Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Real Currency in Life - A talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

No technique really works . It is you who makes it work. That is called shraddha. Shraddha can be roughly translated as faith. When your intention and attention are there, manifestation happens. If your intention is not there it will not work. Sudarshan Kriya technique works because there is an intention behind it. For anything to work, you must have intention and attention. Then manifestation happens.

Now we will do some pranayama. Let’s begin with alternate nostril breathing. Check your nostrils. You know, when the left nostril is active then the right brain is active. And vice-versa. The right brain is music. The left brain is logic. So those who have the right nostril active would understand me better. If both are active you are in meditation. However if only the right nostril is active, no meditation happens. Your state changes every time you open and close your eyes. After food, the right nostril should dominate. When the right nostril functions the metabolism is 50 percent higher. When the left is functioning, our metabolism is much slower.



Active nostrils change because they live in an ocean of prana(energy). Breath moves from right to left nostril depending on the situation. If you are driving around a church, temple or any place of worship, both nostrils will become active. The prana of both, the body and spirit, is up in those places. When people are in full devotion in a place of worship, this happens. When you meet a spiritual guide both your nostrils will become active. When you meet a spiritual person, your own voice will tell you.


Love is our very nature. You know, I can stand and talk to you for hours about love. It doesn’t mean anything. We can read love through our lives, not through books. You can listen to someone speak on love, but if you have a puppy, the puppy goes mad jumping all over you the moment you come back home. This says much more than reading books all night about love. We can read through our presence and our own lives. Here, I will come to meditation and breath. By doing breathing exercises, we can make our lives so positive. Many of us have had the experience of going to meet somebody and wanting to avoid them. Some people you meet and you just don’t feel like talking to. You feel compelled to avoid them. WIth some Others you feel like conversing. People will have the same experience of you also. Without reason they may avoid you. You want to connect to a person but your stress has created such vibes around, that people are repelled. Here again you must do a bit of pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya and yoga to increase the positive vibes around you.

Read more talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar talks on Liberation

What is mukti (liberation)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: When you take the last breath joyfully that is mukti (liberation). Those who experience some lack and are sad while dying, they return. Be satisfied at the time of your death. The one who is immersed in knowledge, even while dying, will be free.


Why do we want to be liberated?
 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wanting freedom is a natural phenomenon. What you feel after your exams are over is a little experience of liberation (moksha). In life also you burn in your own hopes and desires. These desires have only brought you misery. When you relax taking a step outside all this, there is liberation (moksha). When you sit for meditation with the feeling, I am nothing, I want nothing, and I do nothing - this feeling is the feeling of freedom. It is fun, it is freedom.


To break the cycle of birth and death we have to attain mukti/liberation, then why do enlightened masters reincarnate?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With one goal - to help those who are in need and on the other hand just to play.




Can charity grant liberation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Charity purifies wealth. Ghee/clarified butter purifies food. Knowledge purifies the intellect. Bhajan purifies the mind & Service purifies the action.

It is said that if someone is enlightened, his or her generations are liberated. If it is so then can one choose not to have children and devote his/her entire life to seva?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Good, no problem if you don’t choose to have children that is fine. Yet what is necessary is that you have to feel that you are the parent of the entire world, that everybody on this planet is a child and that they belong to you. At least this you can have, no one can stop you from feeling that or thinking that.


If mukti (liberation) is our nature then why are we in bondage?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Who says mukti is our nature? Our nature is bliss. Love and enjoyment can put you in bondage, if it is devoid of knowledge. With knowledge, the same love, the same enjoyment leads you to the experience of liberation.


Liberation and bondage go together. If there is liberation, there will be bondage and vice-versa. Liberation is valued because of bondage. If there is no bondage, what is there to be liberated from?


Similarly we can be liberated, that is why we experience bondage. With the desire for liberation we come to know that we are in bondage. If the desire for liberation has not risen then you will not even come to know of bondage.



From Talks by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar