Wisdom Of gurudev sri sri ravi shankar

Question - Gurudev, is there any secret to handle our feelings, that makes us go up and down in life? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - We can transcend feelings easily when we know that there is something which is much more basic to life than feelings, and that is the self; the life force, which is not changing at all. We have 1,72,000 nadis in the body. Sometimes the knowledge nadi opens up; sometimes the music nadi opens up. Different nadis open up and you experience different things. So, don’t be so obsessed with your feelings. Often, we don’t concentrate on what we have to do but we sit and ponder over that which is happening. We put so much attention on what is happening rather than on what we are doing. Put attention on what you are doing and leave whatever is happening to Nature. Nature will take you through whatever is happening. I tell you, whether it is thoughts or emotions or feelings, it is not an isolated incidence. It is a global phenomenon. Suppose you go t...

Worship – A Sign Of Maturity For a flame to rise, you need space above it. In the same way, for a man to rise up in his life, he needs an ideal, he needs something to adore and worship. What is Worship? Worship is the culmination of love and appreciation. In worship, a sense of belongingness, love, honor, and respect, all come together. Without a sense of belongingness, worship or idealism can bring low self-esteem. The ancient people knew this, and so they insisted that people should feel part of what they worship. They encouraged people to worship the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, plants, animals, and people. Why is Worship Important? Worship prevents love from turning into hatred or jealousy, and prevents appreciation from becoming low self-esteem. In life, if you do not adore or appreciate anything, you will be filled with negativity. And a person who has nothing to worship or adore is sure to fall into depression. Lack of adoration has led to many emotional, psychologi...

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji explains the importance of silence as a mother of creativity.      We live in a cluttered world! Cities are cluttered, towns are cluttered, markets are cluttered… So is our mind. “Too much to do, very little time…” has almost become a universal phenomenon, creating stress in virtually everyone’s life. Even when one is on leave from work, the mind gets no rest. From the moment it wakes up till the time it goes to sleep, the mind is always engaged – either in something utterly useless or something very important.  As it’s almost impossible to reduce the workload and increase the time, the only option left is to increase the energy level within us. When we have enough energy and enthusiasm, we are able to handle any challenge. The Silent Energy - But the question is how to increase energy? Spiritual practices like meditation, yoga, and pranayama do just that. They all lead one to a space of silence, which is charged with ener...

This Christmas, go to the values that Jesus truly represents and live them. Then he is not of the past. He is here now. And he will be in the future also, forever and ever. Jesus did all he could to help one cross the mind and get into the soul, the spirit, the source of life, the Self. Spirit is eternal and beyond birth, death, name and form. You find the most complete expression of love in Jesus. Jesus and love are synonymous. If you say love, you need not say Jesus and when you say Jesus, it means love. Whatever glimpses you may get here and there indicates that fullness, the ultimate expression of the inexpressible that life is striving to express throughout time. Love goes with courage and look at the courage of Jesus. He says, “The meek shall inherit the earth. The meek shall inherit heaven.” This is because love makes you meek. Yet love is the strongest force on this universe and brings you the kingdom of heaven. In those days too, even after showing all those miracl...

Question: What is the significance of a Christmas tree? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:          Be like the Christmas tree; evergreen, shining, full of lights and full of gifts. So everyone here is a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree only gives, it doesn’t take anything for itself. It just gives. So go with that thought, I’m a Christmas tree!      Come summer or winter or fall, it never falls, never springs. All through the year it’s green and in winter it gives presents.       I want to see everyone smiling and happy. Just create waves of happiness, everything else is irrelevant. In the world things happen, some pleasant, some unpleasant. Some things happen the way you want it, some things don’t happen the way you want. Bundle it all and put it aside. Nothing can really take away your happiness.      When you have had a good meditation, and when the prana is high, what do you feel? Nothing matters! Right? Noth...

Question - Gurudev, what is the purpose of fear? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  -             Nature has built a little fear into all living beings. This fear makes life defend itself, protect itself. Like salt in food, a little fear is essential for people to be righteous.  Fear of hurting someone makes you more conscious. Fear of failure makes you more keen and dynamic. Fear moves you from carelessness to taking care. Fear moves you from being insensitive to being sensitive. Fear moves you from dullness to alertness.  Total lack of fear may lead to destructive tendencies – a distorted ego knows no fear. Nor does one with expanded consciousness. While the ego dismisses fear and acts in a destructive manner, the wise one acknowledges fear and takes refuge in the Divine. When you are in love, when you are surrendered, there is no fear.  Ego, too, knows no fear. But there is a difference – like the difference between heave...

Question: Dear Gurudev, what is the key to keep a good friendship? Gurudev HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Not demanding anything from the friends, and telling them I’m here to support you. Just believe in one thing: what you need you will get. The giver is somebody else, so don’t demand love. When you demand love you are destroying love. So you should never demand love or attention from people. If you are there only to give love and attention, then anyone will feel comfortable with you. But if you are expecting something then you are putting people in a very uncomfortable position. Do you see what I’m saying? You can’t say this to everybody in the world, but intelligent people if they understand this, they can make their way.

Question - How to deal with rude behaviour of people around? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar -            What do you do when someone behaves very rudely towards you? 1) Get upset 2) React rudely back 3) Get frustrated 4) Run away and avoid the person or situation 5) Blame the person 6) Preach to the person None of these will in any way strengthen you. Then what are the options? See rude behaviour in this light: 1) It indicates the intensity of their commitment 2) It indicates their stress and insensitivity 3) It projects the upbringing of the person 4) It shows a behavioural pattern 5) It shows lack of Knowledge 6) It shows lack of observation of the mind and its sensations 7) It shows you behaviour to avoid 8) It is an opportunity for you to welcome and absorb the rudeness 9) It strengthens your mind 10) It reveals the love that you are as unconditional The next time when someone is rude to you, just give back a broad smile. If you can digest th...

Question - Gurudev, what is the purpose of fear? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar-            Nature has built a little fear into all living beings. This fear makes life defend itself, protect itself. Like salt in food, a little fear is essential for people to be righteous.  Fear of hurting someone makes you more conscious. Fear of failure makes you more keen and dynamic. Fear moves you from carelessness to taking care. Fear moves you from being insensitive to being sensitive. Fear moves you from dullness to alertness.  Total lack of fear may lead to destructive tendencies – a distorted ego knows no fear. Nor does one with expanded consciousness. While the ego dismisses fear and acts in a destructive manner, the wise one acknowledges fear and takes refuge in the Divine. When you are in love, when you are surrendered, there is no fear.  Ego, too, knows no fear. But there is a difference – like the difference between heaven and earth –...

Question - Gurudev, Why do we need a Guru (Master) in our life? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - Because, after Death, the First person whom you will meet, will be your Master! GURU will take you from there like a Guide, just like there is someone waiting to pick you up when you reach the airport! 

Question - Gurudev, why do I go on and off in my sadhana (spiritual practice)? I hear that other people do this as well. Do guide us here, how to deal with such times? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji - Well, it's natural. When there are fruits in the tree you enjoy the fruits and you forget to water the roots. And then when the tree starts drying out then you water it again. This is how we do. Once, twice or three times you go through this cycle and then you become intelligent, then you make it part of your life. Once it is part of your life then you will feel so uncomfortable if you don't do your practice even for one day. Even for one day if you are not in knowledge, it throws you off, you feel as if you're missing something, or there is a lack of something.  So, you need to make these good practices part of your life, like brushing your teeth. One day you don't brush your teeth, do you feel comfortable? You feel so awful, isn't it? Just like dental ...

Question - Gurudev, Lord Rama got 'one-on-one guidance' from Sage Vashishtha. Can you also guide me 'one-on-one'? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - What do you think I am doing? Forget about all the others around you, I am just talking to you only. Even when there are millions, I only talk one-on-one!

Question: I am happy and calm now. What can I do to maintain this state throughout life?   Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:              Share it with more and more people. Joy or wisdom if not shared with others starts dwindling. Now this does not mean you go to others and start teaching them Bhastrika Pranayama, or the Sudarshan Kriya. Unless you get properly trained, you should not go about teaching meditation and these practices to others. This is why we had to put a quality control for Yoga in the country today. There is a QCI (Quality Control for India) body and the government has asked it to do something for Yoga also. It is because it is observed that people learn something from somewhere and then go around teaching it to others without proper training. Then when some unwanted or unexpected things happen it becomes a problem. There is a proverb in Sanskrit – “Yasya kasya tarur-mulam yena kenapi churnitam; yasmai kasmai pradaatavyam yatv...

1) Gyan Mudra Touch the tips of the index finger and thumb and keep the other 3 fingers (index, ring, and pinky finger) stretched, relaxed and joined. Also known as the chin mudra, this is probably the most familiar mudra in mainstream society. Meditators are often seen pairing this mudra with their practice. 2)Uttarabodhi Mudra Hold the hands in front of the solar plexus. Interlock the fingers. Index fingers and thumbs of both hands should be joined together. While the index fingers point to the ceiling, point the thumbs to the floor. 3)Apan Vayu Mudra The tip of the index finger should be pressed lightly against the root of the thumb and second and the third finger should touch the inner tip of the thumb. Apan vayu mudra, also known as Mritsanjeevani mudra, is a very powerful mudra. In ancient India, it was believed to save lives in the case of heart attacks. Source -  Wisdom seekers

Question : How to get rid of negative karma? How does it come into existence? Sri Sri : I want to ask you a question. When the lights were not on in this room, there was darkness here, right? When the lights came on, where did the darkness go? Did it go to that room? Did the darkness escape through the window? Got it?  In the same way, if negative karma is there, there is little darkness, there is no light there. Put the light on, it vanishes. How to get rid of negative karma? By meditation, service and knowledge. Serve the needy. Know that it (the negative karma) does not touch you; a shadow does not touch me.

Question: I try to forget the mistakes I made in the past and move ahead. But the people around me keep reminding me of those past mistakes. What should I do?   Sri Sri: Smile and move forward. If they are not able to forget the mistakes of the past, then that is their problem. You should forget the mistakes of the past, just drop it and move ahead. You are not the same person as you were in the past when you committed those mistakes, you have changed. When you came to the spiritual path, when you gained this wonderful knowledge, then your entire life has changed. So have complete and unshakeable faith in this fact. In the ancient times, when people used to approach a Guru, then they would even change their birth names. Why was this done? It was to signify that you have taken a new birth altogether when you have come to the Guru. You have become a new person when you gained access to this knowledge. The mistakes you committed in the past out of ignorance do not exist...

Question - Guruji, Who Am I? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - This is a million dollar question. I want you to keep this question with yourself. I will never take it away from you, because this question is like a vehicle for you to transform your life, make unwanted things drop off your life and help you reach the ultimate. Keep asking yourself this question again and again - “Who am I?” This itself paves the way for going deeper into meditation. Just keep aside whatever you think of yourself or what you feel you are. This question cannot be answered through words. One who answers it through words does not truly know. This question is very important. So keep asking this question to yourself again and again - be it a hundred or a thousand times, over and over. Then ask yourself, “Why am I?” I would say first you should know who you really are. Then think over why you are, and also why you are not. Think whether there is anyone for whom you are not. You are not here to be ...

Question - Gurudev, How can we improve our creative thinking? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - It is very important for us to probe into the source of thought. Often we are called great thinkers, but what is a thought? Where does it originate? Is there any way that we can improve the thought process? What is the source of creativity? Thought is nothing but an impulse of energy and intelligence. That impulse of energy and intelligence, for it to arise and a correct thought to come, you need 16 impulses to meet at a point in the cerebral cortex at a certain speed. In that short interval of time, all the 16 impulses in the cerebral cortex, when they meet, is what we call a correct thought. What do we do about it? We need to train our brain, our mind. There is always dialogue going on in your own mind. We all have a filter in our mind through which we listen and we accept only what we already know. Something which doesn’t already fall within our belief system, we straightawa...

Question : I am not sure about what I want to do in life. I want to ask you but I don’t even know what to ask and what exactly I want. I get bored doing anything in very little time. I find myself being very moody. I am not satisfied or happy doing anything. How can I live my life with this kind of mental state? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji:           You want comfort too much. Get out of your comfort zone. You are only thinking of your comfort and pleasure; that is when you get into this sort of stage or state. You are here to be useful to somebody else. You are here to do something useful to someone. How can you be bored? Even if you are bored, you have to do that, because what you do is useful to someone else. If you are self-centered, and you think, ‘If I like it only then I will do it’, then that is not seva. That won’t bring you satisfaction. Do you see what I’m saying?      ‘I don’t like meeting people’, but you are meeting people f...

Question – Gurudev, why are people afraid of emotionally connecting with people? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - Emotion is an integral part of you. If you are running away from emotions it is because of the fear of getting hurt. When you are emotional you should be ready to get hurt. Unless you are so established in wisdom then emotions are a celebration and they cannot hurt you anymore. Either you shut down or run away. You have to stand up to it and see the love beyond the pain. See the love beyond suffering. Love brings certain feelings that can hurt you. You love someone and they forget your birthday, what happens to you? You become miserable.  Your expectation from others hurts you emotionally. Thay fear of pain causes you to shut down. Wake up. Take pain as part of love. You love someone pain also comes. When you have such acceptance your love has reached a height beyond vulnerability. It gets you to a place of blissful divinity. Love without wisdom is a host...

Question - Gurudev, what is Guru kripa? How does it lead to self-realisation? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - Guru is the self. Sometimes in his life a man becomes dissatisfied with it, and, not content with what he has, he seeks the satisfaction of his desires, through prayer to God etc.  His mind is gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain his grace than to satisfy his worldly desires. Then, God’s grace begins to manifest. God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by association.  The devotee’s mind gains strength and is then able to turn inward. By meditation it is further purified and it remains still without the least ripple. That calm expanse is the Self.  The Guru is both ‘external’ and ‘internal’. From the ‘exterior’ he gives a push to the mind to turn inward, from the ‘interior’. He pulls the mind towards the self and helps in the quieting of the mind. That ...