Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

“A few years ago when I was staying on the 14th floor in Hawaii, I looked outside my window. It was pitch dark but there were so many lights shimmering in the city of Honolulu. The thought came that these city lights were fighting with the darkness of the new moon. But, they could not vanquish the night; the night was so deep and dark. On the other side, it also seemed like the night is giving a chance to all these millions of lights to shine. It is the night which is enabling the stars to exhibit their glory. One way to look at it was that the lights are fighting the night and from another angle the night was glorifying the lights. Similarly, in life, any situation can be viewed from two points. The wise way is to see how adverse situations glorify your qualities and bring out your beautiful qualities. You cannot fully exhibit your goodness in a very pleasant atmosphere. Goodness does have value when things are good, but it shines forth prominently in situations when things are not so...

Weekly Knowledge 59 Bad Antogast 24 Jul 1996  Germany DOING VERSUS HAPPENING Only one who is 100 percent in doing can recognize the happening. The healthiest way to apply this knowledge is to see the whole past as happening and the present as doing. If you see the past as doing, then ego and regret come along. And when you see the present as happening, then laziness and unawareness set in. If you apply the doing for the future, it brings tension and worry. If you apply the happening for the future, it might bring some confidence and also lethargy. Let the happening be for the past. Let the doing be for the present. And the future is a mix of both. The wise will see the doing in happening and the happening in doing simultaneously. Are you confused now? (Laughter) One who does a lot of work will never say he did a lot. When someone says he did a lot of work, that means he can do more. He has not done enough. Work does not tire you as much as the doership does. All the talents you hav...

Weekly Knowledge 60 Bad Antogast 31 Jul 1996  Germany Today is a gift from God -- that is why it is called "present!" DON'T BE GRATEFUL!  Warning! Watch out! This Knowledge Sheet contains explosives! It can explode your head or your heart. If it explodes your heart -- nothing is left! If it explodes your head -- everything is attained!  Guruji: How many of you are grateful here? (Everybody raises their hand.) If you are grateful, you don't belong to Me! (Everyone is shocked.) You are not part of the Master. When someone gives you something, you are grateful. That means you feel separate. You are not grateful to yourself.  Gratefulness is inevitable. When you go beyond gratefulness, then union happens. No "I," no "you" remains. You are part of the Master. You are just One Being with a thousand heads and a thousand arms, but with one heart. You have got to be grateful on the path, but you have to transcend gratefulness. Better stop being grateful. (L...

Weekly Knowledge 62 Santa Monica, California 14 Aug 1996  USA INFINITE PATIENCE AND SMART SHOPPING Suppose you go to God, get a boon, and walk away. When your intention is to get a boon, then you are in a hurry. Another person who knows he owns God is not in a hurry for anything. Infinite patience comes up in him. When you know you own God, you are not in a hurry to get something out of God. Your hurry to get something throws you off balance and makes you small. Have "eternal wait," infinite patience. When you have infinite patience, you will realize God belongs to you. Either through awareness or through practice you reach the same spot. Question: What do you mean by "owning God?" Answer: The Divinity belongs to you. It's not like shopping at the supermarket in a hurry and rushing back home. When you see the whole store is at home, you are not in a hurry to shop. You are at ease. Question: To develop patience do we just observe the impatience? Answer: Just obse...

बहूनामेमि प्रथमो बहूनामेमि मध्यमः । किँ स्विध्यमस्य कर्तव्यं यन्मयाऽद्य करिष्यति ॥ Nachiketa thought , “let me be the first to do among those who are going to die. Everyone is going to die. I will go a little earlier. Like corn which ripens and falls and then , comes up again. Everything is temporary. People are dying and I will also die. It’s just that I am going a little early , I am going to go to the Lord of Death.” Nachiketa knew that his father said it in anger , but he still went to death. This is very beautiful. This Upanishad is about dialogue of this young boy and the Lord of Death. What is death? What is the ultimate secret that nobody is able to unwind? What is that? There is another story related to Nachiketa. Once , Vajashravas was praying on a river bank. He accidently left all his belongings on the river bank and came back home. He told his son , “I forgot my pot. Go and get it.” By the time Nachiketa went to the river bank , the water had risen and the flood had washed...

Give a chance for miracles to happen. It can happen when you are hollow and empty. When both, your heart and mind are pure and clear, then positive energy rises in you.  But if your mind is full of negativity, and if you are stressed out; or if you are complaining about this and that, and grumbling and griping, then no miracle is possible. Even regular work which has to happen does not happen. Simple things do not happen because energy is low and negative. When energy is high, what you think is impossible starts happening.  - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Weekly Knowledge 61 Los Angeles, California 07 Aug 1996  USA Faith and Devotion Faith is the subject of head. Devotion is the subject of heart. And meditation is of both and connects both. A mature intellect is devoted. A mature heart is full of knowledge. And meditation matures your intellect as well as your heart. Mr. John Pb: But people with good intellect seem to have less faith. Guruji: They have more faith in the matter. Head puts the faith in the matter more and heart puts the faith in the abstract more. It's next to impossible that one can be in total lack of faith or total lack of devotion. It's only a question of balance. 🌸Jai Guru Dev🌸   साप्ताहिक ज्ञानपत्र ०६१ ७ अगस्त , १९९६ लॉस एंगेल्स , कैलिफोर्निआ श्रद्धा, भक्ति व ध्यान विश्वास दिमाग का विषय है। भक्ति हृदय का विषय है। और ध्यान , दिमाग व हृदय दोनों को जोड़ता है। एक विकसित बुद्धि श्रध्दापूर्ण होती है। एक विकसित हृदय ज्ञान से परिपूर्ण है। ध्यान आपकी बुद्धि व हृदय दोनों में ही परपक्वता लता है। जॉन : प्र...

When Sri Rama was building the bridge to Sri Lanka, a lot of monkeys were helping him. The monkeys wrote “Sri Rama” on the stones and placed them in the ocean and the stones would float. When Sri Rama saw this, he wanted to try it himself. He wrote Sri Rama on a stone and put it in the water.  The stone sank! Sri Rama was surprised. One monkey started laughing and said to Sri Rama, ‘Those who you throw away from your hands, how will they float? They will only sink!’ This has a spiritual significance. When the name of the Lord is with you, you will float through the ocean of misery; you won’t sink in the world of misery. And second, that devotees are so much more powerful than the Lord himself; devotees can do so much more than the Lord himself. So you don’t need to get stuck in material belief only. Physical laws are there, but there is something higher than them. There is something higher than the obviously seen physical creation of names and forms. The understanding o...

He removes the steam out of the whole thing, out of the feverishness of expectation of your action. Then the action becomes more grounded. When you act with an expectation, you are ready to get frustrated and complain a little later. See, you have meditated for 20 years, “What did I get?”  See what you got. You did not know that 20 years of meditation has made you a much better person. And after twenty years, one day you got upset and you say, “See twenty years of meditation, I still got upset, miserable.” You could have been miserable all the twenty years otherwise.  You should say in spite of your meditation you got upset. Suppose you were never doing, what would have happened? You could have been much worse. None of the sadhanas or practices are to be left or shunned until you get centred. And they always improve you. We don’t expect that one day in the future I will experience, I will be in Divine love.  Right now it is paradoxical to listen to that. It doesn't take a...

As a sadhak what to do first thing in morning Ans: nothing. Decondition. Not add more conditioning. Q: How to console myself for time with you? Ans: Time with Me is never enough. It’s a good complaint and grievance to have I don’t need to evolve anyway. I just read your problems even tjouh they aren’t worth reading. For your satisfaction I glance through, knowing you are going to be Ok. Q: what do you want from me? Ans: Good question to keep. Do a lot of work for the foundation, bring knowledge to every doorstep. Keep asking me I’ll give you many things to do Q: how to let go of deep sense of sadness Ans: sadness maybe but not deep. You are sad bcos you haven’t gone deep. Drop it. Your cravings, aversions , hooking into pleasure have brought you sadness. That’s it. Invoke valor, don’t care for pleasure. Kick your craving for sex, food, appreciation and praise from others, your sadness will go with the wind. You will be bubbling with joy, more centered independent and self reliant. For ...

You have many faces; only that, you don't face them. When you come face to face with your faces, then conflicts, confusion, and chaos arise in you.  From time to time, in different phases, different faces appear. As you come close to your Being, all faces melt and leave you as the Space that you are.  At the gross level, you identify yourself as somebody. As you move to more subtle levels, you may identify yourself as some energy, or an incarnation of some angel, saint, or prophet.  When you go beyond even this identity, you are whole, holy, the _Brahman_ – _Purna Brahman, Nārāyana._

Debate, discussion and  contemplation nourish the intellect. Prejudice, stigmas and dogmas are detrimental to intellect. The intellect harbours inhibitions, likes and dislikes, approvals and disapprovals. The intellect also harbours wisdom, which brings forth intuition.  *Question:* Is intuition beyond intellect?  *Gurudev:* Yes, but it shines through the intellect.  *Question:* Are emotions and intellect contradictory? *Gurudev:* They can be contradictory.  *Question:* When there is conflict, which is better? *Gurudev:* In conflict, there is no better conflict! The pure intellect is not caught up in the emotions and becomes impure, like muddy water. Then it is unable to reflect the Self. A pure intellect, still and serene, reflects the Self.  *Question:* Is intellect affected by karma? *Gurudev:* Karma does not afflict the pure intellect. Liberation purifies the intellect. The _Sanskrit_ word for intellect is buddhi; one who is liberated is a Buddha; one ...

People who serve will have good times even in bad times.  When there is famine or war, Red Cross people will be fine because they are serving. The more relief they can bring to others, the happier they feel. On the other hand, selfish people who just live for their own enjoyment will be miserable even in good times.  In good times, people often lose their happiness due to some trivial happening. Hosts often do not enjoy their parties because of some little thing is missing; they forgot to invite somebody, somebody did not come, or some little thing went wrong. A wise person is happy even in bad times. A stupid person is unhappy even in good times.  You make the time good or bad. People usually blame the bad time and wait for a good time. But even if an astrologer says you are in a hopeless time, you can make it good! Like weather, time has its own impact on you. Your satsangs and sādhana are your shield, your protection!  Realise that you are more than time and that ...

Q: What is ‘yashti’ and ‘samashti’ ? *Gurudev Sri Sri :* Do you sing daily? (The lady said that she sang at home when alone.) When you sing alone, that is yashti. When you sing with everybody here, participate in the bhajan with everyone that is samashti. Samashti means the entire creation.

7 astonishing truths from Yoga Vasistha that will blow your mind When Lord Rama realizes the futility of existence and the misery it brings with itself, he is struck with sorrow. When he seeks refuge in Rishi Vasistha, the enlightened rishi takes him to the pinnacle of truth through a dialogue between the two that later was captured in the scripture, Yoga Vasistha. The timeless dialogue interspersed with deep stories brings out astounding truths about this existence and destroys Lord Rama’s sorrow. Here are some of the truths unveiled in this ancient scripture: 1. The universe does not exist in the first place According to the text, the world is as real as a mirage. In other words, it does not exist! Modern physics seems to agree. A 2017 CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) study observes a complete symmetry between matter and anti-matter in the universe. So, all the anti-matter in the universe should have cancelled the matter in the universe, which further suggests t...

People are having different sensations as a game. It is already happening. If you can watch, energy is oozing out of every pore of your body. If you watch, it flows in an even manner. It creates balance.  And you realise vou are not this bod or these sensations. You have been alwavs reacung to the sensations. You are like that, year after year, life after life. Now, when you watch, that is liberation.  Watch all the feelings and sensations in your body. You go beyond. "Now, Eureka, I have found it" What was happening? An emotion used to give rise to some sensation, the sensation, in turn, used to create an impression, another emotion.  So these circles of craving and aversion with sensation and emotion, made your life, both subtle body and gross body, and that took you from life to life. Every sensation has its own quality and nature. When you feel pleasant, what is happening?  Those sensations are moving upward. Whenever vou feel unpleasant, the same sensations are ...

Dana, that is surrender. Surrender is the most misunderstood word in the world today. Surrender is not slaverv. surrender Is not something vou can force upon someone, surrender Is a happening.  Surrender happens out of love, gratitude and trust. When there is fear, drop the fear. The dropping of the fear happens with the trust, and that is surrender. If doubt still remains, do nothing, just watch.  Breathe, meditate. That will clear your doubts out. There is no other way to come out of your doubt. Four types of doubt will arise in your mind. The first doubt is about yourself, ‘Don't think this is for me. There is still time for me. I think I should go very slowly. Maybe it is not the right time’. ‘It doesn't suit me at all, I am not the person for it. I can never have it. I have my old patterns. I will never come out of it’. These things, doubting the very self, doubting your ability - what do you know about your ability?  You have no knowledge about your ability. So you ...

Question - Gurudev, in many of the knowledge books, I have read that everything is just one consciousness and we are part of that one. In that case, what do you mean by surrender? What is it that we are surrendering and to whom do we surrender when it is just One consciousness? Gurudev Sri Sri - Yes, correct. Actually there is nothing to surrender, but when the mind feels, 'I am separate, I am different, I am alone, to let that go, you surrender and just relax. It is like the mother at home feeling. To generate the mother at home feeling, the process of letting go is called surrender. That is all. There is nothing that you have that you need to surrender. Got it? That is why there are three different paths (Karma Yoga or the Path of Action, Bhakti Yoga or the Path of Devotion, Jana Yoga or the Path of Knowledge). The Path of Knowledge is when you wake up and see, everything is made up of just One thing. There is no two, and this is knowledge. But when you forget this and feel there...

Question - Gurudev, once you said, 'Fight with equanimity'. How do we do that? Gurudev Sri Sri - You just have to have that intention and it will start happening. When you are fighting for a cause and not because of hatred towards somebody then your brain and your mind will be alert. When people are angry and hateful, their brain doesn't work, or it works in the wrong direction.

Question - Gurudev, what can I do to increase my capacity to take your blessings? How can I make my cup bigger? Gurudev Sri Sri - 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), and • Samadhana (equanimity or one-pointedness of the mind) This is what you must focus on increasing 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)

Question - Gurudev, how to know the things that are unknown to us? There are so many things that are unknown. I’m sometimes very pained and I start crying for not knowing the unknown. Gurudev Sri Sri - I understand your difficulty. The intense quest is there of wanting to know something, but what is that something, that you don't know. You know there is something but you don't know how to know that something that exists. Isn't that it. Just relax and meditate. That is the way to go there.

Question - Gurudev, what is the significance of the wedding ceremony? If two people love and respect each other, can they just make a decision to live together? Gurudev Sri Sri - Marriage is a ceremony. When there is a commitment, you have full trust in each other. One aspect of your life is set. That is what is marriage. Otherwise, the mind keeps looking for a partner. In marriage, that looking for a partner thing comes to an end, 'Okay, I have found a partner, I am set.' So now you can focus on other things. When there is commitment, it puts you on track.

Question - Gurudev, I’m in a relationship with a person who is too calculative about his actions. He is scared of getting attached as he believes that it might affect his spiritual growth. Is this right? Gurudev Sri Sri - Don't ask someone to prove their love for you. That is when all these things come. If we show too much love to somebody they do not know how to handle it or how to respond to it, isn't it? People get confused. There are many people who do not know how to receive love, forget giving love. That is why I tell you, don't get caught up in all of this. Just relax and be happy, and just take it for granted that I love everybody, and everybody loves me. Then whatever needs to be expressed will simply be expressed. It will happen naturally. When someone is saying, 'I am scared of attachment', that means somewhere they are attached. So don't take what people say at face value. People may say anything, but in reality it may be something else. See, when yo...

Question - Gurudev, how can we turn thoughts of lack into thoughts of abundance? Gurudev Sri Sri - The very thought that you want to do it, means you have already started moving in that direction. Look at what your requirements are and you will see that they will always be met. Whatever you need always comes to you. But do not take it to an extreme and say, 'Let me just do nothing and let everything come to me' no, that is not correct. You have to put in your efforts, and you have to have courage. These two things bring you wealth. There is proverb in Sanskrit that says, 'Udyoginam Purusha Simham Upayati Lakshmi.' It means that great wealth comes to one who has the courage of a lion and who puts in all his efforts. Therefore put in all your efforts, and be like a lion. Do you know, the lion is the laziest animal. It is the lioness who hunts for the prey and presents it to the lion. The lion just goes and eats the prey. The lioness does the work. The lion does not even d...

Question - Gurudev, my best comes out when I am pushed against a wall. It becomes a matter of do or die. That's the time when have laser sharp focus, composure, drive and motivation to fulfil all my desires and intentions. But when I'm happy, comfortable and joyful, I can't seem to have that same composure and drive to motivate myself. How do I change that pattern? Gurudev Sri Sri - Then ask someone to push you against the wall (laughs). There are no walls here. If you're not married, get married. Tell your spouse to do it for you. If you think that your best will only come out if you are in danger and pushed against the wall, then you have put such an intention in your mind, and that's what is going to happen all the time. But you can do it even when you are happy, when you are joyful, and when you are free. But if you have recognised it as your pattern, then it is your responsibility. Nothing else can help you. Only you can help yourself. You can say, “Now, today ...