Stop and see, where is life going?

September 14, 2012

Lima, South America

So what should we discuss tonight?


I am playing the role of the speaker and you are all listeners. How nice it would be for me to know what is it that you want to know tonight.

You can think of topics.

You know, to discuss something which is very dear to our hearts, we need to be in an informal atmosphere.

A formal atmosphere is not congenial for wisdom; for authenticity.

I have a habit of doing everything in an informal way.

So let us begin by turning around and greeting the person in-front of you, next to you and behind you. Become familiar with everyone around you.

We spend half of our health in earning money, and then we spend half of our wealth to get the health back. Not so smart! We need to find where life is going? We keep working and we keep on doing things without knowing - What is the Purpose! Without even enjoying all that this nature has provided us.

I want to ask you a question.

Did you really greet the person or did you do it as a formality?

You don't have to tell that to the person next to you. You don't have to tell them, 'Hey, I just greeted you as a formality.'

I want you to ask yourself, did you really greet the person?

You know when you get off the plane, the air hostesses greet you saying, 'Have a nice day', but they don't mean it.

It is just coming from the lips.

But if the same words comes to you from your mother, or sister, or a close friend, it carries some vibration with it.

So we convey more through our vibrations.

Someone can stand and give you a talk about love for two hours, but that does not convey what a baby or dog conveys to you through vibrations.

You go into a place where people are depressed, you will see that for no reason you are also depressed. Similarly, you go to a place where people are happy and you feel the joy coming up within you.

The whole world is just vibrations; waves and waves.

Our mind is vibrations, our body is all vibrations, thoughts are vibrations and our emotions are all vibrations. But we don't do anything to improve the vibrations, the positivity in us, isn't it?!

That something, doing which, your vibrations become very joyful, positive and peaceful, is Meditation.

This happens very fast through the breathing techniques and meditation.

Usually when one says Meditation, you think, one has to leave everything and go to Machu Picchu, or somewhere in the Himalayas; no, it is not like that. You can experience it in your own home.

And what are the benefits of meditation? Why should we do it? As I said, our vibrations become positive.

Sometimes, when you meet someone, you feel some repulsion and you don't want to talk to that person. Have you experienced this?

And then, there are some people that you meet, and you feel like talking to them and engaging with them. Again, this is vibrations.

Similarly, you get some thoughts, and they are absolutely right. And at other times, you get thoughts that are completely wrong. Isn't that so?

So, we are like walking in the darkness without understanding our own consciousness. If you understand consciousness, a lot of things happen and your life becomes much happier. Our health becomes better, our relationships with people improves.

You must have heard from people, how the violent tendencies in life go down. And most important, our desires get fulfilled.

There are four kinds of people.

Some people have desires, and they desire and desire but nothing gets manifested.

There are others who desire and work so hard for it, and then after a long time, it gets manifested.

And the third one are those who desire, and immediately it gets done, without much hard work.

And the fourth one are those who don't even have to desire, even before the desire arises, things are already there.

So which category do you want to be in? Fourth one?

Yes, that is the luckiest. It is just like, you have not even felt thirst and already there is water.

There is a proverb in India which says, 'When you had teeth, you didn't get peanuts, and when you got peanuts, you didn't have teeth.'

Many people are in this situation. They work so hard all their life, make all the money, put it all in the bank and they die. And then the children fight over the money of the parents.

In the world, about 70% of the court cases are about inheritance.

Now, see nobody fights over the money they have earned. So what you have done is, you have made money, put it in the bank and then made your children fight with each other for the money. Is this an intelligent thing to do?

We spend half of our health in earning money, and then we spend half of our wealth to get the health back.

Not so smart! Not so economical.

See, when the mind is bitter, you can't find happiness anywhere in the world. When the mind is sweet, then you find sweetness everywhere. So meditation is all about finding sweetness deep inside.That something, doing which, your vibrations become very joyful, positive and peaceful, is Meditation.

We need to find where life is going?

There is a story of a wise fool!

A wise fool was sitting on a donkey, and the donkey was running. It went round and round the same streets many times. So someone asked this gentleman, 'I see you going up and down several times, where are you going?'

He says, 'I don't know, ask the donkey!'

Most of the time, our lives are that way. We keep working and we keep on doing things without knowing - What is the Purpose! Without even enjoying all that this nature has provided us.

See, when the mind is bitter you can't find happiness anywhere in the world. When the mind is sweet, then you find sweetness everywhere.

So meditation is all about finding sweetness deep inside us. And when you find it, do you know what you want to do? You want to give it to everybody.

People ask me, 'What is your motivation? What do you get? Why are you running around to all these places around the world all the time?'

I asked them one question, 'Suppose you see a very nice movie, what do you do? Do you just sit quiet in your room? Or do you pick up the phone, call your friends and tell them, 'Oh, it is a great movie, you must go and see this movie.' Now what do you get by doing that? Do the movie producers give you some commission? Or the actors give your some money? What do you get for making all those phone calls? You do it because the nature of joy is to share.'

The nature of joy is sharing.

There are two types of joy, one is the joy of grabbing. As kids we were born with this tendency. If you leave a child here, it will go and grab this flower, grab this sheet, pull that chair, turn everything around upside down, and hold on to things.

It will hold on to anything, even a knife. Without knowing it is going to hurt its hand, the child with grab a knife. But mothers are very clever, they will give the child something else to loosen the child's grip from the knife. Isn't that so?

When children catch on to something that is not good, you give them something else.

So this is one type of joy, the joy of getting, having. This is a childish joy; childish happiness. There is another type of happiness, joy, that comes from giving.

Many ladies here, when guests are coming home, or children are coming home, what do you do? You make many different types of food and decorate it and put it on the table. Your joy as a mother is in giving, isn't it!

Look at grandparents, they love to give gifts to the children, isn't it?! There is a joy in giving, and this is a mature joy.

We cannot live life by just having the joy of getting without understanding the joy in giving.

Once you have a little taste of the joy that comes from giving, you will find that life is worth living, life is fulfilling.

So, smile more!

You know a baby smiles 400 times a day, a adolescent smiles only 17 times and an adult rarely smiles. And if you become an officer or a politician, then forget about it. Your smile disappears, flies away.

A smile is not something artificial, it should come from within. That can only happen when the stress is gone, when we go deep in meditation.

If someone says, 'I am meditating', that means that they smile more; there is serenity, sensitivity and sensibility, and this is spirituality.

Spirituality means sensibility, sensitivity, sweetness, smile; all these put together.

Usually when one says Meditation, you think, one has to leave everything and go to Machu Picchu, or somewhere in the Himalayas; no, it is not like that. You can experience it in your own home. And what are the benefits of meditation? As I said, our vibrations become positive.

Q: What should I do if the stress factor is coming from outside. If it is something I do not control or it is beyond me. How do I transmit peace?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why we need to educate people on how to handle their stress. If one person is not well in the family, does it not affect the whole family? Yes, it does affect. Similarly, if a few are mentally unwell in the society, crime increases in society.

There are people who are in prisons who say, 'Oh, now we don't want to be in violence', but there are so many more outside who are causing problems to society and that is why we need to give this spiritual education to people.

We need to educate people on how to be calm, how to handle their negative emotions and how to handle their mind, because neither at home, nor at school did anyone teach us how to handle our mind.

So then there is anger, jealousy and hatred, and when you live with these emotions then you act on them. You don't know how to get rid of it. You hold on to it and then you act from that and then you regret. This is the problem.

These practices and this knowledge here is the solution.

If you are at ease with yourself everyone will be at ease with you

Celebrating Silence Blog: April 06, 2012 -Bali, Indonesia 

Contentment and happiness are very important. Other things come and go. We have come on this planet so many times, we will come again. Life is continuous; it is coming and going, coming and going.

Q: How do I keep my spirit high all the time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just remember why you are disturbed, it is because of small things and know that it will all be alright.

So when you see all these things come and go and everything will be alright, then you say, ‘I am not going to be disturbed by this. I am bigger than this.’ Yes!

Just that thought in the mind – I am bigger than this. Then the spirit is uplifted higher.

So I am not the body; body is undergoing so many changes all the time. Sometimes I feel tired, sometimes I feel strong. I am much bigger than the body.

People think mind is inside the body, this is wrong, body is inside the mind.

The mind is like a candle, there is a wick and there is flame above the wick. If you close the candle with a lid, it will burn only as long as there is oxygen. In the same way, if you put somebody in the room and close it, they will be alive only till oxygen is there in the room. So the mind is like the glow that lives on oxygen, on consciousness. So first there is the body and then there is the mind, so the mind is much bigger. When you remember this, that the mind is like a flame, it is much bigger then there is peace. Still if something bothers you then breathe (referring to Sudarshan Kriya). With fast breathing and Bhastrika, it becomes better.

Q: Guruji, why do relationships take away our freedom?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If there is wisdom in relationships, it does not take away freedom. If there is no wisdom, then there is no freedom. It is not the relationship that gives you or takes away freedom. It is lack of wisdom.

Q: Dear Guruji, what is my duty?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen to your heart. You heart will tell you what your duty is.

Q: Jai Gurudev, are the bad things in our life also grace?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you look from a broader perspective, you will see, those incidences which were painful has given you some depth and made you more mature. So the painful incidences give you depth and maturity. Whenever you are unhappy you should surrender. Usually when you are angry you say, ‘I give up!’

So you should have the power to drop things when you are unhappy, and power to do service when you are happy. Service in happiness and renunciation in unhappiness.

Q: Guruji, I want to make a difference in the world in a massive way. How do I discover the way to make that difference?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I want people like you who have this spirit to make a big difference in the world. Come and I will send you to different places where you can go and do a lot of work. You already have a ready-made platform. You don’t have to do it from scratch which would take another thirty years to do. You have a ready-made platform, take a jump from here and take it to another level.

See, I want to do something, is one thing, but another is, what is needed in the world we need to do that. I want to make a difference is different from we need to make a difference in the world. What is needed for the world let us all do that. This is the spirit that we should have.

Q: Dear Guruji, fear bothers me a lot, what to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why fear, when I am here. You belong to me and I belong to you. When you feel that you are alone and you have nobody, only then you fear. Fear is when you feel loneliness, when you feel that you are not connected. Fear is love standing upside down. Never mind, just do some ujjayi breathing and attend satsangs, and it will change.

Q: Guruji, I think I am addicted to sex. I have no self control when it comes to sex. I try very hard, but I can’t control myself.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I think you have too much free time. If you are busy and you work hard and then you get so tired that you are waiting to hit the pillow, the moment you hit the pillow you will fall asleep.

Either you have too much free time or you are eating too much, then obsessions and addictions come up. It is always related to too much food and too much sex.

Q: On the spiritual path is it bad to marry and have children?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, you can marry and you can have children.

That is why I have started the department Sri Sri Matrimony, so that all the single girls and bachelors can put their names in it, and then one day we will have a swayamvar. Then you can choose whom you want to marry.

We have that already, it just needs to be developed a little. Someone needs to put a little attention into it; someone who is good at match making.

Q: Guruji, after all these years, I am still struggling, why? Love you Guruji!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You love me and then you are struggling. Struggling for what?

You are struggling for money, then don’t sit and day dream, do hard work. If one business does not work, choose another business and do it.

You can only struggle with two things, a job or relationship.

If you are not getting married, you have been too choosy and so things are not working. And if you are already in a relationship and then you are struggling, then of course the knowledge point comes here, accept people as they are. So you try to accept them more and more, but your mind says no. Know that it is because of the knowledge that you are able to sustain and survive. Do you see what I am saying? Somehow you are making things work.

So don’t think nothing works for you. I don’t think that is a fact.

The third issue could be health. There is no fourth issue. And being in The Art of Living always helps you to somehow manage all the three.

Don’t sit and day dream and only think about miracles to happen. Miracles do happen, but if you crave for miracles then they will take a back seat. Nature wants you to be dynamic.

There are people who have asked me, ‘Guruji, please give me some numbers for my lottery ticket. I just want to win a lottery so that I don’t have to do anything. Just do sadhana all the time and some seva.’ No ways!

First of all, decide what it is that you want from life.

Struggling with what? With money?!

You know money is something that you will always find people short of money. Always!

You can see for example, the richest country, the only super power on this planet is USA and it is under heavy debt; trillions of dollars of debt. You take big companies; many of them are in debt. The richer a person gets, the more expenses he has to do. At the same time, there are poor people who are contributing towards charity, poor people who take time to do service, which is amazing. They feel so much abundance.

The other day in India, a gentleman comes to me. He has a small shop; a small little kiosk for himself, and he had inherited two plots of land. So he comes to me and offers me one plot of land. He says, ‘I want to give this plot to you’, he insisted. He came with his whole family, his wife, his mother and said, ‘I have two, I want to donate one and keep the other one.’

The plot is in a very expensive location of the city and he could make a big fortune from it. But look at the heart in that guy.

I said, ‘Okay, I will take it, but it will be in your name only. You should keep it for me and you build your shop here. Sell the other plot and with the money that you get, do business.’

I could not say I won’t take this to him because he will feel hurt, so I said, ‘Yes this is mine, but it will be in your name and you should have it.’

Look at the broad mind of that person.

Another day, a very poor lady comes, and she had just one gold chain that she inherited. I was going in the car and she comes running and gives me an envelope in my hand.

Usually people give me envelopes with letters in it of some problems. So I took the envelope, and in it I found a gold chain. Then I told some people to go and find this lady and give the chain back to her saying, Guruji sent you blessings.

Do you know, during our silver jubilee, there is a beautiful story that happened! I came down from the steps on the last day and a small boy comes running to me with tears in his eyes and he gives me an envelope. I take the envelope and it had Rs. 5000 in it. I looked at that boy and I said, ‘What do you do?’

He said he is a laborer.

The money in the envelope that he had given me had two months of his earnings, and he said, ‘Please take this.’

He said, ‘I can’t tell you how much my life has transformed. Please accept this.’

I took just Rs.100 from that and returned back Rs. 4900. I told him, you know this Rs.100 is so precious for me, this is enough. I will take this.

2 months of his salary; someone who is a laborer who does manual work, he comes and offers. Such a big heart is there in people.

What I am saying is you too should feel abundance. You don’t have to be very rich to feel the abundance. In fact many rich people don’t feel abundance at all, they feel lack. They are not generous. But poor people are very generous; they have that feeling, that art.

Don’t imagine a situation where you will become super rich one day and then you will start doing some seva, no, nothing like that. You can feel abundance at any point of time. And the moment you start feeling abundance, you will see things will get better, got it!

Similarly, don’t be feverish about a relationship, just relax and you will find your relationship with people will improve and become better. If you are like a leech, clinging on to somebody in a relationship and bugging them, even though you say all nice words, that person will run away from you because they can’t handle it.

One aspect is to give love, and another is to know how to handle love, receive love as well. It needs only a centered, enlightened person. Now don’t expect that type of behavior from everybody.

You have to be very much at ease with yourself. If you are at ease with yourself, everyone will be at ease with you.

Q: Guruji, I want to fully surrender myself to you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, don’t do it at all. Why do you want to surrender? Why do you have to surrender? No need. Just relax!

Your wanting to surrender becomes such a big work for you and for me; headache! You don’t need to surrender, just relax. What do you need to surrender? Your heart, mind and soul? No way, it already belongs to me. Everything belongs to me.

Someone was singing, ‘Oh, you stole my heart.’ Why should I steal something which is already mine? Why would I steal your heart? I feel everybody on the planet belongs to me already, got it! I don’t need to steal and you don’t need to surrender. You already belong to me. So just relax!

You know this word surrender helps when you have a load of negativity on your head. If you have negativity or hatred then you surrender that. You don’t need to surrender any good qualities or anything that is nice because it is already mine. What is not mine is all the negativity, and if you seem to have it, just give it up.

Meditation purifies the soul

December 26, 2011

Do you want to see God? How many of you want to see God? It doesn’t take much time. Stop seeing the world. If you see the world, you can’t see God.

Either you can see God or you can see the world. You can’t see both. You have to choose one.

If you want to see God, I’ll show you right away: Stop seeing the differences. Stop seeing the world.

Quantum physics can see God. Know that this all is one, that everything is made up of One. It is an illusion that there is this person and that person. It is an illusion that there is this object and that object. All objects are made up of One.

We are like in a hologram. One light beam makes the hologram. It appears to be an object but it is not an object, it is just light’s play and display. This whole universe is a play and display of light which appears to be different. There is nothing but God on this planet.

If you sit in a movie show, whatever you see on the screen is just light passing through, that’s all. Light is passing through a running film and appears to be different things, different people and different incidents. Like this, the whole world is a play and display of one consciousness. There is no matter and there is no energy. There is no you, there is no me, there is no this, there is no that. It is all just One.


That is it! You sit still.

In the Bible it says, ’Be still and know that I am God.’

It is the mind that sees the differences. The intellect perceives the differences. Transcend the intellect and be still. There is only one thing.

You can’t say One, because to say One, you need to have two. If you say something is complete, then you have to be outside of it and say it is complete. The ancient people were so brilliant that you would be amazed. They said, non-dual, there is no two.

To say One is wrong. Only two can say it is One. That there is no two is the best way to express it. That is what is called advaita (non-dual) but dvaita means dual. This is like the pure science, like the quantum physics. You can experience, you can know it, but in practical life, you have to come one step down. You have to acknowledge the duality, the multiplicity in the creation.

The table, chair, roof, door, is all made up of wood here and that is a fact. But you can’t use the chair for a door and a door for a chair. From that level, you have to operate in duality.

So the Periodic Table in chemistry is also true and Quantum physics is also true. Both talk about the same matter.


Q: Where did Hanuman and his kind disappear to? Were they monkeys or what were they? How could a superior species of apes just disappear?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should talk to an anthropologist. They’ll give you the history. The world is all changes. Things keep changing. The only constant thing about the world is that everything is changing.


Q: Dear Guruji, can you give us some tips on how to feel your presence more in our daily lives?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just be still. Even for a minute or half a minute.


Q: Dear Guruji, what is your sadhana every day? Do you run into the same issues as us like too many thoughts, anxiety, or do you live your natural state all the time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a code of conduct for a teacher not to share their experience.

Do you know why? Because the student will start to think, ‘how come I am not having this? I want to have it.’

This wanting to have, this questioning oneself will go on. The best thing is to just be with your experience. Step by step you will always progress and a time comes when everything is meditation.


Q: What to do with my money? Can you give me some advice?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are living in a world which is complex. In some way or another, you are dependent on something in the world. You cannot insulate yourself so totally.

Now see, Germany changed its currency from the Deutsche Mark to the Euro. You could not say, ‘no, I don’t want to get into the Euro, I want to keep the same Deutsche Mark with me.’

You could not say that and if you would have done that, you would be a big fool.

So there is no total isolation or insulation from what is happening in the world.

You can be smart, and not greedy. Often people who are greedy, they end up in trouble. They see these advertisements that say, ‘Just invest your money and you will get 200% returns out of it.’ You don’t scientifically think why they would give you 200%. You get caught in the cloud of that, ‘oh they are going to give me tremendous money.’

At that moment when you are so feverish, no wisdom enters your head. You think it is so real, and you invest and you lose all the money. I have seen so many people do that and have heard many people lose all their wealth just out of greed.

So we should be intelligent enough to see where it is good to invest. I can’t tell you all that. It is against ethics. You invest wherever you find it is safe.


Q: Dear Guruji, I cannot let go. What to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just hold on!

Breathe in and hold on! See how long you can hold on for. There is no choice!

Can you stop your age? No! You can’t say, ’I’ll become 49 after next year.’ You cannot say that.

‘Though I’m turning 49 this year, I’ll hold on until next year. I will think about it, whether I should be 50 or not.’

Can you choose to change your date of birth? No! If you do it, it is not true.

You can do it in a passport, but it is not legal, it is not right. You were born on a particular day and that is it.


Q: I always search for being loved. How to know that I am loved and that I am worth being loved?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: My dear, I have said so many times, you are love!

Don’t look for love but give love. When you start giving, it comes back multiplied many more times to you.


Q: Dear Guruji, my father died recently. My mother is alone, frail, disoriented with no goal in life. What can I do to help her?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Knowledge will help!

Speak with her about Knowledge. Sit with her and read some of the knowledge.

Read the Scriptures, some stories or Yoga Vasistha.

More than that, just you being around itself is uplifting. Time is a great healer. In fact, time is the only greatest healer.


Q: Beloved Guruji, you say that karma cannot be changed. Only grace can change karmic bondage. What is grace and what action can bring grace?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: All actions that are evolutionary and all that supports life. Selfless dedicated service.

Not that I do some service and think what do I get in return? No, that is not called service. Seva is an act done without wishing for something in return. This act is very important. Seva purifies our karma.

There is a proverb in India, ’a spoonful of ghee (clarified butter) on the rice purifies the rice.’

You know why? This is because if you eat rice just like that it digests very fast and becomes sugar very quickly. Many people who eat rice like that, they become diabetic.

A cardiologist told me, anytime you take cereals; you should have a little bit of fat with it. A spoon of ghee on top of it slows down the digestion. It becomes complex carbohydrates and helps to balance the sugar level in the body and that helps a healthy heart function.

That is why the ancient people had said this, ‘a spoon of ghee purifies the rice.’


Knowledge purifies the intellect. How many of you experienced that knowledge purifies the intellect? All the anger, cravings, aversions about other people, everything disappears.

Music purifies the emotions.

Charity purifies money that you earn. At least three to four percent of what you earn should be given away in charity. If all that we earn we spend on ourselves, it is not considered pure money or good money. Charity purifies the money and then you can enjoy the rest of the money. Otherwise the rest of the money just goes in hospitals and other things.

Prayer purifies the heart.

Meditation purifies the soul.

Ayurveda, triphala purifies the body and cleanses the bowels. We keep stuffing food into our system all the time, but once in a while we need to purge the system.

Four or five tablets taken at night before going to bed, in the morning your stomach is all clean.

So Ayurveda, yoga, pranayama and exercise purifies the body. Pranayama purifies the whole system, the body mind complex. That is why after Sudarshan Kriya you feel so clean. It cleanses you of all the karma, it brings that clarity.


Q: Dearest Guruji, Does the soul have to reincarnate again and again until all desires and karma is cleared? What is the way out of this cycle of birth and death? Is enlightenment the only way?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Correct! The only way to quench the thirst is to drink something. The only way to satisfy hunger is to eat something. In the same way, the only way to get out of this cycle is enlightenment or meditation. Total satisfaction!


Q: Q: Why do people underestimate talent considering a previous mistake?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You have answered your own question. You have talent, but when you have made a mistake, they are apprehensive because each mistake can cost a lot to a company or to a person. So, you will have to reassure them that a mistake will not happen and you will use your talents very well. People don’t want to take so much risk these days.


Q: Guruji, is there a right way to follow in the path of knowledge? What do we do about the thoughts and impressions that nag our mind about people who are important in our lives?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t worry about the past, however the past has been. In the present believe in your innocence. You are innocent in the present moment. The mistakes in the past are due to your ignorance. But the fact in the present moment is you are innocent.


Q: Is it worthwhile studying astrology? Will we ever know enough?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Astrology is a science. But in some way, it is a lost science. The complete knowledge is not available, so whatever knowledge they have is 70 to 80 percent. They are able to predict something about it.

But there is one clause astrologers always give. There is a bigger power hiding behind, a higher power, which can overrule all of this. Because that superior power, that super power is independent and that is the Divinity, the Divine grace. The Divine grace can change anything at any time.


Q: How to stop my wife from talking in a bad way to me without any reason?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, that is a challenge! If she is talking bad about you without reason, you tell her you will give her a reason!


Q: In Ashtavakra Gita, you mention that life is formed from three things: seeds, eggs and space. How is life formed from space?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Everything comes in space, stays in space and dissolves in space. You must study space. Then you will see that nothing other than space exists. Everything is formed in space.


Q: Dear Guruji, I feel that I have made many mistakes in the past three years and I need to suffer the consequences and I am afraid. Is there anything I can do to alleviate these consequences?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You being on the right path now itself is reducing the consequences. And your acceptance about the consequence itself is a relief. It puts you back on a higher pedestal.


Q: Dear Guruji, I’ve worked hard for three years but my supervisor killed my career without thinking. Now I am jobless and have lost my vision of life. How to deal with negative emotions about my boss?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, no point in sitting and brooding over the past. Wake up! With full energy, move forward.

If you have lost one job, so what?! A million other jobs are there in the world. You can take another one. Never mind if you get paid a little bit less in this job and you got more there, move on!

Life is worth much more than sitting and brooding and wasting your energy and your time on what has happened in the past. It might have been because of your own mistakes in the present or it could be that you were unable to see your mistake in the past. That could be because of a past life, but never mind. There is no point in analyzing the past now. We need to look forward and just move on.

Don’t lose your enthusiasm for whatsoever reason.


Q: A few days ago you were talking about sattva, that water is the best transmitter. Is there a way to measure the sattva energy level?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There should be some way to measure the energy levels.

One of our Art of Living teachers is also a scientist. He developed a device for measuring the energy vibrations. He would measure on a person before and after meditation and he would find that their aura has increased by a certain amount of distance. So it is very interesting.


Q: Dear Guruji, when the body is physically hurt then one dies and the spirit leaves the body. Is the spirit so loosely associated with the body? Can the spirit move without getting hurt?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Spirit doesn’t get hurt. It moves on.

You can’t hurt a space. You can’t hurt air. The subtler you go in creation; there is nothing that can hurt there. You can’t divide it. It’s simply amazing.

Logic can’t console the emotions, but the quiet presence works

Wisdom from Sri Sri: Logic can't console the emotions, but the quiet presence works

`Once you have come on this path, know that only something good will happen to you at every step'

Wisdom from Sri Sri: `Once you have come on this path, know that only something good will happen to you at every step'

Money, and the arrogance of mankind

DNA, 23rd May, 2010

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Money gives one a sense of freedom and ownership. Ownership of something means total control of its existence. When we buy a piece of land, we feel that we own it, although the land continues to exist even after the owner is no more. How can we own something that outlives us?

Money also gives the idea that we are powerful and independent, blinding us to the fact that we live in a world of interdependence. We believe that with money we can own anything, that we can put a price tag on anybody's services. We depend on farmers, cooks, drivers and the services of so many people around us. Even an expert surgeon cannot operate by himself. He depends on others. By paying a few currency notes we overlook the fact that we depend on them. Instead of feeling grateful we think it is we who oblige them.

If we take a look at why most people with money are arrogant we will find it is because of the feeling of independence that money brings. The awareness of dependence on the other hand makes one humble. The basic human quality of humility is taken away by the false feeling of independence.

Human values have eroded to such an extent that we measure people in terms of their net money worth. Can money really reflect the worth of a person? Often we call someone a millionaire or a billionaire. Labeling a person so is not a compliment. We cannot put a value to human life.

Wealth can be attained through one's skills, abilities, inheritance or through corrupt means. The means of attaining wealth brings its own consequences. The very motive for corruption is peace and happiness. Yet peace and happiness remain elusive when the means are corrupt.

On one hand, some people blame money for all the ills in society. There are others who even consider it an evil. Just as possessing money brings arrogance, rejecting it too makes one arrogant. Some people who renounce money take pride in their poverty to draw attention and sympathy. However, the ancient sages never denigrated money. In fact, they honored it as a part of the divine and transcended the grip of its illusion. They knew that when we reject or hate something, we can never transcend it. They honored wealth as Goddess Lakshmi - the consort of Narayana.

In a state of ignorance, people forget that the most reliable thing in the universe is ourselves and therefore start relying on money as a source of security. When people lack faith in the Divine or in their own abilities or in the goodness of society, they suffer from a deep sense of insecurity. This is a predominant problem today. As a result all that appears to provide security is money. They rely on something that is not certain, and end up getting upset. Uncertainty causes craving for stability.

The world is of change; the Self is of non-change. We have to rely on the non-change and accept the change. This is like perceiving the real as unreal and unreal as real. In fact, all miseries are unreal. A wise man knows that happiness is real, as it is our very nature. Unhappiness is unreal because it is inflicted by memory. When we see everything as a dream, then we abide in our true nature which is love, joy and peace. Then we understand that money is not all important. There are values, belongingness, love and care which are more important.

Wisdom from Sri Sri

Charity purifies wealth (April 23rd, 2010)

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar speaks on fake sadhus (Hindi)

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