Wisdom from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Life needs love to survive

2026-10-25T13:05:00.000+05:30

We are love.

We are made up of a substance called love. Like the body is made up of fat vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and proteins. The spirit is made up of love. Love, therefore, in all its forms, is an integral part of the process of life. If you ask yourself a straight question, what is it that you want in life? It will boil down to one thing, love.

Behind every desire there is love. Life cannot move an inch without love. Life has sprung from love, moves in love and will culminate in love. Yet, we see that life is full of problems.

Sometimes, if there is no love, then life seems to be better because then there are no problems. Life comes with a whole load of problems in its wake. If you love objects more, then that becomes greed. If you love people more, it is entanglement. If you love yourself too much, that is egocentric, arrogance. If you love someone else too much, then jealousy soon follows.

Behind jealousy, greed, lust or anger, there is love. Human life cannot be without love.

Your body is like a washing machine. Your mind is like the clothes you wear. Each lifetime is like one washing cycle; pure water is like love and knowledge is the detergent. The mind enters the body to get cleansed and purified but if instead of detergent, you use dirt, then you have dirty clothes - dirtier than before. You will have to continue putting clothes in the washing machine to get them cleaned. And the process repeats itself again and again. Similarly, you will have many more births until you stop repeating the mistakes that you have been making.

Behind all the ills of society there is love. However, this love is devoid of language and knowledge. This love is devoid of vision and wisdom. Love is miserable without wisdom, rather love without wisdom is the mother of misery. We all want love, not misery. To achieve this, we need to broaden our vision and awareness. We need to know about ourselves, and we need to know how to handle our emotions and instincts. Nobody wants to be mad, angry or hateful - but we have not learnt, or we have not been taught how to handle our negative feelings and tendencies when they take over our minds or our lives.

The knowledge that unites love and wisdom, the knowledge that uplifts the spirit is spirituality.

Consciousness of an enlightened being

2026-10-15T21:31:03.029+05:30

In a state of ignorance, imperfection is natural and perfection is an effort! In a state of wisdom or enlightenment, imperfection is an effort, while perfection is a compulsion and unavoidable!

Perfection is taking total responsibility, and total responsibility means – knowing you are the only responsible person in the whole world. When you are in total vairagya (dispassion), you can even take care of trivial and insignificant things with such perfection. Perfection is the very nature of one who is enlightened.

Knowledge is different at different levels of consciousness. At a particular level, you become “anasuya”, meaning “devoid of fault-finding eyes”. There is a certain mindset that always finds fault, even in the best of conditions. Such people will still find something wrong, even with the best possible companion, or the most beautiful painting. Such a mindset cannot know the sacred knowledge. The weaker the devotee, the purer the Guru needs to be. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that He is giving Arjuna the royal secret because Arjuna is anasuya. Similarly, Hanuman never saw any fault in Rama.

From a distance, even craters cannot be seen; from up close, even a smooth surface will have holes. If you are only interested in the holes, you will not see the magnanimity of things. If you are not anasuya, knowledge cannot blossom in you, and then, there is no point in giving you knowledge.

If you look for imperfection, you can see imperfection even in Rama and Krishna! If Krishna had been living today, there would probably have been many court cases filed against Him for telling lies, stealing, etc.! In Buddha’s life, you don’t see any imperfection. Buddha lived a pure life, not for His own sake, but for the sake of the world – for the sake of the devotees.

If an enlightened person drinks or smokes, nothing happens to their consciousness, for in that state of enlightenment, all that one wants is the welfare of everyone, “good” for everyone and happiness on this planet.

Two limbs of yoga (II) - personal ethics

2026-10-13T16:01:29.233+05:30

Niyama (personal ethics):

There are five rules for one’s inner development.

The first is “shaucha” or everyday cleanliness. It includes showering and keeping yourself clean, wearing clean clothes, and seeing that you don’t have bad breath. If someone stinks, he (or she) doesn’t notice it, but others have problems sitting next to him (or her) in satsang or during Sudarshan Kriya! Someone has to do the Sudarshan Kriya, and he is thinking, “Oh! Why is this person next to me?!” As “So Hum (practice of Sudarshan Kriya)” goes on, instead of focusing on “So Hum”, he is saying, “Go away! Go away! My God! Oh God!”

The second is “santosha” or contentment, happiness. Be happy! If you don’t take a step towards being happy, nothing in this world can make you happy, and you go on complaining about this and that. Once, a farmer was complaining that the apples on his trees were not too good. Then, one year, he had very good apples! He had apples in plenty – three times more than the usual crop! Then he started complaining about having too much work to do, about having to pick all those apples, about how many were rotting, and about how the prices had gone down! There’s no end to complaining – but life goes on anyway! It flows like a river. How do you want to live the rest of your life – the remaining thirty, forty or fifty years? Smiling? Or grumbling, feeling horrible about yourself, and blaming the whole world? So the second rule is to be happy and content.

Third is “tapas” – forbearance or penance – meaning, something is uncomfortable, but you still put up with it, happily. It’s like people, who go on marathon walks for 20 miles or 20 kilometres. If we had to simply walk 20 kilometres, we would grumble, but when it’s a marathon, then one says, “Oh! I am going to walk!” Whether you walk in a marathon, or you walk because your car broke down, your legs go through the same pain! But when you think you’re in a marathon, you come back the same, sweating and tired, but with a smile: “Oh! I did it!” This is tapas – willingly taking it.

Suppose you have to travel in a plane for a long time – say eight or ten hours – what do you do? If you were asked to sit for ten hours, you would never do it, but in a plane, there is no way out! You have to sit… with a seat belt! You can watch TV to keep your mind occupied, but you have to sit! So, willingly accepting opposites is tapas. This makes your body and mind strong. Whatever you can change – change. What you cannot change, accept. If it is too cold, put on a sweater. If it is too hot, take off your coat. It’s as simple as that! When it is raining very heavily, and you get wet, in spite of an umbrella – get wet! Tapas. We have to take it. Forbearance.

Fourth is self-study – “swadhyaya”. Observe your mind and see what your mind says, how you behave, how you act, how you feel. Do you feel good? Do you feel bad? If you are feeling bad, just observe, you will start feeling good again. When you are feeling good, observe. All feelings – good or bad – will change. Swadhyaya is self-study, self-observation.

Fifth is “ishwara pranidhaana”, meaning, love for the Divine – surrender to the Divine. When you feel you are totally helpless, you say, “Oh, God! You take whatever it is that I am feeling!”

These are the ten rules (yama + niyama) that make you very strong – that make you whole and complete. If you are clean inside and you’re clean outside, then your mind is clean and free. Put anything that doesn’t feel right, anything that’s bothering you, into the “Botheration Basket (part of Art of Living's Silence Program)” and feel you are cleansed from inside.

To feel clean inside, we have two things – “So Hum” and “So What?!” “So What?!” will certainly work, but if it doesn’t, “So Hum” most definitely will! With “So what?!” or “So Hum”, keep your smile!

Two limbs of yoga (I) - social ethics

2026-10-11T15:38:41.001+05:30

Every moment that you spend here, in this place, just know that you are in a Divine place… in the Divine space. Know that you are on this planet for a very unique and big purpose, and not just to eat, sleep and talk. You are here for a greater cause. Just remember that. Take a challenge – “Come what may, I am going to smile today and be happy!”

For our growth, and to strengthen our lives, we need to follow some rules. These rules are called “yama” (social ethics) and “niyama” (personal ethics). They are the first two steps (or limbs) of yoga – of inner union.

Yama:

There are five rules to living peacefully in society and the environment: The first rule is “ahimsa” or non-violence. Non- violence unites you with the whole creation. Just as you don’t harm yourself, you don’t harm the rest of creation. Everything is part of you, so how can you harm anything? Ahimsa is the practice of yoga, of not harming, and realizing that everything is here.

You don’t lie to yourself, do you? You can’t lie to yourself. If you are weaving beads, you don’t say, “I am not weaving beads.” You are, and you know it. When you have chocolate in your hand, you don’t say, “I don’t have chocolate in my hand.” You do have chocolate in your hand! So, the second rule is “satyam” or truthfulness.

The third is “astheya”, meaning, not missing what you don’t have at this moment, nor wishing things were different from what they are at the moment – not regretting. Astheya is not: “I wish I had a voice like that person! I wish I could sing like that person. I wish I were young like that person. I wish I could run like that person. I wish I could be as intelligent as that person…” It is not comparing yourself with others or wishing for what they have and you don’t have. Astheya is not wishing you could have those things.

Fourth is “brahmacharya”, meaning, not interested in small things; not interested in the shapes and forms of the body. The mind, here, sees beyond the physical, to the infinite. Brahmacharya is keeping the mind on bigger things. “Brahma” means big; moving in bigger things.

“I am this”, “I am small”, “I am a man”, “I am a woman”, “I am a good person”, “I am a bad person”, “I am hopeless” – all these are small identifications. you collect the garbage and hold on to it very safely! This is what most people do. They are ready to bounce up, take negativity and keep it to themselves. If someone is taking out garbage and throwing it into a basket, you don’t have to take it! Don’t take anything from anybody, including insults! Of course, compliments don’t really bother us! They just go to our heads! What really bother us are the insults, the hurt, and all the negative words that we take from people. Don’t take them! Do you understand? This is aparigraha, the fifth rule.

Types of devotees

2026-10-08T18:49:37.096+05:30

The first kind is a devotee who keeps asking, ‘God give me this’, ‘God give me that’. The second kind is a devotee who is always grateful, ‘Thank you God, you gave me this and you gave me that.’ Such a devotee is emotional, prayerful and keeps crying out of gratitude. The third kind is a devotee who always remains joyful, keeps smiling, dancing and singing; a joyful devotee.

All three are different kinds of devotees, and yet all three are supreme. It is not that one is greater than another — that is not so. So there is, a crying devotee, a laughing devotee, and a devotee who keeps asking — which category are you in, you can see that for yourself. It is possible that a little of all three may be there in you. That also is okay.

Then that would be the fourth kind of devotee — one who has a little bit of all the three present. Now, one who gets lost in fun only, somewhere or the other, he is not able to attain depth, and depth is also needed. That is why saint Kabir has said – “Kabira hasana door kar, rone se kar preet, bin roye kit paaiye, prem piyara meet“.

The crying which Kabir is talking about is a different kind of crying. It is the crying that comes out of praise, out of gratitude and longing. It is not the kind of crying where one feels that this is lacking, that is lacking, this did not happen, that did not happen. He is not referring to that type of crying which is for the worldly matters or maya. He is referring to those who cry out of bliss and devotion. So that is also needed.

But the devotees who are joyful are said to be the knowledgeable ones, because they know that God is right here — He is within me, and He is present this very moment. Often people think that God is elsewhere; He existed sometime in the past or will come sometime in the future. They forget that God is right here, right now, present within everyone, present within me — this conviction should be there. We do pranayama, asana, kirtan, bhajan, seva, to know that God is inside me, right here and right now.

Sex is not a hindrance on the path

2026-10-06T13:54:00.000+05:30

Sex is where life originates in the Orient. It is honoured as divine sexuality. It is in the second chakra, and then you move up to the other chakras. Spirituality does not disown anything or dissociate from anything. Spirituality encompasses all aspects of life. In fact, spirituality uplifts one from sex to the higher consciousness.

Sex is being attracted to a part of the body and getting some stimulation from it. The goal of sex is to find joy and not sex itself. It is to get into that moment. Forget about everything and find joy. Spirituality provides that joy, a joy, which is not through some act but a joy that is beyond the senses.

Any enjoyment or pleasure is spending energy when you spend a lot of energy. Then you do not have enough energy left to take you to your centre. That is the only reason why sex, food, too much sleep or watching television continuously or doing too much of any activity will be a hindrance on this path, to be in the hollow and empty space inside you. It is because you are not used to going deep inside of yourself that you are not in the centre; you are not calm, serene or subtle.

To be something that you're not used to being, needs some energy. It needs some effort and it is an effort to become effortless. So during this period of time, it is better to abstain from talking and all other activities like too much sex, over-eating, too much sleep, etc. Otherwise, the relationship you are in is not a hindrance for your spiritual growth or meditation.

Sex is not a hindrance, provided both partners are on the same path; both are in a balanced state of mind and have a common goal, purpose and are engaged in service. Sex is nothing but a little stimulation on the level of the body, it gives you a "high" for a few minutes, and that's it. There's no big deal about it.

The need for a physical high will automatically reduce once you feel the inner fountain of love flowing from. You are the source of that love. The stimulation of the self is so strong that the stimulation in the body is nothing in comparison to it. The tickle of the soul is so strong that the sensations in the body don't come anywhere close to it.

It is not that one is against the other, or one creates some problem for the other. When you realise consciousness is beyond the physical body, then you go beyond the gross pleasures. You have been trying to know the male and the female in so many lifetimes - animal and human. If you just want to know sexual pleasures, then keep knowing them. But for how long? At some point of time, you will say "Enough is enough." That is when the mind will turn inward.

That is why it is said a minute of samadhi is equivalent to 1000 units of sex. The amount of joy you get in one minute of samadhi is thousand times more than the joy you get in a minute of sex and that one minute of samadhi is equivalent to a billion years of rest.

So do you want that? Then you have to go beyond these mundane things you have to give up something to get something. If you want to really enjoy a nice good meal, you have to give up eating junk food all day. Since the morning if you're stuffing yourself with potato chips, you can't enjoy your lunch because you won't have the appetite for it. If you're hungry, then you can enjoy a good meal. You don't have to give up the potato chips though. Moderation is the key.

True founder of communism

2026-10-04T14:05:31.674+05:30

Long before Karl Marx, Lenin and Mao, a historical figure in India fought against oppression, championed the cause of the poor, denounced religious dogma and empty ritualism, and sought to inspire a righteous and selfless attitude in society. The basic tenets of communism say that all are equal, and exploiters and oppressors should be severely punished. It rebels against societal dogmas and advocates caring and sharing. The goal is to create a society free from selfishness, autocracy, aristocracy and oppression of people of any sort.

The life and message of Krishna reveals that he imbibed, taught and fought for these principles 5,230 years ago. In fact, an objective analysis of the Bhagavad Gita too would reveal that Krishna was a better communist than Karl Marx. One could go so far as to describe him as the real founder of communism!

Krishna grew up among cowherds. A cowherd himself, he worked for the empowerment of his people. Later, he killed his own uncle, Kamsa, a king who was an oppressor, thereby liberating the entire society of Mathura and Brindavan from his tyranny.

Throughout his life, Krishna cared for the poor and the weak. In the Mahabharata war, he could have sided with the powerful Kauravas but he took the side of the Pandavas, who had nothing on their side except goodwill and pure hearts. He worked for them and went as an ambassador for peace for them. So definitely his mission was with the poor and the oppressed, the victims of royal aristocrat families and therefore he is called Deenabandhu, Deenavatsala (friend of the poor).

The story of Sudama, the poor Brahmin, is a well-known episode from Krishna’s life. Often people think Brahmins were oppressors, when in fact Brahmins have always been very poor. One never hears instances or stories of rich Brahmins in history or in the puranas. But Krishna’s love and compassion was such that he honoured him, cutting across the class barriers.

Krishna also rebelled against dogmatic religious practices of those days. Even today it is well known that the entire society stopped the sacrificial puja they were doing to Indra, shifting over, on Krishna’s advice, to caring for the cows (Govardhan Pooja) and honouring the knowledge of the self. Govardhan also means honouring knowledge. He also promoted Annakoot, where there is food for everybody.

Krishna rebels against the people who are always arguing in the name of the Vedas. He has said that people who are driven by little desires, who are propitiating this deity or that, caught up in small rituals and greed, are fools (moodha). He also says, “Those who worship many devas and perform many rituals are of lesser intelligence.”

Finally, after a detailed exposition of all aspects of life, knowledge and duty, he says, “Sarva dharman parityajya mamekam sharanam vraja” (Drop all the dharma and take refuge in me, i.e., in the higher self). This is really a revolutionary thing. Karl Marx also has said drop the religion, “Religion is the opium of the masses.” But beyond religion is the quest for truth. Where does a man go further? There Krishna leads Arjuna, leads the people into that spiritual realm of experience, which is seriously lacking in communism today.

To transcend religion, one needs to understand religion. Karl Marx was not aware of Indian spirituality. All that he saw was the blind faith and the authoritarian rule of the religious institutions that existed at that time in Russia, whereas Krishna takes us beyond religion.

He also says drop religion, but it brings you to a place of spiritual awakening, of knowledge, of truth, of beauty. The confidence that builds up in a person who knows the depth and the secrets of creation is something amazing, so beautiful – without which life is dry. So make the transition from religion to spirituality. It is what was missing in the Karl Marx principle and which Krishna has very clearly demonstrated and given to the world in the form of Gita.

Communism cannot reject Krishna at any cost because he stands for all its principles in a much more meaningful manner. If we don’t see the reality, the truth with an open mind then we have merely replaced an old religion with a new religion called communism. So we have to be aware and wake up to adapt to changing times.

I wonder why the communists have not yet owned Krishna. Many times in the Gita, Krishna says, “Yo mam pasyati sarvatra” (One who sees me in everybody, one who sees oneself in everybody, is the one who sees the truth). This is the basic principle of communism – see everyone as yourself. He says the banana peel has a meaning as long as there is a banana inside. But when you eat the banana, then the peel has no value. Similarly religion can’t take people to the final truth, final goal. But it is the spirit of self-enquiry, the scientific temper in a person, that takes one deeper. Religion stays behind and one moves into a realm of pure humanism or pure divinity – this is the hallmark of Krishna’s teaching.

Unlike in the west, where scientists were tortured and questioning of the religious scriptures was prohibited, India has always encouraged questioning and contemplation. In fact, most of the scriptures in India are in the format of questions and answers. After putting forth his opinion, Krishna tells Arjuna to independently think and question; and tells him that he has the freedom to accept or reject his opinion. He never imposes his idea.

Though communism advocates rational thinking, we hear many communists do not give the freedom to people to express a different ideology. At the same time, Krishna also inspired Arjuna to fight and not accept oppression, which again is what communists say. He advises Arjuna to fight not with anger or hatred, but with intelligence, with equanimity, with wisdom.

Another principle of communism is sharing. As a small child, Krishna would share butter with all the boys, all the youngsters. Later he shared wealth. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it said that in his last days Krishna used to go and give gifts to people every morning. A salient feature of communism is to work for the community and it comes down strongly on consumerism or greed. This is explained by Krishna in the Karma Yoga - karmanye vadhikaraste.

Krishna goes on to say that one who is really wise regards all men as equal and does not discriminate between a Brahmin and an untouchable, or a learned one and someone who is not so learned - vidyavinaya sampanna. Many people talk about communism but lead a capitalistic life. However Krishna never did that. He stood for the cause of the poor. He saw that oneness in everybody and so he was remembered for centuries.

But nowadays it is suddenly fashionable to regard even the Ramayana and Mahabharata as epics and not as something that really happened. This is ridiculous, because just a legend cannot have such an impact over the whole continent, and even beyond. The Ramayana and Mahabharata have made such an impact on civilization without any modern technology. The Sanskrit word itihasa means ‘it happened like that/it happened thus’.

To see everyone as equal is a matter of the heart, and the heart can be made to blossom only through spirituality. And uplifting the spirit is what is spirituality. So you cannot be a true communist if you don’t have that spark of love and compassion in your heart. Modern communism negates religion but leaves you in a vacuum. Devoid of spirituality, frustration overtakes life, leading one to violence and aggression or depression and suicidal tendencies. You cannot serve someone if you don’t see them as yourself or part of yourself. What was missing in communism is the very soul, that is spirituality, of which Krishna was an expert teacher.

A tale of two forces

2026-09-22T14:01:00.000+05:30

The lotus flower is only a symbol in the olden times. One of the names of the Lord used to be Kamal Nayana, meaning having eyes like a blossomed lotus. In the same way, the kundalini has been represented symbolically as a snake in the mythological stories. It is said that mother Earth rests upon the hoods of the serpent sesha naag.

What does this actually mean? What does the sesha naag mean? It symbolises the centripetal and the centrifugal forces. Our Earth is supported by two kinds of forces. These forces do not move in a linear direction. These forces act in a circular fashion. A snake also never travels in a straight line.

The movement of the serpent is propelled by centripetal and centrifugal forces. The sesha naag symbolizes the two forces that the Earth is supported by. It does not literally mean that the Earth is resting upon the hood of some giant serpent. No, it is not, so at all. The sesha naag here is not some actual living being. It is actually a giant, supportive force or power.

Similarly, when we say that there is a lotus flower within us, it means that when the mind blossoms and becomes soft, supple and refined, then we experience the subtle consciousness in us. When the mind is stuck in inertia, then we cannot experience any energy or power in us. That is why our scriptures advocate the practice of mitahara, meaning exercising balance and restraint while eating. They advocate proper rest for the body. Then the body becomes tuned and conducive to experience this subtle phenomenon.

If you are reading this, you may be a lucky one

2026-09-20T14:10:45.490+05:30

Some of the religious paths create this fear of hell and heaven that puts people into such a turmoil of guilt and fear that the mind can never calm down. Meditation can never happen. This is very unfortunate. So even though such followers are aspirants, they are not really getting the path.

These people don’t get access to the knowledge: ‘Come on, the mind is like a river, what are you holding on to? Don’t hold on to it. All the events are gone, drop it and move on. Live in the present moment‘. This knowledge is not available to many people (who aspire to walk the spiritual path). They go on repenting about the past, feeling guilty, and the mind becomes a mess.

Of course they do pray. Their prayers do help, and they get some blessings. Blessings come to everyone, no doubt, but the knowledge, the right path and liberation remains a distant dream for them. Peace does not happen in their life. They sit with the hope that one day they will go to heaven. And so these souls get trapped with desires and fear.

They got a human life to be free from all this. So they will have to come back again to work out all these things. Again they will get into meditation.

So, a human birth, desire for a path, and the path being available to them (Maha Purusha Sannidho: getting a Spiritual Master), these three things are rare and difficult to get. If you have all three, you are lucky.

Symbolism behind Ganesh Chaturthi

2026-09-17T18:24:55.894+05:30

Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated on the day on which Lord Ganesha is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees. Though it is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the symbolism behind the festival is much deeper. Though Ganesha is worshipped as the elephant-headed God, the swaroop (form) is just to bring out its parabrahma roopa (eternal divine formlessness).

Ganesh Chaturthi marks a unique art of reaching the formless paramatma called Lord Ganesh by the repeated worship of his manifest form. Even the Ganesh Stotram, the prayers recited in the praise of Ganeshji, conveys the same. We pray to Ganesha in our consciousness to come out and sit in the idol for us for a while so that we can play with Him.

After the puja, we again pray, asking Him to go back to where He came from – our consciousness. While He is in the idol, we offer back whatever God has given us through the puja of the idol.

Ganesha is the lord of all the good qualities in us. So when we worship Him, all the good qualities blossom in us. He is also the Lord of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge dawns only when we become aware of the Self. When there is inertia, there is no knowledge, no wisdom, nor is there any chaitanya (liveliness) or progress in life. So, the consciousness has to be awakened, and the presiding deity of consciousness is Ganesha. That’s why before every puja, the Lord Ganesha is worshipped to awaken the consciousness.

Therefore, install the idol, worship it with infinite love, meditate and experience Lord Ganesha from within. This is the symbolic essence of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, to awaken the Ganesh tattva, which is masked inside us.

And in the end, say, ‘You have come from my heart, and you will get back into my heart.’ Like that, saying that, Ganapati, the idol, you leave it in the ocean or in the water, from where you took it. The Visarjan is for you to understand that Ganapati is not just in the idol. He has come from your heart into the idol. The prana has come there, and then the prana gets back into you after fulfilling your desires.

Putting forth your desires in front of Ganapati, you then say, ‘Ganapati, you are back in my heart.’ Then you leave that idol in the water.

The ritual of immersing (visarjan) the idols after a few days of worship reinforces the understanding that God is not in the idol; He is inside us. So, experiencing the Omnipresent in the form and deriving joy out of the form is the essence of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. In this way, such organised festivity and worship leads to an upsurge in enthusiasm and devotion.

Embrace the symbolism of Lord Ganesha and let wisdom guide your path as you navigate the journey of life with awareness and grace.

What does awakening of kundalini mean?

2026-09-13T15:43:22.670+05:30

Do not try awakening your kundalini by force. It is a natural phenomenon. Many people go crazy in doing so and ultimately lose their sanity. You should not do that. Meditation happens effortlessly when your kundalini is awakened. Whenever you meditate, you find that scintillating energy flowing all over your being. That is what kundalini is.

When you do the Sudarshan Kriya, every cell becomes awake and alive. The awakening of energy happens very naturally. We should adopt the natural manner only. Otherwise you will lose sleep.

If someone approaches you and tells you, “I will help you awaken your kundalini shakti”, simply thank them respectfully and move away. When a banana ripens on its own it is naturally sweet. If someone forcefully tries to ripen the banana, then it is no longer remains fit for consumption. So, if someone tries to awaken the kundalini shakti by force, there are high chances that one may lose one’s mental balance. Only those who have years and years of practice of yoga and deep knowledge about this can really practice these techniques properly without any side effects.

Unfortunately, today people do not comprehend the sanctity of these powers. Someone learns a few techniques randomly and teaches it to others. They try to awaken the energy with these techniques but without much result; rather it creates more problems. The effect is akin to the fuse blowing up inside a bulb due to an excess and unchecked surge of energy. Some lose their mind, become deranged, or are unable to sleep. We should not try such things at all.

Once a lady visited a mystic, who told her to do certain things. When she did as instructed, she experienced a lot of difficulty and great discomfort. She told me, "Gurudev, I'm not able to go to the temple and my body is not in my control." It should be the opposite way around. You should be able to control even your involuntary system when you do sadhana. When you do wrong sadhana without proper guidance or just by reading books, then the voluntary and involuntary systems get messed up. So you should be careful about this. Key is proper guidance and effortlessness.

The energy should be awakened very naturally and effortlessly. When energy rises naturally and through proper technique, one experiences immense enthusiasm, joy, total belongingness. All these are signs of a true awakening of the shakti (energy). It happens spontaneously when you do Sudarshan Kriya. You feel as if every particle in your body has been infused with energy. That is what the awakening of kundalini is.

Chakras - your pathway to bliss

2026-09-08T14:02:00.000+05:30

There are seven chakras or seven nerve/energy centers connected with different glands in the body — thyroid gland, the adrenalin glands, pituitary gland, pineal gland, etc. Science also agrees that these glands are responsible for our experiencing various emotions. Our ancient Rishis knew this fact thousands of years ago and mentioned it in the scriptures.

The Rishis depicted each of the seven chakras in the forms of a lotus or different flowers. This is because when you go deeper in meditation, the consciousness becomes very subtle, and your mind becomes fresh like a flower. It becomes fresh, alive and soft. In such a delicate state of consciousness, you experience the rise of energy in the system.

Lightness is connected with subtlety. Grossness is connected with inertia and negative sensations; negative feelings. When you are negative, when you are rude or rough in your behavior, there is a certain inertia, a certain heaviness in the system.

When you feel all the positive sensations, you feel a sense of lightness. When the energy moves upwards, then the inertia transforms into enthusiasm and then next to creativity. From creativity wells up joy. When you are happy, you are naturally generous. Then the energy moves up further into the heart chakra where you only feel love for everybody around you. When you feel immense love, you feel an equal amount of gratitude and from this gratitude stems awareness. Awareness leads you to bliss.

Recognize duality to see unity

2026-09-06T14:12:49.329+05:30

Some people misuse yoga for the fulfilment of their carnal instincts; this is wrong. It should be the other way around. Whenever there is a carnal instinct, it should be transformed into a divine inner experience. There is a beautiful word in Sanskrit called atma rati, union with one’s being, rejoicing in one's self.

There are two things, prakriti (nature) and purusha (consciousness). There is an interplay of nature and consciousness all the time. The union of your body and soul — your body is female (prakriti), and your soul is male (purusha) — is happening all the time. And, seeing that union within oneself is samadhi.

That is why samadhi is considered to be a thousand times more joyful than carnal desires. Whatever joy sex gives, samadhi offers a thousand times more because there is no effort and no action there. It is only being and just being. When just the being, the play and display of consciousness come to one’s awareness, it becomes one’s experience — exquisite and beautiful!

Don’t keep any corner of your existence away from divinity. The divine should be interwoven into every aspect of your life, and this is called brahmacharya, which means moving with the infinity, uniting with the infinity. In India, you find both aspects — Shiva and Parvati who symbolize prakriti and purusha, consciousness and matter — everywhere. First recognize the duality and then see the unity. They are not two, they are not different but two sides of the same coin.

You are complete. You are both man and woman. Getting rid of this label, ‘I am man’, ‘I am woman’ — getting out of your limited identity, this is the highest philosophy of the universe. We keep identifying ourselves, ‘I am a man’, ‘I am a woman’, ‘I am old’, ‘I am young’, ‘I am educated’, and ‘I am illiterate’. Throw away all these labels. What remains is pure consciousness. Just know that you are the consciousness.

Don’t go around saying I am nothing. Adi Shankaracharya once said, ‘One who labels himself as something is a fool and one who labels himself as nothing is a bigger fool.’ One who is nothing does not talk, so just keep quiet. How can you say, ‘I am nothing’, when you are saying something! There cannot be somebody there saying, ‘I am nothing.’

When you consider the basic necessities of food and sex as sacred, then aggression in you disappears and surrender, gratefulness and love dawn in you. That is when the devotee and the divine have become one. They have blissfully merged into one. But there is a difference between bliss and sex. Sex is energy consuming and draining while bliss is energy conserving. All emotions that you experience are nothing but energy moving through you, through the chakras in the body.

Sex is not a sin

2026-09-03T13:53:00.000+05:30

Sex is a manifestation of kama or desire. ‘Sex is the original sin,’ this is what people have been made to believe in the past. Sex is not a sin. It is the basis of all life on the planet. There are two basic instincts in human beings, and these have been with you in all your lifetimes — food and sex. These have been with you in all your lives, even when you were an animal and now as a human being. You are born out of food and sex.

It is so beautiful that in India we connect both of these to divinity. In the Upanishads, it is said ‘Food is God.’ When you consider food as God, you will not overeat. You won’t simply stuff yourself with food, but you will eat with honour. No festival in India is celebrated without delicacies, associated with that festival, being prepared in every household. When you go to a temple, the first thing the priest gives you is some prasad. Prasad is just a little bit of food that is given to the devotees. Without prasad, there is no pilgrimage and no festival. Food and God are connected.

Similarly, sex and God are also connected. One often tends to keep sex separate from God. Sex is often thought of as part of material life. But here in India, the ancient people linked sex to God so that no aspect in us, even an instinct as basic as sex, remained away from God. When you honour sex and consider it as part of the divinity, then your obsession disappears, lust disappears and sacredness dawns. Also, the basic instinct of lust transforms into love. This is the ancient thought.

The four principles - dharma, artha, kama, moksha

2026-09-01T13:55:00.000+05:30

For spiritual blossoming in life, four principles have to be kept in mind — dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. These are the four aspects of Purushartha. Dharma is the nature, artha is the means, kama is the desire and moksha is the release from desire.

The body has its nature. If the body wants to sleep, you have to provide it with rest. But, in reality what do we do when the body wants to sleep? We turn on the television to watch an interesting movie. We are going against the body’s dharma. Suppose the body has a desire to eat and even though you have eaten, the desire has not vanished. Your stomach is full, but the desire to eat still remains. This is where moksha comes in.

Moksha means release from the desire. Dropping of the desire is moksha. If there is no coordination between these four faculties, then life will be utter chaos; a misery. For example, you have a desire to go to the moon or to fly but your desire and means don’t coordinate with each other, then sheer dissatisfaction sets in. When desire and nature are coordinated, then the means and fulfillment are also coordinated. Fulfillment can also be taken to mean liberation.

Once, there was a potter. He took a long time in making pots — spending long hours to make each pot artistic and even painting some of them. He put all the pots he made in a basket to take them to the market. The market was some distance away. The potter started daydreaming as he was walking along. He began to make various plans about what he would do with the money that he would earn by selling the pots. He imagined that he would become a millionaire, that his friends would respect him a lot. He would be able to relax and do nothing. While thus dreaming of relaxing on a chair, his hands let go of the basket and all the pots fell and were shattered. He did not even reach the marketplace! No coordination between the four — fulfillment, desire, means and one’s very nature, creates problems.

Both artha (wealth and material comforts) and kama (desire or passion) arise in life from time to time, according to one’s needs. Fulfilling those needs to sustain one’s life, yet not getting entangled in too much greed or lust is the responsibility of dharma (righteous action) and moksha (liberation from suffering).

In the course of our life, from time to time, we have to engage ourselves in the pursuit of artha and kama. Enjoy them but at the same time do not get caught up in them. That is why we should engage in actions that are aligned with our dharma and refrain from those actions that go against it. The same goes for artha too.

Life cannot function smoothly if any one of the four aspects of Purushartha is missing. As life progresses, we must have moksha as our supreme aim; adhere to and uphold dharma at all times, and we will see that our pursuits for both artha and kama will also bear fruit in due course of time.

Why should one be on the spiritual path?

2026-08-30T13:53:22.699+05:30

Spirituality for me is very basic to life. We are made of both matter and spirit. While the building blocks of our body are proteins, carbohydrates, etc., our consciousness or spirit is made of compassion, joy, energy, enthusiasm, peace, happiness and all such beautiful qualities. Anything that uplifts the spirit, anything that brings more happiness, love, creativity, compassion, and enthusiasm in life is spirituality.

For thousands of years, spirituality has been the guiding force behind humanity. Now is the time when we need to move from religion to spirituality. Religion is like the peel and spirituality the fruit inside. Wars have been fought and nations divided in the name of religion but spirituality has united humanity irrespective of religion, race, caste, creed, gender, colour and age. The rituals that you go through from birth to death are all religion.

Spirituality is personal. Unfortunately, the world over, we have thrown out the essence and are holding on to the dry fruit peel. Spirituality gives you the much-needed self-esteem, confidence and fearlessness. Some religions don’t believe in God — like Buddhism and Jainism.

Religion, mainly talks about rituals, symbols, a style of life, whereas spirituality attends to the core values of empowering oneself, and realizing that there are many faculties and dimensions lying dormant within us. For example, all of us have ten fingers, but not everyone knows how to play the sitar. With a little training, the fingers can play music. In the same way, with a little training of our minds, talent can be exhibited, confidence levels can rise, honesty, integrity – qualities that we expect from others will start showing up within us.

Spirituality is getting in touch with yourself, the core of your being. The goal of the spiritual path is to understand the spiritual dimension of life and live all the values that the spirit represents — peace, love, joy, beauty, unlimited knowledge, and the capacity to understand both mind and matter. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing that inside you there is a pure, clear space that’s vast and deep.

That inner space is what you are. Feeling this inner space is knowing your spiritual dimension. Spiritual blossoming simply means blossoming in life in all dimensions — being happy, at ease with yourself and with everybody around you. Worrying doesn’t make any difference, but working does, and spirituality gives one the strength to work.

Go beyond yourself, to find God

2026-08-25T14:00:00.000+05:30

Who is God? You and me and all that is. The totality. Love is God and everything is love. The whole creation is filled with love. Now the question that is rising in your mind is, "Are hatred, anger and negativity also love? I would say yes.

If you are angry, go to the root of your anger. Why are you angry? Because you love someone in some way. That anger is a by-product of love. Do you see that? Hatred is a byproduct of love. Love is what you are made up of. The consciousness in you is love.

Love is not just an emotion. It is the very state of your being. It is the pulse in you. You may call it God. You may call it pure consciousness. You may call it the supreme or unseen power which nobody knows. It is the basis of creation.

A scientist may call it the vacuum state of matter or existence. A person who practices yoga says it is that which is beyond the mind, beyond the self. The word God in India is Paramatman. Atman means the self, the I. Para means beyond. Whatever is beyond the I, is God.

So how do you go beyond the I? When you become love. You dissolve. You go beyond.

Getting to see God

2026-08-23T16:10:01.930+05:30

People were told in ancient days "God is your mother, God is your father, and thirdly, God is your teacher". See God as your mother, as your father and as your master.

Don't divide and say, "This is different, that is different, God is somewhere else". Then you will experience disconnection. Though you are not disconnected, you will experience disconnection.

You can never be disconnected, but you can be in illusion, you can be in ignorance, believing that you are not connected. That is painful. Pain is the feeling of disconnectedness when it is not so.

I met a very beautiful Catholic nun who happened to come into one of the courses. She said, "If you don't see Christ in the first person you meet, you are never going to see Him". If you are able to see divinity in everyone, then all your relationships are relationships with God. You can't be related to anything else, because whatever you related to, you will see God in it.

If you have a brother, you will see God in the brother. If you have a sister, you will see God in the sister. If you have a husband, you will see God in the husband. You have parents, you see God in your parents. You have friends, you see God in your friends. In every relation you will see only God. God is coming to you in the form of an enemy.

God is making you stronger somewhere, pulling out all your weak points, contributing to your life. This is my understanding. With this understanding, the bliss, the joy remains eternal, unshakable.

To let love happen, know your Self

2026-08-20T21:44:13.479+05:30

Can you love with your effort? Is it possible? No. A million times you have heard people telling you to love everything. Love the flower, love the sun, love the moon.

How Is possible? Can you love with your effort or does it just happen? Love is spontaneous inner happening. You have no control over love. It is the other way around Love controls you. When there is love, you are pulled. Even if you don't want to go , you are pulled. When there is love, you are drawn towards it. Love governs your life. You can't govern love.

You are very small. You are tinier than love. Love is a phenomenon. It happens to you. It is beyond your manipulation. You cannot manipulate your mind and bring love into it. It is impossible.

What can you do? You can drop the stresses, tension and all that is blocking the flow of love and being natural. If you are natural, you are allowing love to flow through you.

Anything you do that is unnatural blocks the flow of love. What is distress? Distress is something which blocks the flow of love. When there is love, there is no distress. Can there be distress in love? No. Can there be fear when there is love? No. Eliminate the root cause of tension, and love dawns and flowers in its natural way. The real cause of tension is unawareness of love. It goes in circles.

You think if you don't love yourself, if you can't accept yourself, you're limited in loving anybody else. But who said you don't love yourself? The trouble is you do love yourself. Not as your Self, but as your thoughts, your ideas and your ego. Ignorance of your Self is the lack today, not lack of love for oneself. Do you see that difference?

An obstacle to enlightenment

2026-08-18T13:57:00.000+05:30

You are asking me, “Can a Christian or a Westerner be enlightened?”. If he thinks he is a Christian, he is a Hindu, he is a Muslim, he is somebody, and then he cannot be enlightened.

As long as anyone takes such a position, then enlightenment is far away. A human being can be enlightened, not a Christian, not a Hindu, not a Muslim. See the difference?

If you know you are just a human being and if you know you are just being, you are already enlightened.

Understanding the "self"

2026-08-16T14:13:50.649+05:30

Many people, when they get this spiritual knowledge, say, “Oh, Gurudev, while I’ve been waiting for this, so much time has gone by. I’ve wasted 20 years. How nice it would have been if you had come years ago”.

I say don’t regret the past. Nothing is ever a waste. All the past, all you have gone through has built the foundation, has brought the walls up. Now we are here to put on the roof, to complete it. It is not a waste. What is it about the individual self that makes it different from another individual self?

My answer will not help you. You look into it. That is a question in your mouth like food in your mouth. Someone can bring food up to your mouth with a spoon, but you have to chew it. Someone else cannot chew it for you and put it in your stomach. This is such a question. You work it out. This much we can say, the self is not thoughts, it is not feeling, it is not emotions.

A scholar who has studied such things would answer this question. The answer to such a question is more harmful than good. It will only place more concepts in your mind. The other day a lady asked me a question. When I did not answer it, she became angry. She felt insulted. She said, “Why are you so unkind to me? You answer everybody else’s questions, but you don’t answer mine”.

I said, “I was kind to you, that’s why I did not answer your question. It’s the other way around. You have a bundle of knowledge. You think you know a lot already and you are chewing it like chewing gum.

It is not fulfilling your belly. All this knowledge is just like chewing gum in the mouth. Your jaws are aching and you are hungry. And you want more chewing gum in your mouth”.

Moving out of the cycle of karma

2026-08-13T14:00:00.000+05:30

Grace and knowledge can cut the bondage of Karma. Otherwise there is no end to it. Good karmas will produce good karmas. Bad karmas will produce bad karmas, bad actions.

Due to bad karma you are engaged in bad actions, and these bad actions will in turn create bad karma, and that bad karma will create bad action and its results, action and its results. It will continue forever.

From where does longing arise

2026-08-11T14:07:00.000+05:30

Longing can come out of gratefulness and gratitude. Longing does not come out of complaint or frustration. Complaints and frustration will bring anger, hatred. Only gratefulness can bring longing.

Know that you've nothing, then you'll have everything

2026-08-09T14:04:56.352+05:30

Give up everything and have everything. Even the sense of giving up something is thinking you have something. You don’t have anything. What do you have to give up? The struggle is that you think that you have, and then that you have to give it up.

In the light of this knowledge you wake up and ask what is it that is yours. You don’t exist. ‘Yours’ doesn’t exist. What is yours? If something is there, it is there. If something is not there, it is not there. So what? If you trying to give something up, you are holding on to it more. Wake up and see nothing is yours or everything is yours.

It becomes so easy. Yours needs will be met. Relax. When you have relaxed so completely, not possessing anything in the head or wanting to possess anything in the head, you will see the substance comes before the need for it arises. Fear arises with the thought, I may require something and then who will give it to me? This is a strain.

When the need is there, what is needed will come. This body belongs to the world. The world will take care of this body. You belong to God and God will take care of you.

The beginning of our spiritual journey

2026-08-06T15:50:00.000+05:30

The spiritual journey begins with gratitude, which energizes and sweetens life. As it deepens, the journey leads to a state of oneness, where all distinctions fade. Gratitude also makes us more aware of the natural flow of life – its rhythm of giving and receiving.

In life, there’s always a give and take. But when we recognize that we’ve been taking more than we’ve been giving, and feel we have nothing left to offer, that’s when the spiritual journey truly begins.