Dhru Purohit Show - Stop Suffering and Free Your Mind with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

This episode is brought to you by InsideTracker and Paleovalley. We are the creator of our minds, bodies, and universe. Our experience of the world, our identity, and our physical reality are based on our learned perceptions.  Today on the Dhru Purohit Podcast, Dhru sits down with spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to talk about how to break down false beliefs of our own experience in this life to end suffering and find infinite joy and possibility. They also talk about how things like mindfulness and meditation can help us get out of an ego-centered mindset and into a greater awareness of our purpose. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is recognized globally as a humanitarian, spiritual leader, and peace envoy. In 1981, Gurudev established the Art of Living Foundation, one of the largest volunteer-based organizations in the world. He has touched the lives of more than 450 million people in over 160 countries around the world through his programs centered on mental health. He has been an invited speaker at institutions like the United Nations, the European Parliament, the World Economic Forum, the Vatican, and the Israeli Presidential Conference, as well as universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. Twenty-one universities have awarded him honorary doctorates for his humanitarian efforts. He has also received 38 governmental awards, including the highest civilian honors in Colombia, Guatemala, Mongolia, and Paraguay.  In this episode we dive into: -Having an attitude where nothing matters (2:10) -What fundamentally changes that shifts us away from joy and happiness (10:05) -The relationship between silence and peace (11:56) -Common ways people participate in negativity (14:58) -The current state of the world—are we better off or are we headed backward? (23:12) -What happens after we die (30:36) -Understanding karma (32:38) -The transformative effects of meditation (41:07)   Also mentioned in this episode: -The Art of Living -World Culture Festival For more on Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, follow him on Instagram @srisriravishankar, Facebook @gurudev, Twitter @srisri, YouTube @srisri, and through his website, srisriravishankar.org. This episode is brought to you by InsideTracker and Paleovalley. InsideTracker provides detailed nutrition and lifestyle guidance based on your individual needs. Right now, they’re offering my podcast community 20% off. Just go to insidetracker.com/DHRU to get your discount and try it out for yourself. Paleovalley is offering my listeners 15% off their entire first order. Just go to paleovalley.com/dhru to check out all their clean Paleo products and take advantage of this Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are we progressing or are we regressive? Where are we heading? So much violence in this country. That is a parli. Welcome to the Drew Perot podcast. Each week we explore the inner workings of the brain and the body with one of the brightest minds in wellness, medicine, and mindset. This week's guest is globally revered spiritual teacher and humanitarian leader, Gurdiv Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar. Sri Sri Ravishankar is most notably known for his founding of the art of living.

Foundation, which is a volunteer-based humanitarian and educational, non-governmental organization that's dedicated to helping humanity eliminate stress and service those who are in humanitarian need. His work has directly reached an estimated 500 million people worldwide in over 156 countries, and his teachings are credited for helping to bring yoga, breathwork, and meditation to the mainstream. I was recently invited to speak with Shri Shri Ravishanker in Los Angeles as part of his tour to highlight his global campaign, I Stand for Peace. The interview is short, but I hope it gives you a little taste of his message and his teachings and inspires you to dig a little deeper into his work at the Art of Living Foundation,

including their courses which are widely available. Some of the topics that we cover in today's interview are, what are the fundamental things that are getting in the way of our joy? We also talk about the power of silence and what gets in the way of us experiencing it. I also ask Guru Dev, is the world getting better or worse? His answer is nuanced and might surprise you. Lastly, I chat with Guridov about what he thinks happens to us after we die and how would he explain karma theory.

And to start off the interview, I asked Sri Sri Sri Sri Sri Sri Ravishunker, to expand on a recent quote and explain what he mean when he shared this in one of his lectures that I attended, when nothing matters, nothing matters. I hope you enjoy the interview. You recently said in one of your lectures here in Los Angeles that when nothing matters, then nothing matters. Talk to us about nothing for a moment. Anything you can recognize because there is nothing around here. something is something because there is nothing all around it

right so nothing is very relevant in order to recognize something no thing I mean to say nothing no thing the space is responsible for us to recognize a thing an object in the creation so if If you see the whole universe, there is space and in the space objects are.

So in the nothing things are. And we forget the importance of space. So the same thing in our life too, you know. There is space within us. And it's because of the space that everything is happening in life. And the space is not just an empty space, it's full of energy. And meditation is a way to access to the nothingness within you. And this nothingness, when it becomes predominant in your life,

then you don't get bothered by all small things. That's why I say nothing really matters when you shake hands with nothing. It's more playoff words. No, I like it. I like it a lot. You know, for some people, they feel that everything matters in their life. And it's hard for them to separate out their attachments, their stresses, their reactions to just everything. What do you think are some of the top place, please? If everything matters, there is no problem.

For people, not everything matters, only some things matters to them. It's elected. So they may think that everything matters, but really it doesn't. It doesn't, it doesn't. When nothing matters, then everything matters too. Then you have your awareness equally on everything. Then there is no issue. But real botheration stress it when your mind,

is not open to the vastness that is bent on small little things insignificant things. Anyway, they all change. And you hold on to those which are changing all the time and then get worked out, get worked up on those things. So time and again taking life from seeing life from a different perspective than what you are, in helps you to get over the stress and that and all that thing that you get troubled by. So I've heard you share this past few weeks here in your lecture series in LA that our nature as human beings is that joy, is that happiness, is that perspective.

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Ignorance, you know, not being aware of what you have. You have a lot of wealth. But if you're not aware of it, then you start living a very poor life. You forget that you have huge inheritance, inheritance. and then you really crave for things which you already have. Do you think that silence is a part of tapping into that resource? Absolutely. I would say silence is the mother of all invention.

Creativity and intuitive ability. And everyone needs this to have a smooth or more colorful life. Don't you see that? Yeah. Yeah, you need the intuitive ability. If you are going for an investment, you know which investment will work, which will not work beforehand. So you will not do the bad investments. Correct?

And if you are planning for some startups, you need intuitive ability. And you are writing a poem. You need intuition. You are on any creative work. You need sharpness of intelligence and intuitive faculty in you well developed. And energy in the body and dynamism which can carry along your vision and your goals that you set for yourself. So if silence is so powerful, why is there so much fear in this world around even the idea, the notion of being. Silent through time.

Well, it's just ignorance because I never experienced it. Anyone has one little dose of silence. The experience of it will not be afraid of. In fact, that is an antidote for all fear. Fear is simply not knowing your potential or who yourself. And silence helps you to get in touch with your true self. And fear just disappeared. What's the relationship between silence and peace, both on an individual level and on a global level, if there isn't?

Silence is a process, peace is an impact. Silence is withdrawing your mind, your senses for a few minutes deep within. And then that, the impact of it, that it brings so much peace in the mind. so much of serenity in you, which you can put forth in your dynamic life. And silence is an indirect supporter of dynamism. And peace will be part of dynamism and silence. Peace can be in both states.

So going back to how we started the conversation off with nothing, is silence the vehicle into nothingness? One of the vehicles. I won't say it's the only vehicle. Yeah. One of the methods. Because, you know, silence rejuvenates our system. It resonates our mind and body complex.

And it recharges our system. It brings more sense. to our thinking. It also softens our emotions. So there are many benefits of silence. And on a practical level, what does silence look like for the person who's listening today, watching today? On a practical level, they want to access that.

Got it? Got it. You know, part of the reason you're here on this U.S. tour, as you shared, is that you or bringing awareness to your I Stand for Peace campaign. One of the things that is easy to do in this world today is to be able to turn on news or social media and see the expressions of violence in others. The harder thing that's there to do

is to reflect back on ourselves as the individual and pay attention to the ways that we sometimes, unknowingly, maybe through the path of ignorance, are participating in harm in the world. What are some common ways that you see when you look around? That people, again, it's easy to criticize the other, but that they themselves are participating in adding to the negativity,

the violence on an individual scale, and the overall sense of harm to this world? See, we cannot generalize. There are people of different, calibers in the society and some want to do good work but they're not in control of their own emotions their own feelings because neither at home nor in school anyone teaches us how to manage our emotion so you can't expect an enlightened behavior from everybody but we must recognize there is some good thing in everyone. So each individual can do some good thing and maybe they do some

bad things too unless then they are so centered they are such a deep sense of spiritual awareness and good meditators they're enlightened as a different thing and you can expect them to be perfect but normally in society when you see look around you We find people have all different tendencies in them. And I only look at that, how we can enhance the positivity in people. Instead of going on a blame game or condemning people, we recognize the good thing in a person and help them to grow with that good thing.

See, I say the sign of good friendship is a good friend, A good friend, I would say is, suppose you go and sit with a friend and talk to them about your problems and issue. And when you walk away, you must feel lighter. You must feel that problem is really no problem. That issue is no big issue. But if you sit with a friend and share your problem and when you walk away, you feel a heavier and you feel the problem is much bigger than what you had thought. That's not a sign of good friends. So this sense of creating positive atmosphere

around us in itself is a skill. I mean, I know it's not easier, easier said than done. You know, but it's not impossible either. And leaders, at least the leaders on the society of the community, has the onus on them to create that positive atmosphere. It is their responsibility to identify the negativity and then override it with a positive thought. There are two ways.

In one situation, people simply deny the existence of any negative things. They shun it. In this case, they won't be able to really reform or transform. Unless you put your finger and find out where it's wrong, what is really need to be fixed. What is wrong? You can't fix them, right? At the same time, there are others when you think something is wrong and they keep on

notching it, keep on dwelling in it. You know, if you keep on pricking a wound, it only grows bigger. So it's not going to help. But at the same time, if you completely ignore and deny you have any wound in your body, then also you'll be at loss. So the leaders of a society should recognize that, but override that negativity around them by hope and positivity. How they can do this? If they're always engaged in all sorts of things outside, there's a big question. It's not possible.

So they must take some time often go within. When you go to your center, you discover your power, your energy. And from day when you start acting, then you find that you can do what normally people consider as impossible. You know, here in Heart of Living, we have this bad habit and say of trying to do the impossible.

All the time we take challenges and do the impossible. And it works. So not to shy away from negativity around, not to dwell in it and encourage it. And at the same time, recognize and move on. That's what I would say. would be the most intelligent thing to do.

What do you see? I think it's beautiful. I think it's beautiful. And I would also add that we often expect that of leaders, but then the question that we're asking is that do we want to step into it ourselves? It can be both, but I think it's a challenging world when we expect our leaders to do that. But then we ourselves are not participating in that as well. Each one of us should play the role of leadership.

wherever it is needed. It's not just one leader will do that. No. Whether political or religious, political, economic leaders, they have their limitations. So each one of us can take lead. When it comes to spreading positivity, don't have to wait for someone to spread the positive apps.

Everyone can lead that. I believe that. That's why I say I stand for peace. Though it sounds like in utopia at this time when there is despondency, the sense of hopelessness and war and inflation. Today I heard all the air tickets have gone three times more. You know, the prices have showed to the sky.

People are finding very difficult. Gas is so exceptional. expensive food stops have become costlier and in this sort of atmosphere it's a challenge to keep one's positive mindset but market one has to do it so when we tap into that power that i stand for people i can sail through this let's solve collectively see how we can come out of the crisis this this uh intention within every individual in itself will do a lot of magic. I believe in that. Yeah. That's a question that a lot of people are asking himself.

In one sense, if you look at the world and you zoom out, extreme poverty, individuals living on less than a dollar day is down. Extreme lack of water resources is down. more people in the world today, unfortunately, pass away from an abundance of food and the diseases that come with it than the lack of food, which is still challenging in its own right. But many of the things that we were dealing with in the world, 50, 100 years ago, there's been a lot of improvements in there. And yet, for many people, they feel that they turn on the news or they watch things and

it actually feels that the world is not headed in the right direction. So the question for you is, is the world headed towards a place where we're better off, or are we going backwards? Well, the answer to this question is yes and no. In some areas, yes, we are moving ahead. It's very good. In some other areas, no, we are not. See what happened here in the US. Just last week, last weekend, there were 12 incidents of mass shooting.

And this makes anyone wonder, are we progressing or are we regressing? Are we in those barbaric age when Abraham Lincoln has to gather everybody and give them the speech about liberty, freedom and peaceful coexistence and being together unitedly? Or are we where are we heading? You know? So much violence in this country. I mean, that is appalling. So on one side, we have developing ourselves artificial intelligence. And there is so much comfort. Just imagine if the COVID had happened without any Zoom or without cell phones,

what would have been the situation? You can't even imagine, right? But today, with Zoom and social media, it made us easy. for us to handle the pandemic. At least people would touch with each other and the food were supplied to their homes. The lockdown was taken much easier at this time. There is lockdown.

People are still able to exist. So there are many good things that's happening in the world. People are much more conscious about the environment than ever before. 41 years ago when I used to talk about environments, 41 years ago when I used to talk about environment, people would just say, what is he talking about? It's sort of not any intelligent thing to talk about.

There was so much prejudice about or lack of awareness about the environment. Today, every government has a ministry of environment. So, we are progressing. We are caring for the planet like never, ever before. At the same time, the degradation of human values, the degradation of mental health is worrisome. The bonding between people has taken for a toss.

So we need to take care of our mental health. We need to see we get a vision of one world family. We're all part of one human family. See? And shunned violence at all cost. And for this regionally I envisaged this World Culture Festival where in one stage, one platform, I would like to see people of all different ideology, backgrounds, cultural, you know, affinities.

Come on one stage and then just celebrate life. You know, the motive of art of living is make life a celebration. You know? See, there is abundance in the creation. We live in such a far. time that we have all the facilities to leave a happy and peaceful life. Life with contentment and creativity. Instead of focusing on this, we just engage ourselves into small, petty thing and start fight on those issues

and create misery for oneself and for the others. isn't it? So this World Culture Festival, this time I would like to do it here in America. You know, in small version in all the states, but one big event in Washington, D.C. and another in Los Angeles.

This is what I'm planning for the next year, when I would like everyone to come and contribute, be part of it. In whatever way they can contribute, you'd like them to join, you know, artists can come and contribute, the business leaders, businessman can come and contribute. Everyone, faith leaders can come together and show their solidarity with humanity saying we believe in human life, we honor human life and we feel we're all part of one,

family, they may be of different race, religion, culture, whatever it is, nationality. But, you know, seeing the shared, common shade, I mean, I'll repeat, to see the shared values among all these differences, I think this is very important. What do you say, isn't it? I think it is. Yeah? Yeah. And it will heal the polarization that has happened here.

And it will also help people to come out of the despondency and feel more empowered and happy. We need to give a better world for the coming generation act. We have to see that the children of the future or we need to give a better world for the coming generation. They deserve the children of this generation. They do deserve a better one. So while I have a few more minutes here with you, just a few questions more than I had, so much of how it seems that we show up in this world

and our drive seems to be partially influenced based on what we think happens after. So what do you think happens after once we passed on in our physical form? And does it really matter to explore much? Very interesting. You will recognize that life is eternal. It's indestructible.

There is something in you that cannot be destroyed. And that continues. And the moment you live, this body, one thing is for sure that happens is through. You see your own life and all that you have done as a movie. And you see yourself also as a character that you have played a role in it. And it's like moving from an actor to a director's level. See, you just switch this role. First, you were being an actor and then you know that, oh, I'm the script writer

or I am the director, you know, I directed this. Well, this happened well. That didn't go so well, so let me do that again. So I see there is no suffering after the body is gone. There is mostly love and compassion. There could be some traces of incompleteness, certain disappoint. which would make one to come back again.

What do you think that people don't fully understand about karma? And is it a topic in one's life worth exploring? Absolutely. Karma is something one must explore. The first thing about karma is it lifts your level of understanding about the immediate cause and defects to a larger cause and effect. See?

It also connects the microcosm with the macrocosm. If you have a bad mood today, it's easy to blame people around you. But when you know it's because of Mars and Saturn conjunction and something out there is happening and that is influencing your mind, you know, you see the whole situation from a from a bigger cause. So you can't get angry at the Mars or Saturn, they are miles away.

You understand, oh, that's why it is happening with you. That's why I'm going little cuckoo today, I'm going nuts to me. This sort of understanding helps you to sail over the hardship you face through emotional turbulence. Number one. Second is you also know the impact of cause and effect. So it cautions you not to do things which you don't want others to do to you.

The gone rule. You see, the basis of ethics. This is the basic, the basic thing of ethics is this. You don't want to do something to your customer which you don't want your vendors to do to you. Right? You don't want your vendors to cheat you and you should not cheat your custom. So what you don't like others to do to you, you should not do to others. These are the things that karma can very well ingrain.

On top of this, there are certain karmas which you can overcome. And there are other karmas which you can overcome. cannot just dispense away with it. You have to go through them, experience them. So it's very complex, but yet it's very practical and doable. It's wise to know about it. You know, some people say, oh, some years are very important in your life, 33, 43 or 63, all that stuff.

I don't subscribe to that. I say every year is important in you. your life. And it is very different for different people. It's not one rule that everybody maybe 50th year is important, 60th year is important. Nothing like that. For a vice person, every day, every moment is important. And second, yeah, if there are transitional changes in your life, that doesn't have to be a particular age for everybody. It's not a rule. It could be very different for different individuals again this is connected to the planetary movement you can say that's why you know all these signs that ancient

people know the astrology and then the herbology the Ayurveda and then yoga these all called practical science yoga astrology Vedic astrology and Ayurveda. And they from different angles make your life more interesting, more pleasantly interesting, let me put it. Interesting could be in any way.

And it helps you to sail through the rough weathers. Because there's a distance in understanding that maybe the circumstances in your life are partially influenced by things that are bigger than what you immediately see? Absolutely. Absolutely.

And again, this is not fatalistic. You know, there are remedial things as well. That is where yoga and Ayurveda comes as remedial thing. Like karma gives you cause and effect and yoga and Ayurveda gives tools to rectify it, minimize the bad effect, increase the happiness factor in life. So I believe now it's been 40 plus years that the work has been going on now

in your teachings of meditation. 41 years. 41 years. And you shared in your team earlier, I was chatting with them, they were sharing that, you know, it was considered super out there, these ideas of yoga, meditation. What's something that you talk about today that people think of as out there and a little bit woo-woo? But in the next 40 years, there'll be a deeper understanding that this is just another reality of life.

There are many things, many things. I often say that our brain is just a frequency analyzer. There are many dimensions to our life. For example, we are training our young children in the world on intuition process where people can use the different faculties of their own brain. to see, to know, to smell, to taste, and to cognize,

and to download our brain works like a computer, you know, can download things. So this is still an experiment with many children. I would like scientists to come and do, throw more into it. So they don't think it's some sort of magic or it's a practical science about the breath, about the brain, about our brain, about our mind and how our intuitive ability can enhance.

You know? We have this process for children with blindfolded, they do, they play magic cubes and they play computer games and they can tell you when you lose something, they can tell you where they are. You know, things like that. It's quite interesting to see the abilities that kids can develop. Would you call that like non-local awareness?

I wouldn't like to call it by any name. I'll just leave it as a team for people to find and do research. See, once you put things into a box, then it becomes stagnant. I just keep open to the scientific community, all these different abilities. that we can explore in our own consciousness. And what would be the hope with that? What would be the hope with that? What would be the hope of,

what would be the usefulness of tapping into something like that? Oh yeah. Kids who are below average, their grades go up. They have gone up, many we have seen, and kids are able to do things which can amaze everything. Could we use that for a force for good in this world? Yeah, of course we tell them, don't use your intuitive power to find out someone else's password.

That's dangerous. And in some ways from your, sorry, can I have thrown one more last question? And I know you have to wrap up here. I want to close on this, which is that pulling from your lecture last night that I was invited to from your team, you had shared that silence is the mother of all creativity. And I want to ask you for anybody that wants to make progress in their life in some shape or dementia or another. This is a health podcast, people looking about their mental health, their physical health, all aspects that are there. What's one practical way before they get a chance to come to the Art of Living Center and do one of your courses or retreats?

Is there something that you might suggest this weekend that they can do? A amount of time, a little protocol, some sort of prescription that you could offer them. You know, I have made number of meditation, guided meditations in the YouTube. Just pick anyone, sit with eyes closed, and just listen to this instruction without a lot of intensity. If you intently listen to something, you can't meditate. But you listen to something, the light, mind, you know. Let me put it this way. I'll repeat it.

You know, there are a number of YouTube guided meditation I have put out there. And you just sit and listen to them and meditate on. This is something you can do right away. You know? And again, when you are listening to the meditation, guided meditation, don't listen to it with intention. Now what do you call it? Intently.

I would say don't listen to it intently in a sort of intense way. Just allow the instructions. Even if you miss something, never mind. So if you can listen to the instruction in a lighter manner without putting too much stress or effort in listening, you will be able to see that you can relax your body, like that come up with bigger smile. Thank you.

Okay? Thank you. On the coast.