Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Daily Sutras and Knowledge Sheets

Subject: Guilt and mistakes

One with deluded intellect supports even his wrong actions. Know that the one who does a mistake and supports it is lacking in maturity of intellect. But some people do repentance with guilt. That also doesn’t solve the purpose. That is why Master/Disciple tradition exists. Master would guide the disciple to do something to be free from the guilt. Or if you simply tell the Master that some mistake has happened through you, then also you come out of the guilt. Even if you tell this to yourself in your mind that you have done some mistake, the mind calms down. Why does a mistake happen? Because of ignorance. When you have lighted the lamp of this knowledge inside you, you become free in the present.




{Knowledge Sheet} Subject: A purified intellect has strong faith.

Q : My heartiest gratitude to you. Who are you Gurudev?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : First, you know yourself. Why are you putting your effort in knowing me? You don’t know who you are. First, know that how many times have you come in this world? When you know yourself, it will be very easy to know me.

Q : Sometimes, I feel that you are with me and watching me all the time. At some other times I feel that I am not connected. I feel distracted during those times. I am unable to do sadhana also in such times. A lot of thoughts come in the mind. What should I do then?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : you have given answer in the question itself. Nature of devotion is such that you feel longing in its absence. Once you get a glimpse of devotion, then its absence causes perturbation in mind. It is not that devotion is absent there but you feel as if it is not there, and you feel restless with this feeling. If we look in the light of knowledge, Shri Narada has said in Bhakti Sutras that the very indication of devotion is that you experience bliss in its presence and its absence makes you restless. This shows that you have devotion, and consider yourself as lucky when you experience such restlessness in mind. You feel absence of devotion only for some time. Devotion is anyway always there, it never dies, but you may feel that it has decreased. This is natural. This happens only to those who have a very good luck. Otherwise, inert person doesn’t feel any devotion. Mind of such a person is tormented with worries.

Q: How can we strengthen the faith?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Your very thought to strengthen the faith strengthens it. Move ahead assuming that your faith is very strong. When your intellect is purified, faith automatically gets strong. We should have a pure diet in order to purify the intellect. So, pay attention on your food. If you eat food thinking all sort of negative things in the world, that also affects the intellect. Many times people get time to converse only during meals, and they discuss about topics like diseases while preparing and eating the food. This is very wrong, and we need to get rid of this habit. You become what you eat. The type of food you take governs your mind. And again your mind has a direct impact on your body. That is why you should eat food with a happy state of mind. If we are very excited, we cannot swallow food with ease. Also if we are restless, we end up eating more food. So, it is important to have food with awareness.

Q : Whenever I see you, tears start to roll down the eyes. I feel as if I know you since ages. Is it true?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : You are doubting your own experience. Then it is surely true. We doubt the positive, and not the negative. We doubt somebody’s honesty. Nobody has ever doubted dishonesty of a person. Same way, if somebody asks you if you are happy, you say, “I don’t know whether I am happy or not”. But we are so sure of our depression. We doubt in the existence of God. We never doubt in the existence of this changeable and mortal world. Evolved scientists understand that there is a question mark on the apparently looking reality.

Q : You told that God can be experienced in a state of effortlessness. What does it mean to be effortless?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Being effortless does not mean stop eating, drinking or doing other work. This has a deeper meaning. Keep on doing all your work, and while doing your work, know inside you that you are doing nothing. In the beginning, you sit for some time and experience that you are doing nothing. Then you will start experiencing that even you are doing but there is a field in you which is not doing anything. Ancient sages had beautifully explained this. There are two birds sitting on the same tree. One is eating and the other is only witnessing this. In the above context, it is the free bird which is being discussed, the bird which is effortlessly witnessing. Pay attention to that also. The two birds are friends. They live together. One is always witnessing and other is involved in all the work. Effortlessness does not mean sitting idle. Lord Sri Krishna said in Geeta that you cannot be without doing any action even for a second. Keep on doing your karma and at the same time be the witness of your karma. This is very deep knowledge. After the session a book was released – Understanding Shiva. While launching the book Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told that the book also included a scientific perspective of all pervading Shiva tattva. 

Guruji's Knowledge Sheet: Awakening God

Sri Sri: Who Wakes Up First? You Or God?


You wake up first. God is still asleep. When you wake up first, you experience pain and pleasure. You become aware of the shortcomings of the world and its beauty. Then you cry for help and seek the ultimate and then you wake up God. And when God is awakened in you, there is no "two."


When both God and you are asleep, there is inertia. When the "I" is asleep, there is no experience.


God is in you in seed form. When he wakes up, you cease to exist. God is asleep in every particle in this universe. It's you who wakes up first and then you awaken God. And when God wakes up, neither you nor the world remain.


The rishis made a mockery. They created a practice of awakening God every morning. They call it Suprabhatam service. Many find this ridiculous because they don't understand the depth of it. Only awakened God can see that God is asleep everywhere. [Laughter.]


Brinda: Why should we wake up?


Sri Sri: Because you are not asleep. If you were asleep, how can you ask the question?


Bill: Once you are awake, can you go back to sleep?


Sri Sri: If you have not had tea, of course.


Bill: Who wakes us up?


Sri Sri: You figure that out.