Q and A

Q: When there is intolerance around you, how to retain equilibrium?
Sri Sri: See life from a broad picture. See intolerance as a lack of education. That is one thing. Second is patience and perseverance.

Q: Do you get stressed?
Sri Sri:: The product really works well! (laughs) Just last week I went to Kerala. They had organised 19 appointments in a day. I cancelled some of them before I went there. Yet, I ended up attending 22 appointments. I thought I would get irritated, but I surprised myself and didn’t. Each one of us has tremendous energy within us. One single cell can light up the entire city of Bangalore for 24 hours.

Q: Where does Obama get his inspiration from?
Sri Sri: Today, the global problem is terrorism through wrong ideology. I feel that we need to emphasise a broad spectrum of education for the future generation. If each child knows about other religions,it won’t think other religions will go to hell. Even in India, madrassas are getting CBSE status because of the vote bank. I’m not saying all madrassas are bad but there is an 80 percent chance of narrowing vision. We need to have a long term goal and long term vision in everything. An education which has science and spirituality - head and heart is the only solution.



Q: What inspired you?
Sri Sri: In school I used to say I have family everywhere, I am going to go everywhere. Sometimes you get that gut feeling or inner premonition. My mother was my inspiration. She was so alert, so awake. She never made a mistake, never said sorry in her life - can you imagine!! Another inspiration was my teacher, who was associated with Mahatma Gandhi for 40 years.



Q: How do I handle criticism?
Sri Sri: When someone criticises you, they are taking a risk. Who wants to take the risk of making enemies! When they are doing that, you appreciate them. Stand up to criticism. Also have the courage to criticise for their improvement. But if someone is criticising you out of jealousy, you smile, it is their problem.

Q: How do you ensure that conflicts, backbiting, politics doesn’t happen in your organisation?
Sri Sri: People are people wherever they are. I can count on my finger how many times I got angry - seven times maybe! If you fight, fight a new fight, don't fight the same fights! Intellectuals don't walk like sheep. They don't agree many times, they don't walk the same way. That is the fun. They should know how to de-stress themselves. Let out the steam, get into the team!!



Q: You emphasise education. Yet, most problems are caused by educated people.
Sri Sri: When I say education, I don't mean only a degree from college. Unfortunately, in recent times, pride has got attached to aggression. If you lose your equanimity or calmness, it means something wrong. This shift from pride getting attached from aggression to non-violence must happen.

Q: Do you have any goals?
Sri Sri: I just inspire people to set their own goals.

Q: What are the two-three mistakes the organization has made. How has it learnt?
Sri Sri: Our biggest blunder is our first principle: ‘Accept people as they are’. I cannot reject anyone! Drug addicts, fools, riffraffs everyone comes. We can’t reject anyone and we lose a lot of time!! We cannot discard even the incorrigible. Second is we don't have a hierarchy - it becomes difficult to manage and track! Everywhere, people are starting on their own. Now after 28 years, we are streamlining.
Everyone is a spokesperson - that becomes difficult to control. During our Silver Jubilee, we had such a hilarious time. The program was mesmerising, but behind the scenes, every department was in a mess.



Q: Are we getting too caught up in the negativity of today and forgetting the big picture that this will pass?
Sri Sri: There are natural calamities where we can wait and watch. But in manmade calamities, we can't afford to take that outlook. Change is not possible if you don't do that. For some things, we cannot be just fatalistic and say this will pass.

Q: How does one make a balance between the heart and mind?
Sri Sri: Yes. You do your business with your mind, and service with your heart. In both cases, there is a third component - intuition. Never be with in the business with heart. With family, be with the heart, don't use your mind there. Do both with the gut feeling!

What Sri Sri said today

What Sri Sri said today
'Don't fight with the negative emotions and don't befriend them either'
India (Art of Living International Center, Bangalore), September 2:



Q. I hold a high position of authority in my state and am well respected and known. When I go to another place, I sometimes find myself less important. I tend to question my identity. How to get over this?
Sri Sr: You should know how to wear a suit – and take it off too! Everyone is a king in their place. Know how to remain in a state of Akinchan - I am nobody. The whole life journey is from ‘I am somebody’ to ‘I am nobody’ and then to ‘I am everybody’. Usually the journey is from ‘I am something’ to ‘I am nothing’ to ‘I am something’ again! Sit in satsang and let your identity dissolve. Dissolving and losing the identity is Samadhi, is fun. You will realize that you are immortal.

Q. What is your vision for the Art of Living as an organization?
Sri Sri: Spirituality is the language of the New Age. You make your own vision. I would ask you to be a drishta (the one with the vision), you may make your own drishya (view). The Divine will give you sleep, you create your own dream.

Q. On a count of one to 100, if the stone is rated as zero and human beings as hundred, what is the level of the remaining beings?
Sri Sri: What is the need to give a rating? Everything belongs to One, is part of One. One has taken these infinite forms. Even in the zero and the hundred, there is everything. Even a stone will have jadta (low prana) and chaitanya (consciousness). Jad and chaitanya, both, are merged in Brahma (creation). They are one part of the Brahma. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagwad Geeta, “This maya is also from Me, the whole world is in Me, yet I am in none.” The philosophy in the Bhagwad Geeta may seem confusing. Without a true experience, the philosophy will seem like just principles. Go deep within yourself for the true experience of the Self.

Q. How can I remove negative emotions through knowledge? If I try to persist them, they will resist and if I don't, then they still remain.
Sri Sri: Don’t fight with the negative emotions and don’t befriend them either. With yukti (skill), breath and the correct perspective, all negativity can be removed. It is said in the Ashtavakra Geeta, through the right solution, overcome the mind with the right solution.

Q. In the family of Shiva, each vahaan (vehicle – usually an animal associated with a form of God) is the enemy of the other in the animal kingdom. There is a bull, a mouse, a peacock etc yet they live together in peace. How is it so?
Sri Sri: The peaceful, non dual self element that is Shiva brings together everyone and harmonize everything.

Q. What is the spirit of enquiry?
Sri Sri: This question that you have asked is the example of the spirit of enquiry. What you are asking, itself is the answer. It is similar to someone asking what is sound.

(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar )

Achyutam Keshavam

Achyutam Keshavam Bhajan Song Lyrics n Video

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram Hindi Devotional Bhajans Video Songs in praise of Lord Vishnu. This is one of the popular Hindi Bhajan songs addressed to Maha Vishnu.

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram,
Rama naraynam Janakivallabham,
Kaun kehta hai Bhagvan aate nahi
Bhakta Meera ke jaise bulate nahi,

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram,
Rama naraynam Janakivallabham,
Kaun kehta hai Bhagvan khaate nahi,
Ber Shabri ke jaise khilate nahi, …

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram,
Rama naraynam Janakivallabham,
Kaun kehta hai Bhagvan Sote nahi,
Maa Yashoda ke jaise sulate nahin,

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram,
Rama naraynam Janakivallabham,
Kaun kehta hai Bhagvan naachte nahi,
Tum Gopi ke jaise nachaate nahin,

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram,
Rama naraynam Janakivallabham,
Naam Japate chalo kaam karte chalo
Har samay Krishna ka dhyaan karte chalo

Achyutam Keshavam Krishna Damodaram,
Rama naraynam Janakivallabham,
Yaad aayegi unko kabhi na kabhi
Krishan darshan to denge kabhi na kabhi ….. Achyutam Keshavam…

What Sri Sri said today

Q: How should parents balance between showing affection and being strict with children?

Sri Sri: How do you balance a bicycle?

When you want to ride a horse, if you leave the reins too loose, then you have no control. If you hold it too tight, the horse has no freedom to move ahead. We need to know when to rein in and when to let go. You can keep one aspect in mind: if one of you is showing anger, the other must be supportive. Both parents should not show anger at the same time.



Q: Between doing a job and serving selflessly, which is more important?

Sri Sri: You must keep a balance in life. Our jobs are meant to bring people/families together, a means of livelihood. Spirituality is our breath, is of utmost importance. Take these two aspects together. If you are free from family responsibilities, then you can focus on service. Till that time, you must take both together. There are some people who are free to serve humanity without concern for their livelihood. In that situation, do not crave for comforts. Be content and serve. Anyway, those who are completely devoted to serving society, their needs are fulfilled even as they arise.





Q: How to be free from fear?

Sri Sri: Have faith. Have faith in the presence of the Divine; that the Divine is your very own; that the Divine is in you. When you are established in this knowledge, you are free from fear.



Q: I have experienced love in so many different relationships, but nothing like the love I have experienced here during the course.

Sri Sri: All these other experiences of love have brought you here today.



Q: While doing seva, sometimes I get attached to name and fame. What should I do?

Sri Sri: When you are centered, established in the knowledge, when you meditate, this situation does not arise. When your attachment shifts from the work at hand to name and fame, it is time to go within.

Be ready to face any challenges that society throws at you. It is said that gold shines more brilliantly, the more it is beaten. When you squeeze sugarcane, it gives you sweetness. Sandalwood, when ground, gives fragrance. Stay in your nature even while under pressure. Every situation that comes to us is for our upliftment.



Q: How to develop mastery over hunger and sleep?

Sri Sri: Rise above them naturally; not by force. Hunger and sleep are the dharma of the body. Don’t enforce limitations upon yourself. Integrate knowledge into your life. Study the Bhagvad Gita.



Q: What is the difference between the Spiritual Master and the Divine?

Sri Sri: There is no difference between the Master, the Self and the Divine. The Master can be seen, that is all. The Master is not the individual, He is the light, the consciousness.



Q: What is the importance of a name?

Sri Sri: Well, you need something by which people can call you! One name is the name our parents gave to us at the time of birth. We are deeply connected to this name. To be completely free, the last attachment that we let go is that of our name. Connect and attach yourself to the name (the mantra that you receive from the Master). The mantra establishes you in the witness consciousness. Of the mantras, the highest is the 'ajapa jap', the mantra which resonates effortlessly and spontaneously in our consciousness. It is not a doing but a happening. That is So Ham. It resonates eternally. When we experience this with awareness, it becomes meditation.



(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)

What Sri Sri Said

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
‘The mind that has bowed down is called Naman’
What Sri Sri said today
‘The mind that has bowed down is called Naman’
India (Art of Living International Center, Bangalore), August 31:

Q. If our soul is all powerful then how is it that the mind gets distorted. Is the mind bigger than the soul?

Sri Sri: You put a black drape over your window and you ask if the drape is bigger than the Sun. You look at a wonderful scenery and a small dust particle enters your eye, distorts your vision and then you ask if the particle of dust is bigger than the entire scenery. This is delusion.
It seems as if the black drape over the window covers the Sun. You can remove it, as easily as you put it. It does not require lifetimes of penance and practices. All you need is a belief.
Just the faith that nothing can cover the Sun. This veil that is covering the mind, look at it as a game, open your eyes and see, you’ll realize that in reality neither the veil exists nor the mind. This is known as Naman (literally: no mind, also: bowing down)
The mind exists as long as bhav (emotion) is not awakened. As soon the bhav awakens, the mind starts to bow down, dissolve. The mind that has bowed down is called Naman.

Bow down and you’ll see that the mind is not far from the soul, is not different from the soul. It is not against the soul. When the mind becomes no mind (naman), that mind is the friend of the soul. The mind that remains stiff, seems like an enemy of the soul – yet it cannot be an enemy.