KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

POSTED ON: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

 

Habits and vows

 

How to get rid of vasanas (impressions)? This is a question for all those who want to come out of habits.

 

You want to get rid of habits because they give pain and restrict you. The nature of vasana is to bother you, or bind you, and wanting to be free is the nature of life. Life wants to be free and when a soul doesn't know how to be free, it wanders through lifetimes wanting freedom.

The way to come out of habits is vows. This is samyama. Everybody is endowed with a little samyama.

 

A vow should be time bound. This would bring good conduct and save you from being wayward. Consider the time and place for vows to be taken.

 

When the mind dwells on useless thoughts, then two things happen. One is that all those old patterns come up and you feel discouraged by them. You blame yourself and feel that you have not made any progress.

 

The second thing is that you see it as an opportunity for samyama and feel happy about it. Without samyama, life will not be happy and diseases arise. For example, you know you should not eat three servings of ice cream, or eat ice cream every day, or otherwise you will get sick.

Habits will clog you when there is no liveliness or juice in life. When there is a direction for life force, you can rise above habits through samyama.

 

Take vows according to time and place. For example, suppose someone has a habit of smoking cigarettes and says, "I will quit smoking," but cannot do it. They can take a vow, three months or 90 days; a time-bound vow. If someone is used to cursing and swearing, take a vow not to use bad language for ten days. Don't take it for a lifetime; you will break it immediately. If you happen to break it in between, don't worry. Just begin again. Slowly increase the duration until it becomes your nature.

 

All those habits which bother you, bind them in vows, in samyama. So all those who are in Satsang, take a time-bound vow today and make a note of it. If you break a vow, make a note of it and share the time and date at the next Satsang. Continue it again. Tie those habits which bring you pain in samyama.

 

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

Q: Gurudev, why do people resist change?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

People resist change because they are afraid that they would lose something precious, or the change could bring about a disaster for them. But if you communicate to them that the change would make them better, they would definitely take it. Nobody dislikes climbing up the ladder. People do want something positive, more happiness or whatever. What we need to do is to communicate better with them, speak in their language, and explain that the change will make things better. It will take some time, it cannot happen overnight, it takes some persuasion but it does happen.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

There may be thousands of reasons to feel down and depressed, but we have to move with the conviction that 'I am not going to let the world around me bury me as long as I am alive'. This is spirituality.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2026

The purpose of life

Our first and foremost commitment is to do seva (service) in the world. If there is fear in your life, it is because of a lack of commitment. If there is confusion in your life, it is because of lack of commitment. The very thought I am here in this world to do seva (service), dissolves the I and when the I dissolves, worries dissolve. Seva is not something u do out of convenience or for pleasure. The ultimate purpose of life is to be of service.

An uncommitted mind is miserable. A committed mind may experience rough weather but will reap the fruits of its toil. When you make the service your sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, brings focus in your mind and purposefulness, action and long-term joy and may be short term problems!

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2026

Q: If every wish gets fulfilled at a particular time as per the will of God, what is the necessity of prayer?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Well, prayer is not something that you impose on yourself or anyone else. Prayer is a natural call for help, or a natural expression of gratefulness. Prayer can happen only on two occasions:

1. When you are desperately in need of something then you pray. When you realize that you are weak and you cannot handle something, that is when you ask for help and that is a prayer.

2. When you realize that you have received more than what you really deserve, and it has all come to you as a blessing and as a gift, then the gratefulness that you express becomes a prayer. And if you extend this a little further, another occasion when prayer rises from within you is when you are in deep love with the maker of the universe or the divinity, in whatever form or formless way you perceive it to be. That is devotion.

So prayer it is something which happens spontaneously. And it's good to have a few rituals associated with prayer as it adds some colors to life. When you pray in a particular manner by lighting a candle or something that brings up to the surface those emotions that are sleeping in you.
The benefits of prayer are:

1. It invokes those emotions that are sleeping within you.
2. It takes away the worry and burden in your head.
3. It builds confidence in you and you feel the connection from your side. You are already connected to the divine, but from your side you start realizing your connection to the higher power.

4. It puts you into routine. Suppose you make it a habit of praying every day, maybe the first four days go without any experience, but on the fifth day, you experience something. It's almost like any other sadhana. So make prayer a practice in your life so that you know you have something to do that is it ethereal.

Prayer is the way to connect to the something that is not so tangible but is existing. So, prayer could be one such link to the unknown and unseen. Falling in love with the unknown is faith

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2026

If you are going around thinking about somebody feeling hateful, angry, revengeful and all that, it is your strong craving for something, or aversion to something which is making you do this. You better get on to doing some seva. I tell you, it will definitely help you.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2026

Back to Space

When such calamities occur we try to understand their cause so that we can blame someone. Strangely, when you find someone to blame you feel comfortable, but with natural calamities you cannot blame anyone. It comes to you as a shock. With wisdom, shocks can make you grow in leaps and bounds. Without wisdom a shock can only lead you to negativity and depression.

Q. Why should nature destroy small innocent children?

A. Nature just does its job. It does not discriminate between young and old. Do you think that all those who eat bamboo shoots and eggs or pluck flower buds are not compassionateÅ maybe, maybe not! (laughter!)

Instead of questioning Nature, wake up and see the opportunity for seva (service). See whatÒ³ happening in Gujarat now. Today, hundreds and thousands are engaged in service activities that would not have happened otherwise. One positive thing coming out of destruction is the reconstruction of Gujarat which would not have happened if not for earthquake. Another interesting factor is a fresh water spring that has appeared in a region that has been continuously drought prone.

Wisdom is to consider the earth as your Valentine. Whether it shakes or breaks, it is dear to you. You always see good coming from it. The four elements, other than space, create turbulence from time to time. If you depend on them for support, they will shake you and lead you back to space. Finding security in inner space is spirituality.

II JAI GURUDEV II