Meditation makes you lucky

Our country is a land of Rishi (Saints) and Krishi (Agriculture). Irrespective of the pooja (worship), we first perform ‘Beeja Vaapana’ (sowing seeds in small clay pots) and ‘Ankurarpana’ (spraying water and milk over the seedlings). Life and pooja are not different. Our life is a pooja. Wherever we walk, it becomes a Pradakshina (circumambulation). We should have this attitude towards life. There should be purity in life.
When there is purity, the mind will be strong, the intellect will be sharp and there will be enthusiasm in life. So, even to sow a seed into the earth, they used to look for the right time. They used to sow the seed with devotion.

Also, our elders used to fold their hands and pray ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ before eating food. This means - Let the one who has provided me food be happy. We must all do this. Will you all do this daily? The first person responsible for providing us food is the farmer. The merchants come next. The third are the women of the house.
Farmers grow the grains. The merchants ensure that these grains are supplied to us and the women of the house, the mothers, cook the food and serve it to us. We pray that all these three should be happy. Even if one of them is sad, our lives will also be affected.
The farmers produce a good crop, but if the merchants and distributors do not give the right price to the farmers or plan the distribution well, they are doing a big mistake. The farmers should ensure that they do not poison the land and water with chemicals. We must never go for Genetically Modified (G.M) crops. We must do organic farming. A lot of people are now doing Zero Budget farming.
Farmers pay money to buy the seeds and then poison them with pesticides. If we stop doing that, and instead follow the ancient methods of agriculture, the farmers will be happy. If the merchants do their business without being greedy, they will also be happy. And, if the women in the house are happy and serve us food, our digestion will be good. If they shed tears and cook the food, we will have to shed tears to digest it. We will get body aches, headaches, stomach pains and various diseases.
So, to ensure that all the three are happy, we have to pray ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’. Chant this daily before eating food.
 

 

 

You don’t have to choose
a Guru. The Guru Tattva
is present in every good
thing you learn in life,
and wherever you learn
it from. In each phase
of life, the presence of
a Guru will be there.

 

 

Now, what is the sign of an intelligent person?
The sign of intelligent people is that they bring out good qualities even in the worst of people. Good qualities are hidden in every person. Intelligent people bring out good qualities from criminals too. They tell him, ‘Forget everything that you did in the past. From now on, see the goodness in yourself. There is goodness in you.’
They attempt to pull him up.
The sign of foolish people is that they pull people down. They search for bad qualities even in good people. They find faults in everyone.
How do you distinguish between good friends and bad friends? A good friend is the one with whom you share your botherations and they will make you feel that your botherations are very small. If they fill you with cheerfulness and enthusiasm after you speak to them then they are your true friends. However, if someone makes you feel that your troubles have increased after speaking to them, they are not good friends. We must examine if we fill people with enthusiasm or pull them down. We do this without knowing. We must focus on these aspects.
I have good news for you. One thousand militants in Assam did the Art of Living course and have surrendered. They will come here (to the Bangalore ashram) for training. The Home ministry is sending them here.

Q: How do we come out of bad habits? These impressions keep coming to us again and again.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: To come out of bad habits, do more pranayama. It also depends on the people we spend time with. If you have too much free time, bad habits come to your mind. If you engage yourself in serving the society, these bad habits will go by themselves.

Q: Is taking ‘Guru Diksha’ compulsory before choosing a Guru?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t have to choose a Guru. The Guru Tattva is present in every good thing you learn in life, and wherever you learn it from. Mother is your first Guru. As you grow older, there will be teachers who provide you education. Similarly, in each phase of life, the presence of a Guru will be there. The Guru Tattva is always present. So whenever our mind feels that something would help us grow in life, it means that the Guru Tattva is present.

Q: It is said that we should not do any pooja during ‘Rahu kaal’. However, why does Sunday’s satsang always happen during Rahu kaal at the ashram?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is not said that we should not do pooja during Rahu kaal. In fact, it is good to do pooja during Rahu kaala. However, marriages and house-warming ceremonies must not be done during this time. It has only been said that one should not do any materialistic work during this time; not that one should not remember God or do satsang. Doing satsang is good during Rahu kaal. It is good to do satsang during an eclipse and during Rahu kaal. To do satsang, all times are auspicious. To help others and to remember God, we need not look for any auspicious time. All the twenty-four hours are good for this.

Q: Is the protection of good people the duty of police or the citizens?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is the duty of every human being. You should really appreciate policemen. When I was in Jharkhand, the Inspector General (I.G) of Jharkhand had come to see me. There were tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Guruji, I lost two hundred of my men in the past year. When I recruit more policemen, I cannot face their families since I do not know what will happen to my men tomorrow due to the Naxalite problem.’ Policemen are good people. They are sacrificing their life and time. They cannot celebrate festivals. They have to be on duty; night or day. Their personal lives are very troubled. They are doing their duty, but it is a thankless job. People as well as politicians scold the policemen. They are caught in between, but I tell you, you should also see that they are protecting the law and order. However, usually, when someone says ‘policeman’, it means they are bad. We should not think like that. We should be grateful to them for the thankless job that they are doing. I have been hearing the problems of policemen from the last fifteen years. They have to do good work as well as they get scolded by everyone. So, we must not think of policemen as someone separate from us. They are one of us. Though they experience so many hardships in life, they still work to protect us. We must be thankful for that and not criticize them.

 

 

A good friend is the one
with whom you share your
botherations and they will
make you feel that your
botherations are very small.
If someone makes you feel
that your troubles have
increased after speaking to
them, they are not good
friends.

 

 

Q: What is the distance between the feet of a mother and the feet of a Guru?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There could be some selfishness in a mother, but not in a Guru.

Q: There are twelve Jyotirlingas in our country. Please tell us their significance.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: To unite our country, Jyotirlingas have been established in different places. This way people will go to all these different places and when they travel through the country then they realize that our country is one.

Q: Guruji, you say that meditation brightens our destiny. How is it possible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Meditation makes your vibrations positive. The more positive your vibrations are the more luck there is in your life. It is natural.

Q: There is a lot of confusion in life.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Give it some time. Confusion will go away automatically. When our mind is confused, we will feel that all our decisions are wrong. We feel that we should have done some this else.

Q: How do we overcome the ego?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Be natural. Be friendly with everyone. If we are natural, ego disappears automatically. Ego is building an artificial wall between others and ourselves and thinking that whatever we say is right. This harms us as well as others. If we are natural and feel that everyone belongs to us and have openness in our attitude, there will not be any kind of pressure on our mind. The mind feels light. That is why we have to be natural like a child. This brings ‘Karya siddhi’ (perfection in action). Whatever we desire gets fulfilled automatically.

Q: I have done my M.Tech (Master of Technology) in Biotechnology. I am interested in the business of Organic farming. How do I take up Organic farming as an occupation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a lot of demand for this nowadays. If there is proper distribution of the organic farming produce, it will help. That is why we have opened ‘Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences’. Speak to them. We can definitely do something about it.

Whenever you feel challenged, remember me

Celebrating Silence Blog: Mahasatsang at Singapore

When you turn the candle upside down, still the flame always goes up. In life also, so many incidences will come where your enthusiasm is put down; your spirit goes down. At that time remember ‘I am like the candle and I will come out of this. Nothing whatsoever can stop my spirit and enthusiasm.’

Move on like that. Life force should always go up. That is why in Hindu and Buddhist tradition, whenever someone visits, Aarti is done on them. A lamp is lit and taken around them saying, ‘Be like the flame and let your life always keep moving higher, around the Divinity and knowledge’. Then they apply a little kumkum (vermillion) on the forehead saying, ‘Let the knowledge be with you all the time.’

The best gift is wisdom. Other things will come and go.

Q: We have around thirty more years of life and it is just going to go by in a flash. Till the time we are here, life has to have some purpose to it. I have to do something that makes me feel fulfilled. I haven’t found that yet and I am still searching.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Absolutely! You will find that.

Now when you meditated, did you find that inner peace? This is what is essential.

We need to be established in that inner stillness and peace and do whatever good to people around us. Some seva activity we should take up.

Q: Dearest beloved Guruji, please tell us more about 2012. What qualities does one need to possess in order to enter the new earth?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The earth will disappear only in American movies, not in reality. All that you need to know is this is a new era, wherein people will become more spiritual and they will become more humane. Greed, jealousy, crime will all come down. People will become more caring and spiritual. This is what is going to happen.

In the Chinese calendar, this is the year of the Dragon and it is considered to be very auspicious. In the Hindu calendar, it is the year of Nanda which means bliss. It will be a very good year. And you don’t need to enter it, you are already there.

Q: How do we distinguish between duties and expectations?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Duty is what your heart tells you, when you feel ‘This is what I have to do.’ Expectation is what others want you to do. Have a balance between the two. Sometimes you can fulfill the expectations of others, but your duties are what you need to be more concerned about.

Q: I practice pranayama and kriya for about forty minutes every day and take it as a way or an attempt to silence myself to go deeper within, and also tune in to you. May I ask, what more should I do to advance deeper?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Once in four to six months, it is good to do an Advance Course. That can enrich your meditation. At least twice a year do the silence program. Like you service your car, servicing your body, mind and spirit with three days of silence, meditation, yogasanas, makes you fresh and happy.

Q: Can people diagnosed with bipolar condition do Sudarshan Kriya or the Silence Course?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I don’t advice them to attend the Silence Course, but they can attend the Basic Course and do everything except Sudarshan Kriya. Simple meditation, pranayam and some yoga is very good for them. They should do Sri Sri Yoga.

Q: If we desire to achieve something in our career or life, what should we do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Put your effort and ask for blessing.

With blessings, you can get many things. Both are necessary, blessings and effort. Blessings come to those who make some effort as well. This is like the sun coming and your window being open. If you want the sun to come into your home, you need to open the curtains. But in the middle of the night, you open the curtain and ask for the sun to come in, it won’t come. You need to wait.

Q: When you fail in all your ventures and still try to show the world that you are happy with your artificial smile, what to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Never think that you fail in everything. You failed basically because your thought process failed. Thought process fails because of over ambition. When you are too feverish or too ambitious, then right thoughts don’t cross your mind. Negativity also does not bring that intuitive thought. So when you meditate, then your thoughts become positive and more intuitive. There is a proverb in Sanskrit which says that success comes because of the sattva and the harmony inside you, not because of the amenities or weapons you have. At least don’t lose your smile. By losing your smile, you will become a double failure. One failure has happened, never mind. At least don’t lose the smile which is your nature.

Q: For youngsters like me between age of twenty and thirty, how do we put spirituality into practice while ensuring we work and strive towards our material goal.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: They are not contrary. Don’t think they contradict each other. You can do business ethically. You can work in your workplace being very honest and you can still go on. With intelligence and skill, you should just march on in your life.

When the Asian continent was at the peak of spirituality, it also prospered very high. India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, all these areas in 1200 AD accounted for one third of the world’s GDP. That was the time when spirituality was its peak. Several travelers from India and Macaulay have written around two hundred years ago, ‘I have travelled the length and breadth of India and Asia and I have not seen even one beggar, one poor man or one sick person.’

So when spirituality was at its peak, people also had a very good standard of living.

Q: What is the link between consciousness and prana?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: They are linked like the body and the mind. They are different yet they are linked. Body, mind, prana, the breath and consciousness can be categorized as five different layers.

Q: What is the significance of Atma Ram borne in our body which is also called as the seat of consciousness and is a miniature form of the person?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: How many of you know the meaning of word ‘Ram’? English word ‘Rays’ comes from a Sanskrit word called ‘Rashmi’. ‘Ra’ means light, the rays. ‘Ma’ means me. Ram means the light in one’s heart.

Dashratha means the ten chariots or the ten senses, which are the five senses of perception and five senses of action. So your body is a chariot of five organs of senses and five organs of perception. Kaushalya means skillful. The body of ten chariots (eyes, ears, nose, etc.,) skillfully brought together the Self, the spirit deep within, beyond the senses, that is ‘Rama’.

So, Ramayana is happening in your body every day. Today happens to be Ram Navami (Rama’s birthday.)

Q: How does a child forgive her parents for certain behavior against her at a young age? What moral authority do the parents still possess?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, if they have done some mistake, they did it because they never had a better education, or a better opportunity. They did not know how to manage their own mind, their emotions, their body. So, it is unfortunate that they went through life like that.

So forgive them so that you will be at peace.

If they had the opportunity to be on a spiritual path or in knowledge, they would not have done what they did. So they did it out of their ignorance. Knowing this, you just forgive them so that your mind will be at peace.

Otherwise if you have grudge against someone all the time then your mind becomes so uptight and it creates toxins. If you are feeling negative, then toxins increase. These toxins cause so many illnesses, including cancer. So, we should always keep our mind free and that is why we forgive everyone so that we can be at peace.

Q: How can we keep a smile in front of all despite all the difficult challenges in life?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you feel like that, give it to me. I am with you.

Whenever you feel a challenge, remember me. Give me your challenges and know that you are not alone. You will sail through those difficulties that I guarantee you. Alone you may feel it is difficult.

Everyone smiles when everything is okay. The real achievement is your ability to smile when things go wrong. When everything falls apart and you still smile, then you are an Art of living member. You are well soaked in knowledge.

Q: How can I know you as tattva’? How can I live with you 24/7, experience you and love you? I do not want to miss this lifetime opportunity.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just relax! Love is not an action. You don’t try to love somebody. You just relax knowing that love is there.

Q: Why does someone get addicted or attracted to non healthy habits like smoking, drinking, etc.?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Because you feel that you are going to get some pleasure out of it, that is why you get addicted to it. Meditation is a big help in removing you from addictions.

Q: What is the best way to forgive and forget?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Give it to me! Drop it.

Anybody that you cannot forgive or anything that is bothering you, I am here to take all that. The Guru is there to take all your problems and challenges away. So you can just push it here.

Q: Please talk on the origin of life.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When we think linearly, we think something should start somewhere and end somewhere. But we should think spherically.

Can you tell me where is the beginning point of a tennis ball? No! So when you can’t find the beginning point of a tennis ball, why do you try to find the beginning of this universe?

The mathematics is wrong. There are two types of thinking, one is spherical thinking and other is linear thinking.

The world has neither a beginning nor an end, this is spherical thinking and this is what the Vedic concept is. The Vedic understand is that three things are eternal: The universe, Divinity and Life. They have no beginning and no end, they just go in cycles.

This is the most interesting and most scientific understanding of the universe.

Q: Mid-life crisis. How to get interest in living after fifty plus?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just look at me.

I need you, come and be with me. We will go around the world and we can do a lot of work. I need more and more hands. If you are fifty plus, and have done everything in your life, settled your children, then come over. Even if you are not settled, take one month or two months off and travel.

We need more teachers. You can go and impart to others how to be centered and calm. Whatever little knowledge you have gained, you can impart to others. There is so much more to learn and you can go deeper, yes! I tell you, there will be an abundance of miracles, there is no dearth for it in The Art of Living.

Q: What do we do when we find life monotonous and boring?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Get busy!

Q: Guruji, how to forgive. Please tell us.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you find a person to be a culprit, then see then from a broader angle. The person is a culprit because he is a victim himself or herself. They don’t have knowledge, they are ignorant and they have scars and pain in their own heart. They are a victim and so they always inflict pain on others. They never came to know about knowledge. So have compassion for them.

When you see inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help, you will be able to forgive them.

You must go to visit the jails for this reason. Go and talk to the culprits there, you will really feel compassion for them. You will forgive all their sins that they have done. Poor people had nobody to guide them. No guidance and no love and so they did all the wrong things that they did.

Q: On one hand you mentioned that we are insignificant akin to dust. On the other hand, you said look back through out your life and see how you overcame challenges. See that there has been a guiding hand. The question is, if we are insignificant, why is there a guiding hand in the first place and if there is a guiding hand, is it fair to say that we are insignificant?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Till you know that there is a guiding hand you are really insignificant. But once, you know that there is a guiding hand and you are part of it, you become very significant.

Charcoal and diamond are made up of same material. Coal in itself is insignificant but when it becomes a diamond, it becomes very significant. Truth is always contradictory.

In relaxation there is God. Surrender and then relax.

Celebrating Silence blog: In relaxation there is God. Surrender and then relax.



Q: You are one but yet each one feels that you are connecting and talking to them. What Wi-Fi connection or system are you using to do this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, there is only one Sun, but it enters into every window totally.

Q: What are the effects of Gambling and what does it do to the mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We should learn the lesson from the Mahabharata war.

Q: Guruji, every form is Shakti and every formless is Shiva, then what is the representation of breath?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is both a combination of Shiva and Shakti. The breath connects them both.

Q: Guruji, I am very grateful to be with you. Please tell me how did you choose me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Because you are worthy!

Q: Guruji, please tell us how to make the relationship between India and Pakistan stronger. As a young individual what should I do? I think the rivalry should only be limited to cricket.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The friendship between India and Pakistan should increase. More and more people should meet each other from both the countries and tolerance should increase in both countries. Then the relationship will improve.

Q: Even after chanting the name of God, the mind is not contented and happy. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why we have the Art of Living Course. When you will do Sudarshan Kriya then in the very first sitting itself you will experience so much of contentment and the mind becomes so peaceful. Just experience it.
That is why so many thousands of Muslim people have done the course in Pakistan, and then called me there. Why? Because they did Sudarshan Kriya and they felt connected. They started feeling good, they experienced completeness and a change happened in life. So you also do the Kriya.

Q: Guruji, what is the significance of Japa Mala?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know when someone is in love with somebody; they go on taking their name so many times. They write their name everywhere, on the stones, on the walls; have you noticed this? I know this boy who fell in love with this girl and he wrote the name of his girlfriend all around the room. All the four walls were filled with that. Why? That is Japa.
You know when someone writes a letter they write, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you’, so many times. Why? They should have written only once, that is enough. But no, the mind wants to repeat it. In the same way, if you are in love with the Divine and you say, ‘Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya’, and go on repeating that.

Q: Dear Guruji, can you speak on the seven chakras and the effect of the panchamahabhuta on each one of them.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The panchamahabhuta has effect on all the chakras. Stomach is connected with fire element; the swadhisthana chakra is connected with water element. The heart is connected with the air element, the throat with the ether element and the mooladhara chakra is connected with earth element.

Q: Dear Guruji, I have heard you saying that we should bring out our originality. I made a list of activities and I found that most of them are copied. How to make my activities absolutely original, like you.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just relax and be yourself. Go deep in meditation. Meditation is the source of creativity.

Q: People who are religious and who follow their dharma, why do bad thing happen to them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It happens, sometimes, but be patient for some time. It will be okay and you will move ahead in life.

Q: Guruji, there are many instances when the evil goes unpunished and the good goes unrewarded. Why?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It appears that evil goes unpunished and the good goes without reward. It just appears but not really. In the long run the good will always be rewarded and the evil will always be punished.

Q: Somebody in my family is about to die. What can they do at this point of time?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You chant for them and bless them.

Q: Guruji, I feel that I crave recognition constantly, how to drop this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First step is that you have already noticed that you are craving for recognition, and the second step is it will itself get dropped. It will happen.

Q: Even in your presence why is black magic still prevailing? Please get rid of this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: All of you chant Om Namah Shivaya, and then no black magic will have any effect on you. Don't worry; everything will be all right.

Q: Guruji, when Mahmud of Ghazni attacked the Somnath temple in Gujarat, then the Pundit of the temple told everyone that Lord Shiva will help us and there is no need to fight. All the soldiers surrendered their weapons but even then they were defeated. So who is the ultimate God?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, that was a wrong thing they did. Shiva is there but he tells everyone to do their dharma, to fight against injustice. Otherwise why should Shiva have a trishul in his own hand? You have seen, all the Gods and Goddesses have shastras (weapons) in their hands. Why should they have weapons? Because intention as well as action, both should go hand in hand.
So Lord Krishna was giving knowledge and yet he was having his Sudarshan Chakra also.
So God is only ultimate, because there is only one God.
This is what they asked me in Pakistan. They said, ‘Why are there so many idol worships?’
I said, ‘In India also we believe in only one God, but that one God is worshiped in so many forms and so many ways.’
So it is one God who comes in many uniforms. God is not in the military; in the military they always wear the same type of dress. Our God comes in all the names and all the forms, but it is only one Divinity.
So just one idol, one Shiva Linga, or one Shaligram is good enough. In your temples you don’t keep so many idols, they all are just symbols of the one Divine.
Originally in the Hindu tradition the Pooja was done only for the fire and the Kalash, this is how it started. But when the Jain religion came and when they put idols and did such wonderful worship to the idols, the Hindus also felt that we should also do something. Then the Hindus started making different idols. Before there was only one Shiva Linga, that’s all!

Q: I am stuck between God and the world. How to step away from the world and attain God?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: God is not far from you. You just need to relax. In relaxation there is God. Surrender and then relax. When we know how to relax, before and after working, then one goes into deep meditation and the connection with the Divine is established.

I don't need to catch you because you all belong to me

January 10, 2012

The very meaning of Kailash is where there is only celebration, only joy, nothing else besides it. In the same way, Vaikunth is where Narayana resides, means a place where there is no lack of anything. Everything is in abundance, and there is all prosperity and all joy. That is Vaikunth. Are Kailash and Vaikunth somewhere far? Where are they? Right here!

And you sang a song Vishalakshi, meaning what? One with big eyes, who has a broad vision

Q: Dearest Guruji, it is said in Shiv Sutras - Gyanam Banda’. How can knowledge be a bondage?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You study that; I have spoken very well on that. Read the whole Shiv Sutra.

Q: Guruji, what should be the ratio of simplicity and ego in our life? How can I balance between these two? Because sometimes when I present myself simply, people take me lightly.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is your vivek, sense of discrimination. You know where to do, what to do. Best thing is to be spontaneous.

Q: Dear Guruji, my family is from Kashmir and we were forced to migrate to other places due to terrorism. When Kashmir had so much spiritual and religious knowledge and produced so many Saints and Sufis, why is there so much violence over there?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well times keeps changing. Fanaticism had entered Kashmir, but now the next generation of people are realizing it. So, keep your hold there. Go back to Kashmir valley. Still there are some people in the valley. 
Now people are realizing that we have lost our Pandits here. It was such a nice atmosphere before, but now that is not there. So they are welcoming; you go back to Kashmir, buy land and be there or at least keep on visiting. Many people who have come back from Kashmir do not want to go back, that is the problem. Now the situations are different and you should go back and claim your rights there.

Q: Guruji, I want to be 100% both at my job and Art of Living. If I give 100% at one, then the other gets compromised. What do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Need not be! 
You know most of our trustees in Art of Living and Apex Body members all over the country, they have many other things. They do their business, their job and they are still very busy engaged. And there are thousands of teachers who do their business. Their businesses are doing very well and they are also teaching Art of Living courses. They are doing both. You should hear their experiences. 
We had a Teachers Refresher Meet, and we had teachers from all over the country who came. There were 315 industrialists in one TRM alone and they are teaching courses. They said, ‘Guruji, before our business was dull and we were not doing anything. But now we are teaching the Art of Living course and we don't pay much attention to business, but it is also running very well.’ Some of them have made 4 to 5 times more turn over in their business. They were all sharing their experiences. 
So, don't think they are contrary. Don't think either or. You can do both, this and that. Unless you see that you are ready to take a bigger responsibility for the nation and for the world. And you have very little requirement for yourself or no requirement, then you come and become full time and we will send you all over the place. But when you have some responsibilities and when you have some needs, you should do both.

Q: Guruji, today I felt very sad for some reason, but after seeing and listening to you over the web, I feel so happy. Your magic is casting a world wide web. Did you catch my thoughts today?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I can catch you; I don't need to catch your thoughts. Thoughts come and go, don’t own them. You don't own them and I don't own it. But I don't need to catch you because you all belong to me. If you are different from me only then I need to catch you. You are part of me.

Q: Guruji, You have told us to love everyone. In the bargain what has happened is everyone has started loving me. Now it has become very difficult to choose one partner. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, I leave that challenge to you. Let me watch what you are going to do and whom you are going to choose. You choose somebody or somebody chooses you, let’s see. 
But don't delay for too long, okay! 
A gentleman was 62 years old and came to me and said, 'Guruji, I want to get married. I was looking for the perfect lady and I could not find one in all these 60 years.' 
I told him, ‘okay, you look for another 15 years. Maybe later on both of you can find each other in heaven or hell.’ 
If you could not find a good match for 62 years on this planet, what is the guarantee that you will find in the next few years?!

Q: Guruji, when I am in the Ashram I am very happy and energetic. But when I go back home, it immediately drops. Please help me to have at least half of that at home.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Has everyone at home done the program? If not, make them do.
Keep listening to knowledge, keep singing. And you be determined, come what may, I take the challenge; I will not let my enthusiasm go down. 
Do you know how it goes down? Because you start arguing or you start expecting others to be like you, and to be understanding like what you have experienced here. Those things cannot happen. You have to implement the first principle of Art of Living, ‘accept people and situations as they are.’
Don't get involved in every situation with the intention that, through the experience of this situation, I will derive pleasure and fun. When you go after fun and pleasure, you will experience misery somewhere or the other. Fun and pleasure are not the only goals in life. 
Accept people as they are and go deep in knowledge. It will make a tremendous difference.

Q: Dear Guruji, in today's engineering institutions we have to study almost 54 subjects to complete our degree. In the ancient time like in Nalanda University, did students have to study so many subjects? Please do something about it.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, people were very studious. Those days, students never got time to do any entertainment. There is a proverb that says, 'if you are a student then there is no happiness, joy for you and if you are in the pursuit of pleasure then you cannot be a student.' You have to work hard. In those days people used to work hard. Now there are computers, you have calculators. The previous generations never had any computers or calculators. We had to memorize all multiplication tables. We had to memorize so many things. 
In fact, in those days the brain was used a lot, now we do not use it as much. 
Do you remember, a few years back when there was no cell phone; you had to remember peoples’ telephone numbers? When we had only landline connections, we all used to remember the telephone numbers of people. Today with the cell phone, nobody remembers the number. Once you feed it in there that is it. The moment you press somebody's name, the number comes itself. Many times you do not remember your own number. 
So we are using less of our memory and more of technology. Sometimes it is scary that we may lose the ability to remember things, and it is fast happening. 
Any youth who watches at least 2 movies a week, after 3 months if you ask them the story of any one particular movie, they will blink. They will mix stories from one movie with other movies. They can't even narrate the whole story. This is why Attention Deficiency Syndrome has become so common today.

Q: Guruji, in the Yoga Sutras Vyadhi (physical illness) has been considered an obstacle. Is Vyadhi not a part of me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Vyadhi is an obstacle.
Vyadhi, Styana, Samsaya, Pramada, Alasya, Avirati, Bhranti Darsana, Alabdha bhumikatva and Anavasthitattva. These are the nine obstacles that have been told and the means of getting rid of them have also been told – take one way and just go deep into it.

Q: Guruji, how to overcome the difference in opinions between parents and children on account of generation gap?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: hat is why, bring them to the YES, YES+ and ART Excel courses and you will see how quickly it makes a difference.

Q: Guruji, in Uttarakhand there is a tradition of Devi and Devatas manifesting in people. Is that true?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it is true, but many times their mind also gets entangled.
That is why, unless that person is a saadhak, who has gone deep within, you cannot say that he is channeling the Devata's voice completely. Devata's voice will be there and also partly his own mind; it will be mix of both. So a lot of what he might say will be true, and some of it may not be correct. 
It is like looking at the sun through a dirty piece of glass covered with dust, so the rays coming through are not as pure. They are somewhat impacted by the dust. 
Or if the glass is blue, then the light coming through also looks blue. 
That is why, if the person channeling the Devi or Devata lacks innocence and purity, then all that he says will not be entirely true. But if they are pure and innocent, then everything will be accurate.

Q: Guruji, what is right, what is wrong, how does one decide? Please share an easy trick for this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a very simple definition to know what is good and what is bad. 1. That which you do not want others to do to you is bad and that which you want others to do to you and you do to others is good. 2. That which gives you short term joy and long term unhappiness is bad. Anything which gives you long term happiness and short term problem is good. 

Q: Since childhood there was fear of parents, then fear of teachers, and now there is fear of God. Why do we make room for fear in our lives? Is this fear necessary?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Not at all necessary! Why fear? Love doing a head-stand is called fear. Just make it stand the right side up. Fear is on account of love. If there is no love, there will be no fear. 
Tulsidas has said, 'Bhaiy bhi na hote na preet gosai'. Fear and love are two different forms of the same thing. Where there is love, there is no fear; where there is fear, there is no love. This thing manifests in these two forms.

Q: Guruji, often in spite of knowing, I commit mistakes. Is there a way to become aware of knowledge in a timely fashion so that I do not knowingly commit the mistake? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just this thought is sufficient, that I should not repeat this mistake that I have done in the past. This feeling itself will begin to take root.
Okay, go ahead and make how many mistakes you want. Eventually you will get tired. I will wait for you. You keep making mistakes till you become exhausted and fall down. Then, everything will be all right. 
Just look at all those people who are suffering so much on account of making the same mistakes over and over again. 
After committing the same mistake once, twice, three times, ten times, you will finally give up and say, 'No more! I am done with it.'
But this realization should dawn before this life ends! It shouldn't keep happening throughout life. If you are on this path, it cannot happen this way. You will have the awareness fairly soon.
That is why it is said, 'Swalpamapyasya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat' - if you follow this knowledge even to a small extent you will be free of the greatest of fears. No fear will touch you.

Q: Guruji, since olden times there has been a tradition that no new work should be started during Rahu kalam. A lot of importance is attached to it. Is this appropriate? Is there is scientific standpoint behind this? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Look, Rahu period is that time which is considered suitable for prayers. It is considered ideal for any spiritual activity. So beginning any wordly project during that period is not considered appropriate because in our body there is a switching of channels (naadis) at that time.
However, we should not attach too much importance to this. If you absolutely have to do your work at that time, just say, 'Om Namah Shivaya' and move forward.

There is some element within us that does not perish

There is some element within us that does not perish
Mahasatsang with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at Delhi

Life is eternal; we never give a thought to this truth.
When someone dies we declare that the person is immortal, but the truth is we ourselves are immortal. That is why we do not feel that we have grown old.
No matter how old a person is, he feels he is never going to die. This feeling is always there. If someone else dies, we say, ‘that poor fellow died.'
Everyone else dies but I don't; this is the feeling which goes on. There is a stream (awareness) within us that cannot be destroyed, which is undying.
To acknowledge and observe that stream is spirituality. Such courage, such strength, such solidity comes in life that nothing can shake you, no one can shake you. It is a subtle stream - 'I have not changed, I have not grown old, I am just the same.'
When you examine your life, the observing of life is spirituality; it is satsang.
Satsang is not just singing bhajans, but pondering the truths of life. What is the most important truth of life - there is some element within us that does not perish, that does not die. There is something within that does not diminish, is inerasable, unchanging and undying. If even the slightest attention is directed to it, life becomes easy and uncomplicated.
The second truth - everything changes - body changes, mind changes, intellect changes, thoughts change, and everything is changing.
This is all I have come to say.
And if we change ourselves, we can change our environment, our society and this world. First and foremost, it will have to start within us. Such a smile should blossom from within us that can never fade, cannot be robbed - this is knowledge. To sit in an effort to gain this knowledge is satsang.
'God knows Guruji, how many lifetimes it will take for me to gain this awareness' - do not harbor these thoughts.
Now that you have come to my satsang, believe that you have already gained it. Once you are on the train, know that you will reach the destination. That is for sure.
Being human we all have certain needs and certain responsibilities. Tonight when you go home, sit down and make a list of all your needs and responsibilities.
If your needs are more than your responsibilities, there will be unhappiness in life, guaranteed! If our responsibilities are more than our needs, life will be peaceful. What we need to do is reduce our desires and take on more responsibility.
And when in our life, personal needs disappear and desires no longer exist; an extraordinary, mystical ability is awakened within us that enables us to bless others. When we do not want anything for ourselves, we develop the strength to fulfill the desires of others. This is the second step you have to climb.
First, become aware of your desires and reduce them and whatever is left, have the confidence that by God's grace they will be fulfilled.
The next step is, 'I need nothing.'
When you need nothing, you will become so strong that whatever you say to anyone will become a boon to them. If you bless anyone, it will manifest.
I do not have any desires or demands and this happened naturally. I want that you also view things this way.
Turn back and look, how our country was; how Delhi was 200 or 500 years ago. In a hundred years from now, if you were to be reborn in the same family, or in a neighbor's family, what kind of world would you like to see? What kind of Delhi or what kind of Yamuna would you like to see? What kind of environment and atmosphere would you like to grow up in? Just think about it.
It is then that we realize that we need to take up some responsibility for our society.
May there be a greater sense of morality and may we be useful to one another – we will have to create such an atmosphere. If it cannot be done alone, we all can join together and do it.
8, 10, 15 or 20 people should get together and take up any social cause. We want a violence-free society that nurtures a sense of belongingness, a society where we are useful to one another, where there is a feeling of love and understanding amongst neighbors and a mutual sense of respect. Don’t you want that?
Of course you do! But what responsibility have you taken on for it? Now think about it.

I would say that we should all focus our attention on some issues.
The foremost among them is a corruption-free society that we all need to envision. Corruption begins right where belongingness ends. One does not behave in a deceitful manner with their own people. The corrupt accept bribes from people they do not consider their own. We want to sacrifice ourselves on those whom we consider our very own, and we want to grab from those with whom we feel separateness.
Spirituality is where no one is a stranger. It is the mantra of love and the absence of separateness from anyone; where no one is an outsider.
So we need to envision a corruption-free society. Law is necessary, but that law alone can abolish corruption; I am not willing to believe. We all will have to join hands and, to begin with, take an oath not to give or accept bribes.
Next is female feticide. We have to put an end to female feticide.
In this country we have always believed that man and woman are equal - God's other half is Shakti.
Shiva Shaktyayukto Yadi Bhavati Shatah Prabhavitum
You must have heard of the concept of 'Ardha Nareshwar', it is so scientific. In every individual both elements exist, the female and the male. Committing female feticide or any act of violence against women is a very bad thing to do. We have to stop it.
The third issue is alcohol. Nowadays, alcohol has acquired the status of God in India. People drink in sorrow and people drink when they are happy. They drink at weddings, and when someone dies to forget the departed. When the election is won, alcohol flows, and when it is lost, then too alcohol is there - it has become excessive.
It is being said that the sale of alcohol has risen in our society. Addiction has gone out of bounds. We have to protect ourselves from this. The only way to save us is if we experience a greater euphoria than alcohol - that which one can get in our midst.
If you sit in satsang, you experience such a high that is hard to get over.
One can afford to remain in that high as one doesn't have to spend anything, and one's health is also protected.
This universe has five qualities: naam, roop, asti, bhati and preeti. This entire universe is name (naam) and form (roop); everything has a name and a form, and consciousness (asti), which is experienced (bhati) and whose nature is love (preeti).
Go to any corner of the world and look into the eyes of a child - you will find nothing but love. Every child born in this world is an image of love and a treasure of joy and smiles. A child smiles all day long. And as it grows up, no one knows where the love disappears, and the smile vanishes.
The meaning of education is to save the smile and spread the love.
Both you and I have died several times; I remember, whether you remember or not, I do not know. When we die, only two questions appear before us: how many people have you shared love with, and how much knowledge have you gained.
Knowledge does not mean information, it means awareness. So we have named this process of gaining awareness, and sharing love, The Art of Living.
Putting together certain techniques, various programs such as Yes+, ART Excel, etc., were created so that people might find it easy to learn.
Too much knowledge all at once cannot be digested. Knowledge should be given in small doses, like in a five course dinner: first the appetizer, then the soup, then the mail meal and in the end dessert. This way we can digest the food.
It has been thirty years since the Art of Living began. This world is one family - this dream has been realized today. This was a very ancient dream of our Rishis. It is inscribed in our parliament also, ‘Gananda laghu chetasaam udara charitaanaam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam'.
In our country this knowledge and this tradition has been there since eternity. There are such beautiful and timeless truths that we have overlooked, and neither learnt nor implemented in our lives. Application of this knowledge keeps our body healthy, mind at ease and happy, sharpens the intellect, and there is such a feeling of peace within!
If you all ask me Guruji, what do you want? Why you are doing all these things and why are you holding these satsangs? Why are you traveling to all these places?
Shall I tell you my secret, why I am doing all this? I want to see an India where there is no violence. Where in every individual there is creativity and joy. I want to see a divine society. I want to create a violence-free and trouble-free society.
How many of you are with me in this? We all have to come together and bring about the divine society till the time we are in this world. We have to do things in such a way that we should leave behind a beautiful society for the next generations. When we leave this world behind, we should leave it better than how we got it.
What do you think? One day or the other, we are going to die. So for today’s younger generation we have to give a better society. Will you all work together for this? Yes?!
Just look around whoever is not raising their hands up! Just ask them, ‘what is the problem!’

Q: Guruji, what is life? What is Art of Living?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The Art of Living is keeping your mind under control even in adverse conditions and being in equanimity and then accepting people as they are.
Not all people will be like you, but do not go away from the relationship because they are different, and have a different kind of thought processes. Whatever kind of people, accept them as they are and whatever way we can be of use to them, do that. Third point is, do not be a foot ball of others’ opinions.
Fourth is, if someone makes a mistake, do not see an intention behind it. Do not think that they have done the mistake purposely. Just the way it happened by you, same way it happened by another person also. Like this, see the personality behind the mistake, recognize that and have compassion towards them.
And the fifth one is live in the present moment. Learn from the past and plan for the future but live in the present. Whatever is there in this moment take advantage of it. Do not sit and keep on thinking about the future and do not have anger towards the past and punish yourself.
The Art of Living is based on just these five points.

Q: Dear Guruji, how many Gods are there?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: How many rays of the Sun are there? Tell me! There are as many Gods as there are rays of the sun.
One God but many rays, and each ray is a form of God. Each ray represents a particular aspect of the Divinity.

Q: Guruji, sometimes we feel fed up of only being a good person and feel that we should also sometimes do something wrong.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, whenever you are frustrated and you take an action it is not going to make you happy for sure, remember that. You will only regret it when you become calm and come back to a pleasant state of mind. So do not take hasty actions when you are frustrated. Take a break for a few minutes, calm down and then act, do not react.

Q: Guruji how can I become Antarmukhi?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By meditating. Keep meditating for a few minutes every day. Sometimes you may find it hard to meditate because the mind is going here and there but that is why I have given so many guided meditations. In all languages CDs have been made.
To start with, practice meditation with the CD or learn it from a teacher who teaches meditation. When you keep doing this, the mind will go inward.

Q: Dear Guruji, I love you so much but my mind keeps on doubting. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That’s the job of the mind, to give a lot of doubts.
Being in love is the job of the heart and being in doubt is the job of the head. Both have got its places. You need to have both. How much doubt you can have, just keep having and when all the doubts are over and no more doubts come up, from there the faith begins.

Q: Guruji, how is the experience of God? To experience God what do we need to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We get Ram in Vishram.
You have to rest and deep rest is called meditation. By doing anything you cannot get God but when you rest you will get God. Rest will happen only when all the desires of the mind are settled and in order to settle the rajasic and tamasic desires of the mind, we have to do seva.
After doing seva, meditate and in that rest, you will get God.

Q: Guruji, Buddha ran away from his responsibilities and family. Still why do we worship him even though he shrinked away from his responsibilities?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When Buddha ran away he was ignorant. He was seeking, he was depressed and upset. Without knowing the reality of life he felt life is meaningless.
In that state of low energy, depression, he went on seeking.
Once he found, he returned back. He took great responsibility not just of his family, but for the entire world, the whole society. When Siddhartha became Buddha he came back to the society and for 40 years he traveled around and did great work.

Q: Dear Guruji, in all religions there is only one God and in Hindu religion there are so many. My friends from the other religions make fun of me. I do not have any answer to give. What to do? How to make them understand?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: God likes variety. God did not just make egg plant or just potatoes. Just imagine having only potatoes all your life.
He made different types of interesting vegetables. When God has made so many different types of vegetables, different types of flowers for you, would the same God like to be in one uniform? He will be wearing different types of costumes.
And so he will manifest in different names and different forms. He has the right to do that.
He who likes variety and has created so many varieties of forms also is available in different names and forms. That is why we say one God but with different names and different forms. That is why they say, see ‘One’ in everyone, and see everyone in that ’One’. This is what is ‘Vishwaroop Darsan’, where Krishna showed Arjuna that everything was in him. ‘Rudra, Shiva, Ganapathy, it is me who is present in all forms.’

So do not think Gods as separate from one another. God is only one, but there are different Devathas.
Just like how one cell becomes the human body. A drop of semen and one egg joined together forms one cell. From this one cell the human body is formed, but in this there are 33 different aspects. One aspect becomes the eyes, one aspect becomes the ears, and one becomes the throat and tongue. The textures are so different.
Your nails are different from your eyes and eyes are different from your ears. These are Devathas. That is what the ancient people have said; in our body Devatha’s are present. In each organ there is a Devatha which means divine quality. All these divine qualities, all these Devatha’s are one God’s manifestation. These are 33 chromosomes derived from the one cell. That is why our ancestors have spoke about 33 crores of Devatha.

Q: Dear Guruji, you always hold flowers, do you not feel that to straighten out the issues in society today you need to hold a stick rather than flowers?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A stick cannot hurt as much as a flower can hurt.
The change that happens through a flower stays, but the change that happens through a stick is only for a few days, it would not stay long.
Some will hold flowers, some will hold sticks. If you are holding a stick then I am holding flowers.
Usually what we do, we do not even go to cast our vote. We say, ’oh all are the same, whom to vote for.’ Thinking this we sit at home.
Do not do that. When elections come, that is your stick, go and cast your vote and choose the right person. Someone who is good, someone who will do good work for the society and one who is cultured and humble, send them to the parliament. That is necessary.

Q: Dear Guruji, the whole nation is looking at you in full anticipation on what you are going to do to save this nation and when will you do it Guruji?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The job is only mine? We all will do it together.
Bring about a wave in the nation of happiness, joy, sincerity, this is very necessary. A wave of spirituality should definitely come up. And those youngsters who are willing to work with me, I need them to do work in the society. We will go to each area and we will do work to reform the society.
Two years ago we had started ‘Save Yamuna’ project and it is not done yet. More people should join that movement. There are 18 streams that are flowing into it. Those who are interested should come together and pressurize the government to clean it.
Read Celebrating Silence, meditate and do Sudarshan Kriya. Each one of you is a treasure of knowledge and love.

I want to tell you about Pravarthi and Nivarthi. A satvik intellect will know Pravirthi and Nivirthi.
When you are going to do a job, we need to identify the problems in it and make it alright. When we are doing meditation, we need to accept that everything is fine. God has made everything fine. Then the meditation will be deep.
But we do the opposite.
When we work, we think, this will be like this only, what we can do and we become lazy. But when we are doing meditation all the complaints come up in the mind. Then both rest and work are not happening properly.
So when work has to happen, see the problems and with enthusiasm do the work. When you are meditating, have the feeling that everything is alright; God will make everything alright, I am just a tool.
When you are resting deeply, you will be successful in your work. So this is a satvik intellect that recognizes Pravarthi and Nivarthi.

Same way, accept the past as destiny. Whatever has happened, it has happened.
Think of the future as free will and be in the present moment. It is foolishness thinking that past was free will and future as destiny.
An intelligent person thinks that past is destiny, future is free will and is in the present moment.

I want all the youths to make a commitment with me that we will bring a transformation in society and in ourselves as well. In a country where the youth are awakened, the country also has awakened. I am so pleased that so many youth are so connected and so joyful.