Sacrifice

Sacrifice is letting go of something you are holding onto - something you are attached to which gives you pleasure - for something bigger that would bring good.

Sacrifice brings strength in life. Life without sacrifice is stagnant. Sacrifice gives you a quantum leap to a higher pedestal.

Often people think sacrifice makes life dull and joyless. In fact, it is sacrifice that makes life worth living. The amount of sacrifice in your life brings out your magnanimity and helps you move out of misery.

A life without sacrifice is worth nothing. Zeal, enthusiasm, strength and joy are all connected to sacrifice.

Question: Some people say, “I have sacrificed so much,” and complain.

Sri Sri: That is good. The thought of sacrifice has given them strength - to complain! This saves them from blaming themselves, otherwise they would be more depressed.

Sacrifice never goes unrewarded. There can be no love, no wisdom, no true joy without sacrifice.

Sacrifice makes you sacred. Become sacred!

Three levels of spiritual practices

There are three levels of spiritual practices.
This is something I have not spoken about before.

The first one is called Anva Upaya. The second is Shakta Upaya, . and the third one is Shambava Upaya. .
Shiva, Shakti and Anva. All practices in the world can be categorized into these three categories. So, Anva is the lowest; means the very beginning. All the japa, mantras, poojas, yogasanas, breath control, everything comes under Anva Upaya. They are called Upayas, which means remedies.
Above this is Shakta. Shakta is only mental, i.e., inside. There is no outer thing, no mantras in it. It is the effect of the meditative state, that is Shakta Upaya.
When you do singing, meditation, pranayam and Sudarshan Kriya (Kriya begins with Anva Upaya but then), it leads to Shakta Upaya, when you are just energy. Here there is no effort, there is no doing. Just a little bit effortless effort is there.
Then the Shambava or Shiv Upaya is just pure awareness. Just a state of awareness.
Shambava Upaya means that there is no means (way) to do it, it is just a happening, it will just happen. Even then it is still called an Upaya.
So the purpose of Anva and Shakta Upaya is to go to Shambava Upaya wherein you become one with Shiva (the fourth state of consciousness). There is no two, there is no doer, you are Shiva, and that is Shambava Upaya.

Usually people like Jiddu Krishnamurti and others who have experienced some degree of Shambava Upaya, they simply discard the other levels. If you read, some people have said that there is no point in doing pranayama, or, there is no point in chanting mantras, or there is no point in doing Pooja. They are all talking from the level of Shambava Upaya, but all these practices have their own place too.
See, for example, if you go to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Mayor of St Mathieu's doesn’t matter much. But suppose the Mayor of St Matheius has a say as well, then even if you go to the Prime Minister the mayor of this town can put some hurdles, isn't it? The beaurocrats can put some hurdles.
So the ancient system is attending to everybody and giving everyone their rightful place. And that is how all this, Anva Upaya, Shakta Upaya, everything is maintained because they have some purpose.
This is deep knowledge.

Saving the mind

There are four kinds of attitude that are good to have in life:
1) Friendliness: Be friendly with people who are happy. If you are not friendly with happy people, you will be jealous. This is because you think that your enemy is happy, and you cannot tolerate your enemy being happy. So, shake hands with happy people. Such an attitude does a lot of good to your mind.

2) Compassion: Do not be friendly with people who are miserable, instead, have compassion for them. If you are friendly with unhappy people you will become unhappy. And if you become unhappy, you can never help them to come out of their misery. So, there is a different flavour of your relation with them.
Many people have gotten into trouble by being friendly with unhappy people; both become miserable. It is like a doctor going to a patient who is sick, and the doctor also becomes sick.
If the doctor also thinks, ‘How can I alone be healthy? Let me also share the patient’s misery’, then who will help the patient then?
So, what should be the attitude with people who are miserable? Compassion, not pity.

3) Happiness: For people who are doing good work or who are successful in the world, you should feel happy as though you are doing it.
For example, someone is a good singer, singing and bringing joy to everybody, seeing him you should think, ‘I feel so happy that this person is singing so well, and making everyone happy.’
If someone is a good entertainer and he entertains everybody you should feel happy about it. If someone is a great architect and builds beautiful buildings you should feel happy about it. Whenever someone does a good job, share that happiness with them; we need to have this attitude.

4) Indifference: For people who are doing horrible things in the society, destroying themselves, we usually get angry at them. When you are angry, your mind suffers a huge loss. You lose so much energy, you lose your mood, and your enthusiasm. When energy and enthusiasm goes away from you, you become angry and are no better than the other person. You do not know what you are doing. So, what should you do in such a situation? Have a sort of indifference in your mind.
For example, there are thieves in the world, they are there, what can you do about them? First accept, be indifferent. However, this does not mean you do not take any action. Your mind is indifferent (unaffected), but you act on it.

These are the four attitudes that will help us to save our mind. This is what we need to do, save our mind at all costs

Essence of Guru poornima

“Among the 12-13 full moons in a year the Vaishakha Full Moon is dedicated to Buddha (his birth and enlightenment), Jyeshtha Full Moon to mother earth and the Aashadha Full Moon is dedicated to the memory of masters. This is Guru-Purnima.

It is the day when the disciple wakes up in his fullness and in the wakefulness he can’t be but grateful. This gratitude is not of dwaita (you and me), but of advaita. It is not a river moving from somewhere to somewhere, but is the ocean moving within itself. So, gratefulness on Guru-Purnima symbolizes that fullness.

The purpose of the Guru Purnima celebration is to turn back and review and see in this last one year how much one has progressed in life. For a seeker, Guru Purnima is a day of significance, is a day of New Year. It is the day to review one’s progress on the spiritual path and renew one’s determination and focus on the goal, and to resolve what one wants to do in the coming year. As the full moon rises and sets, tears of gratitude arise and repose into the vastness of one’s own self.”

You know, our body has millions of cells, and each cell has its own life. Many cells are being born every day and many are dying. So, you are a moving town. So many cities are on the planet Earth and planet Earth is revolving and moving around the Sun. Same way, there are so many cells and so many living beings inside you and you are moving around. You are a moving township. Like in a beehive, there are so many bees which come and sit, but there is one queen bee. If the queen bee goes away, every other bee goes away. In the same way, there is an atom in our body, the queen bee. If that is not there, everything else goes away. Locate in that, in that tiniest of the tiny atom, the atma (soul) or the self. It is everywhere yet nowhere. That is the queen bee and that is what you are. That is what the Divine is, and that is the Guru principle. Like there is fatherhood, motherhood, there is Guruhood also. You all have to play Guruhood at least to somebody. You do play, you keep giving advices and guiding people consciously or unconsciously, and give them love and care. But do it with 100 percent without expecting anything in return. That is living the Guruhood, living the self. There is no difference between the Divine, you and the Guru Principle. It is all coming to one thing, the queen bee.

Meditation is relaxing and reposing in that atom. So, think of all the things that you could be grateful for, and ask what you want. And bless everybody. We receive, but not just receiving is enough, we should give and bless those who are in need.

How to get rid of bad dreams?

Q: Guruji, I get bad dreams at night, and this happens very frequently. I am afraid. Please help.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is no need to fear. Just chant Om Namah Shivaya before sleeping at night, or Jai Gurudev, or you can say both and then sleep.
See in our country, and in other countries around the world, before sleeping, children were made to say prayers, is it not? Does anyone follow this now-a-days? How many of you here do it? (A few people raise their hands) See, very few sitting here follow this. Before sleeping all of you should pray and make the children pray too. Chant one shloka (prayer verse), or take the name of some deity you revere, or just offer thanks to God for the day given to you.
There is no need to pray in Sanskrit only. Even saying a prayer in Hindi will do. God does not only know Sanskrit. He understands your regional languages as well. So just pray. What is important is the feeling. So before you sleep join your hands and pray, ‘Thank you God for the gift of today. Bless me that I may sleep well tonight and may my day tomorrow be good’.

So you may recite a few lines like this. Or you may just remember God, and chant any name of the Lord that you know. You can chant the name of your deity or your Guru, or any saint. Pray and surrender everything to them and go to sleep. In the ancient days, children would pray to their mother and father and then go to sleep. But nowadays children don’t have such devotion towards their parents. If parents keep fighting with each other the whole day then how will the children feel like praying to them? They think, ‘The parents keep fighting with each other, how we can treat them as God?’
If you do not believe in God, or any other deity, then also it is fine. There is no compulsion to believe in God. In that case sit silently with yourself for a few moments and just quiet the mind. Simply remind yourself, ‘My soul is eternal and I am pure’. In the Ashtavakra Gita, it is said, ‘Aho Aham Namo Mahiyam’, this means, ‘I bow down to myself’. We can say this (bowing down to oneself) only when there is no sense of guilt within us. Thinking this way, just relax within yourself. You should do this much at least. So meditate for some time and then sleep. Then you will not have bad dreams and you will have good quality sleep.

Moving Ahead

On one side is an ignorant person who does not think about himself at all. And on the other side is a person who only thinks about himself. Both are not good. On one side you have a person who is not ripe; too raw, and on the other side is a person whose mind has rotted by only thinking about himself. Both are not good.

You should adopt the middle path. Analyse yourself a little, reflect on it and then leave it and move ahead. Do not get stuck. So that you can move ahead, I am telling you that whatever has happened, just drop it and move ahead. Do not sit and regret about what has happened – neither about what you have done, nor about what others did. If you keep thinking about what you did, then you feel regret, and if you think about what others did wrong, then you get angry and worried.

Anyways you have no control over anyone. Nobody has ever had control over anyone else in this world. If you think you are controlling someone or are under the control or influence of someone, then that is a very wrong thought. Everything in this world operates as per certain laws of Nature. So whatever has happened in the past, just shrug it off and move ahead. When you dust away all the dirt (of the past) that has accumulated inside you, then you will simply start shining. You become much stronger, your consciousness blossoms, and happiness starts to flow. Then you can say that you are alive. This is what life really is.

Now you might ask, ‘Can I remain happy the entire 24 hours of the day?’ If not for 24 hours, at least you can be happy for one or two hours! You may not be able to be a fish always floating in water (happiness), but at least you can take a shower for a little while. This is the very purpose of knowledge.

Eight Type of Purifications

First, anna shuddhi, purification of grains. Good food, nutritious food, and the right amount of food is important.

Second, everyday a little bit of proper exercise is important. Even though you may have a car or a motor bike, sometime during the day, you should walk as well. Every day, at least for 20 minutes start walking, or doing some physical exercise.

Third, vaakya shuddhi, purification of speech. This is very important.
All of you must see that the words that you use do not hurt other people. If you have said something that hurts somebody, and if they are crying, then it is going to affect you somewhere.

Fourth, karma shuddhi. We must do seva. With service, our actions are purified.

Fifth, dhan shuddhi, i.e., purification of wealth. We should keep aside at least three per cent of whatever we earn, and use it for the society. Then the money that we earn will become purified. If we use whatever we earn for our self only, then that is not the best utilization of money. So, we must use a little portion of our earnings for the society.

Sixth, shareer shuddhi, i.e., purification of the body. Once in a week or a fortnight, take some Triphala, or some ayurvedic products to cleanse your body.

Seventh, bhaava shudhhi, i.e., purification of feelings. Do some satsang for some time; it is necessary as it purifies the feelings.

Eighth, buddhi shuddhi is purification of the intellect. With knowledge the intellect is purified. A pure intellect comes when you look at life from a broader perspective. Who am I? What is this universe? Where am I going?

Suicide - the most foolish thing

Suicide is the most foolish thing a person can ever do. It’s like someone is shivering in the cold and they went out and removed their jackets. What do you call them? Foolish!
You are already so cold. You are feeling cold in a heated auditorium, in a heated hall and you go out and say, ’I’m cold, I’m cold, I’m cold’, and remove all your jackets. Leather jackets, your t-shirts, and your inner garments, everything you are throwing out.
Will the cold become any less? No!

People who commit suicide find themselves there because they are so attached to life. They are so attached to some pleasure, so attached to some fun and joy that they want to kill themselves.
So when they kill themselves they find themselves in a bigger soup. ‘Oh my God, this restlessness, these desires which has created such an intense agony inside has not gone. Body has gone but the agony has remained’.
It’s only through the body that you can dispel the agony; you can get rid of misery. Instead you destroy the very instrument by which you can get rid of agony.
That is why this knowledge is so important.

If people do pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, meditation they will realize that, I’m not the body. So what? What is it that I’m hankering for in life? Hankering for love? Attention? Money? Pleasure? What is it that you are hankering? These hankering are boiling desires and it’s creating this foolish idea inside you to commit suicide.

Dedicate your life for social cause, for some higher cause. If you feel you have to commit suicide, I tell you I need you to do my work, so you better stay back.

Poem by Guruji

A Poem by H.H.Sri Sri Ravishankar Ji

You Never Know
How and When
The Existence will Start
Using You for its Purpose.

You Never Know
How and When
You will be filled with Abundance..
And You will start Raining,
Quenching the thirst of Many..

You Never Know
How and When
You will be Full of
Fruits and Shade..
And Travellers will take
Shelter and Food from You..

You Never Know
How and When
You will be Full with
Love and Light..
And You will Start Spreading
The Fragrance of Beauty to Everyone..

You Never Know
How and When
The Death will come
And Make You Deathless..
And Life will start flowing out of You..

You Never Know,
How & When… Really!

Ram Navami

"Ra" in Sanskrit means "That which is Radiant" and "Ma" stands for "Myself".

That which shines forth within me, is Rama.

That which is radiant in every particle of the Being is Rama.

Rama is born to Dasharatha and Kaushalya. Dasharatha (In Sanskrit this means "the ten charioted one") signifies the five organs of sense and the five organs of action. Kaushalya (Sanskrit for "skilled") stands for skill. The skillful reiner of the ten chariots can give birth to Ram. When the ten are used skillfully, radiance is born within.

Rama was born in Ayodhya (Sanskrit for "the place where no war can happen"). When there is no conflict in our mind, then the radiance can dawn.

Lakshmana, the brother of Rama, was born of Sumitra Ö the good friend. When the ten are cooperating with you then Awareness is born.

Often we try to look for radiance within. Just realize that you are radiant. Once when Guruji was 5 or 6 years old, he closed his eyes and asked a visiting saint, "Swamiji, I do not see any light". The saint replied, "You are the light! How can you see the light?"

What is wisdom?

What is wisdom?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What really is wisdom? Why should we be wise? Nobody wants to be in suffering. Nobody wants to be upset. That something which takes us away from suffering, which gives us a vision, which makes life vibrant, and which connects the individual you to the universal you that exists in the universe, is wisdom.

Wisdom brings immense satisfaction that small gratification does not bring. And it is available to everybody. It has nothing to do with education, I tell you. You will find wise people even amongst the illiterates in the villages. Perhaps even more. They know how to manage their homes, they know how to keep harmony in their neighborhood, they know how to bring people together, and how to bring celebration in life. Wisdom is that which brings celebration in life, which brings a smile on your face. That which keeps you healthy, and gives you the intuitive ability to see what is ahead of you in life.

Which cloths to wear?

Q: Guruji, you have spoken much about food and the breath. Would you like to say something about clothes as well? Should we only wear traditional clothes?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wear comfortable clothes, but I do not prefer wearing those torn clothes and jeans for which you pay so much money. It looks so shabby. I have heard that if there are holes in the jeans, you have to pay more money for that! This you should not do.

Cotton is the best fabric. If it is mixed with a little bit of polyester, it is also okay, But only polyester should be avoided. I would prefer that people avoid leather. Do you know just for leather, so many animals are slaughtered? All this should be done away with. It is said, ‘Ahimsa paramo-dharma’, (Non-violence in all action is the supreme duty or Dharma). Everyone should walk the path of non-violence and be a vegetarian. This is very necessary. Only then will you be able to meditate well.

You Are Unique

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Just because a group of people do not accept you as you are, there is no necessity for you to strip yourself of your originality.

You need to think good of yourself, for the world takes you, at your own estimate.

Never stoop down in order to gain recognition.
Never let go of your true self to win a relationship.

In the long run, you will regret that you traded your greatest glory, i.e., your uniqueness for momentary validation.

Even Mahatma Gandhi was not accepted by many people.
The group that does not accept you as YOU is not your world.

There is a world for each one of you, where you shall reign as king or queen, by just being yourself. Find that world; in fact, that world will find you.

What water can do, gasoline cannot and what copper can do, gold cannot. The fragility of the ant enables it to move, and the rigidity of the tree enables it to stay rooted.

Everything and everybody has been designed with a proportion of uniqueness, to serve a purpose that can be fulfilled only by being our unique self.

You, as you alone, can serve your purpose, and I, as I alone, can serve my purpose. You are here to be you; JUST YOU.

There was a time in this world when a Krishna was required, and He was sent. A time when a Christ was required, and He was sent. A time when a Mahatma was required, and he was sent. There came a time when you were required on this
planet, and hence, you were sent.

Let us be the best we can be. In the history of the universe, there has been nobody like you and in the infinity of time to come, there will be no one like you.

Existence should have loved you so much that it broke the mold after making you, so that another of your kind will never get repeated.

You are original.
You are rare.
You are unique.
You are a wonder.
You are a masterpiece; your Master's piece!

Celebrate your Uniqueness!

Relevance of tapasya

Q: Guruji, what is the relevance of tapasya (penance or austerities) in Kali Yuga and how should we understand it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Tapa helps to purify all the organs of the body and rid them of impurities. The entire body gets cleansed and all the sense organs become stronger with tapa. Tapasya is not done to please God, or to attain self-realization, but it is done to make the body and mind stronger.

You must have seen that so many saints do very austere penances (tapasya), especially among the Jains. The Jain saints are able to walk bare foot for long distances. They do not feel very cold in the winters or too hot during the summers. They develop a resistance towards extreme climatic conditions because of their tapasya. So this is one of the benefits of doing tapasya. But you should not stretch or overdo this at all. Doing too much tapasya and troubling your own body is not advisable at all. It is wrong to do that.

There are some people who sit with four fires burning all around them, and one on top of their head and do meditation. It is called Panchagni tapasya. All this is not necessary. Torturing the body like this is wrong and should not be done. But a little bit of tapasya is necessary. It is said, ‘Tapovai dwandva sahanam’, which means forbearing the opposites, is tapasya.
Suppose you are travelling somewhere in a bus, and it is a 12 hour long journey for which you have to sit. Then that also is a sort of tapasya. Being in a state of equanimity, and enduring whatever come, whether it is hot or cold, good or bad, praise or criticism, is tapasya.

Can you listen to an insult with the same equanimity as when you listen to compliments? That is tapasya. When someone praises you, you listen to it with a smile. When someone criticizes you, can you listen to it with the same smile and equanimity, and watch what is happening inside you? That is tapasya. When you do not like something but are able to undergo that, then that is tapasya.

If you can like something, can you be a witness to it and not be feverish about it, then that is tapasya. Forbearing from the opposites is called tapasya, and it is essential in life.
The extent to which we follow tapasya in life, to that extent we become stronger and stable.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar & Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)

A dialogue between H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and activists of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)

By Swami Sadyojathah & Shri Harish Ramachandran

One wonders what is the psyche of a fundamentalist? What is it that spurs them on their mission of hatred? How should one deal with such a person? We were lucky to witness an interaction between a handful of SIMI activists and His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar a couple of years ago. We felt that the same would be of relevance and could serve as an eye-opener in the current scenario. The backdrop for this article is one of Sri Sri’s tours of Kerala in the first week of December 2000. A series of Anandotsavams had been planned in various cities of Kerala to coincide with Sri Sri’s visit to those cities. Sri Sri's visit was expected to attract huge crowds running into several hundred thousands and the local organizers spared no effort in ensuring the smooth conduct of such public meetings. The planning for these functions began several months before the actual event and drew upon the efforts of hundreds of enthusiastic Art of Living volunteers. A week before the tour commenced, towards the end of November there was a surprise in store. The newspapers announced that SIMI – Student Islamic Movement of India had called for a general strike (hartal) all over Kerala on December 6th, being the Babri Masjid demolition day. Coincidentally, an Anandotsavam had been planned on December 6th at Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala. The police also warned that they had received bomb threats. However, when contacted. Sri Sri assured Xavier, the president of the organizing committee that "Satsang will happen". On December 6th, though the newspapers had announced that the function was cancelled and the police had withdrawn their permission due to the bomb scare, more than a lakh of people attended the satsang. The following day, Sri Sri gave an audience to the SIMI leaders. Four leaders from SIMI came to meet Sri Sri at the residence of one of the organizers. Following their entry, an air of tension enveloped the hall where hundreds were waiting to meet with Sri Sri. Naseeb, one of the devotees, guided them to the room where Sri Sri was sitting with a few of us. They (the SIMI leaders), were dashing youths in their mid 20’s. One of them was carrying the holy Koran. They were little stern and stiff. Their eyes were fixed and seemed to reflect an inner fire. They looked prepared to repulse anything that Sri Sri would tell them and most unlikely to listen to reason.

Sri Sri was His usual smiling self.

The stage was set. It had all the signs of a classic confrontation. On one side were the brash youth – intemperate, impatient, driven by ideology and out to prove their superiority. On the other was a youthful, realized sage, unperturbed, offering sane explanations that echoed an uncommon depth and breadth of understanding. Those of us in the room, were eager to see how Sri Sri would deal with these firebrands. Sri Sri embraced them and offered them chairs to sit. There was not an iota of difference in His attitude. Any casual onlooker could be forgiven for thinking that Sri Sri considered these gentlemen as amongst His most ardent devotees. Perhaps the only difference that we could see was that they were seated on chairs while the rest of us were on the floor! For us, it was yet another opportunity to witness the unconditional love that Sri Sri exemplifies.

The leader of the group spoke first. He asked

SIMI: You had wanted to meet with us.

SRI SRI: Yes. I wanted to understand why your organization was opposed to the Anandotsavam.

SIMI: We thought that holding an Anandotsavam (celebration) on December 6th was a deliberate move to insult our religious sentiments. Do you know about our religion?. Do you believe in the Koran at all?

SRI SRI: Yes of course.

SIMI: (Not expecting this answer, pointing to the Koran, they shot the next question) We believe that Koran is the only knowledge. What about you?

SRI SRI: This is one amongst the various knowledge revealed to man from time to time.

SIMI: But God has said this is the only knowledge. The way of the Koran is the only way. There is no other way.

SRI SRI: This message can be found in scriptures of all religions. In the Vedas it is said "Naanyah Panthaah Ayanaaya Vidyate" meaning "There is no other way but the way of Truth!" The same is said in the Bible, Jesus says, "To go to my father, you have to go through me. I am the only way".

SIMI: But our scripture says worshipping any form or idol is evil, it is blasphemy.

SRI SRI: What is Good and Evil after all? It is relative. Relative existence is not the complete picture For example: Milk is good, but too much milk can kill you. Poison is harmful, but a drop of poison can save your life. Most lifesaving medicines have poison written on them! These are neither absolutely good nor bad they are just there. Truth transcends duality, and God is the Absolute and only Truth. So, where is the place for evil?

SIMI: Yet you Hindus worship many Gods, whereas our ideal is there is only one God and His message is what is required to go to heaven.

SRI SRI: There is only one god in many forms…

SIMI: (Restless and unwilling to listen to any explanation, they interrupted Sri Sri.) But the Koran says you should only worship Allah who is formless whereas the Hindus worship idols which are only stones.

SRI SRI: At this, Sri Sri suddenly asked them: Do you honour the Koran?

SIMI: (They seemed a little taken aback at this question from Sri Sri and with a righteous air answered). Yes, it is God’s word!

SRI SRI: Do you honor the Mecca?

SIMI: Yes, of course! That is our sacred place.

SRI SRI: So also, Hindu’s honour God’s creation as God. Just like sound (Koran), the crescent moon, Kaaba and the month of Ramadan are sacred for you, Hindus consider the River Ganges, the Himalayas, Saints as sacred. See, a picture of your daughter is not your daughter, but you still adore the daughter’s picture. When you see the picture aren’t you reminded of your daughter?

(They nodded a yes)

SRI SRI: So also, a symbol is not God but is honoured as God. This sense of honouring and sacredness makes you awake and alive. That is why the ancient Rishis said to feel the entire creation and your whole life as sacred. They considered God as omnipresent, as inseparable from His creation; like the dance and the dancer.

Sri Sri elaborated further – Spirit loves diversity. Is there only one type of vegetable or fruit? God created many type of fruits and vegetables. There is not just one type of tree, not just one type of snake, cloud, mosquito….Even you change your dress for different occasions. So how could this consciousness that manifested this whole creation be monotonous? There is only one God in many forms. Only one God is advocated. When you accept the variety of Divinity, you cease to be a fanatic and fundamentalist. A pregnant silence filled the room as they looked at each other expecting the other to speak. Then as a face saving measure, the SIMI leader replied, "I will need to go and consult my higher scholars." With a compassionate expression on His face, Sri Sri said: Never mind, (with a wave of His hand) forget about religion. We are all human beings. Let us have a peaceful society. Let us focus on development.

SIMI: No No No! What are you saying? You are talking about this world. What we do here is immaterial. The Koran tells us that what matters is what you get in eternal life and not to worry about material life. By doing service to the society you will simply remain here. You have to obey Allah. Allah is the only God and Mohammed is the last prophet.

SRI SRI: At this Sri Sri stopped them and after a pause asked them: Do you think the Sikh Gurus are not prophets. Isn’t Mirabai a prophet? What about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?

Once again, there was silence. Their expressions had changed. The rigidity had weakened and in its place was some confusion/uncertainty. Sri Sri seemed totally at ease unmindful of the challenges posed at Him.

SIMI: No! You can go to heaven only if you believe in Allah and the Koran.

SRI SRI: No my dear – there was Buddha, Mahavira, Nanak, Jesus, Shankara… Do you think they are not in heaven? If not, then I would rather be with them!

SIMI: You are such a nice person, but we pity you because you cannot get the truth. You can’t go to Allah. You can’t be rewarded by Allah. God will never show mercy on you.

SRI SRI: Never mind. (with a mischievous smile ) I will be with these people (Shankara, Jesus, etc.)

(Even as we were admiring Sri Sri’s patience and objectivity, we were concerned at the wrong indoctrination that these youths had been subjected to. We also observed a few others who were in the room were getting a little restive, possibly wondering why Sri Sri was spending so much time with these people who were obviously not at all receptive and that too when hundreds were waiting outside just for a glimpse of Sri Sri.)

SIMI: Do you know, that over 1400 years ago, in the middle of the desert, God revealed the secrets of creation. Even when there was no science, God said that the Atom is the smallest particle!

SRI SRI smiled and said: Yes, the same is there in the shaastras too which were known more than 10,000 years ago. In the shaastras it is said that the Earth is over 19 billion years old! Truth is beyond time and space. It is not confined to one time or one place One needs to have a scientific spirituality.

As if to conclude the conversation Sri Sri gave them Ladoo as prasad. By now there were traces of a smile on their faces. When they were about to leave He gave them a hug. They definitely seemed to be less stern than earlier. Could their attitude have changed? We wondered whether this (‘changed attitude’) would persist or would they go back to their old fanatic ways. But one thing was for sure, Sri Sri had made an impression that they would not forget!

Later, while Sri Sri was having His lunch, someone asked Him, "Why is that Islam is producing so many terrorists all over the world? No other religion has given rise to so many terrorists in the world. What is the reason?"

SRI SRI: Look at the commitment and the fire in them. Take the good from them and learn what you should not be doing. Don’t label them as bad people. They have not been imparted the knowledge of Vedanta. (Then as He was adding ghee to the chilli powder) He smiled and said "In this creation, there is a place for everything."

Happy Holi

Q: Guruji, Please tell us about ‘Holi’.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Holi is a festival of colours. This whole world is so colourful. Just like nature there are different colours associated with our feelings and emotions: anger with red; jealousy with green; vibrancy and happiness with yellow; love with pink; vastness with blue; peace with white; sacrifice with saffron and knowledge with violet. Each person is a fountain of colours which keep changing. Puranas are full of colourful illustrations and stories and there is a story related to Holi. An asura king, ‘Hiranyakashipu’, wanted everyone to worship him. But his son ‘Prahlad’ was a devotee of Lord Narayana, the king's sworn enemy. Angry, the king wanted Holika, his sister, to get rid of Prahlad. Empowered to withstand fire, Holika sat on a burning pyre holding Prahlad on her lap. But it was Holika who was burnt, Prahlad came out unharmed. Hiranyakashipu symbolises one who is gross. Prahlad embodies innocence, faith and bliss. The spirit cannot be confined to love only matter. Hiranyakashipu wanted all joy to come from the material world. It did not happen that way. The individual jivatma cannot be bound to the material forever. It's natural to eventually move towards Narayana, one's higher Self. Holika symbolises past burdens that try to burn Prahlad's innocence. But Prahlad, so deeply rooted in Narayana Bhakti, could burn all past impressions (sanskaras). For one who is deep in bhakti, joy springs up with new colours and life becomes a celebration. Burning the past, you gear up for a new beginning. Your emotions, like fire, burn you. But when they are a fountain of colours, they add charm to your life. In ignorance, emotions are botheration; in knowledge, the same emotions add colour. One legend talks about the time when Parvati was in tapasya and Shiva was in samadhi. In facilitating the divine union of the two, Kamadeva, the Lord of Love, gets burnt to ashes by Shiva. Shiva had to come out of samadhi to join Parvati, `Parva’ is festival and `Parvati’ means `born out of festival’ - celebration! For samadhi to unite with celebration, the presence of desire was necessary. So, desire (Kama) was invoked. But again, to celebrate, you need to overcome desire. So Shiva opened his third eye and burned Kama. When desire in the mind is burnt, celebration happens and life becomes colourful. Like Holi, life should be colourful, not boring. When each colour is seen clearly, it is colourful. When all the colours get mixed, you end up with black. So also in life, we play different roles. Each role and emotion needs to be clearly defined. Emotional confusion creates problems. When you are a father, you have to play the part of a father. You can't be a father at office. When you mix the roles in your life, you start making mistakes. Whatever role you play in life, give yourself fully to it. Harmony in diversity makes life vibrant, joyful and more colourful.

Every second, discard the past

Q: How to prepare for death?

Sri Sri: There is no need to prepare for death. You die for the past, when you let the past die then you are living for the present. Art of living, Art of dying are two sides of the same coin. You should die for all the past things that have happened. Live in the present! If you have to live in the present you have to discard all the past(clapping).

Every second, discard the past. If you know the art of dying every second of life then life blossoms in its highest state. Mind dying each moment is death. Anyway there is no end to soul. What you think of as death is only separation of body and mind. Our body changes, mind changes, intellect changes, everything changes. That which doesn’t change, the very core inside us – the indestructible, if you can connect to that, that unchanging aspect in you, then that makes life fun! (Applaud!)

My Inward Journey

The journey from head to heart is just a few inches, but it is quite a journey!
I was giving my entrance exams for IIT. I had studied enough, knew most things I needed to know, but the morning of the exam, I had a terrible headache.
Dad had learnt some touch healing, spiritual thingie and so far I had steered clear of it, but that morning I thought why not?! And asked him to help relax me.
He did. And my headache and tiredness vanished and I had a great exam, got into IIT for post graduate studies in maths… But more importantly, for a 20 year old who thought he knew everything – a certain faith in the Unknown and Unknowable was ignited.
I underwent a few courses and self development seminars, but always felt there was something missing, something not all there… Until a good friend of mine bulldozed me into an Art of Living course.

(phone rings)
Me: Hi!
Shamal: Hey, what you doing over the weekend?
Me: Nothing much really…
Shamal: There is this course on breathing…
Me: C’mon Shamal, breathing is boring!
Shamal: Look, I don’t have time to talk to you, I have to call hundreds of other people. Just see to it that you are there or else…
Me: ok, ok, will come… How much does it cost?
Shamal: Tere ko kya farak padta hai, tera baap bharega!
Me: Riiiiight ☺
And that was my introduction to the rest of my Life. I didn’t even know the name of the course I had enrolled for! ☺
The Art of Living course was amazing. To experience a state of consciousness, a reality unlike any that I could even begin to dream about was a blessing and a gift. All concepts about what I thought life was all about were shattered. A serenity came that I never knew I had.

Very soon after my Basic course, I went to the Bangalore Ashram for my advance course. Only when I reached ashram did I get to know that the advance course was a silence program. I was the last one to leave the meditation hall that night the silence started and I think the last one to start speaking again when Silence opened.
I was soaked in the Bliss of me. What a wondrous thing to be able to do!
I was in love. And there was no going back. The Art of Living series of courses introduced me to me. That sparkling enchanting quiet space which all of us have within us. Gurudev’s gift to the world.
I will not say that after the Art of Living courses and even becoming a teacher, problems went away and everything was always great. That I never got angry or never felt bad. Sometimes life did suck. Problems did come, but along with them came the quiet confidence that I could handle them. I was simply amazed at how my inward journey so positively affected my outward expression and ability to deal with the challenges that life threw at me.
So begun my journey from head to heart… There were many other adventures on the way and I am sure many more to come. Maybe I will write a book about it all someday ☺ …

Meanwhile, if you have not yet embarked on this voyage inside of you, you have no idea what you are missing out on… Nothing on this planet outside you can even begin to compare with what you have inside of you. Please do yourself a favour and learn to meditate. And if you already know how to meditate – See that you practice every day. It is a glorious thing to blossom, to love, to smile and to be able to spread that to others.
Gurudev was so very patient with me. Totally accepting of who I was and gently moving me to who I could be. It’s one thing to force a rose open, its quite another to give it the time it requires to blossom – That is what Art of Living and Gurudev have done for me and countless others on the planet.
Thank you.
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa

On Religious Conversion

Q: Dear Gurudev, how should we answer those who say, ‘What is the problem if people convert when they get better education and healthcare?'

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Mahatma Gandhi has said that it is a crime to convert people by giving them education and some money. This is a big crime and we should never do that.

Every individual has got the right to make his own decision, and you cannot lure someone to change their religion.
Why do you want to convert others and change their religion? It is because you want your numbers to increase. And why do you want your number to increase? This is because you want to have political power.
You are converting people for politics, and to gain power; this is a nasty thing to do. God will not pardon you.

By converting, you are destroying a culture, you are destroying the demography of society. This should not happen, and we must put an end to this.
Saying, ‘My God is better than your God’, is actually another form of terrorism. In fact, it is the seed of terrorism. So, people who are trying to convert others, I would say that they are also doing the same job as a terrorist, but in disguise.

A Devotee story

H H Sri Sri Ravishankar - You have heard of many Guru stories, isn't it? So now I am going to tell you a Devotee story.In the last week of November, I was touring in some of the remote places in the state of Maharashtra. Some villages and districts that I have never been to. There were a lot of people who came to meet me.
In one village, I told my secretary, ‘Three people have lost their mobiles and they are very poor people. So put three new cell phones in my bag.'
When I went there, there were 2,000 to 2,500 volunteers and a crowd of around 200,000 people.
In the volunteers meet after the program, I said, ‘Three of you lost your mobile phones. I know about it. Those of you who have lost your mobile phones, please stand up’, and only three people stood up.
There was a lady who had stood up, and I told her, ‘Look, you were crying in front of my picture last Thursday. You did not know what to do, how to face your family because an expensive mobile phone was lost, which must have been worth
two to three months of earnings. Here, take a new one.'

When I was doing this, one boy from the group came up to me and he shared his story. He was in an advanced course and his wife was at home, and he had to talk to her. There was no battery on his phone and he had forgotten the charger at
home. So he put the phone in front of my picture and asked, ‘Gurudev, let the phone be charged.'
The next morning, when he woke up, the phone was fully charged.
This boy showed me his phone and said, ‘Look, for one and a half years I have thrown away my charger, and now I only keep my phone in front of your picture and it gets charged.’
He threw his charger away!
I said, 'This is really something. Even I need a charger for my phone, and my devotee charges his phone by keeping it in front of my picture.'
See how powerful devotees can be.

War On Alcoholism Is Essential

January 05, 2013
Bangalore, India

Q: There are some people who say, 'A little bit of wine is okay, even Lord Shiva had wine'. How do we tackle such statements?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: People do whatever they want to do and they put it in the name of religion, or God to justify themselves.
Simply look at your life, forget about others. If Shiva had alcohol, he must have had problems as well.

See those five people who did that thing to Nirbhaya, in Delhi, they were all drunk, and when someone is drunk, you cannot even hold them responsible for what they do. Intoxicants are responsible for half of the crimes in the society.
So not only should you put those five people in jail, but you should also hold those people responsible who manufacture and sell intoxicants.

This happens in almost every village. Men drink at night, come home, beat their wives, and in the daytime they apologize because they know that they were not themselves at night.

The biggest reason for crime in the society is alcohol. If you stop alcohol, a lot of crime in the country will be stopped.

You have to take a definite stand, 'I will not touch alcohol.' If you say, ‘I will only drink socially’, or, ‘I will just have one peg’, all these statements are nothing but excuses. When you open the door for alcohol, it can come in anytime and flood you. You should really just shut the door on alcohol. Not just the door, but close the main gate as well, so that it does not even reach your door.
You should put a barrier on yourself, 'I will not drink any of these intoxicants.' It gives you enormous strength you know. But the moment you become a little loose, ‘okay I will have it once’, then somehow you get caught up.

Life is such, that you get upset sometimes; restless sometimes. Restlessness can come even without any cause. How many of you here have experienced this?
Everything is going on well, but there is some restlessness without any reason. One cannot understand why the restlessness.

Restlessness starts in the body without any reason, and then one feels like having a drink, and that is how it starts. That is why I say, just keep it out of the gate.
War on alcoholism is essential for crime to be over.

Q: Whenever I am in the ashram I don't feel like going back to the materialistic world. Sometimes the responsibility of the family becomes an obstacle. How to overcome that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You need to charge your mobile phone with the charger, but you don't leave the phone on the charger, otherwise how will you use it?!
Similarly, when your charge is down, you have to come here again and charge yourself. For me the whole world is my ashram. I keep moving from one ashram to another ashram; from one place to another.

You have to take care of your responsibilities and the work you have at home. You have to do all of that; it is necessary to do all of that. Running away from responsibility is not spirituality. In fact, it is taking on more responsibility.
First the responsibility of your family, friends and surroundings, then the responsibility of the country, and then the responsibility of the whole world. That is how our responsibility should increase.

Q: How to accept people who do bad things to me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If they do bad things against you, what can you do?
If you don't accept them what other option do you have?
If you don't accept them you will be upset, isn't it? Your mind will be disturbed, and when you are so upset, any decision you take, will you be happy about it? Certainly not!
So for your own sake, accept people and the situation as they are, so that your mind becomes calm. Then you do what you want to do.

Q: I heard from one teacher that in order to live life 100%, you have to have clarity in your mind. How to eliminate confusion?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Are you still confused? Every confusion is a step towards growth.
What is confusion? Some old concept just broke apart. Old ideas simply vanished and new ideas started coming up. You couldn't grasp the new and the old is gone, that is confusion, and it is a good transition; be in it! It won't last for too long I tell you.

Q: What is the truth of relationships; after being bitten once I am now twice shy. How do I overcome this fear?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are asking this question that means you have already overcome the fear. If you had not, you wouldn't even ask this question. You would just say, ‘Relationships, I am not going to go into it’, and you would have run away.
Since you don't have that much fear and only a little bit, and the mind is tempted to go that way, you just want a confirmation seal of mine.

You know, in life, everything is a risk. Your own mind is uncertain. You cannot rely even on your own mind. Relying on somebody else is another thing.
Can you rely on your own mind?
I have seen so many people go for shopping and they say, ‘Can I come back and exchange it, or return it?’

People buy something, they come back home and they don't like it, and they go back and say that they want to exchange this. Especially ladies, the buy a saree and then they come back home and open the saree and they don’t like it and want to exchange it. A lady used to come and ask me, ‘Gurudev, please bless me so that I shop for the right things. Every time I go shopping, I come back home and then I have to go back again.’ So the mind is always wavering. When your mind is wavering, others’ minds can also be wavering, isn't it?
So there are different people, different emotions, different way of behaviors, and we have to move with them all. We have no choice. Accept and move.
Always there is compromise in life, in any interaction with anyone, young or old.

Q: Why do all the problems in the world start and end because of love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Otherwise life would be so boring. Just imagine, if there are no problems and no issues, life would be so bland, isn't it?
You can keep wondering about it. It's a matter to wonder, not a question.

Q: Why doesn't The Art of Living family take a political stand for the better political and social future of India?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The Art of Living will encourage anybody who wants to take that stand. Politics is too small a field for The Art of Living. Since we are across borders, I don't want The Art of Living to be stuck with national politics.
The Art of Living is in so many countries; it will remain as an inspirer for people to be on the right path.
For sure, those who want to get into politics, youngsters especially, I would encourage you. Go all out; go and do it.

Q: Gurudev, could you please talk about Mithyachar and how to come out of it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Mithyachar is when one keeps thinking of doing something in the mind but does not act upon it.
For example, you keep thinking about food but you do not eat food.
Mithyachar is also, when you think something else and do something else.
For example, you tell somebody, 'I will be there at six in the evening', even though you have already made up your mind that you won't go, this is Mithyachar.
Lying or fooling oneself is Mithyachar.

Q: Being cynical makes me more pragmatic and helps me deal with the worst situations. Is this wrong?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Cynicism was once considered fashionable, but today, cynicism has taken over intellectuals to such an extent that it is no longer palatable and it is no longer creative. It does not do any good to oneself or to society.
Cynicism is okay if it is like the pickle in the corner of the plate. But if your whole plate is filled with pickle, and you have only a tiny piece of roti (flat bread) in some corner, then just imagine how that would be. You would remain hungry, and this is what has happened today.
Cynicism is essential, but to a very small extent. Cynicism should bring pragmatism in you, no doubt, but it should not take away your imaginative ability, your transformational zeal, and it should not eat away your enthusiasm. It should not overshadow your positive state of mind or kill your aspirations and hopes. If that is there then okay, have a little bit of cynicism.
You find that even the Vedas are a little cynical. It is said, 'Who knows the beginning of creation. God knows; or maybe he also does not know.'
This is what is said in the Vedas.
Sarcasm and cynicism is all okay, just remember the example of pickle. It cannot take the place of rice, dal (lentil soup) or roti , but a little bit can be there somewhere in the corner.

Q: Gurudev, when I know my presence in the world is insignificant it makes me lazy. How can I be excited and at the same time expanded.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Dream big. Keep your intentions intact, don't worry about any setbacks and keep moving ahead. That is it.

Q: You said that the year 2012 was the year of transformation, but nothing has transformed. The same corruption and same crimes are happening.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wait! What do you mean? People have stood up against corruption. See what has happened in the last month of 2012, the entire country woke up. People are waking up. Earlier, violence against women was tolerated.
Although we have been doing women empowerment, we have been having women conferences where we have been discussing women issues, and female feticide, but today suddenly the entire country has woken up over one incident.
It is not an isolated incident. There are 20,000 such incidents. In Delhi alone there were 800 such incidents at that point. This is waking up.
Transformation is people are waking up, isn't it?

Moreover, Indian year starts in March; remember!
Do you know the meaning of the names of all the months?
The English months are not in English, they are in Sanskrit. How many of you here didn't know this? (Many raise their hands)
Do you know what December means; Das means ten and Ambar means sky, so December means the tenth sky.
November means the ninth sky.
October means the eighth month.
Sapt means seven, amber means sky, so Saptamber became September.
August is Shasht, which means sixth; so August is the sixth month.

January is the 11th month, February is the 12th month and March which means going ahead – that is when the new year begins. That is when the Sun arrives in the first point of Aries, at the end of March.
Even today, in Afghanistan, Iran and all these countries, they celebrate March 21st as the new year day because this was the ancient vedic concept.
March means new. Feb means fag end. Don’t we say, ‘Fag end’, that is February.

So all these months are Sanskrit months. If you ask any English professor what is the meaning of September, or November, they will have no idea.
I thought of this, and realized that there is such a close connection with Sanskrit and it matches to well.
Today you learned something very important - the meaning of the names of the months.

This is something beautiful about Sanskrit, no name is without a function. Do you know that leaves are called Parna? Do you know what Parna means? That which absorbs sunlight and moisture is called parna.

Do you know, Jesus was not born on Christmas Day? How many of you didn't know this? (Many raise their hands)
You should watch the documentary about Jesus and Christmas. Only 200 years back they connected Christmas with Jesus. Otherwise it was just Winter Solstice. The festival that was being practiced around the world to honor the Sun God from the Vedic times, that was being done.
If you hear of how Jesus was born, all the description is of spring time. He was not born in the cold winter.
Also, if he was conceived in May, December would not be the month in which he would be delivered. Immaculate conception happened in the month of May and December would be only seven months. Jesus was not a premature baby, he was born after full nine months and nine days, but people did not know what date he was born on.
So, even though the people were converted into Christians, the church could not stop them from celebrating the Xmas festival. So they added, 'Okay you can think this as the birthday of Jesus Christ and let us celebrate it that way.'
So they replaced the Sun God with Jesus.

Q: Gurudev, Goddess Parvati in her anger had given a curse to Mother Earth, Agni Deva and other gods when they tried to save her and Lord Shiva’s son Kartikeya from Tarakasura (a demon). How is it possible for a Goddess to not be in control of her anger?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, this is a wrong depiction of the stories from the Puranas. The TV serials always want to make it a little more dramatic.
Even when I watch Goddess Parvati (an incarnation or form of the Mother Divine), I see that there is so much display of emotions; crying, or asking for forgiveness, etc. Just to make the viewers more engaged, they brought them to the level of common man and common emotions.

The director and producers also want to elongate the episode, that is why they make it a little more dramatic than the actual story. It is not originally so in the Puranas. In the Purana, Goddess Parvati does not go through such varied emotions. It is only in the script that these people have written for the TV serial that you find her and even Lord Ganesha asking repeatedly for forgiveness. What is the need for Him, who is Divinity Himself, to ask for any sort of forgiveness?

See, when you read any Purana, then the Adidaata (the sacred deity on whose life and heroic stories a particular Purana is based) of that Purana is the central character, and the most revered.
For example, if you take the Shiva Purana then Lord Shiva is the greatest, while all other deities and everyone else is subordinate to him.
Similarly, if you take the Ganesha Purana, then Lord Ganesha is the greatest in that Purana.

Again, if you take the Devi Purana then all the other deities, such as Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Mahesh (a name of Lord Shiva) are at the Devi’s feet, signifying her central importance in the Purana. Since all stories in the Devi Purana revolve around her as the central deity, the other deities play secondary roles.
In the Vishnu Purana you will find that there is no deity greater than Lord Vishnu, and every other deity is subordinate to him, since he is the central deity of that Purana.

That is why a deity is called as Isht, meaning the greatest deity, around whom everything else revolves. So, those deities or Gods whom we consider as our Ishtdevta or Isht are the greatest and most revered for us.

There is a very beautiful shloka (verse) by Adi Shankaracharya where he says-

Mananaatha Shri Jagannatha, Madguru Shri Jagadguru, Madatma Sarvabhutatma,
Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha.

It means, my Lord (Isht) is the Lord of the entire creation; my Guru is the Guru of the entire creation; and my soul is the soul seated in all living beings.

When a devotee has this feeling, that there is no other like my Lord, then it is called Vishishta bhakti.
When there is this feeling that there is none other like my Lord, then the mind become one-pointed. This is because the nature of the mind is to go towards that which is the most superior.
Now, if you do not find what you have to be the highest, then the mind will start to wander toward that which it finds to be more superior.
So to collect the mind and make it centered deep in devotion, these different stories have been written in the Puranas. That is why in the Shiva Purana, it is said that Lord Shiva is supreme and everyone prays and bows to Lord Shiva. This is the real meaning.

But those who make these TV serials, they have to make it a little more dramatic, otherwise it will be a little boring, and that is why they add some spice to it.
It has never happened that Goddess Durga has inflicted her anger on anyone on Earth. The anger of Goddess Durga is only towards the demon Mahishasura. Even that is not totally in anger, but it is with a certain equanimity and pleasantness. The Goddess simply destroys Mahishasura (symbolic of negativity and inertia) into ashes, by a simple exhalation of her breath, with the sound ‘hummm’.
So these are just different depictions of the mythological stories on TV. There is no need to accept them as the truth.

Q: Dear Gurudev, if one thinks that one’s Ishta(most revered deity) is the most superior, then does that not bring about fundamentalism?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, if you ask any mother in the world, she will say her child is the best. There may be so many other children in the world, but for her, her child is the best of all.
Fundamentalism is considering or showing that others are wrong or lesser than you. However, having a feeling that my deity is the highest for me and your deity may be the highest for you, cannot be fundamentalism.

How can one overcome a broken heart?

Question: Guruji, how can one overcome a broken heart?

Guruji: "How to overcome a broken heart? How do you do that? (smiles) hmmmm...

Wake up and see the truth of life. What are you hanging on to? What breaks your heart? Someone's behavior, someone's words...haan?

Weakness of heart needs to be shunned and truth should be known.

What is truth? Everything in the world changes and everything is going to change, has changed, will change in the future...& you are going to drop your own body which you love so much.

All your life, all that you do, spend so much money, put the cream here, put the cream there (laughter), put the lipstick every two hours, every hour (laughter) and take care of your body...its not going to listen to you one day. You want to move your hand, you can't. You want to lift your eyes, you can't open your eyes, you want to say something, your tongue will not move...whole body will strike and then you simply have to exit (out) of this body. You exit dejected, frustrated because the body is totally rebellious to your commands. And the body will not listen, whatever you say, (whatever) you want to do.
And you have to exit and you exit, and you see its (the body) like a waste material...nobody would like to get into it again. (laughter)

Such is the truth of life. Everything is going to disappear, everybody is going to die. You are going to die, the person who broke your heart is going to die as well.

So, as long as you are are alive, wake up and do something good. Forget about it (broken heart). Be bold, courageous.

Oh...so and so said this thing. Oh...so and so did like this. Oh...so and so misbehaved...
What misbehaved? You needed it. That makes you strong.

Be like a lion. Roar like a lion.

...upset...oh...this gone...that gone...
Joy comes and goes, misery comes & goes. Your pleasure...you are hanging on to pleasure & your pleasure can't stay forever...sustain you all the time. So, pleasure, pain...all this comes and goes in life...what is the big deal about a broken heart?

Know for sure you love everybody and everyone loves you...whatever their words are...their behaviours are...
Never doubt in the love. Love is something like space, it can never diminish...it can never go away. Thats true love.

All this chattering of the mind...good for nothing. Don't waste your precious life in all that...Oh...I am broken heart, I am broken heart...

If your limbs get broken, you can put...what you call it...plaster?

The heart gets broken, you wake up, its never broken, its rubber.

Your heart...make it like rubber...not a glass. Glass heart can break with a little heat or little cold. Make your heart elastic like rubber and thats what knowledge does...transform your heart...transform your mind and transform your actions.

You should be feeling absolutely lucky to be in this knowledge...haan...isn't it? How many of you feel absolutely lucky?"

Ten types of PRANA

Question: Dear Gurudev, you said there are different types of prana, could you please talk a little bit more about that?

Sri Sri : There are ten types of Prana (the subtle life force energy). Of these, there are five major and five minor kinds of Prana. Today let me just talk about the five major types of Prana.

The first major type of Prana is called Prana which arises from your navel upwards to the top of the head.

Then there is another type of Prana that goes downwards from the navel, and it is called Apana.
When the Prana level is too high, you cannot sleep; you can get insomnia and you feel very jittery. However, if the Apana level is too high, you feel so dull that you do not even want to get off the bed.
Have you had this experience? Sometimes you feel so heavy, gross, and dull. This is due to the imbalance of Apana.

The third type of Prana is Samana which is present as the digestive fire in the digestive system, i.e., in the stomach. It is the agni or the fire that helps digest the food.
Samana is that which helps indigestion, and it also helps other bodily systems. It helps in balancing the system.

Then there is Udana Vayu or Udana Prana which is somewhere near the heart region and is responsible for emotions.
In Sudarshan Kriya, people cry or they laugh, and you find that all these emotions well up. This is due to the Udana Vayu. So this Udana Vayu is responsible for all the emotions.

Then the fifth type of Prana called Vyana which is responsible for all the movement in the body. It is spread all over the body.
In Sudarshan Kriya, you feel some tingling, some energy all over the body. Have you all experienced this?
What happens in Sudarshan Kriya is, all the five Pranas get balanced, and that is why you cry, or you laugh, and you feel a tingling all over the body. That is the specialty of Sudarshan Kriya.
You also tend to feel very hungry after the Kriya, is it not so?

So, these five Prana in the body run our lives.
If Samana is imbalanced, then it gives rise to digestive problems, and you cannot digest the food properly, or you may experience nausea. All this happens because of an imbalance of the Samana Prana.

When Udana Prana is stuck, you feel an emotional block that also affects your thinking and your mind.

When the Vyana which is all over the body is imbalanced, then you have joint pain, or movement trouble, and either you become too jittery and restless, or you may feel like you do not want to do anything.
Moving around anywhere in such a state gives discomfort and creates restlessness in the body. All this is caused by the Vyana imbalance.

Be passionate about knowledge, be passionate about doing service, be passionate about thinking; or about anything. Some passion definitely needs to be there in life. You can have a passion for wisdom as well.

After Sudarshan Kriya, you would have noticed that all these imbalances go away. Has this not happened to all of you?
All earlier discomfort in the movements of the body, or its circulation, or some pains due to Vyana imbalance, all disappeared after Sudarshan Kriya.

So these are the five different Pranas.
There are five other sub-ordinate Pranas as well, but that we will discuss that another time.

How to increase my capacity to take your blessings?

Question: Guruji, what can I do to increase my capacity to take your blessings? How can I make my cup bigger?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In the Advanced Course you all have heard of the Shatt Sampatti (Six wealths, or six-fold virtues).

• Sama (calmness or quietude of mind)
• Dama (self-control or restraint of the senses)
• Uparati (satiety)
• Titiksha (power of endurance)
• Shradha (faith)
• Samadhana (equanimity or one-pointedness of the mind)

This is what you must focus on, increasing these qualities more in your life. By enhancing these virtues, your capacity to receive blessings will increase. Among the four pillars of knowledge, the third one that has these six wealths, that is what we must increase. Also we must do Seva (service) and Sadhana (spiritual practices).