A Spiritual Approach To Death, Abundance & Purpose w/Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar EP 1216

This is episode number 1216 with Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Welcome to the School of Greatness.

My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

Welcome back, my friend.

Today's guest is very special. His name is Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and he is recognized globally as a humanitarian, spiritual leader, and peacemaker. He has touched the lives of more than 450 million people around the world, resolving conflicts through dialogue and self-awareness. teaching positive approaches to living, including techniques to alleviate stress and anxiety, and by his example of selfless service. His organization, the Art of Living, is best known for their Sky Breath Meditation.

Program that we get into, and he's.

Also released his new book, An Intimate.

Note to the Sincere Seeker, which I've.

Been diving in and loving reading. It's really inspiring. In this episode, we discuss what he believes happens when we die, and how we should think about death. The importance of meditating and how to tap into your meditative power. Why we're bad at being happy and a few simple practices to bring more joy into your life. How to find spiritual abundance and so much more. I was really moved and inspired by this message.

I hope you enjoy it.

If you do, please share this with a few friends. You can text a few friends, post on social media. Make sure to tag myself and Gurudev.

As well. And if this is your first time.

Here, please subscribe to the School of Greatness over on Apple Podcast or Spotify or over on YouTube and let us know what you enjoyed most about this episode. At the end, you can leave us a review or post on social media and let me know what you enjoyed the most. Okay, in just a moment, the one and only Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

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I read in your bio that you graduated college when you were 17, I believe, and you also studied physics. But you're also a very gifted spiritual leader. So I'm curious what you have learned from physics and spirituality about death and what happens when we die. This has been something I've been very curious about. I've heard lots of different answers out there, but I'm curious from your experience and your wisdom, what happens when we die.

You know, by physics we know matter and energy, they are interconvertible and you cannot destroy them. So our spirit is nothing but energy. So it's just parting way with the body, the spirit. It stays on. The energy stays on. I would say it's just like a mini sleep, you know, when you go to every night when you knock the pillow and then you are off for so many hours, you don't know where you are and then you wake up in the same way, but with little more intensity, with little more awareness, little more awareness. Death is parting away from the physical body. It appears to be so painful for once you have not had that experience, experience. But people who have had near-death experiences, you might have heard from them all. Yeah. That it's a very pleasant thing. So also in meditation, when you go into deep meditation, you can see that there is a difference, very notable difference. And it's not as painful or ugly as one thinks of.

Right. Do you think we should fear it or be more excited about death?

Neither, just take it as it is.

Just take it as it is. I heard, I don't know if this is 100% true or not, but I heard that the country of Bhutan is supposed to be one of the happiest places in the world. I'm not sure if that's 100% true or not. And I heard that one of their practices or philosophies is to think about their death multiple times a day. I don't know if it's three times or five times a day. And I don't know if the whole country does this or if this is just a practice that some people do. Why would it be valuable to think about our death multiple times throughout the day or the week?

You don't have to think multiple times, but time and again reminding ourselves that we are in a transit lounge, my dear. We are going to exit from here sometime. And the life here is temporary. you know, it's ephemeral. When this idea comes to our mind, what happens is those unnecessary things that we get embroiled into, they just drop off.

Right.

So more purposefulness starts coming into our life. And we think, hey, wait a minute, what is that I want? You know, is this really what I want? These questions rise up within you because you know life is short and you want to get maximum out of it.

Right. Was there ever a point in your life where you didn't know what you wanted or why you wanted something?

Not since I was a child. Always had an idea, you know, what's going to happen.

There's a lot of people that seem in the world that seems like they're struggling to figure out their mission or purpose or what they want. they're kind of scattered or they're just unsure of what direction to go. It seems like you didn't have that.

I didn't have that problem.

So for people that have that problem, how can they start to figure out at least just the next step towards a direction?

You know, confusion is very good.

It's good.

They should feel that they should be lucky that they got this confusion.

Why is that?

Every confusion tells you that you are growing. You are not happy with what it is, what is. You are not contented, but you are looking for something more. And confusion is that state in between two steps of progress in life.

So.

If you are confused, note that it is just a momentary phase. and something of the past you are ready to let go.

Interesting.

And you are looking for something different in the future.

So it seems like you weren't really confused that much because you knew what you wanted to create, you knew what your direction was, and you've been on that journey for a long time.

Yeah.

There's another aspect within us that is intuitive power.

Intuitive power.

If we tap into our intuitive power, Then, you know, not much confusion is there.

Besides meditation, because I'm assuming that's a big part of it, how would we tap into our intuitive power more powerfully?

Live in the present moment. Keep your mind more focused in the now and here. Be with the nature. And keep aside for some time that buzzy mind which says, I have so many things to do. I want to do this, do that, do that. Say, okay, I'm not going to do anything now. How about not doing anything for a few moments? Getting off of that coat that you wear all the time. that gives you an opening into a space that you really seek for. And then there you get the intuition. Deep relaxation, deep rest is very essential in life.

How do you, I mean, you're a You're a world leader who's helping people relieve stress and anxiety, solving problem, massive problems in the world for people, for countries, for governments, for businesses. How do you create the space and time for yourself to rest, to be present when more and more is demanded of you potentially of people needing your service?

You know, one thing I know is that whatever demand is put on me, I have that energy and capability to do that.

You have the energy and capability to do it.

I believe that.

Otherwise they wouldn't be put on you.

Otherwise nature won't put those situations in front of me. So I'm not bothered. Second is I'm not bothered about the outcome either.

The outcome.

You know if you are worried about the outcome, that's when your energy gets drained. And when you're confident, your outcome is going to be the best. And it happens so.

What do you worry about then?

Nothing. If put all you had to worry, I would say, you know, you should worry big. You should worry about the planet, about the environment, about the violence in the world. these are some big worries is worth having. And once we think in these lines, then that gives you a lot of energy. It motivates you like you motivate people to do things. It's a self-motivating factor. When you see world with a wide angle lens.

It motivates you more when you focus on bigger challenges in the world as opposed to focusing on yourself. What happens when we just focus on our needs, our own goals, and not also supporting others?

Well, you don't realize your full potential. If you're just thinking about yourself, your little things that you need to Anyway, you can achieve it, anyway you can do it, you are going to have what you focus on. But it cannot give you that satisfaction which you get by sharing with everyone, with the whole world. Now, there is a formula to get depressed. That is, just think only about yourself. What about me? What about me? you're bound to get depressed.

Right.

And today in our world, this is the biggest challenge. People who are only thinking about themselves, they're more depressed than those who are, you know, focused on some social activity, some service activity.

It's really hard to be depressed when you're in service to someone else, when you're helping others, when you're giving, when you're listening to people. It's really hard.

Yeah, it doesn't happen that way.

It doesn't happen, right. Has there ever been a time where you've doubted yourself?

You know, doubt is just low prana. Prana is energy, I would say.

Low prana.

Low prana.

What is prana?

Prana is a life force. When your life force is low, then you doubt. You doubt yourself, you doubt others, you doubt everybody. The best way is to do some breathing exercise at that moment. And then right there you are out of that doubting mind. You know, another thing is we must understand the mechanism of doubt itself.

Say that again.

We should understand what doubt is all about.

What is it?

Yeah. It's always about something positive. Have you thought about it?

Give me an example.

You know, someone doubts the honesty of someone, but you don't doubt the dishonesty of somebody.

Right.

See, you hear from somebody so and so is dishonest. You don't go, Really?

Right.

Same way, you know, someone tells you, I love you so much, you ask them, Really? We doubt love, we never doubt hatred. If someone says, I'm mad at you, you never go, really. You wonder about those wonderful qualities that we have, and so we doubt them too. We doubt the honesty of a person, we doubt our own happiness. If someone asks you, Are you happy? Say, well, I'm not sure. But you're so certain about your depression. No one ever says, I'm not sure whether I'm depressed.

You're confident in your depression.

You are confident. You are so sure about your negativities. But you're not so sure about the positive.

Why is that?

That's the nature. That's how it is. So when we understand this, then you know we get a very different perspective of doubts. We rise above them. And breathing techniques help in a big way. It takes your self-doubt away. It brings the intuitive ability in you to trust others. And then you trust in a bigger power. the higher self.

Is that what you, I mean, do you ever doubt yourself when you're called upon to help, you know, bigger problems in the world and people, very important people in the world come to you and say, please give us the answers and they're expecting you to give them the solutions. Do you ever feel insecure or doubt yourself and your abilities?

Never happens. Never, never happens. Because I know someone is asking me something. and nature has given those things to me. That's why they're asking. See, nobody will come and ask you to treat someone if they know you are not a doctor. They see you have some ability. That's why they come to you. And so you give your ideas, you give your mind, you know, you give your thoughts to that and you give you 100%.

Right.

It seems like there's a lot of people in the world who just doubt their abilities. They doubt their abilities, their skills, their talents, and they feel insecure about if they are capable of creating and accomplishing or achieving their dreams and goals. Why do you think that people doubt themselves?

It's not because you are so conscious about your own image. What will happen if I fail? The fear of failure creates a doubt in oneself. But when you take life in its totality, you know, life with all its ups and downs, and you don't, you don't wonder, I mean, you don't worry if a failure sets in for a little while. I say, Never mind. You do your best. See, you go on a running race and if you keep worrying, will I lose the race, you will never be able to run.

Right?

So you do your best, you give your 100%. It doesn't happen, doesn't it?

What's been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome so far in your life, your adult life?

Prejudice.

Prejudice.

Prejudice. People have lots of different types of prejudice. of race, religion, culture, language, gender. And this is what I feel.

Is.

A hindrance to our society, world over. Every country, there are prejudice. All types of prejudice. People who think they know and they don't know that there are paradigm shifts and things to keep happening differently. This was what we had to face in the beginning, you know, when I used to talk about meditation and yoga, breathing. 40 years back, people thought, you're crazy or something. It's not for normal people, it's a little weird. It's not for the normal, you know.

Common, the mainstream, the mainstream. And now yoga and meditation's everywhere.

Everywhere.

You can't go down the street in LA without seeing a yoga studio.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This type of prejudice, when we see this sort of prejudice about gender, what we see in Afghanistan or some other Gulf countries against women and in Africa, I mean, it pains, you know. It's painful. They should all be treated equally. Justice should prevail.

How have you dealt with prejudice over your life then?

With patience and perseverance. And not let that preoccupy you. You see prejudice, but don't pay too much attention to it. You just keep going ahead and, you know, it gets sorted out by itself.

That's beautiful. Do you feel like it's harder now? Do you face more Prejudice now or 40 years ago when you were getting started in this?

I think in the beginning, it was more.

Yeah.

Why do you think it's less now?

I think people are more exposed to wide range of information. And the internet and media has played a good role. And people like you have all done greatness schools and brought more awareness to people about, you know, the real values of life. It has made an impact. And young people, young people today are much more aware.

Right, right. Young people seem to want, at least in this country, they seem to want to manifest abundance in their life. It seems like they want more financial abundance, more abundant health, you know, abundance in their relationships. Why do you think humans are wired for more? Wired for abundance? Why is it so important?

There's nothing wrong about it. you go for abundance. But don't postpone being happy for future dates.

Yes.

You have to be happy now, here today. And I think wrong for you to think about, you know, what you need to do in five years later or 10 years later. You know, you can, you can have, you can go for abundance. You can go for more and more. whatever you feel like. But don't forget there is something much bigger inside of you.

What is that?

That you should not forget. The joy, the happiness that you get in sharing. Now there are two types of joy. One is that you get while you get things. This is an infant joy. As kids we all Right. Have you known your birthday presents, your gift, Christmas gifts? And you know, you are eager to get something. And when you get, you become so happy. But there is another happiness. That's the grandmother's happiness, grandfather's happiness, the Santa Claus happiness.

And a gift.

When you give, you find yourself in a better space. When you share with others, you even more happier. That's a mature happiness. And that type of happiness we must aim for in our life. It's okay, the joy of having, getting more, earning more, nothing wrong about it. Don't feel guilty about it. You can go on, but make sure you share and get the greatest joy by sharing.

What happens if we don't share?

You.

Remain very restricted in your personal and social life, in your spiritual life. You remain very restricted. I would say, How do you like a friend of yours who is very selfish?

You don't like them as much.

You don't like them. So, don't you want you to be seen as someone who cares and shares with everybody?

Is the greater joy in receiving a gift or in giving a gift?

The giving joy, the joy in giving is much more, much bigger and much stronger than the joy in getting.

So if someone said, okay, I understand that giving has a greater joy behind it, but I really want to attract more wealth or attract more opportunities in my career. I want to manifest abundance more. What would be the foundation for manifesting? Would it be in service and giving and gratitude and Though they appear to.

Be completely contradictory, they are not. You can't give unless you have.

That's true.

How can you give unless you have? You can't do charity from an empty bowl. Right. So you take, but you earn, you focus on getting, you know, abundance in your life. Abundance is a necessary. It's also, abundance is not just what you materially have, it's also an attitude in the mind. You may have a lot and still you may feel that you lack. The sense of lack inside you will eat you up. It will eat the joy, it will constrain you in many ways. Your communication will break down. your communication with others will break down.

And.

It says a lot about your behavioral pattern as well. You know, it impacts your behavior. But when you have this idea, I want to share and be part of everybody and everyone is part of you in a sense of belongingness with everyone else. That is when really, you know, life is fulfilling.

You hear lots of stories of people who make all the money in the world, but then commit suicide or aren't happy or get divorced. They're stressed inside, right?

Absolutely.

So how does someone learn to develop spiritual abundance then? The abundance inside you're talking about, whether they have all the material things in the world or they have nothing. How do we start to develop the spiritual abundance?

You need to have balance. You can't spend half of your health to get wealth and then half of your wealth to get back your health. So basically we need to find that balance between work-life balance, you know, And then social life and personal life, you have to balance that. Take some time for oneself to go within. Meditation will help you a great deal to bring the balance in life. And it also will kindle a lot of creativity from within you. Meditation is not just sitting and thinking something. It's tapping the source of enthusiasm that you are. See, you may have all wealth and all abundance, but if there is no sense of wow in your life, it's all a waste.

Right.

Correct.

Yes.

So, and to be in a perpetual state of wow, is what I would call as a spiritual elevation, or spiritual attainment.

Right.

A consistent state of wow or awe.

Awe. Yes. And then love for everyone.

Yeah.

Sense of belongingness with everybody.

How does someone love the people that do a lot of harm in the world? or that are causing a lot of pain or that are hurting them personally. How does someone learn to love without being taken advantage of or, you know, abused or these things?

See, when you see someone is doing wrong, you can't love them straight away. It's impossible. And you'll try, you'll do all that you can, then It will be a failure. First and foremost is we have to see every culprit as a victim inside them, crying for help. If someone is doing wrong, why are they doing wrong?

They are hurting inside.

They are hurting inside. So when you see them from a wide angle lens, you see that they need help. See, every child who has come into this planet has come as a good baby, lovely, happy, loving child. But in growing up or with wrong information, lack of proper education or an environment has made them what they are today. So they need no condemnation but Compassion. So if you can reach out to them, reach out and understand them. And you know, when we start shaking hands with these people and make them understand where they are, what they are, they transform. You know, we have been doing this work in the prisons around the world. About 800,000 prisoners.

Prisoners.

Prisoners, yeah. The hardcore criminals, many of them, total transformation. And you see they're not bad guys as we think they are.

Just made bad decisions, yeah.

And circumstances and situation put them where they are. And they're nice people, good people. So then, you know, first when you see them from this angle and first you forgive them, after you forgive them, you understand them. Then you have compassion, then that compassion turns into unconditional love. So it's a step to go there, you see, it's a couple of steps to reach the level where you can love everybody.

You mentioned the soul's enthusiasm. I'm curious in your thoughts, when does the soul enter the body?

The body.

When does it enter the body? This is something I'm very fascinated about. When the body is being formed in the belly, when does the soul enter? And Where is the soul? How big is the soul? Where is it? I'll start with that question first.

Now, if I ask the question, Where are you in your body? What you would say?

Everywhere in my body.

Everywhere and yet nowhere.

Right.

That's exactly the soul. Soul is that energy, that vibe.

Energy Vibe, is what you said?

Energy Vibe, it's vibrations.

Vibrations, yeah.

So it's not a substance, it's gelight.

So.

At the time of conception.

You.

Know, this energy comes in, sometimes at the third month or ninth month, or when the child is being born. At that time also, these vibes can change three, four times in the total period of those nine months.

Wait a minute, the soul can change?

Yeah, the vibes of the souls can change.

Or the souls can change. Different souls can be really different. That's interesting. So where does this soul come from? like just light enters in the soul is formed.

It is there. See, in this space, now I'll give you an example. In this space, there is CNN, there is Fox News, there is BBC, there is all these different waves are here, correct?

Yes.

And whatever you tune into, that will start manifesting in your boom box.

Right. In your tube or your TV. Yeah.

In your TV. Seem our bodies are just like the boombox.

That's crazy. That's crazy.

It just manifests a certain frequencies.

So.

Usually it's at the time of conception it stays on. Sometimes it can also happen that after some time that gives space to another soul then it carries on.

Really? It's fascinating. So, when our bodies die, does our soul go into another body? Does it stay in space for a while?

Space for a while.

And then it re-enters into another body.

And then enters into another physical form. Physical form.

Is it always another human form?

Is it- Mostly.

It can be animal form too, or- But it is. Very right.

It is possible.

Interesting.

It's possible. It depends on your last thought with which you leave the body.

Really?

Yes.

Your last thought.

If your last thought is about your poultry farm, you can find yourself in the poultry farm. Wow.

How many body forms do you think one soul enters? or goes into over time?

I don't know. There is no criteria.

But you do believe that we enter different physical forms over time. It could be a few, it could be many, but we don't know.

According to the Vedic thought, is it 24, 80, 840 800,000.

840,000 forms and bodies. Wow. That the soul enters.

Souls can.

That's amazing. Is that from the Bhagavad Gita or is that from...

It's from the Puranas.

Okay.

And did I read that you've... Chaurasi Lak, 84 Lak. Lak is 100,000.

Oh my gosh. And did I read... I don't know if this is true, but did you memorize the Bhagavad Gita? you can recall a lot of it pretty much. You've read it many times.

I have not.

That is incredible. So multiple physical forms that the soul enters. So do we have the same soul in the next life then, or is the soul evolved into something else?

See, soul is the energy which has some impressions with it. You leave this body with its strongest memories and impressions and that's with you like a balloon. And then when you get the body, then those qualities manifest. This is a common thing. There are many child prodigies. You'll see small young children playing violin when they are three, four years old. There is nothing uncommon. You find it so very often, so many places.

This is all fascinating to me, so I am very curious. If it sounds, these questions are weird, I am just curious. So does the soul, in your opinion, stay on planet Earth or does the soul go into different places in the universe? Does it have that potential?

I think the soul is like energy waves. lives. So they cannot be restricted to locations.

They go anywhere.

Yeah.

That's incredible.

Isn't it? It's fascinating. I tell you, when we get into meditation and get into this new dimension that we have not been aware of in our own life, a whole new world opens in front of us. Yeah. You know, it not only makes us happy, but also brings up that curiosity within you and so much more new information that can keep you fascinated for the rest of your life.

Can you recall a meditation experience for you that actually blew your mind, that made you think, Wow, I've been meditating for decades now, but this one thing, I just saw things in a different way, or I went to a different place.

Every meditation is a wow thing.

Too.

Because it is going from a happening space to a space which originates all happenings.

What is that space?

That is something which cannot be described. You cannot describe it in words. That is why it is wow. And wow is something which words cannot explain.

You can feel it though.

You can feel it. You can be it.

You can be it, but you can't explain it. How often do you feel that then for yourself?

All the time, every day, every day.

What is something that's surprised you about the human condition in the last few years that maybe you weren't even aware of? Something new you discovered? Because I feel like you've learned so much at a very young age. Is there anything new that surprised you about human behavior, why humans are acting the way they act?

See, I learned to see the human behavior, human life like a movie. It's interesting.

Yeah, it is.

You know, human interactions and the way things go on, the way people behave, it's an entertainment place. It's a Disneyland. I think we are on a perpetual Disneyland.

Yeah.

So, when you see this from that witness, when you don't get yourself immersed in it, in the happenings, then you can enjoy it. It's again very difficult to say where we are heading to.

So.

Why people are doing whatever they are doing, if you question this, One thing comes very clear, everybody is looking for some happiness.

Why are they looking for it? Why don't they just be it?

Just be it, because they don't know.

They don't know how to be happy.

How to be happy, how to get to the space.

What's the...

But as children we have been.

Right, it's easy to get there.

And we were there. As kids we all had that experience. And if you are wise, you understand life with a broader perspective. You are there.

What's the fastest way to be happy if you're feeling stressed or anxious?

Number one, you need some practical tools when you feel stressed and anxious. Any amount of talking doesn't help. I would recommend people to attend to their breath, take long, deep breaths, do some breathing exercises.

Get back in the body.

Get back in the body. Learn about breathing exercises, do some breathing techniques, number one. Second, see life from a bigger perspective. Like we began today remembering the death, You remember, Yes, I'm going to kick the bucket, you know, I'm going to go off of the screen. What next, you know? Think about it. Think about the end of your life, you know, of this. The curtain is going to come down on this show. That awareness, number two. Third, I would say, wake up and see there are people who are much more needy than you are. There are those who are in a bad shape. You know, think what you can do for them. instead of sitting and worrying about your own issues. And fourth is, note that with your own experience from the past, this is not the first time you are anxious in your life. You have been anxious before. You have always had some help. Remember, there is some force some power, we call God or higher self or something is there that's compassionate and that has helped you before and that's going to help you now also.

Yeah.

These few things, you know, just remembering them, keeping in mind can help you immensely.

And where does depression come from? We talked about it a little bit, but anxiety and stress is one thing, but depression, why? do people get depressed and stay in a depressed state? Is it only because they're thinking of.

Themselves or they're... Again, I would say low energy.

Low energy, yeah.

Low prana.

Low prana.

And suicidal tendency is also same thing. You know, when the prana goes so down, then you don't want to keep this body. It's like having a very tight jacket. If your jacket is too tight, you.

Just want to take it off.

Take it off. But it's not going to help, you know, it's very cold and you're taking the jacket off, it's not going to help you. Here again, when you increase your prana level, your energy level, breathing, meditation, all these practices.

Service, yeah.

You are just out of it. You know, here in America, we are done these programs, welcome home troops for about 5,000 veterans. They were all very depressed and PTSD syndromes and post-traumatic stress syndrome. Once they did the Sky exercises, the techniques, in three days, two days, three days, they were back to normal. They were back in themselves.

The prana was higher.

The prana was higher and their families were so happy. You can't be happy if one of your family member is in depression and the two head of the family is in depression. They are staying in the basement all day. You know, it impacts the entire family. So when they started doing these techniques and practice a little bit of meditation, short time, three, four days, five days, they are back to normal. And this has happened here. And same with youngsters also in colleges, you know, we're teaching this Sky program in 101 universities all across US. So it's for credit in many universities. Stanford, Harvard, everywhere. This helps a student also to rise their energy level, enthusiasm level, and give a bigger prospect to life itself, perspective to a bigger and I would say greater purposefulness in life.

What happens if human beings don't find a meaningful mission or a high quality of purpose? What happens to the human mind, the body, the spirit?

One thing is they live a routine life, like boredom or not even feel the boredom where the intellect goes to sleep. Then you don't need to look for a purpose in life. You just exist. You don't start living then. But it's when your intellect awakens, it's more mature, you start thinking, what's the purpose of life? Where do I want to go? After all this, what do I get? These questions start coming up within you. That's a sign of a mature intellect. And once we have the spirit of inquiry about life itself, then our spiritual journey begins.

What about people that say, you, know what? I just want to have a simple life. I want to not try too hard, not do too much. Like, I'm happy. just, you know, living by a pond and fishing all day. And I have a couple friends, but I'm not really contributing more be outside beyond that. I don't need more. I'm happy with little things. I don't need to manifest more money or serve on a big level, but I'm happy kind of where I'm at. What do you say to people like that? Should they be striving to reach a higher potential? Is that a great life in itself? Or what should they be thinking about?

No, that's fine. Tell them you're satisfied, you're fulfilled. Good. Yeah. Good. Unless your house is on fire, where you need help from others.

Right.

Then you run here and there and you want to gather some help and you see, till then you are very comfortable in your comfortable space, that's okay. you can be. But remember to stretch your hand to those who are in need. If you can have that tendency in you, that's good. You don't have to be over ambitious. You don't have to change the world or nothing. No need. You are happy, then you radiate happiness. That's good. If you are not stressed, if you are not irritable, you know, and you don't get irritated too much, then you are really spiritual.

Yeah.

That's nice.

You're already, you know, very mature. Right.

What happens when we radiate love energy or we radiate stress energy? If we're being that state, in that state of being, how is that energy radiating? How far does it radiate and ripple into others?

It depends on your centeredness, your dispassion. That's strong it radiates. See each one of us are Just a fountain of love, fountain of joy. But somewhere it gets clogged. So you unclog it, then it's already available. Human potential is huge. I would say, each individual can radiate so much of positivity in the world. And that itself is a very big thing. It can nullify a lot of negativity around.

Just having a positive energy.

Absolutely. Yeah.

What's more powerful, a positive energy or a negative state? Is it easy to lift someone out of a negative state or is it easier to pull someone down into a negative state? if you're there.

See, the easy or difficult is very comparative. It's very relative. It depends on who is doing it.

Sure. And their energy.

Yeah, their energy. For someone it's very easy to get the negativity off like that. For someone else it's very difficult to suck them into negativity. So it's very, it's very relative, I would say. But one thing, people with negativity are more active than those with positivity.

They're more active, meaning what?

In the world you see, the negative energies becomes a little more active.

They speak more, they talk about it, they gossip more, they're causing drama, they're bringing it on other people, right?

Why is that?

That.

That's how it is. Yeah. See, with the Colombian peace process, people who were for the peace were more, but they all didn't go to vote. People who were against the peace accord were very less in number, but they were all very proactive. They all voted. And then, you know, the referendum Well, same with Brexit, you see, in London, you'll find that the negative tendency is more active, more dynamic than the positive. It may be necessary for some time. When you want to break a system, you need more of those negative forces. But you cannot hold on to it forever. You can't do anything constructive about it.

Mm-.

So for construction, you need a positive, conscious, aware energy.

And what happens when we're creating in life, building a business, going after a goal in athletics, in sports or music, what happens when we create from a place of hurt, pain, and anger and resentment, as opposed to creating from a place of love, light, joy and peace.

Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

From whichever, even from pain, you are creating something, as long as you are creating, it's fine. If the pain is self-destructive and is distracting others, that is where you have to worry. But if the pain becomes a cause of some creativity, you should know that same energy is being channelized in a very useful and proper manner. After all, it's just energy. It's the same energy, whether positive or negative, within us. Just its direction makes it whether it's positive or negative. So it can be utilized that way. There's nothing wrong.

So you can create from any emotion.

Any emotion, all emotions.

But what I'm hearing you say is if you're creating from a painful, wounded, hurt place or anxious place...

Many, many good songs Songs have come out of it. Many melodramas have come out of those. And so, and we cannot expect the world not to have them at all. See, pain and pleasure are two sides of existence. They all exist. The contrast makes, the contrast brings the knowledge of them actually.

Right.

You start appreciating the other one.

Do you experience a lot of pain in your life?

Not in this lifetime.

Not in this lifetime. It must be nice.

But I do feel the pain of anybody out there.

Really?

Yeah.

So you feel the energy.

I feel it.

But you don't hold on to the energy. It comes in, you let it go.

Yes.

How does someone learn to not let the energy of someone else be like cling onto their heart, their soul, their body, their mind, if they're empathetic, compassionate human beings.

Meditation.

Meditation. Because there's a lot of empathetic people that will listen to someone's, you know, challenges and pain, and then it's just, they're almost depressed because of it.

I know, I know, I know. I have experienced this with Volunteers who are working for Red Cross, you know, they go out and they do so much with all their heart, their soul, and they feel such a burnout.

Because it will take on so much pain and suffering.

The burnout is so big, you know. So when they start doing meditation, taking some time for themselves, be with nature, listen to music, relax, and, you know, erase all that impressions they got in their mind, they find themselves back into action, back into energy. I think it's very important for us to save our mind, save our, you know, consciousness from these impressions. It's similar like, you know, a doctor is going to treat patients in the hospital and he has to take care of himself and not carry those with him, you know, and bring it to home, bringing home.

So, so is it a, is it a compartmentalize or is it let it come and let it leave like more of a flowing situation?

No, you become so robust that it.

Doesn'T, it doesn't touch you. So you can hear it, you can listen, you can watch it. but it doesn't affect.

It doesn't stay inside us.

It doesn't stay.

See, no images stay in your mirror right when you're driving.

Right.

They all reflect. But if they stay, it's no longer a mirror.

Right. Yeah, right.

So our mind is like a mirror, right? It can reflect anything 100%. But if you keep it wiped and keep it clean, then it doesn't hold on to anything. mm-.

Speaking of the mind, why do you think so many people hold on to negative thoughts? Why do they say negative thoughts about themselves, think negative thoughts and repeat it internally?

Neither at home nor in school have we ever been taught how to handle negative emotions.

That's why we're here at the School of Greatness.

Never we were taught, right?

Yeah.

Nobody taught us how Our breath is linked to our emotions and our emotions and the sensation in different parts of the body are all linked. But we taught this wisdom. When we learn something about ourselves, you know, about our body, our breath, mind, our intellect, our emotions, our memory, what do you know if you are given 10 compliments and 1 insult what do you hold on to?

Most people hold on to the insult.

Yeah. And 10 years of friendship and 2 months of conflict equalizes them, you know, just erases the rest of it. So these tendencies of the mind we have not understood. And that is what I call this whole program as Art of Living, Art of Happiness is learning about the seven layers of your own existence, body, a little bit about our body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego, what is your ego, what is your self pride, or how it interferes with you, with your behaviors, how it is necessary. If you have low self-esteem, how to get out of that. If you have hesitations inside of you, how to break that and why you draw boundaries around you and say, this is what I am, rather than seeing a little bit beyond your own identity, what you think as your identity. These are some very basic things that can trigger you and uplift you to a happier state of mind. And so these are the workshops we have been teaching for the last 40 years now.

You said the seven things: the body, the breath, the mind, intellect, memory, ego, and the Self. and the self.

There is something deep inside you that doesn't change. Your body has changed, your thought has changed, your emotions keep changing all the time. But there is a reference point by which you knew that everything is changing. That's something that is not changing.

What is that thing?

That is what we don't pay attention to. That is what is you. You know, and that is the space, that is the most beautiful aspect of your being, your soul, you know. And to get connected with this, being aware of it makes a whole lot of difference in one's life. And meditation is getting to that self.

Right. It's the solution.

Sir. Oh, you go around and come back to the point. Back to the point.

So thoughts and emotions. If someone is thinking in a pattern of thinking negative thoughts, I'm not good enough, I'm not lovable, I made a mistake over and over again, I'm an idiot, I'm stupid, whatever the negative thought is, what would you say is one of the fastest ways to get out of negative thought and into at least neutral thought or more positive vibration. Is it again back to the meditation practice? Is it the awareness? Is it these three things you said, the four things you said before about happiness, breathing, seeing life from a bigger perspective?

All that is plus. I would tell them, okay, whatever happened happened in the past. Why don't you wake up now and start a fresh new life today? You know, can you close a chapter and begin a new one? Just think about it. And don't think you cannot do it. You can. I would say that's good friendship. A friend is one who uplifts the other from this state of low Self-esteem, low feeling. You see? I have a criteria for a good friend and a bad friend. A good friend is one with whom you sit and share your problems and when you walk away from them, you would feel very light and see, oh, you thought the problem was so big and it's not so big anymore.

Right.

And a bad friend is one, you come to him with a problem, keep your and then when you walk away you said oh I thought it's... I didn't realize it is much bigger than what I thought it was. So that guy, that friend, he or she is not a good friend because he made you feel your problem much bigger than what you initially thought it was. You see? And another aspect is we have to see that In the world of changing events and changing things, people's mind change. Don't sit and worry what others are thinking about you all the time. You know, nobody has any time to think about you.

Right.

They're worried about themselves.

They're worried about themselves. They are in their own little world. So often people worry what others are thinking about them. they're concerned about others' opinion.

Why does that hurt us so much when we think about other people thinking about us?

This itself is hurting.

What's that?

This very idea itself is hurting. What others may be thinking about me.

This.

Doubting and guessing. It shows, it erodes our self-esteem.

When we worry about what other people are thinking about us, it erodes away. So how do we get out of that fear of judgment?

We should see that, see, put yourself in the same shoe. You have been thinking about others, what you write all the time, you have judgment about others, you have found 90% of the time they were all wrong. you know, and you change your thinking, you change your ideas, you change your, you know, your concept about others. And so give them also their time. They will also change. Why do you have to be football of their opinions?

Right?

Don't make your life a soccer ball. Others.

Right. Yeah. So.

Be centered.

So when we worry about what others think about us, it's eroding us inside. It's eroding our soul, our spirit, our self-esteem. Is that what I'm hearing you say?

That doesn't mean that we should be arrogant and not...

Doesn't matter what anyone thinks about me.

Not that arrogant.

What happens when we do that?

That's too extreme.

Yeah, okay.

You become too insensitive and you appear very arrogant. You may not think you are arrogant, but you will appear very arrogant. And you will be very unfriendly.

I like this concept of knowing who's a good friend in your life based on if you bring them a challenge and a problem and if they make you feel better or worse. How do we develop that inner friend? the friend in our mind that communicates with us when we're having a negative thought.

You're making me come back to the same point. Meditation. There you go. Since meditation is the basic, when you're thirsty, water is the only way to quench the thirst. In the same way, to make all those inner faculties, talents, creativity in you blossom. The way is meditation.

When you're hungry, you got to eat. When you're thirsty, you got to drink. When you're stressed, you got to meditate.

You have to meditate. And when you want to be creative, you have to meditate. When you want to be happy, you have to meditate. And when you have to find the real purpose of you being here.

You got to meditate. You got to listen at some point to what's calling you, what's pulling you into whatever direction that is. And if you're too distracted or it's too loud, it's hard to hear that voice, your own voice, right?

You're busy talking all the time. You don't listen. So you have meditation, you say, Come on, I am ready to listen now. What's in store for me? That's meditation. Giving this space, the shift from chattering mind to a Serene, silent self. That is what it is.

Speaking of the mind, we talked about the soul. What is the mind compared to the soul and where is the mind?

Mind is the wave, soul is the ocean.

Mind is the wave, soul is the ocean. Okay, interesting. Where is the mind? Is the mind also consciousness or is the mind separate from consciousness?

You see, mind is a function of consciousness.

Okay.

There is nothing separate from consciousness, including our body.

So consciousness, the soul is in consciousness.

Yeah.

And the mind is in consciousness.

Everything is in consciousness.

Gotcha.

It's like the space. Consciousness is like the space.

Okay.

What is not in space?

Everything is space.

Everything is space.

So what is the difference between our consciousness and our mind?

Our mind is the function of consciousness which is chattering, which is expressing its emotions. You see? and then it is called intellect when it starts grabbing, grasping and judging, deciding. This is intellect. Mind is perception. You know, it's through the eyes the mind sees, through the nose it smells and through all the five senses it's the mind which is experiencing. Your mind is elsewhere and you are tasting a pudding, maybe apple pie, you don't taste it. You don't find the taste.

Right.

And your mind is elsewhere and.

Music.

Is being played, you don't hear it. So it's a mind which hears, sees, touches, feels.

The mind experiences the senses.

All the senses, yes.

The intellect judges.

Agrees, disagrees, grasps, that's intellect. And memory is that which stores them, you know? Which stores certain things it doesn't forget, those are memories.

Then how do we, say we go through a traumatic event in our lives, that, you know, a deep impression which.

Has not left the mind. That's my body.

A deep impression that has not left the mind. That's memory. So imagine we have a deep impression.

In an... You can get over it because, yeah, you can get over it by increasing the Prana level with breathing, meditation, these things, you know, it's like using any eraser.

Interesting.

See in a blackboard, you keep on writing and somewhere you need to use the erasers.

To create space.

So that you can write more. Right.

So how do we heal the body and the mind from the memory or the impression of the past events that are holding us back from greater progress?

This is where this Sudarshan Kriya what we teach, the Sky Technique of breathing, rhythmic breathing immensely helps immensely. I was talking about the Welcome Home True Project where we are teaching the, you know, the war veterans, the veterans, this technique really, really helps.

Because they go through a lot of traumatic experiences for themselves.

Absolutely. That's what causes PTSD. They cannot forget it.

Right.

But these techniques, that's magic.

Help you heal, help you.

Absolutely.

This is called the Sky Breath Meditation technique.

Sky Breath Meditation.

And it's at Art of Living, it's your signature program, right?

Correct.

So what do people get from this program? Is it how long is the program and what do they experience?

It's a 12 to 14 hour program according to the groups. Sometimes people want to ask more questions and experience. It's a three days, four days tailor-made. People can learn and then it's a do-it-yourself thing. They can practice at their home every day, 10 minutes, 15 minutes.

How long have you been doing this type of breathing? Meditation technique?

40 years.

40 years. What were you doing before this, if you weren't practicing the breathing meditation? And were you experiencing pain or lower prana energy when you weren't, when you were growing up or...?

No, it was in 1981, you know, before that I was teaching meditation. yoga and all that and giving talks on philosophy and knowledge. But in '81 I took a 10-day of silence. I felt that there is something more to come. There is something drastic, something very important has to come out. So then I took a few days of silence and the end of the silence I started teaching this.

Really?

It is just like a poem that comes out of it. It's an inspiration. Then I started teaching in 1981. Since then, this is by word of mouth and people that I trained a lot of teachers around the world.

That's cool.

So they went around teaching.

Love and relationships seems to be a great joy for a lot of people, but also causing a lot of stress and anxiety for people, depending on where they're at in their lives, the partner they chose, you know, all that stuff. You talk a lot about love and relationships. Why is it so how do you find the right partner that is a great match, that adds the right values to what we're all about? And how important is choosing the right partner or a partner that is aligned to your values and vision towards your life?

See if the part Masters come with a... they have a common goal in life. It's like two parallel lines going to the goal. They'll always be there. But if they're focused on each other all the time, there is a point they come and they cross.

What happens when you cross?

That's it, you go away. you know, you keep going away.

So.

To make this point more clear, I would say, first of all, have a common goal, a purpose together within the relationship together.

Not just I have this goal, you have a goal, but our common goal.

Common goal. Shared values. Number two is give room for others. Give a room for others' mistakes.

They don't have to be perfect.

They don't need to be perfect. That acceptance of others with their flaws.

What happens when we don't accept the person who we chose to be with? Certain things about them we don't accept. What happens to the relationship.

Well.

You can't expect everybody to be like you all the time. You have to give them some room, you know, to change. Even if you want them to change, you have to give them time and space for changing.

You can't expect them to change right now.

Right now, it's not possible. Third thing is understanding. Deeper understanding. See when you do a mistake you say, well it happened. But when others think, when others do the same mistake, you think they have purposely done it. They could have avoided it. But when you have done the same mistake, you say, well I didn't mean it, it happened. We excuse ourselves, but we hold others against their flaws.

So high, yeah, we hold them high.

We hold them against their problem, their mistakes and hold, excuse me, and hold on to them for their mistakes for their life.

Right, they hold on to it for the whole life.

Whole life. That's not fair. Third thing is, I would say, you are there to help others grow, your partner grow. And even each one of you have that attitude, I think that will be more robust.

Yes. What do you think most people misunderstand about love and relationships?

When you start demanding, you are destroying love.

Demanding what? What do you mean by demanding?

Demand love. Demand attention, demand respect.

That's when you destroy it.

You know, love and respect have completely opposite in nature. In respect it demands some space. In love you cannot stand the distance. In love you want to know everything about the other. But in any relationship both needs to be there, love and respect. You need to balance yourself.

How does someone...

If you are balanced, these things get balanced.

They come to you, yeah, yeah. If you're a balanced human being, Yeah. It's easy to love you.

You have to balance your emotions. Yeah.

It's easy to respect you. It's easy to love you.

Yeah.

But if you're out of balance, it's hard to respect and trust you and it's hard to love you fully.

Absolutely. If you're not centered, I would say be centered.

Yeah.

And the key to being centered is meditation. So I'm not going to ask you how to get there. What are some of the routines or mantras you believe are essential for getting centered and balanced beyond meditation? Are there other routines that you do?

Seeing life from a broader perspective, as I said. You know, the planet has been here for billions of years, and it will continue to be here and your life Time is not a speck in this whole universe. See your life in context with the magnanimity of the creation. The magnificent creation, the billions of stars where are you? It just opens up your mind, your awareness and what are you worried about? Some little things here and there. you know? So a bigger context to life. And commitment. Commitment to values. And compassion.

Values and compassion, yeah. What happens when we have a value, but we don't live up to that value? We break the value once or multiple times. What happens to our self-esteem or our identity?

Never mind. You know, a child crawls and when it tries to walk and it falls several times, but it doesn't stop walking. It doesn't stop. It doesn't stop running. A kid runs, you know, and then it trumbles. So you have trumbled once, twice, thrice, never mind. Don't stop.

Keep going.

Yeah.

Get back to your values, try to get back to it.

Keep going, keep going.

This is a question I ask towards the end of my interviews called the Three Truths. So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario. You live a very long life, but then it's your last day on earth, right? Hypothetical. And you continue to serve humanity in such a massive way and help people heal and be centered and meditation and breathing, all the things you live that life. But for whatever reason, all of your message goes away. Your content, the courses, all the videos, for whatever reason, it goes somewhere else and we don't have access to it anymore. But you get to leave behind three lessons that you would share with the world, three things you know to be true from everything you've learned. And this is all we would have left from you. What would you say would be those three things, the three truths that you would leave behind?

Smile.

Yeah.

That's it.

That's it. If you had...

Smile, smile, smile.

There you go, three truths. Why are you smile?

What else you do? You know, you came into this planet crying. When you exit, you should smile.

Yeah.

And you should smile throughout your whole time here. There you go. That's some wisdom for you.

Yeah.

And if you have not smiled throughout your life, you will not even smile at the end. You'll only do what you have been doing all through.

You'll be stressed, sad, yeah.

See when you go into a movie, nice movie, you see the movie, when you come out of it, what do you say? Oh, I enjoyed it. It was nice. That's good enough.

Yeah.

You don't have to carry all the story of the movie in your head. Usually people don't. They see that, they enjoy it and they come out and that's it. Yeah. Same with the life. This is a movie. that you are imperishable, I am imperishable. We are part of, we appear to be two, but we are part of one light. Although there are so many waves, they all appear different, but they are part of one ocean. So the entire human race, all living creatures are nothing but one big, part of one big life. So the whole planet is one organism.

Guru Deb, you've got this amazing program, the Sky Breath Meditation that I want people to get access to. We'll link everything up on your website and your social media as well beneath this video and this podcast. Where is the best place we can support you to learn more about you? Is it on YouTube? Is it the website? Is it, you know, where can we support you the most?

Yeah, website.

Your YouTube channel is amazing, by the way. I love the short content you have there and really inspiring. So, we'll have it all linked up.

Instagram, I'm on the Instagram.

Yeah.

Twitter.

Yeah.

Everywhere.

Everywhere. We'll have it all linked up, but I highly recommend everyone watching or listening, you go check out his YouTube, the website as well, to check out the Course Sky Breath Meditation Art of Living Signature Program. I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Guru Dev, for your mission, for having a clear intention about your life from a younger age and using your gifts and your talents to be of service to the best way possible. Before all social media, you were doing it one-to-one and in groups, and now you're able to really impact more lives. So I really acknowledge you for constantly showing up with a smile on your face. Every video and photo is you smiling that I see. And to bring that joy to your daily practice, I think, is a beautiful gift. So I really acknowledge you for showing up the way you do and being of service to so many of us, giving us tools, strategies to get back to a centered place. So thank you for your service. My final question is, what is your definition of greatness?

Simplicity.

Yeah.

Simplicity is the greatest value.

There you go.

Being one with everyone is the greatest value.

Thank you so much for listening.

I hope you enjoyed today's episode and inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on.

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And if no one's told you lately.

I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's It's time to go.

Out there and do something great.