Wisdom Of gurudev sri sri ravi shankar

Question:- Guruji, Money cannot bring us happiness this knowledge happens after accumulating money or before it? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:            If you are intelligent, it happens before. And if you are little less intelligent, then it happens afterward. An intelligent person also learns from others experiences. But this realization is only authentic if you can experience someones experience as your own. It doesnt carry any value if a beggar says that he has abandoned everything. How can a beggar abandon anything? He has not earned anything at the first place. Also there are some people who do not understand this even after accumulating a lot of money. But this doesnt mean that you should not earn money. If you are too feverish for money thinking that only it can bring you happiness, then either earn money and see yourself, or learn from others experience.

Question - How to handle negative emotions? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  :-            There are two kinds of mind. One is an open mind. Another is a closed mind. A closed mind is that which says, “This is how it is. I know it. That is it.” It gets hardened. An open mind says, “Oh, maybe, perhaps. I do not know.” Limited knowledge, and the conformity about it, makes a mind very hard. Whenever you seem to understand a situation and you label it, “I know this is how it is,” that is the beginning of your problem. And always all problems arise from knowing but not from not knowing. If you do not know, your mind is open, you say “Oh, maybe, something, perhaps, don’t know.” You wait. You cannot label something when you do not know. Whenever you think an injustice has been made to you, or whenever you think you are suffering, whenever you think you are a victim, whenever you think something bad has happened to you— all this falls under the category of “...

Sevak (volunteer) Sri Sri:          As a Sevak(volunteer), you should remember that even if you get stones in return for Seva, it’s fine. If someone scolds you or curses you, you remain unfazed. Don’t make yourself sad or anyone else sad. Remember this - you need nothing in return forSeva - not even a ‘thanks’. Do not say: ‘I have never needed anything else, only a few words of gratitude’ - you shouldn’t expect even that. If you do Seva without expecting anything, then that is bliss. If you expect people to praise you or thank you, then the quality of Seva goes down. Seva should walk hand in hand with sadhana(spiritual practices). If one is absent, you will not gain anything from the other. From sadhana you get strength to do Seva, and from Seva you get depth in sadhana. But remember that sadhana is your first priority! You should make time to do sadhana, you should be smart in managing time. There is no end to work, there is always work every day. S...

Question: How does Seva help us grow in this path? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The way to expand from individual to universal consciousness is to share others's sorrow and joy. As you grow, your consciousness should also grow. When you expand in Knowledge with time, then depression is not possible. Your inner most source is joy. The way to overcome personal misery is to share universal misery! The way to expand personal joy is to share universal joy. Instead of thinking "what about me?" "what can ℹgain from this world?" think "what can ℹ do for the world?" When everyone comes from the point of contributing to society, you have a Divine society. We have to educate and culture our individual consciousness in order to expand in time with the Knowledge from "what about me?" to "what can I contribute?" If you are not having good experiences in meditation, then do more seva - you will gain merit and your meditation will be deeper. W...

Human Values: The Common Ground Of All Religions I see a crisis facing the world today. It is fundamentally one of identification. People identify themselves with limited charac­teristics such as gender, race, religion and nationality, forget­ting their basic identity as part of the universal spirit. These limited identifications lead to conflict on a personal level and globally. Every individual is much more than the sum of these limited identifications. The highest identification we can make is that we are part of Divinity, and only secondly are we human beings and members of the human family. In divine creation, the whole of the human race is united. Along with the proper identification of our true nature, we need to return to the values that are the essence of all major traditions. Religion has three aspects: values, rituals and symbols. The moral and spiritual values are common to all traditions, and the symbols and practices--those rituals and customs that form a way ...

Question: How important is faith? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:           You cannot exist without faith! Listen, suppose you have come here in a car and you have parked the car in the parking area. Now when you are sitting here you have faith that the car will be there when you go back, isn’t it?! So, without this faith can you exist? No! First, you should have faith in yourself. There are three types of faith which are important 1. Faith in yourself. If you do not have faith in yourself it is called paranoia. It is a disease. 2. Faith in the goodness of people around you. There are good people in the world, you should have that faith; otherwise you cannot move one inch in society. 3. Faith in the unknown; faith in the abstract power which seems to be running everything. That is the third type of faith. So, of these three faiths, the first two are very essential; the third will make life much better.   Source -

  Question : How do I know if I am making the correct decision?   Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:           When you make a decision, somewhere you get the gut feeling that says, ‘Yes, this is correct.' One thing you should know is that even if you take a wrong decision, it always leads you to growth. You become stronger, you learn a lesson somewhere deep inside. So that is why, don’t worry Source-

Pure Knowledge & Applied Knowledge There are two types of knowledge. The first one is pure knowledge and the second one is applied knowledge. Applied knowledge may benefit you directly and immediately but pure knowledge benefits you indirectly in the long run. If there are some things that you have studied or understood that you are unable to put into practice, do not get disheartened. Sometime in the future, if you do not discard the knowledge you have as impractical, it will be of use to you. Often people discard the pure knowledge for its lack of immediate application. In fact these two types of knowledge compliment each other. Applied knowledge without pure knowledge remains weak. And pure knowledge without application will remain unfulfilled. Do not discard or label the knowledge as impractical. Do not label yourself as weak or unworthy because you are unable to apply the knowledge in your day-to-day life.Sometimes when you are alone innature, silent, taking a walk, looking at...

  Q uestion : Guruji, you are very generous.You have fulfilled all of my wishes,but I have not fulfilled all the commitments I made to you. I want to know whether, will you punish me, or will you keep fulfilling my further wishes.   Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:            Why should I reveal it to you now? I will leave you guessing about it. You better fulfil your commitments before you wish for something more. I do not want to make you a greedy person. Otherwise you will become so greedy. When you know that your desires are getting fulfilled, you should desire for bigger things, not just things for yourself. Have desires for the nation, for the world, for humanity. If your desires are for achieving something bigger, and bringing this knowledge to the people, then that is more meaningful. Then you are growing. You should take a sankalpa, Let the knowledge of Vedanta reach thousands of people; let Yoga reach thousands of people.’ You should culti...

Question:- Guruji, you are very generous.You have fulfilled all of my wishes,but I have not fulfilled all the commitments I made to you. I want to know whether, will you punish me, or will you keep fulfilling my further wishes. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:       Why should I reveal it to you now? I will leave you guessing about it. You better fulfil your commitments before you wish for something more. I do not want to make you a greedy person. Otherwise you will become so greedy. When you know that your desires are getting fulfilled, you should desire for bigger things, not just things for yourself. Have desires for the nation, for the world, for humanity. If your desires are for achieving something bigger, and bringing this knowledge to the people, then that is more meaningful. Then you are growing. You should take a sankalpa, Let the knowledge of Vedanta reach thousands of people; let Yoga reach thousands of people.’ You should cultivate such desires in you. Actually you ...

Question:-  Guruji, Vibheeshana was discredited in spite of having supported Lord Rama. He is branded as a traitor. This does not seem appropriate! Why so? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:                            Vibheeshana is a unique example of someone who was caught in a dilemma whether to support righteousness (dharma) or his people. He chose to renounce his brother in favour of dharma. See, in all these stories take only that which you need. What is the point of arguing for or against? If there is something in the lives of Vibheeshana, Rama or Ravana that inspires you, take it, and if it does not fit in, or appeal to you, then you have learnt something from that as well. Some people have asked me, why did Sri Rama send Sita to the forest based on a washer man’s opinion; isn’t this injustice? (‘Kuchh to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna’ (People are bound to say something, that is what they do). Some mi...

  Question:-  Guruji, Is there a relationship between ego, and possessiveness,  and how do we get out of both?   Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: - Yes. Ego,possessiveness, jealousy, anger, greed are all linked. They are linked to the ego. Now, how to get rid of the ego? This is a big problem. Actually the solution is very simple. Just agree to be crazy for one day. Just act like a crazy person for one day. That is good enough. Ego means that you are trying to impress others. You need the other for ego to be there. When you are alone in a place, there cannot be any ego. Ego pops up when the other is there. If you are like a child, if you are natural and feeling at home, that is the best antidote for ego. Ego cannot sustain or survive when naturalness takes over, and when you feel at home with everybody and have a sense of belongingness with everyone. All these qualities can transform you. If the ego still says, ‘I am’, then that ego should be expanded. One is a Transparent Ego...