QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

POSTED ON: SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2022

Q: Have you seen anyone in The Art of Living get enlightenment?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, there are many who have this experience - they feel something and it starts happening. They have the ability to love everyone and be a nobody.

You don’t have to label yourself that 'I am enlightened, I am enlightened', not at all! If you want enlightenment, the first thing you need to remember is total detachment from all that you see, good or bad. Do you still want enlightenment? Are you ready for it? For enlightenment you need to have total detachment because it is your desire which is the only thing that blocks you from enlightenment. The moment you drop all that and say, "I want nothing and I am nothing", that moment you realize that all the forms and names are nothing, they are all like waves in the ocean; the wave is nothing but the ocean. This conviction is enlightenment. The sea is there, the sun is there, the moon is there and like that I too am here, that is it. Going beyond time is enlightenment. Not being constrained by space is enlightenment. Realizing you are love, everything else is love, that is enlightenment. Being so natural and feeling at home with everyone because there is no other, is enlightenment.

The first disciple of Lord Buddha said, "I will wait till the last person gets enlightened, I don’t want to have it now", because he knew he could have it any time. It is his compassion for everyone that he said, "I will see everyone through and only then I will have it". Have you heard about this? That is what Bodhisattva said, "I want to see everyone out of misery and then I will attain enlightenment".

That one desire that 'I want to help everybody' was stopping him from being enlightened. That is why it is said, "Buddha is okay but Bodhisattva is one step higher", because he has compassion to take care of everyone. That is what the teachers do, they don’t go looking whether they get enlightenment or not, they simply bring happiness in peoples' lives!

When all that you see in this world does not interest you, does not provoke you and does not disturb you then a totally different world opens up. It is very subtle! This universe has many layers - one inside the other, there are multiple layers in this universe. But our mind is stuck on one, that is why I said today that the mind should be free from getting stuck in one direction.

Grudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar