The School of Greatness - A Spiritual Approach To Death, Abundance & Purpose w/Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar EP 1216

Episode Date: January 17, 2022

Today’s guest is Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar! 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” 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 you tap into your meditative power, the different ways to find spiritual abundance, why we’re bad at being happy and a few simple practices to bring more joy into your life, why it’s crucial to find a higher purpose in your life and so much more!For more go to: www.lewishowes.com/1216Learn more about his SKY Breath Meditation ProgramGet his new book "An Intimate Note To A Sincere Seeker"The Wim Hof Experience: Mindset Training, Power Breathing, and Brotherhood: https://link.chtbl.com/910-podA Scientific Guide to Living Longer, Feeling Happier & Eating Healthier with Dr. Rhonda Patrick: https://link.chtbl.com/967-podThe Science of Sleep for Ultimate Success with Shawn Stevenson: https://link.chtbl.com/896-pod 

This is episode number 1,216 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 Guru Dev 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 Gurudev 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. 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're interconvertible, and you cannot destroy them. So our spirit is nothing but energy. destroy them. Right? 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 you know so many hours you don't know where you are and then you wake up in the same way think but with little more intensity with little more awareness little more awareness that is parting away from the physical body. It appears to be so painful for once you've not had that experience, but people who have had

near death experiences, you might have heard from them. 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 think of. Right. Do you think we should fear it

or be more excited about death? Neither, just take it as it comes. Just take it as it is. I heard, I don't know if this is 100% true or not, more excited about death than... 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 launch, my dear. We are going to exit from here sometime and the life here is temporary you know it's ephemerical when this idea comes to our mind what happens is those unnecessary things that we get embroiled into, they just drop off. So more purposefulness starts coming into our life. And we think, hey, wait a minute, what is it I want?

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're not happy with what it is what is you're not contented but you're are looking for something more and confusion is that state in between two two steps of progress in life so if you're confused know that it's just a momentary phase and something of the past you are ready to let go.

And you're 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 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 moment keep your mind more focused in the now and here be with the nature and

keep aside for some time that busy mind which says I have so many things to do I want they want to do this do that do that say okay I don't 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 you know getting off of that 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. Yeah, it is. You're a world leader who's helping people relieve stress and anxiety, solving 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 whatever demand is put on me, I have that energy and capability to do that. You have the energy and capability to do it, yeah. I believe that. Yeah, otherwise they wouldn't be put on you. Yeah. Right. Otherwise nature won't put those situations in front of you. So I'm not bothered.

No. Second is I'm not bothered about the outcome either. The outcome. You know, if you're worried about the outcome, that's when your energy gets strained. Yeah. And when you're confident,

your outcome is going to be the best. And it happens so. Yeah. What do

you worry about then? Nothing. If at 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 it's 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.

You know, it's a self motivating factor. Yeah. 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 are going to have what you 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 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 that mechanism of doubt itself.

Say that again? We should understand what doubt is all about. 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 when someone tells you I love you so much you ask them really we doubt love we never doubt hatred hmm if someone says I'm so I'm mad at you you never go really you know you you wonder about those wonderful qualities that we have and so we doubt them too yeah we doubt the honesty of a person we doubt our own happiness if someone asks you, are you happy? You 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 helps. Yeah. 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 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? That has never happened.

Never? Never, never happened. 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 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 it's so because you are so conscious about your own image what will happen if i fail the fear of failure creates the doubt in oneself but when you take life in its totality you know like 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 never mind you do. See, you go on a running race and if you keep worrying, will I lose the race? You'll never be able to run. Right? So you do your best. You give your 100%.

It doesn't happen. What's been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome so far in your life, your adult life? Prejudice. Prejud life? Prejudice. Prejudice. Prejudice.

People have lots of different type 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 also all type 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 yes it's not for normal people's little weird it's not

for the normal you know common 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 in Africa. I mean, it pains, you know. It's painful. See, they should all be treated equally. Justice should prevail. How have you dealt with prejudice over your life then? With patience and perseverance yeah and not let that

preoccupy you you know 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 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. 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 the real values of life. It has made an impact. And 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 days. You have to be happy now, here, today. And nothing wrong for you to think about what you need to do five years later or ten years later. 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 it what is that that you should not forget the joy the happiness that you get in sharing now there are two type of joy one is that you get well you get things this is an infant joy as kids we all knew your birthday presents new year gift Christmas gifts when you know you are eager to get something. And when you get, you become so happy. But there is another happiness that's of the grandmother's happiness, grandfather's happiness,

the Santa Claus happiness. A gift. When you give, you find yourself in a better space. When you share with others, you feel even more happier. That's a mature happiness. And that type of happiness we must aim for in our life you know it's okay the 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 you remain very restricted in your personal and social life in our spiritual life you 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. 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 though they appear to be completely contrary 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 you can't do charity from an empty bowl right so you dig but you earn you focus on getting you know abundance in your life now 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 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 with your communication with others will play it on 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. A sense of belongingness with everyone else.

That is when really 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 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 like you know and then balance like you know and then social life and personal life you have to balance that take some time for oneself to go within you know meditation will help you a great deal to bring the balance in life and it it also will kindle a lot of creativity from within you. Meditation is not just sitting and thinking of 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. 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. Oh. Yeah. Yes. And then love for everyone. Yeah. Sense of belongingness with everyone. 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 abused, or these things? Yes. 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 yeah first and foremost is we have to see every culprit as a victim inside them crying for help hmm if someone is doing wrong why are they doing wrong they're hurting inside they are hurting. 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 have 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. Right, just made bad decisions, yeah. Yeah. And circumstances and situation put them where they are. Absolutely. And they are 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? 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? and where is the soul? How big is the soul? Where is it? We'll start with that question first. Now if I ask the question, where are you in your body? What you would say? I'm everywhere in my body. Everywhere and yet nowhere. Right. That's exactly the soul you know soul is that energy

that vibe energy vibes or you said energy vibes it's vibrations yeah so it's not a substance it's so at the time of conception you know the synergy comes in sometimes at the third month or ninth month or when the child is is being born at the time also these vibes can change three four times in in the total period of those nine months wait a minute the soul can change yeah the vibes or the souls can vibe or the souls can change yeah yeah different souls can be really that's interesting yes so where does this soul come from like just light enters and the soul is formed? Yes, it's there. See in this space, now I'll give you one example.

In this space, there is CNN, there is Fox News, there is BBC, there is Doordarshan, 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 in your TV seeing our bodies are just like the boom box 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? That'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? Then enters into another. Another physical form. Physical form. Is it always another human form? Is it? Mostly.

Is it, it can be animal form too, or? Very rare. Very rare. It is possible. Interesting. It's possible. Interesting. It's possible. It depends on your last thought with which you leave the body. Really?

Yes. Your last thought. Yeah. If your last thought is about your body form, you can find yourself in the body form. Wow. Yeah. How many body forms do you think one soul enters or goes into over time?

I don't know. There is no criteria like that. Right, right. But you do believe that we enter different physical forms over time, yeah. Over time. It could be a few, it could be many, but we don't know. Yes. According to the vedic thought is

it uh 24 uh 80 840 000 840 000 forms and bodies wow that with that a soul enters? Souls can. That's amazing. Is that from the Bhagavad Gita or is that from? That's from the Puranas. Okay, and did I read that you've? Chaurasi lakh, 84 lakh, lakh is 100,000. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And did I read, I don't know if this is true,

but did you memorize the Bhagavad Gita or you can recall a lot of it pretty much? You've read it many times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's incredible. Did you memorize the Bhagavad Gita? You can recall a lot of it pretty much? You've read it many times? Yes. That's 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 which has some impressions with it. You leave this body with its strongest memories and impressions and that that's with you like a balloon. And and then when you get the body that those qualities manifest I know this is a common thing there are many child progenies you'll see small young child children playing violin when they're three four year old right nothing uncommon right you find it so very often so many places this is all fascinating to me so I'm very curious if it sounds

these questions are you know weird I'm 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 see the soul is like energy waves vibes

so they they cannot be restricted to locations. They go anywhere. Yeah. It's incredible. Isn't it? It's fascinating. I tell you, when we get into meditation and get to this new dimension that we have not been aware of in our own life, a whole new world opens in front of us. 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 that actually blew your mind, that made you think, wow, like 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 to do. Because it is going from a happening space to a space which originates all happenings. What is that space?

Something which cannot be described. You cannot describe it in words. That's why it is wow. And all 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. 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?

You know? 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's a Disneyland I think we are on a perpetual Disneyland yeah

we are living 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 hmm it's it's again very difficult to say where we are heading to. So

Why people are doing what 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. 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. 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 the 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, know 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 already you have always had some help Remember there is some force some power you call God Higher self or something is there that is 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 the 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 right here again when you increase your prana level, your energy level, breathing, meditation, all these practices, you are just out of it. Here in America we have done these programs, welcome home troops for about 5000 veterans. They were all very depressed and PTSD syndromes and post-traumatic stress. 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. Their prana was higher. Their prana was higher and their families were so happy. You can't be happy if one of your family members 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 practiced a little bit of meditation, short time, three, four days, five days, they are back to normal. And this has happened here. Same with youngsters also in colleges. They are teaching this sky program in 101 universities all across the US. So it's for credit in many universities here. 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 know you just exist you don't start living then

but it's when your intellect awakens or 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 you know 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, I 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. I have a couple friends, but I'm not just living by a pond and fishing all day. And I have a couple of friends, but I'm not really contributing more 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 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? I guess 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 it then it's already available human potential is huge humongous 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 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. Right. 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 easy to get the negativity off like that for someone else it's very difficult to suck them into negativity so it's a very it's very

relative I would say but one thing people with negativity are more active than those with positivity the more active meaning what in the world you see the the negative energies becomes a little more active they speak more they talk about it they yeah yes they gossip more they're causing drama they're bringing it on other people right yeah why is that that's how it is yeah see. See, with the Colombian peace process, people who are 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 fell. 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. 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 and 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 that'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 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 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. Not in this lifetime? That 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 onto the energy. It comes in, you let it go. Yes.

How does someone learn to not let the energy of someone else 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 challenges and pain

and then 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 and soul and they face such a burnout. Because it'll take on so much pain and suffering

the burnout is so big 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 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 consciousness from these impressions. It's similar, like 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 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 touch you. 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 touch you. It doesn't touch you. You can hear it, you can listen, you can watch it, but it doesn't affect you. Doesn't stay inside of you.

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 we keep it wiped and keep it clean, then it doesn't hold on to anything. 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? See, 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. Nobody taught this wisdom. When we learn something about ourselves, about our body, our breath, mind, our intellect, our emotions, our memory, if you are given ten compliments and one insult, what do you hold on to? Most people hold on to the insert and ten years of friendship and two months of conflict equalizes them 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, you know, that can trigger you and uplift you to a happier state of mind. to a happier state of mind. And so these are the workshops we teach. 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. 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 itself.

Right. That's the solution. So, 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've made a mistake over and over again, I'm an idiot, I'm stupid, whatever. 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 yeah I don't see that's good friendship a friend is one who uplifts the other from the 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 problem. 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.

And a bad friend is one, you come to him with a problem. He feel worse. 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. 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. Nobody has any time to think about you. Right. They're worried about themselves. They're worried about themselves. They're 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, no. 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 ship. 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. And you change your thinking, you change your ideas,

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 soccer ball others Yeah, so Make your life a soccer ball of others.

Yeah, so be centered. 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 two extremes. Yeah, okay. You become too insensitive and, you know, you appear very arrogant. You may not think you're arrogant, but you'll appear very arrogant. And you'll 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 negative thoughts. You're making me come back to the same point. Meditation. There you go.

There you go. So it's meditation. 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. Yeah.

When you're hungry, you gotta eat. When you're thirsty, you gotta drink. When you're stressed, you gotta 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 want to find the real purpose of you being here.

You gotta meditate. 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 is, hey, come on, I'm ready to listen now.

What's it? What's in store for me? That's meditation. Yeah. Giving this space, the shift from chattering mind to a serene, silent self. That's meditation. 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

ok interesting where is the mind is the mind also consciousness or is the mind separate from consciousness mind is a mind also consciousness or is the mind separate from consciousness this 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 god? Everything is in consciousness.

It's like the space. Consciousness is like the space. What is not in space? Tell me. Everything is in space. So what is the difference between our consciousness and our mind? consciousness and our mind. Our mind is the function of consciousness which is chattering which is expressing its emotions you see and then it 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 is the mind which is experiencing the mind is elsewhere and you are tasting a pudding apple pie 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 the mind which hears, sees, smells, touches, feels. The mind experiences the senses. All the senses, yes. The intellect. Judges, agrees, disagrees, grasps, that's intellect.

And memories that restores them, you know. Restores, certain things he doesn't forget. Those are memories. Then how do we, say we go through a traumatic event in our lives that, you know, we- A deep impression which has not left the mind. That's memory. 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 see you know it's like using an eraser oh interesting yeah seeing a a blackboard, you keep on writing and somewhere you need to use the erasers. Right, to create space. Yeah. So that you can write more. Right, 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 problems. This is where the Sudarshan Kriya, what we teach, the sky technique of breathing, rhythmic breathing, immensely helps. Immensely. I was talking about the Welcome Home Troop 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. Right. That's what causes PTSD. Mm-hmm. They cannot forget it. Right.

But these techniques does magic. Help you heal, help you... Absolutely. This is called the Sky Breath Meditation Technique. Yes, Sky Breath Meditation. And it's at Art of Living's,

it's your signature program, right? Correct, correct, correct. So what do people get from this program? How long is the program and what do they experience? It's a 12 to 14 hour program according to the groups. You know, sometimes people want to ask more questions and experience.

It's three days, four days tailor-made where people can learn. And then it's a do-it-yourself thing. They can practice at their home every day, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Right. How long have you been doing this type of breathing meditation technique? I think 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 you know 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? Yeah, it's just like a poem that comes out of, you know, it's an inspiration.

Then I started then teaching in 1981 since then this is my world of mouth and people then I trained a lot of teachers around the world that's cool so they went around that's cool teaching love and relationships it 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 we 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 partners come with the they have a common goal in life it's like two parallel lines going to going to the goal 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 a common goal.

A common goal. Shared values. Number two is, give a room for others. Give a 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 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, no, 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 a 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. That's okay. And hold on to them for their... And hold them for their mistakes for their life.

Right, they hold on to it for their whole life. for their mistakes for their life. Right. They hold on to it for their 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 when 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 that? Demand love. Demand what? What do you mean by that? Demand love. Yeah. 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, cannot, love cannot stand distance. In love,, love cannot stand the distance. In love you want to know everything about another. So, but in any relationship both needs to be there, love and respect. So you... 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, it's easy to love you. If you balance your emotions. It's easy to respect you, it's easy to love you. 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 stay 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.

This planet has been here for billions of years. And it will continue to be here, and your lifetime is not a speck in this whole universe. See your life in context with the magnanimity of the creation. The magnificent creation. 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. 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 should stop. It doesn't stop running. A kid runs, you know, and then it trembles. So you have to tremble 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? Smile, smile, smile. There you go, three truths.

Why 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 a movie nice movie you see the movie when you come out of it what 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. That's it. Same with the life. This is a movie. 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're part of one ocean so the entire human race or all living creatures are nothing but one big part of one big life yeah so the whole planet is one organism organism smile I love guru Deb you've got this amazing program the sky breath meditation um 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's 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, of course. Twitter. Yeah, 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. You know, 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 it 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 you for your service. My final question is what is your definition of greatness? Simplicity. Simplicity is the greatest value. Being one with everyone is the greatest value. Thank you so much for listening i hope you enjoyed today's episode and it 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 apple podcast as

well i really love hearing feedback from you guys so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. 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 time to go out there and do something great.