Sri Sri's New Year Message

2012 is passing rather very fast. Let us recapture!

When this year began, there was a lot of talk about 21 December 2012. There were rumors that the world is going to end. And there are many people who believe rumors; at least some people believe in rumors very strongly.
So people started hoarding food in their basements, waiting for the doomsday to fall.
I have always been saying that no such thing is going to happen.
Of course, this year we have seen many catastrophes, like almost every year. Maybe little more. US had a big catastrophe, Japan had problems, and there were problems in many other parts of the world as well; Nature’s fury.
At the same time the economic gloom, which people thought is going to really make the situation worse, was also managed. Still everything is working well. People are surviving. Of course things have to become better and it has started becoming better already.
This coming year, 2013, will be much better.

 

 

Time poses challenges, it
is for you to see how you
can benefit from these
challenges. Every time a
challenge is in front of
you, see how you can
make this challenge, an
opportunity for your own
growth. This is what you
need to do.

 

 

There is a big awareness in people today, towards the environment, towards the safety of women and children.
What we have been saying for so many years, today many people are waking up and saying, 'We need more human values, we want violence to go down.’
This year, let us all resolve to act for making a better society - a society free from violence, society free from crime and corruption, a society which is safe and just, and a world which is sustainable.
Most of all, we need to work towards spiritual elevation and spiritual awakening. And it will happen. In fact, it is already happening. More and more people are interested in spiritual awakening.

The Art of Living is going to make a big leap. This year we will be teaching two newKriyas, which will make people's lives much more joyful. People will feel so much more joyful, so much more dynamic, so much more committed, compassionate and creative.

Time poses challenges, it is for you to see how you can benefit from these challenges. Every time a challenge is in front of you, see how you can make this challenge, an opportunity for your own growth. How you can turn it and utilize it for your own growth. This is what you need to do.

As you are coming to the end of this year, think of all those challenges you had, and how they have contributed to your growth. Think of how you handled these challenges, and while handling them, what mistakes you made, and from those mistakes, what lessons did you infer. This is the first step.

Second, think of gifts that the past year has given to you; has brought to your life, and how you are going to utilize these gifts for the betterment of life on the planet.

See, everyone is bestowed with some or other talents, some or other gifts. You need to see how are you utilizing these talents.
Are you utilizing them at all? This is what you need to point out.
Plan for this year; in the next 12 months, what are you going to do every day?!
Everyday, do meditation. Once in every three to four months take some time off and go deeper into meditation and go into silence. At least once a year, you must meditate in silence (Advanced Course), and spend some time doing some good work for the society and for everybody on the planet.
Don't think only about yourself, but do some service activity. Then you will see that whatever you want for yourself, you ask and it will come to you.
You have to do something first, then when you ask, you will get.
If you say, ‘I want only for myself, I don't want to do anything’, no, that will not work. You should do some good work in society, bring smiles on the faces of people and gain some merit. If you bring smiles on the faces of others then you have a right to demand something for yourself. Do you see what I’m saying? This is real currency.

See, if you have money then you can go shopping. If you have no money, no credit card and you go shopping, who will give you anything? You need to have some bank balance first, isn't it? So, when you do seva, your bank balance goes up. Then when you ask for whatever it is that you want, you will get it.
You can buy the whole supermarket if you have enough points.
So let us resolve to do something good in society, and let us have the confidence that whatever we need will come to us; will be given to us.
Our wish will definitely be granted. When we wish something, it will be granted.

 

 

Time has come, voices
of the good people
will become stronger
now. Waves of
spirituality will start
transforming people.
Good times are there
in front of us.

 

 

Next, you need to be ready to learn new lessons in life.
Keep the cheer, the joy and smile throughout the journey of life. Got it?
See, everyone is walking. Some are yelling, crying and walking and some are smiling and walking.
Everybody is on a conveyor belt and the belt is moving. Some are crying, some are laughing, but the conveyor belt is anyway moving.
So, it is your choice, how do you want to move on this conveyor belt of time.

See, in a car, you have a rearview mirror, isn't it?!
You have a big windshield, and there is a small rearview mirror.
Just imagine if your car’s rearview mirror is as big as the windshield and windshield is as small as the rearview mirror, what will happen to you? Can you drive? No!

Your car can teach you a lesson. What is the lesson? You need to look back only a little bit, just like that little mirror.
The rearview mirror represents the past, and the present is the windshield. The future is like the side view mirrors. So, when you drive, you will have to look to the side and to the back as well, but most of the time, you have to look in the front.
If you only keep looking at the side mirrors while driving, you will meet with an accident. So you should look front, but sometimes look at the side mirrors, and sometimes at the rearview mirror. Look a little at the past and the future, but most of the time be in the present.
What do you say?

Time has come, voices of the good people will become stronger now.
All those people who are doing bad things will come to light and their minds will change. Waves of spirituality will start transforming people. This is going to happen in the coming years. This wave will become much more predominant.
Those people who are cheating others, they will all come down from their seats of power, and then they will be exposed. People who are cheating others will be exposed, this will happen.
So, good times are there in front of us.

5 Secrets to Success

Q: Even after putting 100 percent effort, the work doesn’t get done. What does one do then?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For success or work to get done there are five things you require. 

1. First the intention of the person who is doing,
2. then availability of the instruments or things needed to do the work, 
3. third is the willingness or mindset to do the work. 
4. Then doing the work at the right time, there is a time to do the work, if you don’t do it at the right time then there is no use. If you sow seeds in February then there is no use, you then cannot say that I sowed the seeds but nothing has come. You have to wait till April after the rain and then you sow the seeds and yield the results. So time is a very important factor.When we came to this Ashram this whole land was barren, there was not one leaf or one tree on this land. Today see how many trees and plants are there and these trees did not come in one day, so many people have put lots of effort and after some time the trees grew. So this is how time is an important factor 
5. and then grace. Without grace of the divine there will be no success, that is why you do Seva, Sadhana, Satsang and in time you will get the fruits of all your efforts. Okay! None of your efforts will go waste that you should be assured about, if not now you will see the results later.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wealth is not just having money. You can have a big balance, you can have a big estate but on your face if you are stressed and you’re so miserable, no one can call you prosperous. Prosperity is not just having a fat bank balance. Prosperity is in acknowledging the magnanimity of life, honoring life. The confidence in a person shows his richness. What is wealth suppose to do to you? Enhance confidence right but if wealth has created weakness then it is no wealth, if wealth has created sickness then it’s no wealth, if wealth has created conflicts then it is no wealth, right! So one type of wealth is wisdom, knowledge is wealth, health is wealth, confidence is wealth, valor is wealth. If you have confidence you can manage anything, you can handle any situation that is wealth.

Q: What is Witness Consciousness? When does one reach such state? 

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is a state of consciousness where you realize things are not happening because of your effort, it is happening due to some law, due to some power in the creation which is making everything happen.
When you have given your 100 percent, physically, intellectually… then you realize you are not doing, but things are happening.

The purpose of life is ..

Being useful is the purpose of your life

In life there are two situations: One is when you are comfortable and happy. Another situation is when you are upset and unhappy.
So what is needed to maintain this comfort and happiness is a willingness to do service.
When we are happy then we don’t serve. Usually the mind doesn’t go in the direction. When you are happy you just want to enjoy and don’t th

ink about care, share or service at that time, and that is when it is very much needed. When you are happy and you do service then happiness will remain.
What we need to ask for is the willingness to do seva when we are happy, and the ability to let go and turn inward when we are unhappy. We need to ask for this, ’Give me the strength to let go and turn inward when I am unhappy.’
And learning to let go of the world when we are still here, in it, enjoying it, is wisdom.

Once an elderly lady in one satsang asked a question, ‘Why did God make this world so miserable?’

The answer was, ‘Yes, he has made it like that for you. Even when it is so miserable you don’t let go of it and turn towards God. Otherwise you will never turn inward.’...sri sri

To become successful you need three things...

April 29, 2012
Norway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life has challenges, but wisdom equips you to face them

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They don’t relate to you with language.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am fed up with this not knowing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it that way? No.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need this. Don’t you think so?

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

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

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

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

Serve when you are happy; Let go when you are sad

March 10, 2012

Mahasatsang at Udaipur

Being human beings, we all have some responsibilities and some needs. If we sit and make a note of our responsibilities and our needs, and if we find that our needs are more than our responsibilities, then life will lead to misery. If we take more responsibilities and have fewer needs, then we will be happy. This is the secret, and it is simple.

Today itself, sit and make a note of all your responsibilities and all that you want for yourself.

Now, God has given us an intellect and we need to make use of it. An intelligent person will see and know that when everyone is happy, then he can also be happy. ‘When my family is happy then I can be happy.‘

So what do we need to do? We need to understand our responsibilities. First we need to understand our responsibilities towards our family. Then we need to understand our responsibilities towards society. We need to think how we can be useful to the society, and then what can we do for the entire nation.

We need to think on these three levels, i.e., responsibilities towards family, towards society and towards the nation.

The more responsibilities we take, the more we grow in our abilities and our strength to do work increases.

Now, having desires is very natural. But if we are unable to fulfill our desires or we don’t have the means to fulfill them, then we must pray! In life, effort and prayer both are essential. Some people just pray and don’t put any effort, this will not work. And there are some people who get tired of putting efforts and even then they don’t pray. They are also unable to achieve success.

This is why in our scriptures it has been said, Purusharth (effort) and Samarpan (surrender). These two should go together. We need to do as much as we can do and surrender the rest to God.

The purpose of my coming here is to remind you of this. To remind you that there is a Divine power sitting inside you and by any means you must connect with that power. Let that connection happen between you and Divine power within. Once that connection is made, then there will be no lack of anything in life. See, a wealthy person will give money and knowledgeable person will naturally give knowledge. But if one does not have knowledge, how can he give knowledge? Similarly, one who is liberated, only he can liberate others. If one is stuck in bondage, how can he liberate anyone? And if he can’t liberate anyone then where is the question of love, meditation, celebration, bliss. All these are far off things.

But once you gain that inner freedom in your heart and that inner freedom in your mind, you experience such blossoming that no one can take your smile away from you.

Everybody is looking for such a smile, and for joy that does not diminish or disappear.

What do we need to do to achieve this? We need to awaken that faith that is within us.

When we are happy, then we can spread happiness to others. Those who are contented in life can bring contentment to others as well.

In our country, we have a custom of taking blessings from the elderly whenever we are about to begin some good work or a new task. Do you know why?

There is a very scientific reason behind this. It is said that once a person becomes contented, any intention that arises in his mind becomes fruitful, and so their blessing is very powerful. If a person is miserable himself, then how can his blessings bear any fruit?

So the ability to bless others comes to us spontaneously when we become contented from within. We need to be contented, at least for some time. With contentment comes the power to bless.

Why do we go to Gurus or to saints? Because they are contented, and when they give blessings for something, the work gets done.

Doesn’t it work? How many of you are getting what you desire? See!

Now, how and when will we achieve such contentment?

Contentment can come by sitting with a contented person; or through satsang. If you sit with a frustrated person, you will become more frustrated. A restless person will spread restlessness. The happy and contented will spread happiness and contentment.

So the secret behind this is simplicity and naturalness. We must be simple and natural. Till now, we have been doing everything in a formal manner.

People came and we welcomed, greeted and garlanded them and gave them respect. These are formalities, and no doubt and they have their place in life. But, we should not get stuck in formalities.

For example, you buy garland from a shop and it comes in a plastic bag. Now, the bag is not the main content but what is inside the bag is the main thing. We need to reach inside the bag.

Similarly, in life this is what we do. We take the plastic bag and think the bag is the main content, like how we live life with formalities, without any belongingness.

It is when belongingness increases that corruption ends, and everyone feels to be our very own. No one is a stranger.

When there is belongingness, life is enriched. And when each person feel enriched, society is enriched. This is because society does not progress with philosophies, but it progresses with the progress of each individual, and it is the individual that directs society. That is why it is important to understand each individual with an attitude of belongingness. If there is belongingness, a big change can happen, and dullness or disinterestedness in people can be wiped out.

Dullness and disinterestedness is the cause of all desires and imperfections. But if joy and bliss arise within us, then you will see everything will come to you spontaneously.

For such joy to arise in life, there are three things that are important:

1. Gyan (knowledge)

2. Dhyan (meditation)

3. Gaan (music)

Infuse all these three into your life. Do kirtan and satsang for a little time every day. Listen to knowledge for some time, engage in some service activities and sit and meditate. Being silent for fifteen or twenty minutes and becoming calm from within gives us lots of benefits. The body becomes strong, our behavior improves, mind feels pleasant, intellect sharpens, memory power increases and soul becomes blissful.

What else you need?

You have heard of the saying, ‘Ek Saadhe Sab Sadhe,Sab Saadhe Sab Jaaye.’ (If you follow one thing you will achieve it, but if you want everything, you won't achieve anything). Following that one thing is this; the self! Sit and do meditation.

In the Gita it is said, ‘Yogastha Kuru Karmaani’, one who practices Yoga become more qualified. Skills increase and success is achieved effortlessly.

So today, we will do all these three. We will sing, we will meditate, we will discuss some knowledge and we will take some vows for the society and for the country.

We all want India to emerge as a strong country. I too wish to see that happening.

We have gone into a slumber, but now we have to wake-up. We need to wake up. When the youth of the country wake up, after that nobody can stop the country from progressing. If the youths are struggling with drug addictions, violence, casteism and narrow mindedness, and they lose sight of their roots, then nobody can save the country.

I have a dream of a Divine society.

In my childhood I used to think that I will take the knowledge that we have in India to the whole world. Foreign clubs came into India, and people used to go to rotary clubs in India. So there should be some organization from India too that should be all over the world.

Today, the Art of Living has completed 30 years and it is present in 152 countries around the world. This happened very naturally. I didn’t do anything. I just had the intention and it all happened.

The knowledge in India is so great! We need to present this knowledge in such a manner that it catches the interest of the youth. This is what is happening.

Thousand and thousands of youth have joined and are joining the Art of Living and their lives have blossomed. But it is not enough; we need to reach out to more of the youth.

Addictions and violence should be removed from society. I have a dream of such a Divine society where in there is no stress, no violence or corruption.

How many of you want to be a part of it? Raise your hands.

We all need to do something to achieve this. Together we all can bring about a big change in the society.

Q: Guruji, according to Bhagavad Gita, everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is for the good. Then why is there a distinction between the good and bad?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I will send two people to you and I will ask one to praise you a lot and I will ask the other to abuse you. You will come to know the difference between good and bad easily?

One gives you pain. No one likes pain. Even an insect doesn’t want pain. That which is painful, is bad. That which gives you short term joy but long term misery, is bad.

That which makes you undergo short term discomfort and gives you long term happiness is good.

This is the measuring scale.

Q: If I have to choose between the career of my choice and that of my parents, which one should I choose?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Negotiate with them to some extent.

Tell them that you don’t like the career they are choosing. Talk to them.

Also, if they are telling you something else, they could be telling you with some broader vision. If they have a family business to take care of, they would like you to do MBA and join the business. Now if you wish to go to some other profession, then no parent having a family business to take care will approve that, because they are worried, who will take care of the business after they are gone?

So, think and act.

Many times we get confused between our hobby and profession. We want to make our hobbies as our profession and we become careless about our profession. So, discuss with your parents or talk to your teacher or professor.

Q: Why does the mind feel sad when I can’t meet you?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When the hearts are connected, where is the need for a hug?

There is one spirit in all of us. We all are one.

I have been to so many countries in the world. Nowhere did I ever feel that I am meeting a stranger. Whomsoever I met, I felt them to be my very own and they too experienced the same for me. So, you too see everyone with same eyes and accept everyone.

This only is the knowledge of the self, where no one seems like a stranger.

Q: Guruji, why do we exist and who are we?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is a very good question! Don’t give the question to anybody. Keep asking this question within yourself time and again. Keep the question within you.

These are some precious questions. Don’t sell them for pennies and don’t get satisfied with some little answers from here and there.

Those who answer you are doing a big injustice to you. Those who know will never answer such a question because they know it is a sign of a spark that has arisen in your brain of Vitarka (special logic). From Vitarka the knowledge of the Self dawns.

Those who know will be very happy to see it arising in you. Those who don’t know will confuse you with long explanations.

Q: How does God keep us protected?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is a wonder!

Since the moment you were born, He has protected you in many ways.

He has protected you through the love of your mother and father. From whomsoever you are receiving love; it’s all from the Divine. God only is providing you everything.

Q: We should give quality time to the Divine. Please tell us what is that quality time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It means don’t give third grade time to the Divine.

When you have nothing else to do, you don’t have any movies to watch, there is no work to complete, then if you plan to do Bhajan that is useless leftover time. Don’t give leftover time. Daily sit for meditation for at least ten minutes twice a day, morning and evening.

You are not doing this for God. God doesn’t want anything from you. It is for your own sake that you meditate and serve the poor and miserable and that time is the best time.

Give your efforts in service.

Q: Everyone wants liberation. But in this 21st century, what should one do to attain liberation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, every one desires for freedom!

There is a limit to enjoying pleasures, after that limit is reached then the desire for freedom starts arising.

For example, if you ask someone to eat ten parathas (flat breads) he won’t be able to do so. After six or seven parathas he will say, ‘It is enough.’

The thirst for liberation is quite natural. Each person wants to feel free from inside. This is a very natural feeling!

Q: Guruji, you are going to Pakistan. There is lot of violence there. What do you feel about the future of Pakistan?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The news of my arrival has spread over there. After so many days, they have banned a terrorist organization which is responsible for killing many of the Shia muslims. Pakistan as well is a victim of terrorism today.

I am going there day after tomorrow for a three day visit. There are many devotees there as well and they all have invited me with so much love.

When I went there in 2004, they said, ‘Guruji we waited for you for five years, now don’t make us wait for another five years’. But now I am going there again after seven years.

We have to establish a ‘peace center’ there in Pakistan.

I invite the youths here to come forward and to learn yoga and meditation, and teach others. How many of you want to become teachers? We will plan for a teacher training program for you here.

There is a requirement of meditation teachers from India all over the world. In Pakistan, around one lakh people have been reached out to through service activities by Art of Living. When there were floods in Sindh, then too people from the Art of Living set up a trauma relief camp there and a lot of work was done.

I would say, from the amount of money that India and Pakistan are spending on defense, if they would spend even one percent of that on a movement towards a peaceful resolution between the countries, and if the common man from both the countries maintain good terms with one another, then there will be no room for terrorist forces to prosper.

When we need a good doctor or a lawyer, we don’t ask him which caste or religion he belongs to. But when it is a question of politics, we get stuck to casteism. We need to change this equation. If India has to move forward, if everyone has to get economic and financial justice, then we need to come out of this narrow minded thinking.

Q: Guruji, you travel so much. You change flights and cars. You don’t even have time to sleep or eat properly. How do you manage to do all these?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When there is willingness to do, strength automatically comes. When there is some celebration or festival at your home, you too don’t think about food. You get busy with the preparations. Likewise for me every day is a celebration.

Q: Guruji, in U.P a youth is going to become the Chief Minister today. He has proclaimed that he will eradicate autocratic power that uses money or muscle strength. Do you feel that a youth can bring changes in this country?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Definitely! Youth want such a change. I congratulate Akhileshji for bringing U.P. to such great heights. And taking him as an ideal, the youth in other states should move forward. Let the youth be a part of the ministry. This is very good news.

Autocratic power using money or muscle strength should be eradicated and I would say, take spirituality along with you as well, because it is spirituality that can eradicate autocracy. The law against autocracy should be very strict.

Q: Guruji, you feel belongingness to every country, every religion and all types of people. This is your greatness. But what is that secret that they too feel belongingness to you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Whatever is inside us is reflected outside too. The world is like a mirror. If we feel bad inside then everything outside appears bad as well. If we are good from inside and we feel good from inside, then those who come in contact with us, even if they are bad, they start becoming good.

Q: Guruji, we came to know that you visited prison today. Was that a karma of yours that led you to prison?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes! Not only today I have been there many times. Prison was the birth place of Lord Krishna (laughs). He was born in a prison.

In the prison here at Udaipur, thousands of people have done the Art of Living Part 1 course and the silence program. They have been doing the practices for many years, so today I went there to meet them. They were very happy and seeing their happiness, I also felt happy.

Also two people have become teachers after coming out of prison.

Q: Guruji, if all my work is being done by your grace, then why should I put any effort?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Then get yourself involved in service.

Sukh mein seva dukh mein tyaag; this should be our motto of life. When you are happy, do some service, and when you are sad or miserable then surrender.

If you can’t let go of misery, then how will you let go of pleasure? So, serve when you are happy and let go when you are miserable.

Q: Guruji, what is it about you that just by looking at your photograph, taking your name and getting the news of your arrival, all work gets done. How can I have the same effect?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I too don’t know. I am a simple child who refuses to grow up. A child is there inside you too. Awaken that child and get rid of the stiffness that has set inside you.

Q: Guruji, today’s youth either want to sit before a computer, or want to watch TV, or want to go for parties. Where else can we encourage them to divert their energy?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is okay if they want to do these things, there is no problem, but they should also get involved in working for the society. The youth need to participate in the task of awakening the people of this country. The youth should wake up and come forward; the youth should be part of politics.

Many people don’t even go and vote because they think that all the political parties are alike and there is corruption everywhere. They sit back with such a disinterested attitude. Don’t do this!

In this society, the good people are more, but they are sitting quiet. Society has gone down not because of bad people but because the good people are keeping quiet. To inspire and motivate these people who are quiet, the youth should come forward. Then you will see our country progress in leaps and bounds.

When spirituality in our country was high, we were very prosperous. There was no shortage of any kind. One third of the world’s GDP came from India. There was so much wealth in this country. Now if you see, we are facing all sorts of losses and that is why I am asking the youth to wake up and to come forward. Come forward and eradicate ignorance and superstition. Even today, animal sacrifice is practiced in many temples. This should be stopped. Discrimination based on caste should be stopped. Many of our ancient seers and sages were born in the lower castes.

Worshiping the feet is a tradition in this country. Feet have never been considered as low or derogatory. Here in India, we do Paad Pooja (worshipping the feet), in fact the head is not worshipped, but the feet have been given importance.

In foreign countries, saying ‘my foot’ is considered as an abuse. But in India, feet are considered sacred and more significant than the head.

So if the Shudra (considered to be a lower caste in India) is compared with the feet, it does not mean they are low but it means they are more honorable. All castes and sections should be looked at equally and everyone should do their duties.

Q: Lord Rama’s war was against Ravana in Treta Yuga. Lord Krishna’s war was against the Kauravas in Dwapar Yuga. Who is your war against in this Kalyuga?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: My war is against ignorance, injustice, lack and impurity.

I have heard some people say that soul was very pure in Satyuga and eventually it became less pure, and in Kalyuga it became impure. This is complete non-sense. It is not like that.

In Satyuga also there were Rakshasas (demons) like Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they would intervene every time someone prayed or took the name of God, and the Avtaras had to come four times to get rid of them from the Earth.

In every age, the soul is beyond time and is eternally pure. It is wrong to think that the soul has become impure.

Kaliyuga is also good. Don’t blame the time.

You have heard the saying, Kalyug Kewal Naam Adhara. Just by chanting the name of the Divine it is easy to attain God in Kalyuga. So don’t say Satyuga was better than Kalyuga.

Irrespective of the time, seekers have been doing sadhana and have attained the ultimate goal. So, you too can attain such perfection even today.

Q: In a world filled with attractions, how to preserve our customs and traditions?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Our consciousness is full of joy.

We think spirituality is boring and makes people dull and unenthusiastic, no! Spirituality is the means to living a life full of joy. A life of peace, happiness and inner contentment. Getting such an experience is what is called meditation. Once you experience meditation, then everything else starts to feel dry. Once you have established that connection with your inner self, everything on the outside starts to feel dry and unexciting.

Q: Guruji, God wants for me to become a good human being. You too want the same for me and my parents also want the same. Please tell me why did God create evil in the first place?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Who said you are bad? I never said that you have to ‘become’ good. You are already good.

Just wake up and see, you have the ability to drop all the small little habits that you are stuck with this moment.

Okay? So just drop them.

Q: Guruji, with an increase in the number of spiritual teachers and devotees, why is crime and corruption increasing as well?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, spiritual teachers are not the cause for the increase in crime and corruption.

I will ask you one question. Ten years ago, there were not as many hospitals in India as there are today. The number of hospitals has increased; so are hospitals responsible for people getting sick?

Hospitals have increased and ailments have also increased in this decade. Will you hold the hospitals responsible for the prevailing ailments? No.

In spite of hospitals, ailments are increasing.

Similarly, in spite of Saints, if crime is increasing then just imagine what the condition of India or the world would be if there was no spirituality at all. Do you see what I am saying? Each and every village needs a saint. A Purohit (priest) is needed; a person who can uplift the people and bind them together. One who is concerned about the well being of everyone, and whenever there is some conflict, he should be there to counsel them and calm the situation down.

A person who can remove the lack, such a person is needed. In India, we have seven lakh villages. In each village, if there are two people like this who can work for the well being of the people; teach them yoga and meditation, then the our country will transform tremendously. We need 14 lakh service oriented yoga and meditation teachers.

So you also become one among such teachers. Learn yoga yourself and teach others as well so that others too can find peace in their lives.

Q: Guruji, what are the effects of the planets and time on our lives?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Whatever be the effects, you can remove them by chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, and through devotion and meditation also their effects are reduced. Nothing else is required.

In this world, every object has an impact on the other. It is said that if a butterfly flutters its wings in South America, it impacts the clouds in China. This is what scientists say. So it is possible that the Moon, Sun and Planets have some effect on our lives, but not to such an extent that you get confused and upset. Many times, we get so caught up with astrologers and we do so many things and when we don’t get the desired result we get depressed.

We don’t need to do such things. Good and bad times come in everyone’s life. They affect the body, mind and intellect to a certain extent.

On Full Moon and New Moon days, the Moon does have an effect on the body and mind. The remedy for this is pranayama, yoga and meditation.

Q: Guruji, in the land of Rajasthan, valor and values hold a very high place. However the youth today are forgetting this and are getting influenced by western thinking. How can we preserve the Indian values in them?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Definitely, these values should be preserved!

If you go for anything western, you will have to come back to the roots in India eventually. Today, even foreigners are turning towards India. They want to know about Indian culture, they want to marry according to Indian tradition, etc. The world is round; you will ultimately have to come back here even if you go west. Coming back sooner, this is intelligence.

Q: Guruji, many people have sent their problems and botherations here on the stage.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, leave all your botherations and problems here.

I have heard that nowadays there is an increase in the number of suicides and that too from affluent and educated families. I would say, if you have any such botheration or pain in the mind, know that you are not alone. I am with you! Give all your problems to me. I am with you!

Do sadhana, seva and meditation. Come forward and do something for this country.

So go back with a smile and before going to bed, meditate for ten minutes and surrender whatever you desire and sleep happily. This is the way to take a sankalpa or an intention. Take the intention and then drop it.

Q: Guruji, you have said that success in yoga is achieved by dispassion and practice. I am doing my practices, but I am married and I don’t have dispassion. How can I progress in yoga?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Fulfilling your responsibilities is also dispassion. Attend to your responsibilities. Do what you need to do, complete it and rest. That which you need to drop, drop it and rest, this is dispassion.

There is no need for you to leave your home and run away somewhere. You can walk on the path of yoga while fulfilling your responsibilities. Being at home also you can achieve the ultimate truth. There is no problem at all.

Q: Please give us three messages for the people of Udaipur.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Thousands of you have come here today. All of you should become volunteers and do some service. At least give two hours in two weeks for serving the society.

Every Sunday morning from 9am to 11am, all of you come together and clean the city, plant trees, and motivate people to drop addictions and stop female foeticide.

Groups of fifteen to twenty people assemble together and go to a nearby village and conduct satsangs there. Tell them some good things and make them feel that we are all one family. If all of us get together in this manner and work for the society, then we can bring a big transformation. A wave of devotion, knowledge and spirituality will arise in the country.

Q: Guruji, when are you coming into politics?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By coming into politics, I don’t want to corner all the good people. There is a need for good people, both in the ruling party as well as in the opposing party.

It is good for a journalist, a saint and a social reformer to be impartial, and to choose and send good and authentic people forward at the time of elections. Not on the basis of caste, money or muscle power.

So I take the position of a reformer and a guide, and if youths want to come forward and get into politics, I will support them completely and encourage them to enter politics with a spiritual and service oriented mindset and not to make politics as a business.

The nation comes first, then the political party and at last comes ’me’. This should be the mindset