarh Vikaro Naamadheya’, which means that words are a distortion of truth. There is already a communication that is happening. Through words you are distorting it a little bit.

I don’t mean that words should not be used. They are necessary. But underneath the words, there is that feeling that needs to be there. You can tell someone, ‘I love you so much!’ But underneath the words there should be that feeling. Don’t just say, ‘Oh, I love you so much’, on the surface level.

So, the wise always communicate on the subtle, and then they use words just to complement that. But the unwise rely only on the external communication. That is why misunderstandings crop up in life.

Why are there misunderstandings? It is because there is no inner connectivity. You say something and some others understand it differently.

You look back and see in your own life. You were judging, judging and judging. Thinking bad about that person and this person, and the anger was so intense. After some time, after a few months or a year later, you started laughing at yourself, ‘Oh, why did I worry so much! This was all nonsense. I was bothering myself unnecessarily.’

You should turn back and see. Then you will realize. Many times, we don’t even turn back and look.

The other day, a lady came to me saying, ‘Oh, my relationship is going very badly, and my boyfriend is so angry that he is leaving me and I am so upset’. She was crying and crying.

The same lady, after two months said, ‘Oh, it is good that it is finished. I was so blind. I was trapped by this guy. Now the relationship is not there anymore and I am happy’.

So, many times we don’t even know what we want, and what blessings we are asking for. That is why, time and again, not all the time; you must turn back and examine where the mind was and how it is moving.

Time and again, if you turn back and examine your mind, you will feel such a satisfaction and relief. One is a relief that you have learnt something from the past, and second, whatever happened has happened for some reason. It has made you richer, wiser and given you some depth. At least this understanding comes up in you.

What do you say? How many of you feel this way?

If we don’t turn back and look every once in a while at the events that have passed, we continue to make the same mistakes and we don’t learn.

In the Jain tradition, they say ‘Pratikraman’, which means going back, erasing those karmas and learning from it to move forward.

The Jain saints sit for hours together every day and introspect. In fact, they don’t need to do so much because they don’t do much.

Who should do it all the more are those who are engaged in a lot work and activity. They should sit for at least ten minutes a day and look back and see - what did I do? What did I learn in my life? How was today? What can I learn from what has happened?

Again, you don’t have to latch on to what you have learnt or hold on to it. Sometimes what you think you have learnt may not be correct at all. That is why being hollow and empty is so important. It breaks all the concepts and makes you free.

Q: Dear Guruji, is it good to donate our blood?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it is good to donate. In 24 hours you can recuperate. Your body is a blood making machine. Donating blood will save lives.

Q: Dear Guruji, can you please speak about the palm leaf Nadi reading?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In ancient India, the Rishis used to have schools or universities in which they used to train psychics. Psychic means the one who can see into the future.

So, people would stay for twelve or thirteen years and meditate, go deep within and then the master would give them a task. He would say, ‘In 2015, on this particular day, at this particular minute, somebody will be born. Astrologically, you calculate and predict how their life will be.’

It involves two things – astrological calculation and an insight into space and time. So, this is what they used to do. However, since these were written by the students, it need not be hundred percent true. Students can make mistakes. They will be seventy to eighty percent correct. Some will not come true in the future too. That is a possibility.

Second thing is that they can only give you a possibility, saying this may happen. If you are a meditator and if you are on the path of spiritual knowledge, you keep changing your destiny, since you are bringing more positivity into your life.

I want to tell you what happened on the third of this month (April 2012). A monk from China had come. He is known as a very big clairvoyant. Two to three thousand people go to him every day. He called one of our organizers when I was in Indonesia and he said that he wanted to come and take blessings from Guruji. He said, ‘For enlightenment, there is no bar of any religion. I am a Buddhist, but it doesn’t matter. I know Guruji has come to this world and a lot of people will get benefited. I want to take his blessings. He has come after a long, long time; several thousand years. His blessing is something that I definitely need.’

He is a very nice person, a very nice soul. He just came, silently sat for some time, took blessings and went back on the next flight. One of the devotees, who was very inquisitive said, ‘You should predict and tell us what is going to happen with The Art of Living and Guruji’.

He said, ‘No, I cannot predict. I cannot predict about someone who is free. I can only predict if the mind is caught up. I cannot predict about one who has no mind’.

I also thought let me also hear what is going to happen.

He said, ‘Where there is no mind, there is only space, I cannot predict. Guruji is just space, I cannot predict him’.

If you chant, meditate and do pranayama, your free will increases, your freedom increases. You are not bound by certain events in life. They say, ‘You may come across these problems, so take precaution.’ It is like a doctor who says, ‘You have high cholesterol, you should take care and work out’. Similarly, if you have diabetes, you should be careful.

Their predictions are according to what medical problems you have, and they give you some remedies – if you do these things, you will have no problem.

In the same way, astrologers also say, ‘Oh, you are going to have Jupiter come into the eighth house and so your mind will go topsy turvy. All the faith will go. You will have no confidence in yourself, no faith in anybody, no faith in the work you do and you will be worried. This will continue for one whole year, but it will be too much during these four to five months. So, do your meditation, pranayama, prayers regularly and you can pass that stage. Also, don’t take any decisions at this time’.

So, these are little predictions about the tendencies of the mind and how it goes.

Q: My question is, how do I know what am I on the planet for? What kind of job should I do? I feel so confused sometimes. I have a lot of talents but then I feel so insecure of my capabilities. Now I am thinking, ‘Who is asking this question?’ Again, I don’t know.

I am fed up with this not knowing.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Now, if I answer something, you will also wonder, ‘Who is listening?’

Don’t go on examining yourself too much. This can become an obsession. All the time thinking, ‘Who is asking? Who is witnessing? If I am witnessing then who is this I? Who is speaking?’

This self-enquiry is good. Self-enquiry is needed, but if it is over done, it can leave you in a lot of unnecessary confusion and restlessness. It should only be done when you sit in the course, or when you take some time off. Then, you can ask, ‘Who am I? What is this universe?’

Self-enquiry cannot go on for 24 hours. Otherwise you will not be able to function at all in the world, or do any work.

It is like bathing. You cannot take a shower for 24 hours. Then you will have to be a fish in the water! So, if you keep on enquiring and examining yourself at every step, you will be like a fish out of water.

Do your work. What work you do is not important. You do any work because you have to sustain your life. For sustenance of your life do any work, whatever work that pays well.

Now, you must know that work is separate, your seva (service) is separate and your entertainment or hobby is separate. If you try to make all of them into one, it will be a challenge. If you want to make your work a hobby, that is what many people do and they get fired!

If you want to make your entertainment as your work, then you cannot make enough money, and all the time you will be in a sense of lack. You will feel the dearth for money. So, you must have the decision and discrimination.

When you have responsibilities in life, you have a family to take care, children to take care, choose a job, which is stable and which gives you enough money and time. Once that is done, don’t think about it again. But if you find something better, you can go for that, no problem.

Then, take some time off and do social work. If you are spending your whole life in just earning your bread and butter, life will be so meaningless, so worthless.

What will you do? Earn, earn, earn and then you buy an Audi or a Benz car. Then you make a house and buy jewelry and that is it! This will not give you satisfaction. Take some time off and do some social work. Come and be a part of The Art of Living family.

Alone, you cannot accomplish much. Ten or fifteen of you make a group and take a project. There are children who need your help. If you cannot give time, keep a box at home and put a few Euros, whatever you can, in it. That can support a social cause. So many people from Germany and other countries in Europe are supporting schools. We are running 185 schools in India now. Around 25,000 kids are getting good food, good education, and medical help because of people donating one Euro a day.

Like that, you engage in some social activity. That gives you some satisfaction, ‘Oh, I am supporting this cause. I am part of a project.’

If you can run one project, it is good. If you can’t run, you can at least be a part of it. You can be a brick in the building. Contribute towards one brick. That will bring you satisfaction.

Then, take time off, like you have taken time off now (referring to the course participants) to meditate and uplift your spirit. When you go back, you feel fully charged. How many of you feel so charged when you go back? You have this experience.

At least twice a year, it is good to do a mental rejuvenation and rejuvenation of the spirit. It is very important.

You do this and after some time, forty, fifty or sixty years, retire and then come and go totally into knowledge. Then dedicate yourself to the cause of higher knowledge, higher wisdom or for social causes. Do some good work in society. And then life will be gone! One day you will be gone (snapping his fingers), you will not even know! Others will make arrangements to take the body away. Done! Finished!

One day, they will do a memorial service (folding his hands) saying, ‘May his soul rest in peace.’ You are already at peace by then! Their wish comes much later.

Once we leave the body after that we are at peace, then that is no fun. We have to be at peace while we are alive and be useful to people around us. What do you say? Isn’t it?

That is what wisdom is. Wisdom brings happiness to you now and here.

I don’t say, ‘You do something for ten days or ten years and then one day you will be happy.’

Is it that way? No.

We have two weapons – So Hum and So What. Everything changes. Everything is changing in the world. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends. This is what happens in this world. Doesn’t it happen?

People who say, ‘I cannot live without you’, later say, ‘I cannot stand you!’

This happens so often. Not once, but twice, thrice, four times.

There was a lady who was giving a seminar on how to make love work. That lady was divorced seven times! I said, ‘That lady is very much qualified because she has gained knowledge seven times on how it didn’t work and now she can share it!’

See, when we go in search of friends in the world, we find that we don’t get a good friend. But, when you search inside, make friends with your own higher self, with your inner spirit, you find that friendliness comes out of you naturally.

When you are friendly, the whole world becomes your friend. Everybody turns to you. Even your worst enemies become your friends in front of you. When they go away from you, they may think you are their enemy.

From your heart, you don’t encourage animosity with anybody. That is my policy. From my side, I have no enemies.

When I was a little kid, I learnt a Sanskrit verse from the Vedas, which says, ‘Ajatashatru ajaraswarvarti’. It means, ‘I will never become old because I am dwelling in myself.’

I was about ten or twelve years old. Out of ten thousand verses, this caught me.

If you dwell in yourself, you never age, but you remain. Aging means, getting tired, unenthusiastic, appearing as if everything is no good, hopeless; a negative commentary in the mind saying, ‘Oh, I know it all. I have seen it all’ – this sort of attitude. No freshness, no aliveness.

Ajara means not getting worn out or not becoming old. You know, there are old people who are so enthusiastic and so active.

I was in Taiwan and we had a big satsang with about 8000 people in the stadium. People were so happy. After that, when I came back to my place, an 80 year old gentleman came. He was all enthusiastic. He said, ‘This is so great! I want to do some work. I want to spread this knowledge. There are so many millions of people suffering from cancer and other diseases in Mainland China. Guruji, I want to take you to Mainland China. I will organize it and I will do this.’ He is above 80 years old and he is ready to travel anywhere. He looks fragile but his spirit is so high! He brought his friend along, who was of the same age. They said ‘We are your soldiers!’ They are seeing me for the first time.

Similarly, in Japan, an elderly man of about 78 years was so full of enthusiasm. He organized a talk for me and called many people. He didn’t say, ‘Oh, I am old, I cannot do anything.’ No, nothing of that sort, but instead he is so high spirited.

He declared, ‘The whole of Japan needs this knowledge.’ He is a very well accomplished gentleman.

Thirty thousand people commit suicide in Japan every year. It is huge. Today, what is needed is a wave of happiness. The GDP is quite high in Japan. You have to spend fifty dollars just in toll tax when you go from the airport to your home. Can you imagine? You make a trip twice and you have already spent two hundred dollars. You go to the airport to pick someone up and then drop them and you spend a hundred dollars. The distance is so much. Living is very expensive there. Americans find it very expensive to live in Japan. People earn money but there is no happiness.

It is not just Japan. Many countries in the world today are in this syndrome, no happiness. They don’t smile, they don’t laugh, and they are not at peace with themselves. We need to create a wave of happiness and that is possible only through wisdom, only through knowledge, only through expanding one’s vision about life. That is what The Art of Living is.

The Art of Living is not a dogma. It is not a set of concepts or just some practices. The Art of Living is expanding one’s vision towards life and making life a celebration. That is the main aim of The Art of Living.

There is a Sanskrit verse that says, ‘The real worship of God is to create happiness in the hearts of men’.

Yena Kena Prakarena Yasya Kasyaapi Dehinah,Santosham Janayet Praagya Tadeveshwarapujanam - Happiness in the hearts of people is the real worship of the divine.

What great wisdom, such nice words have been said in the past. That is why it is timeless wisdom.

You don’t even know who wrote it. They didn’t even put their signature, but they gave these gems for life. That is The Art of Living; honoring the ancient tradition, looking at the modern science in the future, and taking both of them together.

Science and spirituality are never in conflict. They go together. Religion and science have been in conflict since a long time, but not spirituality, the experiential part. That’s why I say that we should look with a scientific mind and an ancient heart; a new mind and a loving heart.

We need this. Don’t you think so?

The world is so interesting, I tell you! So, be in this world, enjoy this world yet not getting caught up or drowned in it. Keep yourself a little aloof. Keep yourself untouched by the external (events). Save your soul, save your mind, save your spirit and save your joy. Don’t let it get muddled up by the events in the world. Are you getting what I am saying?

Don’t let others or any events take away your freedom, take away your joy and your inner peace. This is The Art of Living.

It is a big task. It is a challenge. It is not too easy. I am not saying that it is very easy. It is not flowery-flowery, buttery-buttery, no! Life is not flowery, not buttery, I tell you. There are so many challenges, but the wisdom or knowledge equips you to face the challenges.

The difficulty is when you think life should not have challenges. Then challenges will appear much bigger to you. Life has challenges, but wisdom equips you to face them.