Why does Hinduism have so many Gods and Goddesses. The symbolism explained

Firstly, people should know about symbols. It is said that there are millions of Gods and Goddesses in India. In the Indian culture, we talk of families of Gods.

A Goddess is depicted as riding a tiger, Gods have children and there are disputes amongst Gods and Goddesses. For an argumentative mind such depictions are difficult to accept.God is Sat Chit Ananda (Truth, Consciousness and Bliss).He has five karmas (actions) – Srishti (Creation), Sthiti (Preservation), Samhara (Destruction), Anugraha (Blessing) and Tirodhana (Veiling).

He is everywhere yet not visible - just like air is everywhere but we feel it only when the fan is switched on or when the wind blows.Rishis (sages) say that there are many levels of creation. Gold is one but we can make so many different things out of it. With wheat, you can make bread, sweets, puris as well as chapatti.

Just like that, One Divinity displays itself in many names and forms, as Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Operator) and Mahesh (Destroyer). When a single ray of sunlight falls on a drop of water, we see all the seven colors of a rainbow!Before Creation, the Operator was there. Vishnu was present before Brahma.

For instance, grass is present in creation and then the goat comes, a mother develops milk before she gives birth otherwise the creation won’t sustain! The Polar bear sleeps for six months and develops hunger only after the grass has sprung up.Vishnu is depicted as resting in a lying down posture. The Master of the Creation is resting since the task of maintenance is so easy for him.

This does not mean that man can afford to sleep all the time. Vishnu’s sleep is different- he is sleeping on a bed of a snake, which is symbolic of heightened awareness. When one rests in awareness it is called Yog Nidra (yogic sleep) or Samadhi (Meditation)In a human body, the navel is the center of gravity. Brahma, the Creator, emerges from a lotus rising from Vishnu’s navel.

It was only when Newton and Einstein rested that they could make new inventions. Newton rested under a tree and he received the knowledge of gravity as an apple fell on his head. When Archimedes was in the bathtub, he got the idea that he was looking for since a long time. India knew about the Gurutvakarshan shakti (gravitational force) thousands of years before Newton discovered it.

The knowledge that the whole world is round was present in the ancient Khagoal Vigyan (orbital sciences including rotation, revolution). Our ancestors had this knowledge. That’s why they kept the Sun in the middle. In the most ancient temples, which are around 2,000 years old, you will find that the Sun God is in the middle looking towards the East and all the other planets are kept around Him.

Nowadays, it is taught that Galileo discovered that the earth is round. That was just a few hundred years ago but our ancestors knew about this from thousands of years.Today, the scientists say that in creative people the solar plexus inside the navel is bigger than usual. When the navel blossoms one becomes creative.

In ancient India, they represented this as Brahma being born through Vishnu’s navel. Brahma, the Creator has four faces. This shows that he gains knowledge from all the four directions.From just one anu (atom) different organs of the human body - nails, hair, ears etc are formed and even the texture of skin is different throughout. So that One has the intention and capability to be varied.

Similarly, in one God many God and Goddesses can be formed. One human DNA has all the living beings in it right from a lizard to an elephant. This is the power in one chromosome. This itself is God. The whole creation is filled with God.The Sanatana Dharma is very close to the modern science. When you listen to great scientists you feel as if you are listening to Vedanta. Even if one animal is missing from this universe, the balance of the creation will be disrupted.

So we need all the beings. You cannot see the Devi Shakti (energy) but this devi shakti rides a tiger as its vehicle. The peacock has the vibrations of Kartikey Swami, who is depicted as having a peacock as His vehicle. Yet that does not mean that to worship Kartikey Swami, we need to get hold of a peacock.

God is present in every atom of the creation, not just the outside world but within our body as well. That is why before worshipping, we start with invoking the energies within our own body.Devo Bhuvata, Devo Bhuje – Be immersed in God and worship Him. The weapons in the Gods’ hands have a deeper meaning. It is very easy to simply say that the ancient man was a coward so he placed all the weapons in Gods’ hands.

Such an interpretation is the imagination of a fearful man. This is wrong. Do some research, go deep in knowledge, then you will feel amazed at the minds of the people who created the Puranas.

God-Goddesses are within us, are our very own so they showed human flaws of anger, jealousy etc in them as well so that you don’t feel guilty when such emotions arise in you.The purpose of the Puranas was to bring you closer to God. Thus stories were created for the purpose of joy, entertainment, knowledge and science. In Hindi the word ‘Purana’ means old whereas in Sanskrit, it means completely new, modern.

Diwali symbolism encoded

Diwali, the popular name for ‘ The festival of lights’ is celebrated to commemorate the defeat of the demon Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Another version says that after the war, Lord Ram returns to Ayodhya on this day for taking up the throne of  the kingdom of Ayodhya.Most of us have not paused to go beyond these and celebrate Diwali without understanding its true significance. As we gain more insights into Diwali, the  festivities during the celebration become deeper and meaningful.As founder of the Art of Living  Gurudev  Sri Sri Ravishankar ji says, there are four aspects to Diwali1. The lights are symbolic of spreading the Knowledge. When light exists, darkness ceases to exist. The word darkness here means ignorance. As shared in my previous post, a master is one who removes the darkness of ignorance. In today’s context I would like to take it further to mean mean illiteracy as well. Today, in our country, the so called literates just hold a degree either in Engineering or in Arts & Science, without really having a deep knowledge of the subject. On this Diwali, let us  take a strong vow true Engineers or Scientists come out of our Universities and Schools.2. Fire crackers: When the explosion happens outside, the explosion inside is diffused. Today we find that stress, tension and depression are overshadowing a greater part of life . This is especially true of the the younger generationwho, instead of resonating youthful vigour and enthusiasm, display lack of confidence and preparedness to face the situations that they are exposed to. If they are established in knowledge, they will feel strong and not worry about what others think of them. They can be focused on what needs to be done and lead a peaceful life without Inner Explosions.3. Gift exchange and distribution of sweets: The sweets that we share during Diwali are symbolic of a new beginning to our friendship with others. Sweets literally bring in more sweetness and dispel the bitterness among people! Diwali is a special time for exchanging gifts with each other, visiting the homes of relatives whom we have not visited for a long time. These formalities strengthen the sense of belongingness and bring back the smile on faces of people.The last aspect to Diwali is,4. Feeling the abundance: It is usually said that, if you feel you already have you are given more. It is quite natural. If somebody has been helping you all along, but you always grumble that you haven’t gotten enough, would that person be interested anymore in helping you? Obviously NO. The same is applicable to Nature also. When it has been bestowing you with the maximum you can get, any you are grumbling, your capacity to receive further diminishes. This is the reason why people keep all their valuables in the Pooja Room and perform the Laxmi Pooja with the feeling ofgratitude for having got so  much in their life.Instead of taking ancient customs as superstitions, if we try to see the inner meaning, we can live life more meaningfully rather than living for the sake of living

Are you tired? By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you are not tired, you will never reach home. Only if you're tired, will you ever rest. Everything in the world will tire you. Only one thing does not tire you. That is love.

Love does not tire you because that is the end, the home. It is not possible to be tired in love.
In fact, enjoyment brings tiredness! Tiredness is a shadow of enjoyment. What puts you on the road is your desire to enjoy. What brings you home is being in love. In your life, you move from one place to another in search of enjoyment. Wherever you saw joy and reached for it, you found that it was further away, somewhere else. So you had to move on and that moving is tiring.

Look at your whole life. A child gets tired of playing with toys and wants new toys. Tired of playing with new toys, they want people to play with, they want new friends. They grow a little older. Their games change. The object of the game changes. They want something more. So it's like moving from one type of tiredness to another type of tiredness.

As a teenager you looked for something else, not toys. Which is the new movie? What is the new fashion? You want to have the best match for you. You are married. You make a very good couple. Then what? You want to have your own home, children. Those who are single think that married people are better off. Those who are married think that single people are better off.

Some think that people with children are happier. People with children wish everyday that their child grows up quickly so that they can be free. They wait for someone to give them a break, to take care of their children. Everything is tiring.

You move from one spiritual path to another spiritual path, from one practice to another. Sometimes people say, "Oh, I have meditated for 20 years. I am sick of meditation now. Please don't tell me to do another meditation. Enough is enough." It's boring. People have no time. They find it boring to meditate. What to do? Where to go? When is that rest? That solace? That peace? When is that love that is so comforting, so eternal, so blissful? And you cannot rest until you reach home.

You may sit in the path here and there but you cannot be there forever. You may take a break. On the motorway, there is some rest place. On the way, you stop your car, use the restroom, stay a while and stretch. But that is all. You cannot rest there, or be at peace there. At the back of the mind the drive is there - move on. There is no fulfillment.

It is the desire that tires you - the 'want' in the mind. Your mind tires you more than the physical work. If you are willing to do some work, even 15 hours at a stretch, it will not tire you. However if you are not willing and you have to work even for four hours, it will tire you.

You have a party at home or you are arranging Christmas decorations. So you may work many late hours but still not feel tired. You feel good about it. But you work in some place you don't like, you'd like to have four coffee or tea breaks and even then you feel it's tiring! Do not do any work at all. Just sit and go on thinking. You'll be terribly exhausted. For many people, the tiredness and exhaustion comes from thinking and worrying, not by working.

Thinking you need rest makes you restless.
Thinking you have to work hard makes you tired.
Thinking you have worked hard brings self-pity.

There is a place to rest. That is the Divine, that is surrender and that is love. And you can't do it unless you get really tired, unless you get sick of everything. You drop down. That is called surrender.

There was a king, an emperor. He attained all that he wanted to in the world, all the wealth, the whole continent was under his control. He thought that this is his world. Thousands of people were under his command, all the wealth at his disposal, all the pleasures at his beck and call. He could snap his finger and get anything he wanted. But that couldn't get him home. It made him more and more tired.

Then he went looking for some spiritual knowledge. He went from place to place, collecting things here and there, but nothing worked. Everything seemed to work for a while. Finally, he got so tired that he renounced everything. That also didn't work. Being an emperor didn't work. Renouncing everything didn't work.

One day he fell near a tree. He was exhausted of looking for, but not finding, a real master. It's not easy to find a master. Even if one finds a master, it is difficult to recognize and let go. So, he finally dropped under a tree and at that moment a dry leaf fell down from the tree.

He was looking at the leaf and that leaf flew to the east when the wind blew east and it flew to the north when the wind blew north. Looking at that, something in him suddenly snapped - the "doership" - The 'want' simply dropped from him. The very moment he realized that that moment is so eternal and he came back home.

Make life that way - become like a dry leaf - agree with what the Divine has provided for you, float with the moment. Do not regret the past, do not anticipate the future. That is what all the enlightened masters say, "Keep practicing on your own. When you feel you can't do any more, that it's all so tiring, then come and rest." That's why the places of enlightened masters are called 'ashrama', where you come and get rid of your tiredness. 'Shrama' means effort. Ashrama means the place where all the efforts loosen up. All tiredness, both mental and physical, vanishes. Even spiritual, you don't have to strive for it.

Just sit there. There is a candle, a light burning for you. You only have to sit under its light. You're lit. You don't have to do anything. It's burning for you. You only have to connect, sit there and feel the presence. Be a part of the divinity, then you will find that nothing can tire you in the world. You will become the source of love. You are the home. Things cannot irritate you.

When you are tired, small little things can irritate you, push your button, can throw you off balance. Our peace is so fragile that anything, even a phone call, can blow it off. Our peace will be in hundred pieces - just a few words from someone. Fragile peace is of no use. The peace and love in our life should be so solid, like a diamond. Nothing should shake or move it.

Desire, awareness of the Self and action all are manifestation of the same energy that is you. Among these three, one of them dominates at a time. When you have lots of desires, you are not aware of the Self. When desire dominates, self-awareness will be at its lowest, and that's why all the philosophers around the world have always advocated renunciation and dropping of desires.

When the awareness is dominant, then happiness dawns. When desire dominates, stress and sorrow result. When actions dominate, restlessness and disease is the result. When your actions and desires are sincerely directed to the Divine or to the welfare of society, then the consciousness is automatically elevated, and self-knowledge is sure to be attained.

You cannot rest when you have to do something that you cannot. And you cannot rest when you feel you have to be someone whom you are not. You are not required to do what you cannot. You will not be asked to give what you cannot give. Nothing is expected of you that you cannot do.

Doing service involves only doing what you can do. And no one wants you to be someone whom you are not. This realization brings you deep rest. You cannot rest if you have either ambition or lethargy. Both are opposed to good rest. A lazy person will toss and turn at night and be 'restless' and an ambitious person will burn inside.

This rest brings up your talents and abilities and brings you closer to your nature. Even a slight feeling that the Divine is with you brings deep rest. Prayer, love and meditation are all flavors of deep rest. The only thing you have to do in your life is to make your peace strong, your love profound and your joy eternal.

Make your home God's home and there will be light, love and abundance. Make your body God's abode and there will be peace and bliss. Feel that your mind is a toy of God and you will watch and enjoy all its games. See this world as play and as a display of God Himself and you will repose in the non-dual Self.

Peace and health

connection between peace and health.by
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It is so obvious, if you are healthy, you are more peaceful.
Health includes Peace. If you are not peaceful you cannot call yourself healthy. If mind is disturbed, body is disturbed.
Sickness is not just in the body, it could be in the mind, it could be in your intellect; it could be in the inhibitions of your intellect and sadness in your soul – all this is considered unhealthy. That is why the word Swastha has such a deep meaning.


Usually we think of God as
somebody out there in
heaven, who created the
creation, and then went
away from the creation
and started trying to find
fault in everyone. Whatever
you are doing, he is trying to
take a stick and punish you.
This is not the type of God
that we have ever spoken of.
The entire universe is made
up of a stuff called Love,
and that is what God is!

If you go to Bali, they greet you saying ‘Om Swasthi Rastu.’
It is like when we say, ‘Namaste’, or, ‘Hello’.
In Bali they say, ‘Om Swasthi Rastu’, which means may you be established in yourself.
If you are established in yourself that means you are peaceful, you have no inhibitions, you are clear in your mind, you have no negative feelings and your body is healthy.
All this together is called Swastha in Sanskrit; a healthy person.

God and Spirituality

What has God got to do with spirituality? Can I not believe and still be spiritual?

Do you know, in the six Darshanas (schools of India Philosophy), the first three Darshanas do not even talk about God – Nyaaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya.
Nyaaya Darshana by Gautama Maharishi deals with knowledge – whether your knowledge is correct or not. Knowing the means of knowledge whether it is correct or not, this is Nyaaya Darshana.
For example, from your senses you see the Sun setting and the Sun rising. But Nyaaya Darshana says, ‘No, you cannot just believe what you see, you have to go beyond and find out, does the Sun really set or is the Earth moving?’

You do not have to feel compelled to believe in God, but you have to believe in
something. You have to at least believe in the Consciousness.

We think that Copernicus found out that the earth is going around the sun, but that is absolute false. He definitely found out, but before that, in India, people already knew a long time ago that the Earth is going around the Sun.
Nyaaya Darshana talks about all that. It talks about perception and the correction of perception!
And then Vaisheshika Darshana – this is a count of all the things in the universe – Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, and then all the objects and subjects, and all that analysis. This is Vaisheshika Darshana.
In this, they talk about the mind, consciousness, intellect, memory and all that.
Then is Sankhya Darshana.
So, these three Darshanas do not talk about God, but they talk about Consciousness. Only in the Yoga Sutras, which is the fourth Darshanas they talk about God as one topic.
So you do not have to feel compelled to believe in God, but you have to believe in something. You have to at least believe in the Consciousness.
Usually when we think of God, we think of somebody who is sitting out there in heaven, who created the creation, and then went away from the creation and started trying to find fault in everyone. Whatever you are doing, he is trying to take a stick and punish you.
This is not the type of God that we have ever spoken of.
God is the existence!
The entire universe is made up of a stuff called Love, and that is what God is!
You are inseparable from God.
Nothing ever exists outside God; everything has to exist inside God only. So it is beyond good, bad, right, wrong, and all that. Pleasant and unpleasant is all immaterial.
The One thing that exists, that One whole if you need to call it something, you can call it God. Or you do not have to worry, just know yourself.

SRI SRI Ravi Shankar

Business and spirituality

Business & Spirituality

Often business is looked down upon by spiritual people, and spirituality is put off as impractical by business people.

The ancient people conceived that spirituality is the heart and business is the legs. An individual or a society is incomplete without both these aspects.

Business brings material comfort and spirituality brings mental and emotional comfort. Spirituality brings ethics and fair practice to business. In the body/mind complex, depriving either the body or the mind of comfort means depriving both of them comfort. You cannot talk of spirituality to the poorest of the poor people without taking care of their basic needs. They need to be supported materially. There is no spirituality in the world that is devoid of service and service cannot happen if material needs are ignored. Service cannot happen only through the lips, it needs legs to work. Every system has its flaws. Capitalism exploits the poor while socialism dampens individual creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Spirituality is the bridge between socialism and capitalism. Spirituality gives the capitalist the heart to serve and the socialist the spirit to innovate.

Positive thinking: Three Levels of Knowledge by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

There are three types of knowledge or information that we get.
One is through the five senses. You see, listen, smell, taste and touch and get information and knowledge. Most of our knowledge is gained through our five senses.

The second is through intellect, which is superior to the knowledge gained through the senses. The knowledge of science is gained through intellect. Through our eyes, we see the sun setting. But it is through through science that we know that it is the earth that is revolving around the sun.

These two levels of knowledge are inferior to the intuitive knowledge. This knowledge is from the spirit and comes from silence. It cannot be verified by the senses or the intellect.

Life begins when we tap into this third level. For this, you have to let go of the knowledge of the senses and the intellect. The moment you do, the cravings and aversions that you gained through the senses stop. All intellectual perceptions need to be dropped. Then this knowledge dawns upon one. This is called Ritambhara knowledge.

Everyone has this ability. You must have experienced a gut feeling, some knowledge you cannot really figure out what it is from. When that knowledge comes up, we don’t honor it. Instead, we stick to our intellectual or sensory perceptions. Sometimes you go beyond your intellect which tells you something but your gut feeling says something else. We ignore that and stick to our intellect. This is how your judgments fail to be right. Sometimes, you take a step beyond your judgment and be happy about it. When you go against your intellect, something beyond it takes over.

Many times, with your emotions, cravings and aversions, you think, ‘This is a gut feeling, this is my knowledge.’ But this is called Yogmaya. You honour the knowledge of the spirit when you are still and meditative. This is the area from where the entire cosmos works. Then intellect plays on it and develops it further. Every one of those great poems or music has come from that area.

So understand that your intellect is judgmental and don’t depend on it too much. Just become a witness to all. There is a gradual progression for all this and it is happens in everyone’s life. Just allow this awareness and it will happen even faster.

Take a look at your life

Wisdom can only blossom in a homely atmosphere, where we are informal and at home with each other. Do you all feel at home with each other right now?
Why not we all just take a moment to greet the person next to us, behind us and in front of us? A formal atmosphere is not very congenial for wisdom. You need to be informal with each other for a heart-to-heart talk, and that is what wisdom is. It is not head-to-head.

In a head-to-head communication there can be many arguments. But from heart-to-heart there is only one language - One World Family.
Now keep everything aside and just look at your own life.
What is that you want from your life? Have you ever sat and thought about it, ‘What do I want in my life?'
We seldom get time to do that. And, ‘Who am I?’ – That too we do not think about.
Someone told us something and we learnt that. We have studied and gotten educated, but ‘Who am I? What do I want?’ These questions seldom come to our mind.
If you see your life of 60, 70 or 80 years, do you know how you spend those 80 years?
You spend 40 years of your life sleeping. You spend about eight years of your life in bathrooms and toilets, and about the same numbers of years are spent in eating.
10 to 15 years are spent in traffic, in making journeys, and in working. Hardly two to three years of our life are spent in what we call a ‘happy’ life. Is it not?
And is it not that which you want – Happiness?
All the scriptures of the world, from the ancient times to the recent times; they all talk about great happiness. Is it not? Because the scriptures know that men and women want happiness.
Happiness is not a commodity that you can buy somewhere. It is present where you are, right here and right now. And the way to find that happiness is meditation.
Meditation improves our health, our state of mind and brings more happiness.
Whatever we are seeking here and there, is right here, within us.
My purpose of coming here is to tell you that whatever you are looking for is deep within you, and that Light, that Spirit loves you so much. So do not worry.
Give me all your worries. I have come to carry them away. Drop all the worries here, be happy, and spread happiness.
Shouldn't this be our goal in Life?
What should be our goal?
Shake everyone up and tell them, ‘Hey! Wake up! Laugh and Smile.’
You should make people happy.
You know, when we have, then also we are unhappy, and when we don't have, then also we are unhappy.
I want to tell you a story.
An Indian-African immigrant from Kenya was in London; this was a long time ago when I went there. This gentleman came up to me and said, ‘Gurudev, I wish to own a BMW car. Please bless me’.
I said, ‘Okay, God willing you will get it.’
Six months later he came and met me. He was happy and he said, ‘Gurudev, I got it (the car). But the streets of Birmingham are so small that I find it so inconvenient to park it here and there without it getting a scratch on it. What to do?’
You know, in Birmingham the streets are smaller than they are here.
Few months later, he said, ‘Gurudev, it is becoming a difficult thing for me to have this car. Now I am miserable. I want to sell this car off but there is no buyer’.
You didn’t have it and you were unhappy. Now you have it and you are unhappy.
There is something seriously wrong with the way we look at life. This is where we have to have that wisdom, to turn it around and see that happiness is not related to what we have or what we don’t have. It is simply our state of mind.

Do you know, 30% of Europe is depressed.
This figure is from the census of the last decade, now it is even more. And a small country like Bhutan is known for its happiness. Even Bangladesh has got more happy people.
I don’t know where South Africa comes in this list, but I have a hope that all of you here today will take this determination to be happy and spread happiness.
Is this a good idea? (Audience nod in agreement saying, 'Yes')
A violence-free society, disease-free body, stress-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory and a sorrow-free soul are the birth-right of every human being.
(Gurudev briefly looks outside and listens to the loud music coming from outside the venue)
Distractions are there to see how keen you are to catch the wisdom.
In Sanskrit there is a saying, ‘Shreyansi Bahu Vighnani’, which means, if there is something very precious then there are many obstacles or distractions that come with it (from the Uddhava Gita. This quote is part of Lord Krishna’s discourse to his devotee Uddhava).
If there are a lot of distractions that come for something, then it must be very precious.
If you want to do something wrong, there will be no obstructions for that. But if you want to do something good or pick up something precious, many distractions may come.
This world is made up of five elements. This is what the scientists today have said, and this is what the Rishis (wise enlightened seers) also said in the ancient days.
The five elements are – Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. That is why it is called Prapancha in Sanskrit. Panch means five, and Prapancha means a specific combination of five elements, of which this Universe is made of.
The same also goes for our body. Our body has 60% water element. The heat in the body represents the Fire element. The physical body itself symbolizes the Earth element, and the empty space represents the Space element. So these five elements make up our whole body, and everything in this Universe.
So we will do a short meditation, and after meditation, we will have a small Yagya.
Yagya means uniting the principles of the Universe.
This universe has got millions of rays coming into it. The macrocosm and the microcosm are connected. Every little butterfly here fluttering its wings has an impact on the clouds. Have you heard about this?
A butterfly in the Amazon forest can have an effect on the entire forest, and on the clouds in China.
If one monkey does something, it has an effect on several other monkeys. Have you heard about this in Africa?
We call it the ‘Big Five’ in Africa; the land of the ‘Big Five’ (a term used in African hunting which refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot – Lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, Leopard and Rhinoceros).
Each animal brings with it a certain vibration; a cosmic electromagnetic vibration with it on Earth. They channel this from the Universe to the Earth.
Every animal brings a particular vibration to planet Earth. And that is why every animal is very important.
The ancient Rishis in the Vedic times knew about this. A particular bird, even a particular type of seed has a particular vibration associated with it. So everything is connected from one to another. Like in our body, though we are born of one cell, that cell has 33 different chromosomes. And those different chromosomes in the DNA of the cell are responsible for forming different parts of our body.
This Universe has got so many different types of vibrations that come from its different parts.

So the macrocosm and the microcosm are united in a very unique manner. That is what the ancient people said. So when we go from Ether to Air to Fire to Water and then to Earth element; this is how the Creation has happened.
Therefore they designed Yagyas (to mimic and represent this process in a reversed direction – by offerings of sacred herbs (Earth element) and offerings of ghee (Water element) into the sacrificial fire (Fire element, in presence of the Air element), from where the vibrations are transmitted into space (Space element)) .
Yagyas are designed to bring peace.
What is the purpose of a Yagya? The first is Swasti – good health; then prosperity, peace of mind, happiness, a sense of togetherness with everybody, and to remove negativity from the atmosphere.
Every time you are negative, you transmit those negative vibrations of anger, jealousy, greed, frustration, and hatred. Yagyas are meant to neutralize and nullify all of them. That is why this time I thought that I should take this to South Africa as well.
I heard of the recent unfortunate incident in Africa where so many minors passed away. So, to bring happiness, peace and prosperity to all the population we will do a small Yagya by means of Vedic chanting and by offerings specific herbs, as it was done in the ancient times thousands of years ago. So you will witness that as well.
It is like a short Pooja in which we pray to the One Almighty to give us peace, prosperity, happiness, contentment, a sense of togetherness, a sense of belongingness and care for each other.
Most of all we need that inner contentment. You know, if we have inner contentment, we gain a unique ability to bless others.
Not only will we be able to fulfill our own desires, but we will also be able to fulfill the wishes of others. The human spirit can possess that gift if it gets into a state of contentment.
So we will do a short Yagya in which they will chant the ancient mantras which are 10,000 years old. During the chanting, we just close our eyes, listen and bathe in it chants.
(Gurudev guides everyone into meditation).
Q: Jai Gurudev! Thank you for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Please tell me, how do I know if I am on the correct path in life and that I am fulfilling my purpose here?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is something called Gut Feeling. Something deep inside you tells you, ‘This is right', and when you choose it, you really feel good about it. I tell you, doubts usually come to you when you choose the right thing.
Doubt is always about something positive. Have you noticed this? We always doubt the honesty of a person; we never doubt the dishonesty of a person.
We ask our dear one, ‘Do you really love me?’
If someone tells you, ‘I love you’, you say, ‘Really?’
But if someone says, 'I am angry at you', you never say, ‘Really?’
Similarly, we always doubt our capabilities but we never doubt our incapability.
When someone asks you if you are happy, you say, ‘Well, I am not sure.' But you have never said the same when you are depressed. You are so sure of your depression.
You are so sure of negativeness, but you always question the positive things in life.
So doubt also indicates that there must be something good.

Q: How do we get salvation in this life time, and how do we get rid of negative people that live with us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I said to leave all your problems here, but do not leave your family members who are troubling you! (Laughter) Once it so happened, I said the same thing in the Ashram, ‘Leave all your problems here.'
One lady said, ‘My mother-in-law is my biggest problem, so can I leave her here?'
I said, ‘Let me ask your mother-in-law, she will say the same thing about you.'
See, challenges are there in life. Challenges come, people with different mindsets come, but when you expand your vision and see your life from a broader perspective, you will let go of all these small little issues that seem to be so significant to you right now. You have to broaden your vision.
If you find some people are negative, keep them at a distance that is number one.
The second thing is, know that they will not be like that forever. With time, they will change. And the third option is to think, ‘Okay, let them be. They are going to bring out better skills from within me.' They bring out greater skills of communication, skills of being positive in your foothold.
The last thing is to leave it to the Almighty. Leave it to Divinity to resolve.
We sing this in Mahatma Gandhiji’s favourite song, ‘Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwaan’ - Let everyone’s mind and intellect be pure and be channelled in the right direction.
This is what is in the Gayatri Mantra also, ‘Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat' - Let the Divine inspire my intellect. Let my intellect not come up with the small and silly little ideas, and thoughts. Let this intellect reflect the will of God, of the Almighty.
The Gayatri Mantra is one of the most beautiful mantras that human society has ever gotten which also says the same thing: Let the Divine will reflect in my will and thoughts; intellect. Let my intellect be aligned with the Divinity.

Q: If a loved one passes on, the common adage to those losing the loved one is, ‘He/she is always there with you.' Is that really true? Is that loved one who has passed away really there with you and is guiding you in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why don’t you leave them some free time? They have had enough in this world and they have gone. Let them take some rest and do something else that they want to do. Let them have some fun. Why should they be guiding you all the time? (Laughter)
What is there to guide? It is like sitting in a train. You are going to get down when the train stops. The goal is fixed. Everybody is going to die one day. When you die you will see the other dimension as well. So don’t worry. If you are happy and peaceful, your peace transcends this world and reaches the other shore as well. If you are full of love and devotion, a portion of it, a ray of it reaches them as well and they feel happy.
When you do some good service, that service brings merit and the merit also helps those who have passed away onto the other side.

Q: Jai Gurudev! I would like you to talk on youth and spirituality.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We are made up of both matter and spirit.
Our body is made up of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, vitamins, etc., and our spirit is made up of generosity, love, compassion, energy, expansion, integrity, honesty, truthfulness, intelligence, sensitivity; all these qualities.
Any acts that nurtures these inner qualities (beauty, love, etc.), they are Spirituality. Meditation, singing, chanting, serving, etc., are all part of spirituality. And it is this spirituality that keeps the youthfulness in you. It brings you energy.You know, right now I am coming straight from India on a 15 hours flight. I just arrived, changed my clothes and in half-an-hour I had to rush here. Do I look jet-lagged and tired? (Audience respond saying ‘No’)
Someone asked me, ‘Gurudev, if we take a flight to Cape Town, we feel so jet-lagged. Don’t you feel jet-lagged?’
I said, ‘When the mind is fresh and when the mind is connected to the Source, there is always freshness.’
Youthfulness is that connection to the source and youthfulness is the ability to connect with everybody. And only Spirituality can bring this in the youth.

Q: A person who is very close to me continuously lies and cheats. It is like second nature to him. And the lies are expressed with a straight face.
Why do people do this and what will become of them? Please help, I want to put my mind at rest.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should remember that God loves fun.
If everybody would have been like you, you all would be like the Ford Company. The world is not a Ford company, producing only one type of car. Even they change the model every year. God loves fun and He puts all kinds of people around you. Just look within you, how many negative points you have, and how many positive points you have?
How you can improve, this is what you need to think and what you can do. How others should improve – for now, leave it to them.
If you can, educate them, but do so with compassion.
Or take them to one of the Art of Living teachers nearby. The teacher can help them change. And if you are too compassionate, pray that his life becomes better, and that he becomes more honest.
But as I said earlier, all specimens are needed on this planet. They make the world more colourful. Got it?
They push certain buttons in you and evoke certain emotions in you, and see how you act or react to it.

Q: You are awesome! How does one eliminate procrastination?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I will give this answer next year (Laughter). Just imagine, you have given a tailor a garment to stitch for Diwali, or maybe your wedding. Now you go a week before your wedding to the tailor, hoping it will all be ready, and the tailor procrastinates and tells you, ‘I will give the dress six months later', how would you like it? What will be your state of mind?
Let us say, you are in need of a doctor because your tooth is aching, and your doctor tells you, ‘Come after three months and I will see if something can be done or not’, what would you do?
You do not want your doctor to procrastinate, or your tailor to procrastinate, and any of your essential services to procrastinate. You want every one of them to be spot on and deliver the service in the designated time.
Even for the questions you ask, you want the right answers right away! Correct?! But you want to procrastinate? Come on, wake up! Wake up now!

The most precious thing in the world

Now I am going to ask you a very serious question:
Do you really greet a person or treat it as a formality?
See, on a day to day basis, we greet people, we exchange pleasantries. It is all on a very formal level. Isn’t it so?

When someone brings a glass of water, we say, ‘Thank you so much.'
That ‘so much’ has no meaning.
If you are in the Sahara desert, and you are really very thirsty and someone brings you a glass of water and you say, ‘Thank you so much’, it is authentic.
So, in life, when we deal only on a superficial level all the time and when we lack the depth, then life feels very dry and meaningless.
We must shift to another level, of authenticity, sincerity, and a genuine connection from heart to heart. That is what I call spirituality.
Spirituality is when you relate from the authenticity of your existence.
As children we were all doing that.
Do you remember when you were a baby, the whole planet, the whole universe was so alive. The moon was talking, the trees were talking and the animals were talking. There was a natural conversation between you and the entire universe. Do you remember?
Have you seen the children in cartoons? Even trees talk to them. It is a different world.
Now the question is, can we still maintain that innocence and at the same time reach the height of intelligence?
I say, 'Yes, we can. '
Intelligence and innocence together is the most precious thing in the world.
There are people who are intelligent and crooked, and it is easy to be innocent and ignorant. But what is really preferred is the education that can bring intelligence yet maintain the innocence.
So, now that we are at home and feeling absolutely informal, what topic do you want me to speak on tonight?
(Audience: Love; Birth; Forgiveness; Relationship; Decisions; God; Corruption and peace; Compassion; Anger; Fear; Capitalism; Hope; Patience. )
You want me to talk on patience? I will do it next year. And then…
Tell me, does it really matter on what topic we speak on tonight?
You know, we convey more through our presence than our words. Isn’t that so?
Does it really matter what we speak?
The world is all just vibrations.
If you talk to your physicist, he will say the whole universe is nothing but a wave function. Each one of us are nothing but waves.
If you are in touch with your centre, the waves are positive. If you are not in touch with your centre and have gotten caught up, then your waves become negative.
Peace, love, compassion, all these are our true waves; our real waves without distortion. They are the positive vibrations that come from us.
When you get angry, upset, negative, what do you do? You need to change that into positive. But nobody has taught us how to do this, neither at home nor at school. Isn’t it so? Grandmother must have told us, ‘Go to the corner and count ten’, that is it. Counting ten or hundred does not help these days.

If you observe your mind, your mind is angry about the past or anxious about the future. Both are of no use. Isn’t it? What is the point in being angry about the past, it is gone already. And what is the point in being anxious about the future? It is meaningless.
Now that which helps you to come to the present moment is meditation.
See, if people know how to meditate for even few minutes, ten minutes every day, then they can get rid of stress and feel happy.
My vision is to see a violence free society, disease free body, confusion free mind, inhibition free intellect, trauma free memory and sorrow free soul. This is my vision. How many of you like to join this vision? (Everyone is the audience raises their hands).
We should give a better world to our children and to the future generations. We should give them a world which has more love, which has more compassion, and a world in which there is no gun culture.
Our children do not need a culture of drugs, or a culture of violence, they deserve a more loving, humane and compassionate society. A healthier society. Don’t you think so? Then that is what we need to work towards.
Q: What is our mission on Earth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What is not our mission on Earth, we should make a list of that first. Your mission is not to be miserable and make others miserable, correct?!
Now if you go on eliminating what is not your mission, you will in the end come to what is your mission.
Q: If others are feeling negative, how not to get affected by that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You be more centered and leave a little room for imperfection. Sometimes we don’t leave room for imperfection and so we get affected.
If someone is negative, they have right to be negative for some time. Let them be. Give them some space. And I tell you, I am here to collect all your worries. So give me all your troubles, problems and worries.
I want to see an unfading smile on your face.
Q: Can we control feelings?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: 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.
Q: How to know the difference between love and desire/lust?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In love the other is important, in lust, you are important.
Q: Dear Gurudev, how can I help people who have a lot of resistance in their minds?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In the world, there are different types of people. We should accept them all as they are. There are people with resistance. It is okay. Let them walk at their own speed.
On this planet there are rabbits, there are deer, and there are snails. So you can’t expect a snail to run like a rabbit, isn’t it?
Let someone walk at a snail’s pace even though others are running like deer. That is how the world is. Keep smiling and keep moving.

Q: I have difficulty in forgiving people.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t forgive them, and then see if it is easier?
If you don’t forgive somebody, you will keep thinking about them all the time.
Is it really easy to hold on to anger towards somebody? My goodness, so much energy of ours gets wasted in it. Do you know why you forgive others? It is for your own sake.

When you see a culprit also as a victim, you will easily be able to forgive them.
Every culprit is a victim of ignorance; small mindedness. They don’t know the magnanimity and beauty of life and so they do these silly mistakes of being self centered and not caring for others. It is because their mind is small. So we need to forgive them.
Then, you need to see that they never had an opportunity to think big and feel big like you did. So, you can only be compassionate towards them and forgive them.

Making Correct Decisions - by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

How many of you feel that without you doing any bad, you have gained enemies?
People become your enemies. You have not done any harm to them, any wrong to them and still they become enemies.
Similarly, you have not done any big favors to some people but they became your very good friends. Isn’t it?
How many of you have this experience?
See, this is it, people become friends and enemies by some strange karma, some strange law. There is some strange law due to which suddenly friends become enemies and enemies become good friends.
So, put all the friends and enemies in one basket and become free.

See, what bothers your mind is either your friends, or your enemies. Isn’t that so?
When you sit for meditation, you should keep them all aside, your friends, enemies and everybody, put them one side, sit, relax, and become free.
What do you say? Isn't that correct?!
When your mind is satisfied, when it is quiet and happy, it gains a very peculiar power, i.e., the power to bless.
When you are happy and contented, you are able to give blessing to others.
If your mind is agitated and you have a lot of desires then you cannot give blessings. Even if you give blessings, it does not work that well. So, time and again, we must see to it that we have contentment.
When you are contented, not only your desires, but you can fulfill the desires of others as well.
Q: 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.
Q: Please speak about compassion.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: In life there are three things which are essential:
1. Passion
2. Dispassion, and
3. Compassion
Passion is like breathing in, and Dispassion is like breathing out. No one can say, ‘I want to only breathe in, I don’t want to breathe out.' Impossible! So breathing in is essential, and that is Passion, for things in life. Then, there is also a need for Dispassion. Dispassion means the ability to just let go of everything. Dispassion brings you relief and then Compassion becomes your nature. So you must have Passion when you do work, Dispassion when you want to rest, and Compassion as your very nature. That is it!

Q: Please talk about Reciprocity.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Reciprocity is very natural.
At a higher state of mind, reciprocity is instantaneous. Only when someone is not sensitive there is no reciprocity.
Often people reciprocate the bad things. If you blame somebody, they are ready to blame you immediately. If you insult somebody, they insult you immediately, but it is not the same for the good.
If you do something good, not everybody think they should reciprocate the goodness. That happens only when the mind is at a higher state.

Q: I am going through a separation. My wife and I have chosen different paths and live different lives. We both want our child to be with each of us. In this situation, what is the wisest thing to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The child should be exposed to both paths, and allowed to choose.
If there is no understanding between the couple, it is definitely a strain on the child.
What both parents should keep in mind is that they should not go on blaming each other in front of the child. Putting the child against one of the parents is no good. That is a very narrow minded approach.
Q: Gurudev, sometimes what make me happy conflicts with the expectations of my family and friends. In that case what do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, you need to balance both.
Balance between your search for happiness and the expectation of others from you.
It is a little delicate but you should definitely make an effort.
Q: Dear Gurudev, I sometimes feel I am very arrogant. How do I get rid of this arrogance. I have done The Art of Living Course and I am doing my practices.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: One thing you must notice, before also you used to be arrogant, but you were not aware of it. But now at least you have become aware that you are being arrogant. That awareness is there, 'Oh, this is happening.'
It is good to have this awareness. This is the first step to get out of it.
Second step is to have a broader vision of your own life.
The more and more you steep into knowledge, you will see that all these little games that the mind plays is like a child playing. Once you see this, you will not mind it, and so you accept it and move beyond it.
When you see that the mind is like a small child playing, you will see it from a bigger background, a bigger perspective.
Q: What is the need for meditation and relaxation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you relax, the mind expands.
Have you noticed when you are happy what happens? Something inside you starts expanding.
And when you are unhappy what happens? Something inside you starts shrinking.
So when you relax the body, then the mind starts blossoming.
Q: Please tell us what is death?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is no need to define death. It is an obvious phenomenon. We are born and we are going to die one day.
When we came to this world, the first thing we did was we took a deep breath in, and then we started crying. And the last thing we will do in this life is breathe out, and then others will cry.
If we don’t make others cry, then we have not lived a good life.

When the soul leaves the body with full contentment, with a lot of love and wisdom, then it is not compelled to come back. It can come back on its own will.

Q: Please let us know what is the biggest limitation for human beings?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Body has limitation, mind has limitation, but the spirit has no limitation.
When you think you are the body then you have limitation. Then you can do only that much.
When you think you are the mind, mind also has some limitation. But your love has no limitation. Your consciousness has no limitation.
See, how with one small cell phone, you can reach the whole world. You can reach any number of phone numbers with one call phone, isn’t it?
Similarly, our mind which invented the cell phone is much more powerful than the cell phone itself. You only need to make it available.

The Symbolism of Ganesha

Ganesha is the formless Divinity - encapsulated in a magnificent form, for the benefit of the devotee.
Gan means group. The universe is a group of atoms and different energies. This universe would be in chaos if there was no supreme law governing these diverse groups of entities.

The Lord of all these groups of atoms and energies is Ganesha. He is the supreme consciousness that pervades all and brings order in this universe.

The essence of Ganesha is brought out beautifully by Adi Shankara.

 Though Ganesha is worshiped as the elephant-headed God, the form (swaroop) is just to bring out the formless (parabrahma roopa). He is, ‘Ajam Nirvikalpam Niraakaaramekam.' This means Ganesha is Ajam (unborn), he is Nirvikalpa (attributeless), he is Niraakaar (formless) and he symbolizes the consciousness which is omnipresent.
Ganesha is the same energy which is the reason for this universe. It is the energy from which everything manifests and into which everything will dissolve.
We are all familiar with the story of how Ganesha became the elephant-headed God.
Parvati became dirty when she was celebrating with Shiva. When she realized this, she removed the dirt from her body and created a boy out of it. She then asked him to keep guard while she bathed.
When Shiva returned, the boy did not recognize him and obstructed his passage. So Shiva chopped off the boy’s head and entered.
Parvati was shocked when she saw this. She explained to Shiva that the boy was their son and pleaded with Shiva to save him at all costs.
Shiva then instructed his helpers to go and get the head of someone who was sleeping with their head pointing to the north. The helpers then got the head of an elephant, which Shiva affixed to the boy’s torso and Ganesha was born!
Does this story sound strange?
Why should Parvati have dirt on her body?
Didn’t the all-knowing Shiva recognize His own son?
Was Shiva, the epitome of peace, so short-tempered that he cut off the head of his own son? And why an elephant head on Ganesha?
There is a deeper meaning to all this.
Parvati is symbolic of festive energy. Her becoming dirty signifies that celebration can easily become Rajasik, or feverish and can take you away from your center.
Dirt is symbolic of ignorance, and Shiva is symbolic of the Supreme Innocence, Peace and Knowledge.
So when Ganesha obstructs the path of Shiva, this means that ignorance, which is an attribute of the head, does not recognize knowledge. Then knowledge has to overcome ignorance. This is the symbolism behind Shiva chopping off the boy’s head.
And why the elephant head?
Elephant represents both gyan shakti and karma shakti.
The principle qualities of the elephant are wisdom and effortlessness. The enormous head of the elephant signifies Wisdom and Knowledge.
Elephants don't walk around obstacles, neither are they stopped by them. They just remove them and walk ahead – signifying effortlessness.
So, when we worship Lord Ganesha these elephant qualities within us are kindled and we take on these qualities.
Ganesha's big belly represents generosity and total acceptance. Ganesha's upraised hand, depicting protection, means, 'Fear not, I am with you', and his lowered hand, palm facing outwards means endless giving as well as an invitation to bow down, this is symbolic of the fact that we will all dissolve into earth one day.
Ganesha also has a single tusk which signifies one-pointedness. Even the implements Ganesha wields are symbolic. He carries in his hands, the ‘Ankusa’ (signifying awakening) and the ‘Paasa’ (signifying control). With awakening, a lot of energy is released, which without proper control, can go haywire.
And why does Ganesha, the elephant-headed God travel on something as small as a mouse? Isn’t that so incongruous? Again there is symbolism that runs deep.
The mouse snips and nibbles away at ropes that bind. The mouse is like the mantra which can cut through sheaths and sheaths of ignorance, leading to the ultimate knowledge represented by Ganesha!
Our ancient Rishis were so deeply intelligent that they chose to express Divinity in terms of symbols rather than words, since words change over time, but symbols remain unchanged.
Let us keep the deep symbolism in mind as we experience the omnipresent in the form of the elephant God, yet be fully aware that Ganesha is very much within us. This is the wisdom we should carry as we celebrate Ganesh Chaturti.

The Truth about Sri Sri

The Truth about Sri Sri

I’m with you.

Something doesn’t quite add up about the man.

Ok, so he’s a spiritual leader. He teaches yoga and meditation. His organization is spread over over 150 countries; they do service activities and have pulled off some big projects etc. etc.

This much is easy to get.

What is not easy to get is the madness around him. Because all of the above does not explain the wild hysteria and attention that surrounds him.

For instance, he was all over Argentina on his current tour of South America. There was a massive crowd to receive him at the airport. He was trending on twitter as soon as he landed. He addressed students and educators who stood in rain in some places, listening to him. Universities and Governors honored him. He went to visit a prison, spoke at conferences and even took a walk through the rural area of Buenos Aires.

Some people kicked up a controversy too about alleged tax evasion and the government having paid him but only until 150,000 people showed up for a massive meditation. That event silenced everything. No matter whether you play fair or dirty, everybody knows when they’ve been outplayed with a bigger hand. And of all places, Argentina is well familiar with the hand of God.

Coming back, what makes all this tick? The obvious answer is - it’s packaged really well. For instance, after the meditation, the huge crowd at El Planeta Medita was seen moving to thumping beats with the band So What Project, chanting “Ganesha Om” and “Namo Narayana”. But even if the presentation is attractive, the dish still has to taste good. An ornate frame will not make the painting itself beautiful.

At the heart of this whirlpool of frenzy around Art of Living and Sri Sri is the truth : there is something about you that you have still not known. He does not explain it. He makes you experience it.

And that experience goes beyond everything you know about yourself, beyond where you are from, what job you do and all other facts that seem to shape your life. Very quietly, without warning, he unveils something life-altering which was right under your nose all this while.

There have been spiritual masters before Sri Sri who have taught the reality of life. They have all been matchless in their own regard and at that scale of greatness, comparisons are pointless. However, spirituality has always remained a personal quest - if you want the truth, seek it and find it. This is where Sri Sri has been a game changer.

While ‘why do I need spirituality?’ is something everybody needs to answer for themselves, he has shown clearly why society needs it. Apart from making your personal life fulfilling, it

• is invaluable in trauma relief and disaster management,
• saves your children from violence and suicides at schools,
• offers a very effective mechanism for rehabilitating prisoners and convicts who have nothing but bitterness and feelings of revenge towards society,
• sets the platform to resolve conflicts among communities,
• cultivates sensitivity for the environment,
• removes the narrow and selfish mindset that gives rise to corruption

He has turned what was thus far an entirely individual pursuit, thought whimsical by some, into a collective need. He has brought the abstract and esoteric into the realm of mainstream comprehension in a way that it has applications and uses for everybody in society.

Sri Sri’s brand of spirituality has no metaphysical jargon. It might break long held notions about life but it does not ignore common sense. His organization and its members are firmly rooted in the world and respond to real world crises with concrete steps. His practices and teachings are simple and give you direct experience. You don’t need any special spiritual abilities, for instance, to feel the difference in your state of mind while singing as a group or to realize that when you help somebody, you yourself feel uplifted.

As a spiritual master, Sri Sri shatters all cliches of the stereotype. He did not wait for people to come to him; he went to them. (All his passport books put together will easily take up a large bookshelf.) He does not reject commerce because its 'worldly'. He is not afraid to comment or participate in political developments. His programs have reached places that have nothing to do with spirituality, from prisons to pubs.

It is also not that his system works only under certain conditions, with certain kinds of people. It works in Russia, in Iraq, places that are cold, that are dry, with youth, with adults, housewives, prisoners, with the educated and the illiterate. What greater proof of its universality than the fact that in a place with no tradition of yoga or meditation, a six digit number sized crowd came together to sit with their eyes closed next to a guru from the other end of the earth who does not even speak their language. How? Did all these people suddenly turn spiritual? No. By sheer hard work, sublime patience and irresistible simplicity, he has made spirituality relevant to their lives.

However, if you really want to find out the truth about Sri Sri, don't take anybody's word. Go by the your own experience. Because even the people who come to him may or may not know everything about him. What pulls them is when, in his simple manner, he says, “You are peace, you are love”, it rings of truth.

Asuya or Anasuya

There is a certain mindset that always finds fault even under the best conditions. When you give such a person the best possible things, he find faults. Even with the ideal companion or the most beautiful painting, he will still find something wrong. This kind of mindset is called asuya; it can never know the sacred knowledge.

Asuya is finding a fault or seeing a malicious intent everywhere. Suppose it is windy and you shut the door, but at that moment someone else was just about to walk in. He will think that the door has been slammed in his face! This is asuya.

You have a friendship, and after ten years you find a fault and decide to break it off. Now you do not see any good from that entire relationship. This is asuya.

The moment you are out of the spiritual Path, you feel that everything on the Path was all wrong. This is asuya.

Asuya is when a child says, “Mother, you don’t love me!” The child’s vision is wrong; if the mother does not love the child, who will? It frustrates the mother. Asuya is when someone comes to me and says, “Guruji, you don’t love me!” If I don’t love them, forget about it. Who else in the world will? Yet a Master never becomes frustrated.

Knowledge is different at different levels of consciousness. At a particular point, you become anasuya.

Anasuya means being devoid of fault-finding eyes.

Krishna tells Arjuna that he is giving him the Royal Secret because he is anasuya: “You are not finding fault in Me, even though you are so close.”

From a distance, it is easy to miss a fault in somebody; up close, no fault escapes you. Even craters cannot be seen from afar; up close, even a smooth surface has imperfections. If you are interested only in holes, you will not see the larger dimension of things.

Unless you are devoid of fault-finding eyes, there is no point in giving you Knowledge because it cannot blossom in you. If a mirror is dusty, you can clean it. But if your eyes have a cataract, any amount of dusting the mirror will not help. You have to remove the cataract. Then you will see that the mirror was already clean.

Asuya – fault–finding eyes, give you the idea, “The whole world is not sharp, the whole world is no good.”

Anasuya is knowing, “It is my own vision of the world that is blurred.” And once you discover you have the wrong vision, half of the problem has already disappeared.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Make your smile cheaper

A research done in England found that a baby smiles 400 times a day, an adolescent 17 times and an adult doesn’t smile at all! The more successful one keeps a very stiff face. Is roughness a sign of success? Is being stressed a sign of prosperity, growth or dignity?

You should smile more. Every day, every morning, look at the mirror and give a good smile to yourself. You know what happens when you smile? All the muscles in your face get relaxed. The nerves in your brain get relaxation, and you get the confidence, courage and energy to move on in life.

You know, your smile is so fragile! Just one telephone call is enough to take it away! But what is the big deal about your feelings? Bundle them up and throw them into the ocean! Once you are rid of your ‘feelings’ you can be happy. Just see why your spirits go down? Because somebody said something stupid to you. And why did they say a stupid thing? Because they had some garbage they needed to throw out and you were there, ready to catch it! And once you have caught it, you hold on to it so passionately! Come on! Wake up! Don’t let your smile be snatched away by anybody!

Usually, you give your anger freely and smile rarely as though a smile is costly. In ignorance, anger is cheaper and smile costly. In knowledge, a smile is free like sun, air, and water and anger is extremely expensive, like a diamond. Make your smile cheaper and anger expensive! You are here for a greater cause. Just remember that.

Take a challenge: “Come what may, I am going to smile today and be happy!”  Smile more.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

How to be Happy

The wise are happy with what they have and happy with what they don’t have. Fools are unhappy with what they have and what they don’t have. Misery is not given by anyone or anything in life. It is your own mind which makes you miserable or happy and uplifted.

If you are absolutely content with what you have there is no aspiration in life. It is important to have aspirations but if you are feverish about your aspirations, that itself becomes an impediment. If a cup is held under a tap that is running at full force that cup will never be full. Run the tap water at the right speed and the cup fills up. This is what happens with people who are too ambitious or feverish. Just have the intention, “This is what I want” — and let go.

Your whole life, every breath you take is a form of worship. Worship means loving with regard and honour. Adoration alone is not worship. Adoration is loving a person because of certain qualities they have. The truth is always simple and it permeates the simplest forms of creation. Know the change and see the non-change. Know that which is changing and you suddenly become alive; with this you can overcome inertia or death. The changing universe charms you by lifting you away from death; the unchanging universe gives you a glimpse of immortality.

~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Suicide - The Most Foolish Thing a Person Can Ever Do

Committing Suicide is like someone is shivering in the cold and goes out and removes all their clothes. What do you call them? Foolish! You are already so cold. You are feeling cold in a heated auditorium and you go out into the open and say, ’I am cold, I am cold, I am cold’, and remove your jacket, your t-shirt, your inner garments and everything and throw them 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 intense agony inside me has not gone. My body has gone but the agony has remained. ’It is only through the body that you can dispel the agony and 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 you do pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya and meditation, you will realize that you are not the body.

What is it that you are hankering for in life? Hankering for love? Attention? Money? Pleasure? What is it that you are hankering? These hankerings are boiling desires and they are creating this foolish idea inside you to commit suicide. Your hankering for pleasure is the cause of depression in you. Wake up and see all pleasures are momentary. How long will it stay? See they are so momentary, five to ten minutes you find some joy in them and then it is gone.

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

When you think only about yourself, ‘What about me, what about me’, then this is what happens. Depression comes in. Forget about yourself. Die for a cause but don’t kill yourself. It is worth dedicating your life for something higher. I need you. You come here and do work, there is so much work to be done; help me out. Know that you are useful to me. If everyone else says you are useless, remember – no, I am here, born at this time because I have to be of some use and Guruji needs me, so I am not going to commit suicide. Got it?! So, do my work. If you cannot do yoga, meditation, then sweat it out and do my work. I have lots of work I can give you. I can give some work to the entire nation and the entire population. I have plenty of work to be done. And whatever you need, a square meal, I will provide you. You need a roof above you, I will provide you. I guarantee you, but don’t kill yourself. The human body is so precious you know! After so many different lives and different bodies we get a human body, a human birth. After being a frog, a scorpion, a chicken, being a mouse somewhere in some hole, a cat jumping around here and there, a dog somewhere, a bird somewhere, a worm somewhere then you get a human life, after going through all those births. So, it is very precious.

What is it that do you are hankering about? Some people appreciating you? My dear, it has no meaning. People appreciate you in front of you; behind you they may feel jealous about you. That is what happens. They praise you today, tomorrow they criticize you. So what? Do you see what I am saying? What are you hankering for? Appreciation from people? What is appreciation? It is just a few thoughts that are passing through their mind, and you think they are going to do it forever? They have limitations. So what? Some people have good comments and some people have bad comments, so what. They criticize you, so what? Those who criticize you are also going to die, and you the one being criticized will also die one day, all will be finished! So why are we so much bothered about somebody’s appreciation, or criticism? Why can’t we just be our self? You know, it takes such a big load off our head not being bothered by anybody’s criticism or anybody’s adulations. We can just be ourselves, natural. If you live so lightly where is the question of depression? Do you see what I am saying? So those who get these thoughts of committing suicide, it is just your prana which is low, so do more pranayama and dedicate your life to a higher cause.Remember always that:

1.There are millions of people who are suffering more than you, look at them. When your suffering becomes smaller you will never think that you want to commit suicide

2. Know that you are needed, you are useful. You have to do something in the world. Know that.

3. Forget about what people think about you. People commit suicide because they think they have lost their prestige, their status. What status? What prestige? Who has time? Everybody is entangled with their own problems, with their own mind. They can’t step out of their own mind, where do they have the time to think about you? These types of tendencies come because you think others are going to disrespect you. Many people do this. I tell you it is worthless; what the society thinks of you is useless.

4. Suicide is the worst thing. That is one of the major reasons that we should conduct Art of Living programs as much as possible. Do you see what I’m saying? When you start the breathing exercises and a couple of bhastrika, it all goes away.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar