QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

POSTED ON: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2026

 

Q: You talked about the body. I want to know what the connection is between the body and the five elements.

 

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

 

Earth, water, fire, air, ether - the five elements. If any one of this element is missing, this body cannot stay or sustain. Isn't it? Earth element - food, water element, then you need fire element or heat. Without heat, this body cannot survive. Then is air – impossible for body to exist without it, and space or ether. The five elements have been the cause or reason for the body's existence and what happens to this body? It has come out of the five elements and will go back to the five elements, this is science.

 

There are five elements in the dead body also. So what is the difference between a living and a dead body? In a living body, there is life and what is this life?

 

When the question begins then you see oh, 'PRANA' - there is life force, and then you go deeper into the study of 'PRANA' and you see there is something more than 'PRANA'.

 

What is that, that is the mind! Oh, then what is the mind? How many types of mind are there? How many functions of the mind are there? This curiosity takes you to the 'Art of Living'.

 

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar