KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Monday, June 15, 2026

Joy and Sorrow

The inability to experience joy and sorrow is inertia.

Experiencing joy and sorrow is a trait of consciousness.

Being happy in one's own joy and sad in one's own sorrow is a trait of animals.

Being happy at another's joy and saddened by another's sorrow is a trait of humans.

If you are saddened by other’s sorrow then sorrow will never come to you.

If you are happy at another's joy then joy will never leave you.

Seeing that every relative joy is also a misery is a sign of dispassion.

And seeing both joy and sorrow as just a technique is a sign of the wise.

Considering sorrow as mere illusion is divinity.

Transcending joy and sorrow and being established in the self is perfection.

As the late Swami Sharanananda used to say, "Pray for the strength to serve in joy and to sacrifice in sorrow."

IIJai Guru DevII

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
Posted on: Monday, June 15, 2026

Q: Dearest Gurudev, some young people I know use Marijuana and say that it is their spirituality which helps them connect to different realms. Please speak on the long term effects of Marijuana use.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Marijuana use is the most horrible thing one can do. You know it can give you a temporary effect of an elevated consciousness but it destroys the body. It destroys your nervous system. It is very bad for your physiology.

Though I have never tasted, but people say they got some elevation after having it. But this elevation doesn’t show up on their face. They still look so dull.

If you have experienced bliss like we do in meditation, then you will glow. Look at everybody’s face here, they are glowing. There is joy radiating, there is love oozing out of people’s body when they experience meditation or a higher state of consciousness. But we don’t find this in people using marijuana. Instead you see that they shrink, they look so sad, depressed and sick. It is a crime you are committing against your own body.

You know, it’s the same whether you commit a crime against someone else or your own body. Marijuana is an assault on one’s own body. It is not the right thing. It may momentarily give you some high, but my dear, why do you want to go for that? You do meditation, go for higher energy. In meditation you get higher states of experiences, which makes your body strong, your mind sharp, and your heart compassionate. It makes you very healthy and happy. Why not go into this rather than marijuana? Substance abuse is a crime against one’s self.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Monday, June 15, 2026

Like bubbles come up in water, the whole world has come up in the Consciousness.

~ Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Sunday, June 14, 2026

Celebrating Diversity

When it comes to interfaith, inter-religious or intercultural dialogue in the world, I would say that there are ten major religions in the world and 600 and so branches of all the religion. If our children know a little bit about all these other religions and they grow up seeing all these are part of one divinity, don’t you think the world will be such a better place? It is not through elimination that we can make a better world. It is through assimilation that we can make a better world.

So the process of elimination should stop. Whatever is the belief system that is prevalent in the world (except if it is a superstitious thing which is harmful for society) have got their own beauty and their own uniqueness. We need to celebrate the multicultural, multi-religious events more and more.

Every child, if he learns a little bit about all these ten different religions, even a couple of pages from each one, then they will know that we live in a very diverse world, and we should honor, love and appreciate these differences. If children grow up with this tendency, I think we can put an end to terrorism, which is taking over the world today. Don’t you think so? This has been my dream from long time.

I would like the UNESCO to take up this one subject of multi-religious education to the whole population of the world, so that every kid learns a little bit about all the traditions in the world and appreciates and celebrates them.

Similarly, we should have more multicultural festivals. In India, we have this ancient saying 'Vasudeva Kutumbakam', which means the world is one family. When you are well-educated, when your heart is larger, the world becomes your family. Technology has shrunk this globe into a village. Distance is no longer a matter of concern. I think it is the humanness and human values that should be the spirit of human education, and that alone is what can make this world into a family.

IIJAI GURUDEVII

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
Posted on: Sunday, June 14, 2026

Q: Gurudev, today you ignored me again; why don’t you want to look at me?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Let me tell you a secret; you are very special. I ignore only very, very, special people, otherwise I attend to everybody.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Sunday, June 14, 2026

The purpose of words is to create silence. Silence is joy, love, pleasantness, peace.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Posted on: Saturday, June 13, 2026

Tarka Vitarka And Kutarka,

To know yourself or to judge your actions you need to know Tarka, Vitarka and Kutarka.

Kutarka is wrong logic. Most people apply this logic and get caught up in ignorance. For example : The door is half open means the door is half closed. Therefore, the door is fully open means the door is fully closed!

Or: God is Love. Love is Blind. Therefore, God is Blind!!!

Tarka is sequential logical understanding; it increases scientific knowledge. When sequential logical understanding changes, then scientific conclusions change. For example: Pesticides and antibiotics were considered to be very useful in the past, and are now proven to be more harmful. In tarka, the paradigm changes.

Vitarka is asking questions to which there are no evident answers....Who am I? Where am I? What do I really want? These philosophically appealing questions bring forth spiritual knowledge, increase your awareness and bring about the blossoming of Consciousness, i.e., Atma Gyan increases.

The wise know to distinguish between the three. They will not apply kutarka or tarka for vitarka, and vitarka for tarka.

|| Jai Guru Dev ||