KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Friday, May 15, 2026

Was Buddha an Atheist?

A pure atheist is impossible to find. An atheist is one who does not believe in anything that is not concrete and tangible. Life is not all concrete and tangible. Nor is this Universe. Whether it is business, science or art, they all involve a certain amount of guesswork, assumptions, imagination and intuition. All of them are ethereal in nature and are not tangible. The moment an atheist accepts, even remotely a field that is unexplainable, he ceases to be an atheist. Any intelligent person cannot rule out the mystery in life and the universe and hence cannot honestly be an atheist! The so-called atheists are perhaps only denouncing certain concepts of God.

Question: Was Buddha an atheist?

Sri Sri: "No" in one sense because he professed emptiness which is very hard for an atheist to accept and "Yes" in another sense because he did not profess concepts of God.

Jim: An atheist believes only what he can see but Buddha said all that you see is not real.

Sri Sri: If only all present day atheists could be Buddhas.

II JAI GURUDEV II

https://knowledgesheetsbygurudev.blogspot.com/

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
Posted on: Friday, May 15, 2026

Q: There are Pancha Bhoota temples around India that are dedicated to Lord Shiva, what is the significance of these temples?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There are five elements that form this creation: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether, and these five things are also called lingam because they signify or tell you that there is something beyond. The un-manifest consciousness is represented by the Earth, so the Earth is a lingam – means the Earth is an identification and a sign of the infinity. Water is the sign of infinity. You look at the mountain, the mountain tells you that there is some power. So, all the five elements remind you that there is consciousness that creates orderliness.

If you see any stone, there are patterns in the stone also and there are colors in the stones. Stones are so fascinating. There is orderliness in that and this indicates that there is consciousness. Water has life and memory, have you heard about water having memory? Google this and you can know about the many experiments that reveal that water has memory; water is alive. Water indicates super consciousness.

Similarly, fire tells you there is consciousness. Air reminds you of the divinity, of the Shiva Tattva. Similarly, space tells you there is a supreme power. So all these five elements in the planet indicate you towards something which is un-manifest because the five elements are manifest, that is why they are called lingam.

Anything that points towards something big, something that is inexpressible, something that is intangible, truth that is beyond all expressions is expressed in five elements.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Friday, May 15, 2026

Marriage means sacrifice; sacrificing your desires for the good of the other, and for the sake of the whole family. If you keep thinking only of what you want, then the marriage will not work.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://quotesfromsrisriravishankar.blogspot.com/

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Thursday, May 14, 2026

Life is a Dream a Burden or a Joke,

Often when you are happy you feel life is a dream because you do not believe in the reality of it. When there is misery you feel life as a burden. And we take trivial things very seriously. But one who has really gone through the pleasure realizes that pleasure is a burden. And if you have undergone misery thoroughly you will realize that life is a dream. In every miserable condition you have been walked or carried through and you realize life is a dream. When you see life is dream a burden or a joke only then can you be centered.

And when you have really gone through misery you have really seen life as a dream. And in between the pain and pleasure life is all a joke. Life is very uncertain. Before it takes you away, realize it is a dream, a burden or a joke.

Someone asked: What about life is a joke?

Answer: A joke you do not question. If you question a joke, it is no longer a joke. Do not question a burden either. It is a waste of time to question life and its events.

The burden makes you go deep. It gets you to the core of yourself. Realization of a dream wakes you up. And seeing life as a joke makes you light. The only certainty is that life is a dream, a burden or a joke and only when you realize this can you be centered.

II JAI GURUDEV II

https://knowledgesheetsbygurudev.blogspot.com/

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
Posted on: Thursday, May 14, 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: Thursday, May 14, 2026

Suicide is the most foolish thing a person can ever do. It is only through the body that you can dispel agony and get rid of misery, and instead you destroy the very instrument by which this is possible. We must realize that suicide is the worst thing to do.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://quotesfromsrisriravishankar.blogspot.com/

 

Happy Birthday Gurudev!!!