Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Vijaydashami - Rudra Puja with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji

Breaking News: Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji’s The Art of Living is NOW in 180 countries!! 

Nothing can beat this “You are a Masterpiece” – What an elevating speech? -by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar “A plum once said, ‘just because a banana lover came by, I converted myself into a banana. Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few months and so I became an orange. When he said I was bitter I became an apple, but he went in search of grapes. Yielding to the opinions of so many people, I have changed so many times that I no more know who I am. How I wish I had remained a plum and waited for a plum lover.’ 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 – your uniqueness, for momentary validation. Even Gandhi was not accepted by many people. The...

The Story of Garuda and Lord Rama ~ Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji There is a story in the Ramayana : Lord Rama needed the help of Garuda, one of his devotees, at a time when Rama was under the spell of a poison arrow. Garuda saved him from that. After he did this, a doubt came in his mind. “I thought Rama was my savior all these years. I thought he was going to help me, but today if I did not save him, he would have died. Today he needed my help and I saved him. How can I depend on him? I seem to be more powerful than he is. He seems to be ordinary, for without me he would have died. Both he and his brother would have died in the war.” When this doubt came in Garuda, it kept eating at him. When doubt starts to overtake the mind, the consciousness starts to go down. Doubt is one thing that can eat and destroy you. When doubt enters the soul, they say that the person will have neither success in this world or the next world, the inner world. Such was the doubt of Garuda. He ...

Question - Gurudev, who is Ram and what is his importance? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - Ram means the radiance within us; the light of the Self. The word ‘Ravi’ also means the same. ‘Ra’ means light, ‘vi’ means special. It means this special light within us that is eternal. The light in our heart is called Ram. So the light of our soul is Ram. This day of ‘Ram Navami’ celebrates the birth of this Divine inner light. Lord Rama was born to King Dashrath and Queen Kaushalya. Kaushalya means skill, and Dashrath means one who has ten chariots. Our body has ten organs – Panch Jnanendriya (referring to the five senses) and Panch karmendriya (referring to the five senses associated with action, that is the two hands, two legs, the genitals, the excretory organ and the mouth). Sumitra means the one who is friendly with everybody. Kaikeyi means one who is always giving selflessly to everyone. So King Dashrath along with his three wives went to the Rishis (holy sages). When the ...

🌺 GURU OR GOD?🌺 (A beautiful Story explaining the KINDNESS of Guru) Once Guru and God arrive at a devotee's home. He came out and fell in their feet. When he went to God's feet, God said,  "Wait, first you should bow down to Guru." When devotee went to Guru's feet. Guru said, " I have brought God to your home go and bow down to God first." Devotee returned to God's feet, then God said, "Your Guru has brought God in your life, he has told you Path to me, so first go to guru's feet." Devotee went back to Guru's feet, then Guru said, "I only have told you the path to divinity. But God has made you. Isn't it?! So go and bow down to God first." Then he went back to God's feet.  God said, "Wait. This is all right but I want to tell you about God's and Guru's principle. In God's principle, I have justice system. If you do good deeds you get good return, good karma will take you to heavens...

Question - Gurudev, What is the best way to learn? Gurudev @SriSriRaviShankar ji - Learning is inevitable. By doing things right you learn, and by doing things wrong also you learn. From every situation, from everybody, you learn either what to do or what not to do. Either by committing mistakes or by doing things correctly, you cannot but learn. Learning is inevitable. In deep slumber, you do not learn. And if you are asleep in your life, there is neither pain nor pleasure nor learning. Most people are in such a deep slumber that they do not even make an effort to get out of their pain.

Question- Gurudev, how can we wakeup the divine in us? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji - The Divine should be allowed to permeate. ‘Wake the Divine Up’ is an expression used. God is within each one, sleeping. It is said, first man wakes up and then the Divinity is awoken. For those in whom the Divinity is awoken, He is called a Saint. Wake up the God in you. He is not up in heaven somewhere, He resides within. It is symbolised in the Hindu scriptures as Lord Narayana resting on the snake with His consort Lakshmi at his side. When Narayana is woken up, so is Lakshmi. Enlightenment is wakening the Divinity. Most important thing is to remember is that the means of being in Love is to be with someone who is in Love, being in the company of the Divine. When you are with an enlightened Saint, you become like them. When grace comes, grab it! Often disgruntled people group together! “Mahath” is what exists beyond the field of ego – in the whole creation. If ego is an atom, beyond ...

When Sri Sri had visited Punjab (India) in November 2010, I went from to Ludhiana from Jalandhar, where I study, to meet Him. I was new to the city and Art of Living as well. My brother and me wanted to attend the Satsang with Guruji. I really enjoyed myself and got to take His blessings as well. After the Satsang ended, Guruji left the venue. We saw that all the cars were fully crowded and everyone we knew had left in their vehicle. The main town was far from the ashram which is on the National Highway. We decided to take a lift when out of nowhere a man came in his car and offered to give us a ride. We sat in the car and traveled for another kilometer. He dropped us on the highway as he had to take the other route. Always Taken Care Of It was dark and there were no buses or auto rickshaw’s in sight. Luckily, another car came and two brothers who were in the car offered to give us a lift. Turns out, they had also attended the satsang with Guruji. Their father was also in a...

I had shifted from Ludhiana to Mysore about two months back to pursue an MBA. As the Bangalore Ashram is close by from Mysore, I was eager to meet Sri Sri as soon as I could. It was my birthday on the 19th of August, but since that was a Monday, I decided to meet Him a day in advance, that is, on Sunday the 18th. I did not know if I would be able to meet Guruji or no, questions and doubts arose in my mind, I wondered if Guruji would meet me. Would I be able to talk to Him? As there are many people in the Ashram and it is very crowded, I wondered if Gurudev would make this the most special Birthday for me or not. I was too excited about the fact that, after two long years, I was finally getting to meet Guruji. Two of my friends accompanied me, as they had done the YES+ Course, based on my recommendation. They had found it really good and eagerly wanted to meet Guruji too. Some of my YES+ group friends and I booked a cab to visit the Ashram the next day. That night, the excit...

Gurudev brought me into his fold in the late 90s and since then, I have felt his presence at all times.  There are so many stories of his divine Grace to tell, as each day a new co incidence/serendipity/chance happening unfolds (as most would call it), I know these are his blessings, assurances and guidance to me. One such 'happening' I would like to narrate, was in 2018, while my husband and I were on a hike to the Tiger’s Nest Monastery in Bhutan. A 3000 ft rocky trek to this Monastery, that rests on a steep cliff takes approx 6 hours to cover. It had been raining that morning which made the climb slippery and more challenging. A few hours later into the climb, my husband who is diabetic, was looking very pale and unwel. His sugar level had dropped. We stopped and wondered what we should do as this had never happened to him before. I rummaged in my back pack hoping to find a sweet as an SOS. No luck. I kept chanting "Jai Guru Dev" in my mind for HIM to t...

In the year 2009, I read about Art of Living and finally got a chance to take up Part 1 course in April 2012. Since Sri Sri has walked into my life, miracles have happened in so many ways. I have no words to express my gratitude to him. In March 2013, during Shivaratri (festival celebrated every year in reverence of Lord Shiva) I took up a Sankalpa (intention) and the biggest miracle then happened to my mother. My mother is from Pontianak, Indonesia. She met my father in the 70’s and and they reside in Malaysia. 40 years have passed since my mother last saw her family, she couldn’t go back to her homeland due to financial constraint and also transportation was not as advanced during those days. Her eldest brother visited her 3 times in those days but after we shifted to a new place we had lost contact with them. My mother helps in volunteering at a local Buddhist association. One day her fellow volunteer friends decided to organize a leisure trip to Pontianak, Indonesia. I ...