KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2026

The Other Side Of Friendliness

Secretaries, police, judges, accountants and people in key positions should not be friendly!
The main disadvantages of being friendly are:

You come under obligation
You lose your freedom
You can't have a free and fair perception. Your thoughts and actions may not be impartial
Your focus, commitment, creativity and above all your time will be wasted
You will pick up bad habits and negative moods easily

It takes a lot of wisdom to be free from the burden of obligation and not be influenced by your friends' opinions and feelings. In many occasions, it is better to be unfriendly than be friendly. Being unfriendly does not mean being aggressive and inimical. The best secretaries, personal assistants, security personnel, and judges have to be unfriendly. Those who are aloof and indifferent get centered more quickly than those who are too friendly. A certain degree of aloofness in every relationship will strengthen your personality and connect you to your source.

Vinod Sethi: It's very easy to be very aloof or very friendly. But to be friendly and aloof is a Sadhana.

Harish: Be an unfriendly friend!!

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2026

Q: Dear Gurudev, I would like to hear you talk more about the mysterious power of human sexuality. Can you give us some ideas as to how to deal with the power of sexuality?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I don’t know about it. But remember you are all born from sex. We have a tendency of saying it is bad or a sin, or on the other side you indulge in it too much. You must walk the middle path. Moderation in everything. Life should have moderation.

Sex is an act to bring the mind to the present moment. And there is expenditure there. It is not just the body that is there, it is the movement of energy within you that gives you a sense of relief or ecstasy.

Like, smokers feel a sense of relaxation when they smoke. It is not the smoke that is elevating you, it is the way you breathe, in a particular pattern that elevates you. A particular channel - what we call nadi – opens up. It brings a little relaxation.

When you do breathing exercise (pranayama), the same thing happens. A certain nadi opens up inside of you, and you feel relaxed, without the harming affect of the smoke that you fill in your lungs. You don’t need to do that.

So with sex also, an energy channel opens. When this energy channel opens up within you, it brings a certain relaxation first, and then you to have a scintillating heightened blissful sensation. This one can get in meditation also.

So in the ancient times, they have measured Samadhi or deep meditation as 1000 units of sex -- if sex brings one unit of joy, Samadhi is 1000 units of that. If sex is one little bulb of zero watt, Samadhi is a thousand watt bulb. That is the comparison they have given. That is why when you are in Samadhi, you naturally move out of the base tendencies. You naturally get transformed.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2026

Give in such a way that the other does not even feel they have taken. This is generosity, and this is beauty.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2026

Shortcut!

If you think you are stupid

Then...... you know who you are. And if you know who you are......

You are enlightened!

And if you are enlightened ,

Then ......you are certainly not stupid .

If you think you are intelligent ,

Then you don't know who you are.

And if don't know who you are.....

Then you really ARE stupid!

Better realize your stupidity ....and Be Enlightened!!!!!!.....[laughter]

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2026

Q: What is fear?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Every seed has a membrane around it. That shell is there to protect the seed, but when you soak the seed in water, at some point the membrane breaks and the sprout come out of it. In the same way, fear is a mechanism around the life to protect it; at the same time, there is a way to go out of it.

If you see, very young kids, they don’t have fear when the mother is taking care of them. But when a kid starts walking on its own, then he looks around here and there very carefully. So, fear comes around that time, and it disappears when the mind or the intellect get mature. A mature intellect has no fear.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2026

Love is giving everything and taking nothing.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

POSTED ON: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2026

Education

Education has five aspects

1. Information -- Often we think information is education, but it is only one aspect of education.

2. Concepts -- Concepts are the basis for all research. You need to conceive in order to create.

3. Attitude -- An integral aspect of education is cultivating the right attitude. Proper attitude at the right time and place determines your actions and behavior.

4. Imagination -- Imagination is essential for creativity, for the arts. But if you get stuck in imagination, you may become psychotic.

5. Freedom -- Freedom is your very nature. Only with freedom, do joy, generosity and other human values blossom. Without freedom, attitudes become stifling, concepts become a burden, information is of no value and imagination becomes stagnant.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 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: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2026

If you are a social worker, then you have to bundle all your wants, feelings, likes, dislikes and throw them into the ocean.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2026

Two types of knowledge

There are two types of knowledge. The first one is pure knowledge and the second one is applied knowledge. Applied knowledge may benefit you directly and immediately but pure knowledge benefits you indirectly in the long run.

If there are some things that you have studied or understood that you are unable to put into practice, do not get disheartened. Sometime in the future, if you do not discard the knowledge you have as impractical, it will be of use to you.

Often people discard the pure knowledge for its lack of immediate application. In fact these two types of knowledge compliment each other. Applied knowledge without pure knowledge remains weak. And pure knowledge without application will remain unfulfilled.

Do not discard or label the knowledge as impractical. Do not label yourself as weak or unworthy because you are unable to apply the knowledge in your day-to-day life.

Sometimes when you are alone in nature, silent, taking a walk, looking at the sand on the beach, a bird in the sky, or while meditating – suddenly the knowledge will emerge and you will recognize the knowledge dawning in your life.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2026

Q: How to overcome doubts?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Where are you?
Which planet are you on?
What is your world?
Are you sure you are not dreaming?
Are you sure you are here on this planet?
Are you sure earth is beneath you?
What is it you are hanging on to?
How long will we continue this play, this drama?
What is happening?
What is the origin of this mind?
Where do all these thoughts arise from?
Where does all this grumbling arise from?
Where do all your concepts rise?
How do they rise? How do they fall off?
How do your likes and dislikes of people arise and fall off?

If we don’t get these doubts, we will not ask ourselves these questions. Not that they don’t arise; they do but we brush them aside. We don’t ride on the horse of these questions. We don’t ask very basic questions. Instead, we keep asking silly questions in our mind. Our doubts are all so silly! Our questions are also insignificant. They mostly concern trivial matters, like a dress, a tape recorder, etc. These are the types of questions we ask. We spend all our lifetime asking questions that do not mean anything; which do not take us anywhere.

In Sanskrit, doubts are called sandēha. Dēha means body. Sandēha means doubt. They’re very close. It is a state of mind. Doubt is a state of mind. Do you know when there is this state of mind? It is when we are body-conscious or body-bound, and are not aware of the life within us.

When a child starts becoming aware of its own body, it starts asking more and more questions. And when the body matures into the adolescent stage, there are ever so many questions that reel in the mind.
Doubt is that state of mind where it’s not fully alive. Answers cannot satisfy doubt. Hearing and seeing cannot eliminate doubt.

The life in you is dull. The wick in the lamp is going down. On the day you do prāṇāyāma or Sudarshan Kriyā, you are so alive. Every cell in your body is alive, and then there is no doubt in the mind. You feel so wonderful because of this. There is no split in your consciousness. Doubt is the split. A portion is awake and another major portion is asleep — the unfulfilled state of consciousness.

When the prāna is low, you feel unfulfilled. And when the prāna is full, you are so fulfilled. So when you have doubts, do more sādhanā or practice. This is called shraddhā or faith, the opposite of doubt. It starts with self-doubt — doubting the self, doubting everything in the world and doubting the Divine. There are three types of faith in the world (being Hindu, Muslim or Christian, is not what I call faith). There are only three types of people who have faith, i.e. there are three types of faith — in the divine, in the universe and in the world.

Faith in your Self, faith in the world and faith in something we do not know, the Divine. You can start from anywhere. Any one point will lead to all three; all three come together. When doubts arise in you, fast, meditate, do prāṇāyāma and prayers, and see whether the doubts remain. There is a shift in your consciousness.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2026

“Human evolution has two steps - from being somebody to being nobody; and from being nobody to being everybody. This knowledge can bring sharing and caring throughout the world.”

― Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2026

How to conquer jealousy or envy

Know that the person that you are jealous or envious of has done some good karma in the past and they are now reaping the fruit.
Take it as an inspiration to gain merit now.
Create a sense of belongingness with them. See that they are a part of you.
Think of all you have that they don't have and feel grateful.

Ananda says, "Observe the sensations."

Join hands and form a team with them.

Realise that in the current of moving time all will perish.

Think of everyone that is jealous of you for what you have. Stephano added: "And see that all that people envy you for has not brought joy anyway."

Stephano: "Go and ask them 'are you happy?' " Caroline: "And what if they say 'Yes?' " (Laughter!). If the answer is "yes" then they must be in the Art of Living (Laughter!) "What to do if others are jealous or envious of you?" Ananda: "What to do if others are jealous or envious of you?"

Praise them in superlatives.
Create a sense of belongingness in them by your kind actions.
Know that their feelings are temporary.
The best is not to recognise their envy or jealousy at all. If you recognise a feeling as a reality it only makes your ignorance grow.
Know all feelings and emotions are just like passing clouds.
Do not show off your talents to them.
Know that they are puppets. They will all perish like apples and tomatoes - just a longer shelf-life (Laughter!).
If nothing else works just go to sleep (Shirley: "And don't forget to take a pillow").

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2026

Q: Dear Gurudev, is there a difference between the soul and the mind?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Mind is that which perceives. See, 'you are looking at me' is through the mind. If mind is elsewhere, you can’t see me, right? If you’re not paying attention, if you’re not being mindful, you can’t hear what I’m saying. When mind is elsewhere, can you hear what I’m saying? No, right? Though the sound is falling on the ears, if mind is elsewhere, you cannot hear. So our perception depends on the mind. But the totality of energy is what the soul, or you, are.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2026

If someone deceived you, they are going to face the consequences. That is the law of karma. If you got deceived, you were not careful. You should have been careful. You have learnt your lesson by being deceived. Now move on!

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2026

Jesus - Embodiment of Love

Love is the most sought-after but least expressed mystery of life. We try to express love in so many ways, still it remains a mystery. And it rarely happens that love is expressed in its fullness, in its totality.
Jesus and love are synonymous. If you say love, you need not say Jesus and if you say Jesus, it means love. Jesus once said, “If you call God in my name, whatever you ask shall be given. For God is love.” You find such a complete expression of love in Jesus. Whatever little glimpses you may get here and there indicates that fullness, that ultimate expression of the inexpressible that life is striving to express all the time.

Love makes you weak, but brings you the kingdom of heaven. However strong you are, you are the weakest when you are in love. Yet love is the strongest force on this universe. Since love makes you weak, it also is scary. Among thousands, just a few followed Jesus. Many heard, but just a few came. Even after performing many miracles, only handful of people could recognise him.

Jesus said, “I have come to put man against man, father against son, daughter against mother.” Very few people have really understood what it means. Whom you think is your friend is really not a friend because he or she makes your faith on the matter strong, and spirit weak. “I have come to put one against each other, I have come to put fire, not make peace.” Jesus said this because he knew the depth of slumber.

When you talk something nice, peaceful, everybody will go to sleep and when there is something sensational, people wake up and listen. This is how the human mind operates. And Jesus made all efforts for one to cross the mind and get into the soul, the spirit, the source of life, the Self. You break through the limited identities and recognise the Divinity within you. You are much more than just a human; you are part of the Divine. And you inherit the kingdom. And that kingdom is right here, right within you.

Love has no name, nor form. Love is abstract, yet it is very concrete. It has no name or form but manifests in all names and in all forms. This is the mystery of creation. You can see love everywhere in this creation if only you have an eye to see it. Just see a bird, and a small one in the nest. The bird comes and how it feeds its young one. See how the young one waits for the mother bird to come. There is love in it. There is love among fish. There is love in the sky. There is love underneath the water. There is love on the ground. And there is love in the outer space.

Every form is full of love and every name represents love. And that is how Jesus is One with the Father. Father is One with his creation. In India, the creation and creator are compared to the dance and the dancer. You cannot have a dance without a dancer. Dancer is in every move of the dance. The creator is in every spec of the creation. That is what is omnipresent, omnipotent. If God is omnipresent, he is present everywhere, isn’t it? The creator, if he is different from the creation, then he is not present in his creation. Then he is not omnipresent. The whole definition of God is gone.

Love is present everywhere, but somewhere it finds total expression. And the knowledge of the Self leads you towards that total expression of love, of blossoming of love. It lifts your eyes from all tiny little things. One Divine is providing for everybody. Neither the python goes to work nor the birds toil. Everybody is taken care of. Everything is taken care of.

Jesus said, “Love each other as much as I love you.” What more do you need to see that embodiment of love?

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2026

Q: The question ‘Who am I’ has been pricking me since childhood and has not gone away and it drives me absolutely insane. Nothing makes sense. What to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You are such a fortunate person. If other questions are driving you insane, I would not say so, but if this question ‘Who am I’, is driving you insane, you are the luckiest person, and you are the best seeker. This is good. Hold on to it! Don’t let this craziness go away. It is this craziness in you which brings charm in life. Anyone who has any type of craze will have a spark in their life. It is good to be crazy about something and the craze to know about oneself is wonderful.

Don’t read too many books. Reading books is detrimental to this. This question, ‘Who am I?’ should lead you to meditation. That is the best thing. That is enough. Hold on to it, and don’t go and ask anyone else who are you?

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2026

Know that the highest flowering in life is being in love and acting through love.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026

Atheism Is Not A Reality

It is difficult to see God as formless and it is difficult to see God as form. The formless is so abstract and God in a form appears to be too limited. So some people prefer to be atheists.

Atheism is not a reality, it is just a matter of convenience. When you have a spirit of enquiry, or in search of truth, atheism falls apart. With a spirit of enquiry, you cannot deny something which you have not disproved. An atheist denies God without first disproving it. In order to disprove God, you must have enormous knowledge. And when you have enormous knowledge, you cannot disprove it! (laughter!)For one to say that something does not exist, one should know about the whole universe. So you can never be one hundred percent atheist. An atheist is only a believer who is sleeping!

For a person to say, "I don't believe in anything", means he must believe in himself - so he believes in himself about whom he does not even know!

An atheist can never be sincere because sincerity needs depth - and an atheist refuses to go to his depth. Because the deeper he goes, he finds a void, a field of all possibilities - he has to accept that there are many secrets he does not know. He would then need to acknowledge his ignorance, which he refuses to do, because the moment he is sincere, he seriously starts doubting his atheism. A doubt-free atheist is next to impossible! So you can never be a sincere and doubt-free atheist.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026

Q: Dear Gurudev, could you please tell us the significance of the Canadian Ashram, why did you choose this place? Are there any historic links?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

When I spoke on the Ashtavakara Gita in India in 1990, sometime after that I told our people that I’ll come to Canada only when we have a place of our own. I gave it to them as a challenge, because until then we had been hiring venues here and there. Everyone thought we should have a place of our own, and so our devotees went searching and Ganesh and Janice found this place. When we visited it, we found the place to be appropriate, and it is also close to Trois Rivières.

In India, a place is considered to be very sacred when three rivers meet. In fact, interestingly, the ashram in Poland is also very close to a place where three rivers meet. We somehow get such places, and that is considered to be very good. The meeting of three rivers is actually symbolic of the three energy channels (nadis ) i.e., ida, pingla, sushumna; meditation happens when they meet. And so, at a place where three rivers meet also, meditation is very good.

In this campus, we now have six lakes and three mountains. The gentleman who was building this place also didn’t know why he was creating such a campus; he even expressed to Janice saying, "I don’t know why I’m doing this!" They are a very nice couple who sold this campus to us.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2026

Regardless of the events or circumstances that are happening, remain steady and established in the Self. Then you can be truly happy and blissful.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2026

Knowledge And Faith

In science you have knowledge first, and then faith follows.

In spirituality, faith comes first, and then Knowledge follows.

For example, the knowledge that pesticides and chemical fertilizers are good for plants came through science, and people had faith in it, and all over the world they were used. But then knowledge came that they were not good and the faith shifted to organic farming. The same with antibiotics.

The knowledge brought faith, the knowledge changed, and then faith changed. The knowledge and faith of science is of "happening." In spirituality, faith is first and Knowledge comes later. Like Kriya, Yoga, and meditation -- first you have faith and then Knowledge follows. For example, if you do pranayama faithfully then you get the Knowledge of the prana; if your do your meditation faithfully, the Knowledge of consciousness follows. Even an illiterate, through faith, attains deep Knowledge.

Vinod: Human is the best composite material. (Laughter -- this is the NASA scientist mind)

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Science considers even human as matter, and spirituality considers even earth as mother, even rivers and mountains as living beings.

Science regards life as matter and spirituality regards even matter as life.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2026

Q:

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Happiness is when you want nothing, and you want to give. Where the wanting and desires end, and the sharing begin, happiness is exactly there. Memory is not happiness. When you are happy, you forget everything. It is when happiness is gone that you dwell in its memory. In the world, people are either dreaming of happiness or remembering happiness. That is either being in the past or the future. But happiness is that which is in the present. And it is your very nature.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2026

If this world was more joyful, you would never look for something higher, or for something different. So for anything that has happened or not happened, feel grateful, thankful and happy about it.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2026

Tolerance And Acceptance Are Not Virtues

Many people think tolerance is a virtue. Tolerance is a negative term. Tolerance indicates a deep sense of dislike. If you like something, there is no question of tolerating it or not.

When you are tolerating something, it means you are temporarily putting up with it. Tolerance is a potential volcano. If you are tolerating, it means you are still holding on to something. At any time tolerance can turn into hatred. Tolerance indicates a sense of separateness, small mindedness, and limited awareness.

Acceptance is also negative. You accept only that which is not lovable.

Question: Do you need self-assurance to love people?

Sri Sri: Only the Self is always assuring - nothing else! This is our company — the Self-Assurance Company.

Question: Aren't we supposed to accept people as they are?

Sri Sri: If you don't love them, then you will have to accept them.

These words: tolerance and acceptance, are thought to be positive. I say they are not! Tolerance and acceptance come with judgment and separation. Don't accept people as they are or tolerate them, just love them as they are.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2026

Q: Do meditations have effect on the global events? I am concerned about the situation is Kashmir. What can I do to bring peace there?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Definitely it has an impact. Meditate and have an intention to bring peace there. If a butterfly can flutter its wings in South America and have an impact on the weather in China, you think your thoughts and prayers have no impact? C'mon, wake up! You are much more powerful than the butterflies (laughter).

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2026

In the beginning you may find meditation very boring, but later on you will find it so addictive. You will start enjoying it so much.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2026

Self

Self is not just the mind-body complex. Often people think of the Self as the mind-body complex. This is an erroneous notion. Neither the body nor the mind is the Self. All the yoga you do is for the body. All the meditation you do is for the mind.

Whether calm or disturbed, your mind remains mind.

Whether sick or well, your body remains body.

Self is all-encompassing.

Service without attitude

Love without reason

Knowledge without intellect

Life beyond time and events

Is what you are.

The only purpose for this body to exist is to make you aware of how beautiful you are, and to make you aware that it is possible to live all the values you cherish and create a world of divinity around you.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2026

Q: Gurudev, I always feel that I have received more than I deserve, and I feel uncomfortable.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You should feel comfortable. When you feel you have received more than you deserve, you become grateful, you feel life is a gift to you. When you feel that you really deserve this, then you become arrogant, dominant, rude, and rough. It is only when you realize that you are not worthy of what you have received and what you are receiving, then you become humble and more grateful! The more grateful you are, the higher you go; humility in you takes you high.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2026

No one can hurt you until you permit them to do so.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2026

Worrying obstructs action & feelings propel action

The head worries and the heart feels. They cannot function at the same time. When your feelings dominate, worry dissolves.

If you worry a lot, your feelings are dead and you are stuck in the head. Worrying makes your mind and heart inert and dull. Worries are like a rock in the head. Worry entangles you. Worry puts you in a cage.
When you feel, you do not worry. Feelings are like flowers, they come up, they blossom and they die. Feelings rise, they fall and then disappear. When feelings are expressed, you feel relieved. When you are angry, you express your anger and the next moment you are all right. Or you are upset, you cry and you get over it.

Feelings last for some short time and then they drop, but worry eats you for a longer period of time, and eventually eats you up. Feelings make you spontaneous. Children feel, so they are spontaneous.

Adults put brakes on their feelings and they start worrying. Worrying about anything obstructs action while feelings propel action. Worrying about negative feelings is a blessing because it puts the brakes on those feelings, preventing you from acting on them. Usually one never worries about positive feelings.

Worries are uncertain. Worrying takes away your energy; you cannot think clearly when you worry. Offering your worries is prayer and prayer moves you in feelings.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2026

Q: What is Pitru Dosha, how does it affect our daily life and how do we correct it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Pitru Dosha comes out of torturing the parents or ancestors. If children torture the parents and do not understand them, then that is called Pitru Dosha. The parents have brought you up with so much love, taking pain they have given you a good life, they have been by your side and helped you grow, and then you don't give them love and inflict pain on them, that is called Pitru Dosh.

But I tell you, your meditation, your being on the spiritual path, keeping a clean heart and doing a selfless service, to some degree will eliminate the Dosha from your life. See, sometimes people are miserable not because you did something to them, but they are miserable because of their own ignorance. They expect things from you which you may not be able to deliver. Then you don't get Pitru Dosha. It happens when they are really pained by something you could do, but you did not do. When you intentionally inflict pain on the parents due to your selfish reasons then that is Pitru Dosha.

Then what happens? The progeny will have problems. Your children will give you problems. The impact of it is -- children are born with some special needs; some deformities. These are all the signs of Pitru Dosha. Somewhere in the ancestral line, parents were very unhappy with their kids, now you have to become unhappy with your own kids. This is the law of karma.

But there is a remedy for it, and the remedy is meditation. 'Om Namah Shivaya' chanting also helps. This is why it's called Maha Mantra. It can rectify any of these Doshas. 'Om Namah Shivaya' does not belong to only one religion. It is universal and it is for everybody.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2026

Don't look for happiness in that which is temporary, that which is fleeting and changing. Joy and happiness is only in that which does not change.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026

Enlightenment

You can't even say 'enlightened person', you can only say 'enlightenment' because when the person's personalities disappear, dissolve, then that is enlightenment.

II JAI GURUDEV II

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026

Q: I’m not strong enough to take a commitment for whole one year. What can I do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Gurudev: Not strong enough? Take one day at a time. You are strong enough to take commitment for one day, and that is enough. And each day you can continue doing it. Don’t think of one long year, “oh my God! One year I’ve to do something! Today I do, that’s good. Tomorrow I do, that’s good”.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026

Getting upset is normal, but to carry the emotions for months is not normal. It should stay as long as a line stays on the surface of water.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2026

Evolution: Not part of the self

Are you evolving? If you are evolving, you are not in the Self. And you are not out of the Self, because nothing can exist out of the Self. (Laughter)

Broadly they can be put in these 5 catagories. There are six distortions that do not exist in the Self.

Expansion -- Prasarana. Expansion indicates there is already something into which something expands. That which expands cannot be the basis for expansion.

Contraction -- Akunchana. Contraction means something shrinks from something else. Self does not withdraw or shrink from anything, so contraction does not exist in the Self.

Evolution -- Vriddhi. Evolution is becoming something which it is not already. Self is the same, so it cannot evolve.

Decay -- Kshaya. There is no devolution or decay in the Self. It doesn't get old or stale. That's why, when you are close to your Self, you don't feel that you are aging.

Beginning -- Anaadi. Self has no beginning. If God has a beginning, then He is no God.

Lack -- Abhava. Self has no lack. Whatever lacks something is not complete. Self does not lack anything, it is complete. Lack indicates existence of something outside itself. That doesn't exist for the Self. So if you feel you have not grown at all, don't worry, you are close to the Self. (Laughter)

When your mind is with the Self, then you don't worry about evolution. If you are thinking about evolving, then you are stuck in the mind. And mind is part of the matter, and matter evolves and decays.

And that is how the experience of contraction and expansion is all play and display of the mind. Mind expands and contracts. When it expands, it comes close to the truth, which has no expansion.

Are you still evolving? Good luck!!

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2026

Q: If I am suffering from inside, can I still stay happy and keep a smile on my face?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You know life is like a 'Thali'(plate) in which you have something sweet, something salty, something pungent -- all different tastes are present. Like this, in your life you have little sadness (maybe you have lost something, or lost money), yes that pinches but if you just hold on to that pinch only, hold on to that pain only, then life cannot go on. Unless you are so well soaked in wisdom, in spirituality, you will continue to have some little grievances here and there, and if you stop smiling because of that, you will find the world to be a very depressing place. You should keep smiling, having a strong hope that whatever pain and suffering that you have inside will vanish, anyway it doesn't matter. One should have the wisdom to bear discomfort and move forward with a smile.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2026

If you love somebody, serve them, don't latch onto them.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2026

Pravritti Nivritti

Life is a combination of Pravritti and Nivritti.

There are two attitudes that we have to pay attention to. One is, when we go inward, we say, ‘Everything is okay; anyway not a blade of grass moves without Divine intervention. God has kept us like this, so let it be.’
This is the attitude you must have when you have to go inward (Nivritti).

When you have to come out and work (Pravritti), then seek perfection in even small details. Whenever you see imperfection, you have to pay attention on how you can correct it. Find out ways to improve on all the things.

So while acting, see where you can bring improvement and what you can change. When you retire into meditation, say that everything is perfect; only then you can go inwards.

Usually when people close their eyes and go inward, they keep thinking, this is not okay and that is not okay and find fault in everything. They can neither mediate, nor be quiet. And in activity, people think everything is fine the way it is, why do we have to do anything about it? Then, we are at a loss.

So when you are acting, see what it is that you can do, and when you have to retire then say, ‘Everything is fine.’ This attitude will help you go deep in meditation. This is the path of Nivritti – when you have to get establish within yourself.

When you are established within yourself then your capabilities, strengths, intellect and enthusiasm to work are all increased. When all this has arisen, then return to Pravritti (action) and work with awareness and enthusiasm. Not only with awareness or only with enthusiasm, both!

|| Jai Guru Dev ||

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2026

Q: Gurudev, when will I come to know Who am I?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I tell you, first you think about who you are NOT. For the time being, drop the question, 'Who am I'?
If you come and tell me, “Gurudev, I know who I really am”, then that would mean you still do not know. And if you say, “I still do not know who I am”, then that too is not entirely true. I would say, first you try to understand who you are NOT.

Go on asking yourself, 'Who am I not'? When you find that everything that you are NOT disappears and drops off, then a deep silence shall dawn within you. Then you will realize that it is only YOU that really IS, and there is nothing else except YOU.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2026

Do you know what is needed for non-violent communication? Patience! Look inside and see, 'Am I am losing my patience?' If yes, then increase your patience.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2026

The Primal Instinct

Fear is an impression of the past reflecting about the future of the present. When people deny fear, they become egocentric, when they recognize and accept fear, they go beyond...get free from it.

Total lack of fear is possible only in utter chaos or utmost orderliness. A saint or a fool have no fear. But everywhere in between there is fear. Fear is essential to preserve orderliness in the world. It is a primal instinct.

FEAR OF DEATH PRESERVES LIFE.
FEAR OF WRONG KEEPS THE RIGHT.
FEAR OF SICKNESS BRINGS HYGIENE.
FEAR OF MISERY KEEPS YOU RIGHTEOUS.

A CHILD HAS A PINCH OF FEAR SO IT IS CAREFUL AND ALERT WHILE WALKING. A PINCH OF FEAR IS NECESSARY TO KEEP THINGS MOVING SMOOTHLY.

Because fear is love standing upside down, everything that can be interpreted with Love can also be interpreted with fear. For example, a child clinging onto its mother. This can be interpreted in both ways - out of Love or out of Fear.

This primal instinct can be totally transformed through Awareness of Divine Love.

Do not try to eliminate fear. Just meditate and know that you are nobody or that you belong to someone special...

|| Jai Guru Dev ||