KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024

On Respect

Question: What do you do if people don't respect you?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Thank them. They have given you freedom. (Laughter and amazement) When people respect you, they often take away your freedom. They expect you to smile at them, recognize them, behave in a certain way with them. If they don't respect you, you are not obliged to answer their questions and you can drop all the formalities. Either you will be naturally smiling or frowning. So you will be complete.

When people love and respect you, you are obliged to return their courtesies because you don't want to hurt them. When they don't respect or love you, they will not be hurt by your actions and expressions. So they set you free. When you gain respect, you often do it at the cost of your freedom. Wisdom is to put the freedom first and not bother about respect.

Q: Will freedom not bring arrogance?

A: True freedom is not an "I don't care" attitude. It is lightness from within, a genuine smile and not stiffness. When someone is stiff and arrogant, they are not really free. True love blossoms only in such freedom. And when there is genuine love, respect simply follows you.

II JAI GURUDEVII

http://knowledgesheetsbygurudev.blogspot.com/

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024

Q: You have mentioned that the education is essential in order to combat terrorism. Could you please shed light on how we can educate someone who doesn't feel the need of being educated?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Skill. This is where your skillfulness comes into play. How skillfully you can manoeuvre the situation.

Education is not just the technical education. When people say that education is the antidote to terrorism, I don't agree with them because when you see, the biggest terrorists on this planet are all highly educated. One of them was an engineer, the other was a doctor and even today all the terrorists that are caught are not illiterates. They are technically educated and qualified in modern standards. But what they lack is spiritual education. Here we need to be very specific. It is the spiritual education, which broadens the mind, enhances one's ability to honour and respect everybody and everyone's religion. Spiritual education gives one a very compassionate heart. That type of spiritual education is needed, and not just education.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024

A very pleasant and committed mind set is a sign of good health.

~ Sri Sri

https://srisriravishankarquotes.blogspot.com/

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024

The purpose of yoga is to put a smile on your face in spite of all the stress, tension, or situations that you are put through in your day-to-day life.

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, JULY 4, 2024

Commitment and Convenience

A commitment can only be felt when it oversteps convenience. That which is convenient, you do not call commitment. If you just go on your convenience, your commitment falls apart causing more inconvenience! If you keep dropping your commitment because it is inconvenient, can you be comfortable? Often, what is convenient does not bring comfort, but gives an illusion of comfort. Also if you are too stuck in commitment, and it is too inconvenient too often, you will be unable to fulfill your commitment and it will only generate frustration. Wisdom is to strike a balance between convenience and commitment because both bring comfort to the body, mind and spirit.

A seeker of knowledge should forget about convenience, so should soldiers, rulers, students, seekers of wealth and all essential service providers. Those who want to be creative and adventurous transcend convenience. Those who are ambitious and have a passion for a goal do not care for convenience. To the wise their commitment is their comfort. Whenever their commitment is shaken, their comfort is also shaken. To the lazy, commitment is torture though it is the best remedy. Commitment will always bring comfort in the long run.

Question: Are there any commitments that can be given up?

Answer: Yes.

Sometimes when you are committed without a vision, you feel stifled when your vision expands. Such commitments made with short sightedness can be given up. A smaller less important commitment can be given up for a greater commitment. Commitment to the means can be given up for the sake of the commitment to the goals. When your commitment brings misery to many in the long run it can be given up.

II JAI GURUDEVII

http://knowledgesheetsbygurudev.blogspot.com/

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2024

Q: Is having a Guru mandatory to experience the state of enlightenment?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Is it necessary for you to ask this question and for me to answer? You have asked the question, now if I answer, then we are caught! Got it?

If you ask a question and you think I know the answer, then I am already a Guru and you are already a student. Some people say, 'I am not a Guru', and some others say, 'I am not a student'. This is like saying, 'I am not a doctor but I will anyway give you some medicine.' Or someone saying, 'I am not a patient, but I want some medicine.' Both these statements have no meaning. See, some guidance is needed. Guru is not a person, it is wisdom, it is a light, it is an energy, it is love; all of it combined. Something as abstract as spirituality needs a little guidance. When your mind is very still, you can get all the guidance. But when the mind is not still, it is good to take guidance from one whose mind is absolutely still.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2024

Legendary is the love that withstands rejection, for it will be free of anger and ego.

~ Sri Sri

https://srisriravishankarquotes.blogspot.com/

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2024

If you want to see God, stop seeing the differences. There is no you, there is no me, there is no this, there is no that. It is all just One.

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: WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2024

Appreciation

When do you appreciate someone? When they do something that is unusual,not ordinary, and not their nature. Isn't it so?

For example, when a wicked person doesn't create a problem then you appreciate them. Or, when somebody you think is not good does a good act, then you appreciate them. Also, when a good person does something extraordinary, then you appreciate them. If a child made you a cup of tea, you would appreciate it, but if a mother made the same cup of tea, you would not likely appreciate it because it is a normal act for her. In the same way, you appreciate getting a ride from someone you don't know, but you don't necessarily appreciate it from a bus driver.

In all these cases, those acts are temporary, out of character, or not their nature. So when you appreciate someone for something, you imply that it is not the way they are usually.

Robin: What if a person wants to be appreciated?

Sri Sri: That means that it is not in their nature, and that is why they want to be appreciated. If it is not coming from their nature it is an imposed act. So when you appreciate someone you simply imply that it is not their nature, it is not the way they usually are. It is a rare act or quality. Appreciation implies a sense of separateness or distance, so watch out when you appreciate someone!

II JAI GURUDEVII

http://knowledgesheetsbygurudev.blogspot.com/

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2024

Q: What is the ultimate and greatest truth of life? Is it to be happy, or to make one’s family happy, or to serve humankind, or to reach the Divine?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The ultimate journey starts with one step. Just do not sit and dream about the ultimate. Instead, begin your journey towards the ultimate.

Take small steps towards the Truth; towards this inquiry into life – “What is the goal of life?” This very inquiry can take you far. Everything has some significance in life.

Just eating alone is not the goal of life. Yet eating is essential for sustaining life. Isn’t it? Similarly, sleeping is not the goal of life. But can you discard sleep altogether? No, you cannot. In the same way, you have to be happy and you also have to make others happy. This is the journey towards the Ultimate.

What is the ultimate Truth, or the ultimate purpose of life? I tell you, one who really knows will not tell you, and anyone who does tell you, simply does not know. That is the secret.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2024

Success comes because of the sattva and the harmony inside you, not because of the amenities or weapons you have.

~ Sri Sri

https://srisriravishankarquotes.blogspot.com/

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2024

People usually say, 'I cannot see God'. I tell you, I see nothing but God everywhere! Everything is full of the divine.

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: TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024

In the solitude of the self

Buddha is not on the peak, rather the peak is beneath Buddha. One who goes to the peak comes down, but the peak seeks the one who is stationed in the inner space.

Shiva is called Chandrasekhara which means that mind which is in the Shiva (transcendence) and is always above the peak.

Often people are running after parties and celebrations, but for the one who is not running after them, parties and celebrations follow him. If you are running after parties, loneliness comes to you, but if you are in the solitude of the Self, parties surround you.

II JAI GURUDEVII

http://knowledgesheetsbygurudev.blogspot.com/

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024

Q: Gurudev, what brings satisfaction in life? Whatever I do finally does not bring great joy and contentment after a while.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The whole idea of finding satisfaction by doing something itself is not correct. Satisfaction comes from deep rest, by reposing deep within oneself. When you get established within your Self, then there is contentment. The satisfaction you think that comes by doing some work is very temporary and lasts only for a short while.

If your work is successful, then you feel the need to do more work. When you get more success, then that again drives you to work more. You do not feel like stopping after having success. On the other hand, if you face some loss or failure in what you are doing, then also you feel, “Oh, how did it fail despite my efforts? I won’t give up; I will try again and succeed”. You feel challenged to do more. So you want to work more and work harder whether you get success or failure. And in this process the search for contentment continues. You keep searching for contentment when you are constantly engaged in work, or in action. It is only in knowledge that you can find your true contentment. Fulfilment or contentment lies only in wisdom, and in deep meditation; not in any work or action as such.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV

WISDOM QUOTE BY GURUDEV
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024

How you deal with kids, that is how you have to deal with all the people in the world.

~ Sri Sri

https://srisriravishankarquotes.blogspot.com/

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024

When you agree to be bogged down, that is the sign of failure. Resist getting bogged down. Be like a candle. Even if you turn a candle upside down, the flame always goes up. It never goes down.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://quotesfromsrisriravishankar.blogspot.com/