KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2026

Longing Itself Is Divine

Longing itself is Divine. Longing for worldly things makes you inert. Longing for Infinity fills you with life. When longing dies, inertia sets in. But longing also brings along a sense of pain. To avoid the pain, you try to push away the longing. The skill is to bear the pain of longing and move on. Don't try to find a shortcut to overcome longing. Don't make the longing short - that's why it's called loooonging. (Laughter)

True longing in itself brings up spurts of bliss. That's why in ancient days longing was kept alive by singing and listening to kathas (stories). When longing transcends relationships, judgments, jealousy and all other negative feelings drop off. It is only with wisdom and self-knowledge that you can transcend relationships. People often think wisdom is devoid of longing - No! Such wisdom is dry. The longing that comes in true wisdom makes life juicier. Divine is certainly juicy! Longing gives you the power to bless. Bless the entire creation. For, the longing in you is God.

II JAI GURUDEVII

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2026

Q: Getting love is painful and not getting it is even more painful, and maintaining love is also painful. So which pain should I choose?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Choice is yours blessing is mine. If you want to choose pain, you are most welcome, but I will tell you, choose the bigger pain as the small ones are of no use. Your love for the whole humanity, that’s what you should be concerned about. Love for the planets, love for the animals; animal rights (animals do have a right to exist). We have no right to take their life away. You worry about all these things.

Look into the eyes of the goats, or even the chicken, cows, dogs. Look into their eyes. This entire creation is filled with love, and how people can slaughter them to fill their little tummy. It is not even healthy. This is unfortunate.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2026

When you love somebody unconditionally, do not express it all at once. You may pour all your love on somebody, but you should also see how much love they can take.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2026

Memory

It is memory that makes you miserable or wise. Memory of events and experiences of the changing finite binds you, and memory of your nature liberates you. Memory of the ever changing relative, however good or bad, brings bondage. Memory of the non-changing self elevates awareness. Memory of past events and worldly concerns constricts the vastness of the self.

It is all a matter of where you are, of what you are. If you are ignorant, it is because of your memory. If you are enlightened, it is because of your memory. Forgetfulness of the trivial is ecstasy.

Forgetfulness of the infinite is misery.

Q. How does one get rid of unpleasant memories and limitations?

Know the impermanent nature of the world and events.
Know the non-existence of past events right now and accept them.

Be dispassionate and centered. Memories of Self are gained by service to the noble.

Increase prana - So Ham! So what!!
Have Divine Company / presence.

Go to the moon!!

II JAI GURUDEVII

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2026

Q: Dear Gurudev, whenever I want to do some important work, or study, my mood comes in my way. I’m completely dependent on my mood for most of my actions. How to get rid of moods?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First, the realization itself makes it half done. Now you have realized it’s the mood which sways you, that means the intellect is waking up. It says, ‘Come on, I’m not going to be so moody.’ You take that determination.

There are many situations in life where you cannot act on your mood. For example, if you’re in a plane and suddenly you feel you don’t want to continue the journey, though your mood has changed halfway you cannot get out of the plane! You got to be there. It’s not a car that you’re driving where you can turn back. Even for the car you have to find the exit where you can turn back. You can’t turn anywhere.

So, life teaches you hard lessons if you don’t respect wisdom. Know that life goes with commitment, not moods. Mood is very unstable, they come, they change. But commitment and wisdom always brings the best results.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2026

When you feel, 'God has given me more than I deserve', that simply says that you believe in the judgment and fairness of the Divinity.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 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