QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

Q: Gurudev, the Vedic Wisdom course started today. We have come from all over the world. Please tell us what is the principle of Vedic Wisdom?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It is amazing to see how much wisdom has been there in the past. From the Vedic Wisdom program, you will get a little glimpse of the various aspects of life and tattvas, i.e., the principles and the natural laws that govern the universe. That is what you will learn.

The first initiation for this is called the Gayatri Mantra, which is a very powerful mantra. It was kept a big secret for all these years. In certain sections of society, it was given only from father to son, it was not available to general public. People were even barred from chanting it aloud. It is only in the last 10-15 years that you have started getting it on tapes, people even sing out aloud. Before that, when we were young, when I was 10, nobody would even utter it, it was kept so secretive.
I thought everyone should now get access to this beautiful chanting. The meaning of the chant is, 'Let all our intellects be inspired by the divinity deep within us. Let noble thoughts and intuitive thoughts come up in our mind and rule our intellect. Let our intellect be soaked in the transcendental consciousness.’

It is our intellect and not just mine, since it is a collective prayer and wish. Similarly, you will understand more and more during the program. Actually, if you have to study any one aspect of the Vedas, it will take 12 years, it is that vast. But in these 4 to 6 weeks, you will get a little sample of everything. I thought people would enjoy it because this Vedic wisdom does not belong to any one religion, nation alone, it is the property of the whole planet, and the whole humanity. That is how I see it. No one can say that only one particular set of people should keep it. Although in the past that has been the case, now, it is available to everybody.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026

"Love is to see GOD in the person next to us. Meditation is to see GOD within us."

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026

Relationships

How would you like to see yourself happy and bubbling with enthusiasm or dull and difficult to please?

Often you like to be pleased, appeased and cajoled. So you put up a tough, upset face and act difficult to please. If a person has to appease and please ten people all the time, it will be so tiring. People who keep a long face and expect others to cajole and appease them make others run away. Lovers often do this. They expend a lot of energy in cajoling and this brings down the joy and celebration of the moment.

It is okay for you to show your upset mood or tendency once in a while, but doing it over and over again is taxing for you and people you love.

If you feel down, appease and please yourself. Your need to be appeased by someone else is the sign of grossness. This is the root of ignorance. If you want attention, all you get is tension.
Become one whose enthusiasm never dies, come what may.

II JAI GURUDEVII

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026

Q: Gurudev, what is the secret of the exponential growth of Art of Living world over?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The effectiveness, sincerity, beauty and utility it adds to day-to-day life. Anything that is authentic, impactful, and original will always bring about a transformation, and take you on a long journey.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

WISDOM QUOTE OF SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
POSTED ON: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2026

That which you can set right, you should set it right, and that which you cannot correct, which is beyond your capacity, for that prayer is the best option.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

 

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

KNOWLEDGE SHEET BY SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2026

How to Overcome Self-Pity

See, you have already thought of overcoming it. When you thought, 'I should overcome self-pity', you are already one step out of it because you recognized that you are pitying yourself. There are many people who do not recognize that they are pitying themselves. They simply think, 'I am this way'. But when you know 'I am pitying myself', then you are out of it.

There is no how to overcome self-pity. Do you know how to wake up? You simply wake up. When someone is sleeping, and you say wake up, they just wake up. They don’t ask you, 'How do I wake up?' They have already woken up. In the same way, if you recognize you are pitying yourself, you have already woken up. Come on, get out of it, that’s it. There is no poor me. You did something in the past and you are reaping the fruit of that action. You should also not pity anybody.

In the ancient times, if someone told the Guru, 'Oh, I am suffering', they would not care about it. If you suffer, it is because you did some wrong thing. It is your karma, finish it off. It may appear that the Guru is rude and uncaring, but it was to stop you from self-pitying. It was to make you take responsibility for your actions. Otherwise, we try to run away from our responsibilities, and we pity ourselves, and others say, 'Oh you poor thing, God has been so unkind to you. I am so sorry for you'. This is all ignorance.

Pity is ignorance, whether it is self-pity or pitying someone else. Everyone gets what they deserve. But this is higher knowledge, so don’t go and tell everybody about this. People on the streets will not understand. They will think you are very rude.

If someone is suffering, you cannot say, 'It is your problem that you are suffering. You must have done something wrong'. It is true but better not say it. In your mind, you just understand it.
People go to the hospital because they violated laws of nature. You eat too much, you suffer a stomach-ache, you get diabetes. You drink too much; you get liver problems. While someone is lying in hospital you don’t say, 'You did this and now you are suffering'. No, you say, 'Okay we will do whatever we can', but never pity them.

In this universe, there is a cause and effect. For every effect there is a cause. There is a reason. If you get what you want, there is a reason. If you don’t get what you want, there is a reason. Nature is intelligent. Divine is intelligent. Self-pity is bad on the spiritual path. Do not pity yourself and do not pity anybody else also.

The difference between pity and compassion is that, when love flows into action, it is compassion. You can’t say, 'I love you so much, but I won’t do anything for you'. That is neither love nor compassion. Compassion is love plus action.

Pity is an attitude that shows regret and defies the laws of cause and effect, and the law of karma. Pity is ignorance. There is no point in blaming karma which is what you do in pity, and you show remorse.

II JAI GURUDEV II

 

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2026

Q How to deal with blame?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

When someone blames you, what do you usually do? You blame them back or you put up a resistance in yourself.

How do you feel when someone blames you? Hurt, unhappy, sad, heavy?

This is all because you are resisting! What you resist, persists.

You get hurt because you resist the blame.

Know that when someone blames you, they take away some negative karma from you. If you understand this, you will only feel happy about it.

If you resist when someone blames you, you are not allowing them to take away the negative karma. Even if you don’t react outwardly, you may still be resisting inside.

Actually, it’s fine to resist outside but inside don’t resist. You will feel im- mediately lighter. You can feel happy: Oh, good, somebody is blaming me and taking some of my negative karma.

The ignorant person says, “Don’t blame me” because it hurts him. An en- lightened person also says, “Don’t blame me.” Do you know why? Because it might hurt you. You can tell someone not to blame you out of anger or out of compassion.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar