#677 - Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

31:27Oh, really? It's like a river. It's the same Mississippi River, old river. But the water there is new. Like that, the Theo I'm seeing is new. It's not the same Theo as yesterday's. Amen You know there is a beautiful story about Lord Buddha about this Have you heard about that? Lord Buddha's story You know Buddha Oh Buddha Oh yeah I heard of him You have heard Buddha's story on this? No you want to tell me it please? Yes please Buddha was teaching meditation There were 10 ,000 people In his congregation then one elderly man came and he was so angry because his sons instead of helping him in the business they were trying to do meditation there so he came and he was so upset and he stood in front of Buddha and got angry and you have spoiled my son's life and my life and he spat on Buddha's face Buddha didn't react he was just smiling so the gentleman went back home that night, the very vibration of Buddha brought something in him.

32:45It just struck him. I said, I yelled at him, but he was so calm. There is something, you know, there's something very ethereal about Lord Buddha that impacted him. So he felt so bad. He felt so guilty. So next day he comes and says, I'm so sorry I did. will you please forgive me and Buddha said no I can't forgive you everyone else got shocked Buddha's principle is to forgive now he is saying I can't forgive you and Lord Buddha said you see you are not the same person you are here now yesterday and I was not the same person who was there yesterday so if I ever meet the person who spat on the person who spat.

33:39I will tell that person to forgive that person. So everything is changing. So you do mistakes in life. From that you learn, number one. Another thing you have done in a state of unconsciousness, ignorance. So we just move on. It's not just enough to forgive others. We have to forgive ourselves also. Yeah, I think I have a tough - Self-forgiveness. Self-forgiveness. I have a tough time with that. I think I hold a lot of resentments against myself. Sometimes for things that I can't, that were a long time ago, I just like, I'll think like, man, I wish I could have figured that out or I wish I could have done better or it's like, I always have my expectations so high so I can never achieve them.

34:26So I'm always falling short. You know, a little bit of guilt is okay. That keeps you moving, but not too much. How much guilt you should have? Just as much as a salt or Tabasco in your... It's a flavor. It's a flavor. But not a meal. No, a meal. So, when guilt bothers you, what you have to know is wake up and see the whole past is like a dream. Isn't it? Some pleasant thing happens, some unpleasant things happen. None of them exist now here. Right? Right. But what's here now is new. Either you are reeling in rage of anger, what others did, or what you did, guilt of what you did. Both this eats your consciousness and spoils the present and the future.

35:24And so wisdom is seeing this whole thing as a dream or a drama which happened and finished. but the person inside of you is untouched by all that I see what you're saying of course it has brought some pain to others if you feel you have brought pain to others okay now you bring some comfort to others you know giving comfort is what compensates for the pain yeah so no point in brooding over it regretting the past because regret causes a lot of toxins in our own body and it blurs our vision it doesn't help us to be happy now or you know more compassionate also so again here meditation breathing helps you to completely reverse these impressions in mind and make you feel that you are a mirror, not a photograph.

36:34You know? You are not a polar-eyed photograph. You take something and you stay with that photo. No. Your consciousness is like a mirror. You have many lives, many times, you have done many mistakes and every mistake you have learnt and you have come up out of it. So, not latch on to that, but see forward and see this world is so beautiful. There are beautiful people around and there are many who are doing the same mistake you were doing before and how we can help them to come out of those mistakes that's the gift that we have now is we already did it and we know better and we know different and we can share correct because you have a beautiful person inside you know you are a beautiful person you think so oh yeah definitely oh thanks man yeah I think yeah you have that You have the emotion.

37:31You have love. And that's what, you know, though everyone has love, not everybody is able to manifest it. Yeah? Yeah. How are ways do you think that we can love ourselves better, do you feel like? Or is that a big question? Love is not an act. It simply has to realize. Love is not a what? It's not an act. it is not something that you do to say all actions are expression of love but not love it's love is what you are it's your nature like your body is made up of amino acid protein carbohydrates your consciousness is made up of love so love isn't really found in our body like in our it's not like it's in us but it's not in our it's what you are ah Listen, all the negative emotions are just a distortion of love.

38:33Greed. What do you think greed is? You love objects more than people. All for yourself. So your love is off. Yeah. You got to tune your love better. Your love is in wrong place. Yeah. Narcissism is what? You love yourself too much. More than others. More than others. Jealousy is what? You want everything for yourself. So, love gets distorted and forms all this arrogance, anger. Anger is what? It's nothing but love. It's just love with a knife. Yeah. You know, love for perfection brings anger for imperfection. That's something I've struggled with. Because you love perfection so much, any imperfection brings up the anger inside of you.

39:24Well, it makes me feel like I could have done better. Something could be better. I'm always looking for like, okay, this could be different. This could be more. This could be less. But I'm not. You are punishing yourself too much. I am. I'm punishing myself a lot. Every time you get angry for someone else's mistake or your mistake, you are taking a toll of your own mind and your own body. So this is where we should say, stop doing this. we say okay I offer all the past to God you know what does God want God doesn't want a promise from you God just say drop everything drop the past God wants us to let go of the past let go of the past and know that the love of God is with you do you think that that's what puts the love inside of us it's God did it God is love love is God and so are you You are made in the image of God means you are loved too.

40:24Oh, yeah. That's cool, huh? It's kind of cool. It makes you feel good when you think about that. Sometimes I just don't even think about that enough, you know, that God cared enough that he would make us. It's pretty fascinating. It's pretty cool of him. We don't have to think God as someone up sitting up in the heaven and trying to give you a finger. And it's only the Michelangelo painting. Yeah. God is love. And you can never be away from God. You can close your eyes and you can turn your face away, but it's there. Like air, like space. How can you go away from space? Can you go away from space?

41:07No, I'm in it right now. Yeah. And I'm still in it. Yeah, and just realizing that pure energy, love, is always with us, all around us. And that's what meditation does If we meditate for a period of time This awareness wakes up inside us Then there is no other Everyone is part of you What is the feeling of the awakening of the awareness? It just feels very normal What does it feel like? It feels normal? Normal How do you notice that you have? You start smiling more maybe? Yeah, I don't feel any walls between you and others you don't feel like how you feel with your own family that's what you feel with everybody you don't have any anything to show off you know there's no barriers between you and other because you're all family then yeah everybody's part of you more than a family I tell you more than a family more than a family yeah sometimes something else that scares me is that I'm not living like whatever God wants me to do.

42:17Like I'm not living like, like I'm not doing what God wants me to do. Don't be too hard on yourself. It's too hard. Yeah. It shouldn't be too hard on yourself. You know? Yeah. I am. People tell me that a lot. Yeah. You are doing good and you continue to do good. You can, you should do more too. Whenever it feels, because when you love what you are doing, you always feel you have to do more. That's the truth. That's a sign of love. It is? It never says, oh, I've done enough. When you say I've done enough, that means somewhere you are retrieving from doing. Ah. Your love has found a boundary. But when you're not feeling that, it means that you're still giving.

43:07Yeah, you'll always feel you can do more. And that's a good feeling? That's a good feeling. That's a good feeling. Okay. It's always good to have the feeling I have to do more for the world, for the people, for the ones you love. That's good to have that. And what one has to get over is I did wrong, I did bad, or regret. We should come out of the regret and have a positive attention of what we want to do. And you have that. Amen. Sometimes we look for awe. When it comes to relationships, I'm going to pivot a little bit. And thank you so much for your time today. And thank you for helping me think about some things.

43:56Yeah, sometimes it's nice to have a voice to help you think about something. We can't do it by ourselves. Sometimes I try to do so much by myself. It's like, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. But I can't. I can't do it all by myself. Of course. In this world, we're all interdependent. The whole world is interdependent. I can't grow my own cotton. I have to get my clothes done by somebody. I don't stitch my own clothes. But that's what the world is all about. Someone grows food for you. And we have this illusion just giving a little bill and we think food is all mine. No, but still, you have done some help to them, but they have done something for you.

44:49I think the sense of interdependency in the whole world, of all of humanity, is not what we need to recognize and realize it. If we do this, conflicts will just evaporate. Yeah, because we need each other. Yeah, if you need each other, you wouldn't want to get rid of each other. where do you think that evil to want to cause harm where does that come from because there's a lot of harm out there right now and I think more than ever we're seeing it because of devices we see so much more harm than we did maybe 30 years ago and it makes us hurt I think so we're walking around sometimes with hurt that's maybe something we shouldn't have seen but at least now we are aware That shows the rage in the minds and hearts of people.

45:44The rage. See, neither at home nor at school, no one teaches you how to get rid of your negative feelings. You get rid of the rage, nobody tells you how to calm you down. How to take care of this stuff here. that's where it's very very pertinent now today to teach children how to manage their moods you know our young people are swinging on one side from depression and suicidal tendencies on the other side rage and violence we are swinging in these two extremes we have to help them to get out of both this and be normal happy individuals Yeah, it just feels like we got, it feels like we took a wrong turn.

46:39We can turn better. Yeah, we can turn better, yeah. There is some lore that you were part of stopping a war in Colombia. Can you take me through some of that? There were 2 million people, internally displaced people in Colombia. Yeah. They were all with anger and rage and a lot of suffering because of the FARC conflict. It's been happening for 52 years. Because of the FARC conflict, yeah? Bring that up just so I can let our listeners know what it was. And thank you for your time today, brother. Thank you. I needed this. It's all yours. The Colombian armed conflict is one of the longest running ongoing armed conflicts in the world.

47:26It officially began in 1964 with the creation of two major guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, that's FARC, founded by rebel leader Manuel Marulanda and the National Liberation Army. Emmanuel, yeah. So this was going on for a long time. For a very long time. So a lot of people were internally displaced. So I went to, our group of people were doing the trauma relief for them and helping them with meditation. And so that was a very big success. So the government of Colombia gave me their highest civilian award for this work. So you went there to do it.

48:12Was it scary when you went there? Was it? It was the Colombia. I mean, the capital, Bogota, was almost like a shambler. You could never recognize that city when you compare from what it is today, you know. And the people were hurting. People were hurting. So when we, then after that, there was a formal handshake with the president. It was supposed to last for five minutes. And we were there for about 40, 50 minutes. We spoke to him and then the president Santos said, I don't think there is any hope for these people because so many people tried the peace process and they are not agreeing. So I said, why not go and try?

48:55so he said you can do it any help is welcome so I took a flight from there I chartered a plane and went to Cuba to meet with this gorilla there were 15 of them commandos first they said no we don't have anything to do with we don't have anything to do with the spiritual leader yeah it's kind of taboo taboo we don't want to so they said our philosophy is Karl Marx. Their philosophy is karma? Karl Marx. Karl Marx and... Carmax? Karl Marx. Karl Marx, you know? Karl Marx. The communist philosophy. Okay. What is the communist philosophy? Do you know it? Karl Marx. Karl Marx. Oh, Marxism. Marxism. Yeah, what was the Marxist philosophy?

49:51let me just dictate it so that our listeners can follow along. Marxism, a social, political, and economic philosophy created by Karl Marx. It states that society is split into two main groups, the working class who do the labor and the owners who take the profits. So he said, you know, our ideal is Karl Marx. So we don't need to any more philosophy. We're happy with that. Because they have everything. So, but then that evening in Havana, I had a public talk in the university. So they sent two people to check me out what this guy is talking about coming from India. So they came and I had given some talk and then I led people through a meditation.

50:35Then they told them, you know, maybe we should meet him, that he can influence the government and others to stop the bombing. To make the story short, so they came to meet with me. in the beginning they were very aggressive and then for next three days they were with me we did some meditations I spoke to them I told them look your goal is social cause social upliftment I'm with you everybody wants social justice but the path you have chosen the violence is what I cannot take it I cannot digest it why don't you try a different route of non-violence Gandhian principle of non-violence first they said no but then they went back they thought then they came the next day and said yes we will so they announced the unilateral ceasefire and then we did a forgiveness process I got some of the victims flew in and the fog they put them face to face there was forgiveness process.

51:48They forgave each other and that was a very moving incident. Then we had that forgiveness process all over. The peace deal happened. There's a movie coming about this. Someone has made a movie. Really? It's going to come. It's called White. White? White. Columbia and they're all making a movie. Wow, that's just so exciting. And how long did the whole process take? I would say a few months Couple of months Wow Yeah, there's just so much conflict in the world Wait, there we go The director is, go back By Montu Basi Montu Basi Yes Will be the director Oh, that's Oh, wow And there's an actor named Vikrant Masi Vikrant Masi, he's acting as me He's playing you He better do a good job.

52:45But if he doesn't, it's okay. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, it's okay. Oh, he's handsome, man. You think it's same? Yeah, yeah, same guy. He's pretty handsome, huh? Okay, man. You think I am not? No, no, it's good. Hey, very close. It's very close. Very close. Yeah. One thing I think sometimes about, like, I think about relationships a lot, right? Like I'm not married yet, but maybe hopefully one day, you know, and. Good luck. Good luck to you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. I think I need a little bit of luck maybe, but sometimes I notice it's like I have a, I have a tougher time probably with, uh, like I'll notice sometimes instead of trying to figure out how to love myself, I will try to find someone else and have them like, Like I'm not going to figure out how to love myself But you love me You know what I'm saying kind of Like I'm going to put the responsibility On someone else Like it's their responsibility to love me Instead of my responsibility Does that make any sense if I say it to you Like say if I meet someone right I see the confusion there I keep seeing this all the time You do Because it's easier It's easier for me to say hey, you love me, instead of me say, hey, let me make sure that I love me.

54:15You want to love somebody, you should take it for granted. They love you. Their expression of love may be different, but never question someone's love for you. Wait, say it again for me, Gurudev. When you want to love someone, you should take it for granted. They also love you. Their way of expression, their way of, or their expression of love may be different, but never questions the love of a person for you. You see what I'm saying? Because then no matter what, they love me. Right. Oh, they love me. They might express it. Maybe they don't call. They don't know how to express it properly. They love me.

54:53Yeah, they don't text me back, but they love me. That's okay. That's okay. You know, in that sense, your love for them grows. Oh, you're right. And it also makes the other person comfortable. Just suppose if someone asks you to give the proof of your love for them, it's so hard, it's such a burden on your head, right? Suppose your girlfriend every day asks you to prove that, do you really love me? Do you really love me? Then you will go like this, oh my God. How more I can convince, you know? What else I can do to convince this person? I love them. See, you know, expression of love can never be complete because love is infinite.

55:41So, and the whole humanity from ages, they've been trying to encapsulate love in words, in actions, in everything. Still, you find love is intangible and it cannot be capsulated. So that's why you say from self-love, the universal love, they're all interconnected. So now I should think, say if I text a girl or something and she doesn't text me back, it's like, oh, she loves me. She just doesn't tell me. She just doesn't tell me. She doesn't know yet. Yeah. But you wait in patience. You know, you will talk. Maybe I'll wait a few lifetimes. Maybe. That's okay. See, again, you're putting that intention in you.

56:33Oh, you're right, huh? So many lifetimes. Why? In this lifetime, you want to achieve something. You put the positive thought. See, everything is vibrations in this world. Do you think that's true, that we can summon other? Do you believe that? Yeah, everything is vibration. You know, all of our actions, they go after our thoughts, right? Yes. Our intentions, they precede our intentions. I mean, they follow our intentions. Our intentions precede all our actions. Most of the actions, at least. So, you love somebody, you are attracted to someone, you love someone, then you have to express yourself and express in such a way that it is acceptable to others.

57:23Yes, that's the key. Acceptable. Acceptable to others. You know, we have to make a distinction here. First one is attraction. And then attachment. And then comes emotional entanglement or love. So sometimes it might not even be love. It might just be attraction. It might just be attachment. Attraction, yeah.

57:48Yeah, and sometimes you just want somebody to make you feel okay. You just want somebody to... There's nothing wrong in it. So what? It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Everything doesn't have to be a problem, huh? Nothing needs to be a problem. Can take everything as a challenge. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think, when you look at relationships, maybe in your own life or in other people that you've met or witnessed, what is one of the keys to the most success in a relationship? when both of them have a common goal to achieve not focused on each other too much it's like two lines focused on each other they'll meet and they'll go apart but if they have a common goal then they go for infinity they go parallel that is one thing they should have a purpose, a goal because attraction doesn't last forever Ever.

58:55It has its time. Right? You're hungry and you eat food and that's done. You can't be perpetually hungry. So in the same way, attraction also is time bound. But if you both go on a mission, then that lasts long. Number one. Second, stop policing each other. That is when you focus just on each other too much, then you'll start policing each other. That's the third. Third is understanding. Creating a room, giving a space for others to be. What they are. Let them grow. If you stand by a plant like this, it's going to maybe get nervous. Yeah. Don't stifle someone with your love. Yeah. If you stand by a plant with a magnifying glass, maybe it's going to get nervous.

59:47It may not get nervous. You are wasting your time. It will take its own time. It wants to grow to grow. Yeah, that's true. That's true. That's true. Yeah, man. I think we all like, I think we look a lot. I know that in my life, I look a lot for love from the outside. There's nothing wrong about that. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. That's what now your need is. And it's a good thing to search for. I'm not looking for something bad. Yeah. I'm just looking for, yeah. We just want, yeah. That's what we want. And when you find it, don't start doubting it. Oh, that's what I'll do too. I work out. You know, I'm in there.

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1:03:11You know, sometimes I'll have a feeling that something that comes up and I don't want to do it, but it like, it's like something like, you know, I have a bad idea that comes up, you know, and it tries to plant a seed in me, you know, it's like, oh, maybe you should do this at some point, you know, and it could be something bad. Or for me, it would be bad because I'm in recovery programs, so it could be drugs, alcohol, just things like that. Behaviors I don't want to do. Sometimes I have a seed that a little idea will come up with a little bell and be like, hey. Or he'll wear something fancy and be like, look what I'm wearing.

1:03:48Like a little idea or like a little lady will walk by this idea, will walk by and try to get me to follow. You know what I'm talking about? And sometimes it's a bad behavior.

1:04:03you know these ideas come and your will and your intellect says no this is not good for you so you stay away from it you know if it's so compelling why it is so compelling because it is promising some joy some pleasure yes that's part of it so then you go for it then you automatically you run towards it here you need to get a better joy better I've been dealing with addictions, people with addictions all the time you say, okay I'm so addicted to alcohol I tell them, I'll give you a better brand of intoxicant that will never let you go so when they come and do breathing they meditate, they find that ecstasy inside them so they don't need any dependence on some substance.

1:05:00That altered state of happiness comes from within you with your own breath and meditation. So you're saying a lot of it is you have to replace it with something else of value. Of value of larger joy. More importance, more joy. More important, more joyful thing. When it bothers so much. First of all, your discrimination itself will stop you. Tell me that part again, please. Your wisdom alone will stop. It's enough to stop. Sometimes. Sometimes. When it doesn't do, then the better joy will just take you out of it. You'll just feel... See, you won't care. You know, as you grow up, you're not craving for candies or chocolates like you were doing when you were a young boy, right?

1:05:55it doesn't bother you anymore yeah I don't even like it other things are more important yeah ah so you have to find something more important more important I know you guys have done a lot of work with people who are in recovery and addiction tell me about some of your work that you guys that you and your institute have done yeah you know I've trained 38 ,000 teachers volunteers who are all volunteers and teachers and they all run the whole thing. And they run the, it's a recovery community? The recovery, they do the teachings in the schools, in colleges, sky campuses they do in all the universities.

1:06:36For the sky breathing? Sky breathing. Wow. The university, we are in 170 universities. Let's go. Congratulations. Yeah, young people feel so good, such a difference. When they feel such a disconnect with their parents, with their pulse, you know, after doing their breathing, they feel so good. You know, so many parents have written to me, you know, he, you know, our children are behaving so much better now. They've been very kind. They're not aggressive. They don't have that rage and anger like before. And they've been very kind. You know, they were helpful in nature. All these good qualities in a person start to manifest.

1:07:17And all that can come from our breathing. Come, come when we get rid of our stress. Ah. Stress is the cause of a lot of violence. Stress is the cause of all violence. Simple, Matthew. Clarity in mind, purity in heart, sincerity in action. That's my formula. Clarity in mind, purity in heart, sincerity in action. That's it. How do we make sure our actions are sincere? What can we do? What can we ask ourselves? being spontaneous oh spontaneous sometimes yeah yeah yeah is meditation does it have a stronger effect on younger people do you think younger or old doesn't matter I've seen a lot of videos of children doing intuition tests can you take me down some of the understanding of intuition tests and you guys have an institute for intuition, is that it?

1:08:20Correct, Institute of Absolute Intelligence. We have... Wait, it's called Institute for Absolute Intelligence? First of all, I would love absolute intelligence. So please, what grade do you have to be in? I'll go. The children and teenagers, up to 18 years of age, we take them and it's good. And it's a full school? No, no, it's just 18 days program. Okay, it's an 18-day program. And so what is the program like? Take me through it if you don't mind, Guru Dev. The program is they learn some breathing technique, they learn some meditation technique, and they learn how they can use their intuitive ability, the gut feeling, much more, stronger.

1:09:02And, you know, gut feeling, which is infallible, that doesn't fail. That's what gut feeling is all about. What is our gut feeling? What's it made out of? We all have it, but we don't use it. many times it becomes very obscure. It's very real though because sometimes you get a feeling like this is no and sometimes you get a feeling a lot of times this is unsure. Those are the two I get. I never get a yes. Never mind. Have you ever seen people... No, no. If you get no, you will get yes also. Do you think so? Maybe you're right. Maybe I just not. Yeah, you're probably right. No for something, then yes for something else, right?

1:09:43But what is that feeling? What is that feeling, do you think? I never even think about it. It's the same feeling you get when your heart is hurt. It's a feeling that's like... See, your head says something. Your intellect says something. Your rational mind says something. But your gut feeling just overthrows that. All your rational, logical thinking is overthrown by some gut feeling. And then you follow it and you find, hey, well, that was right. Then you call it gut feeling. And how do you guys help children to understand that better? Like, are there certain practices you use? We teach them a set of practices.

1:10:2415 minutes per day, and then they get it. Wow. Because they don't have strong craving or aversion. Their mind is still very fresh, you know. It's like learning a ballet dance. When the body is very flexible, they can learn the ballet very easily. so for an adult it will take some more time to bend their yeah their joints yeah like that with kids they are easy to learn but not that adults can all they too can they too can but if you're a long term meditator yeah you can what's the youngest age you've seen someone start meditation at meditation with 10 12 something 10 or 12 years old that's a good age That's good.

1:11:12But they have different meditation. But in the teenage or in 20s and 30s, that's good. You have to do a proper meditation, full meditation. So we have, that's why we have designed 67 different workshops which would suit all different ages and, you know, conditions. And is that through the Institute of Absolute Intelligence or that is through the art of living? Art of living. Art of living. Yeah. So tell me a little bit more about the art of living, just so I understand it. It was a download that you took in during your period of silence, right? And since then, it's spawned countless endeavors and outreach over the years.

1:11:54What does it constitute now, the art of living? Art of living, you know, the very aim is to make life a celebration. Educate people to make life a celebration. get over anger and anxiety do you think it was always there the anger and anxiety from the beginning of time or do you think we picked it up well it's there being there only you need to learn how to overcome them anger about the past and anxiety about the future when we learn how to rise over this you know waves have always been there only you need to learn how to surf

1:12:42so main thing let me put it in a small capsule Art of Living Foundation is a group of volunteers largest volunteer based organization they help wherever there is disaster, there is problem, trauma and then the main thing is to make violence free and stress free society we want to eliminate stress in society. Violence-free, stress-free society, disease-free body, make people healthy with breathing and meditation and all that thing. And then confusion-free mind, confused about everything, you know. And bringing clarity to mind and inhibition-free intellect, you know. People carry on different type of inhibition about gender inhibition, about age inhibition you know people of different age don't mix with everybody you see they all find their own levels and so there is a gap between the generations the art of living brings that thing together make better understanding and inhibition between race religion gender all that inhibition to be done away with.

1:13:58Listen, we are in the 21st century where we see the technology has united the whole globe into a village. Now we still hold on to those sort of small mindedness and prejudice. That's no good, you know. Helping people to get over their prejudice, all type of prejudice. Trauma-free memory and sorrow-free soul. That's what I would say. Let me repeat it. Violence-free society, disease-free body, confusion-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory, and sorrow-free soul. Amen. That's it. Sign me up. Thank you. I love those goals. I believe that those are probably, in our heart, it feels like those are all of our goals.

1:14:49All of our goals, yeah. That's what we want. It feels like that's how we should live. Correct. I just, it's amazing that we got so off course sometimes. And that's how, you know, people from 182 countries have taken this up. How many volunteers do you have total that work within your program, within your organization? Oh, millions. We had a big world culture festival. I wanted to bring everyone together. Every four years we did this. The first one we had was in... The first one you had? We had in India. That was in 2006. Oh, yeah. In Madras? In Bangalore. In Bangalore. In Bangalore we had. I've never been to Bangalore.

1:15:34It's nice. You must come. It's the IT capital of India. It's the Silicon Valley of India. Really? Yeah. Oh, good. I'm going to stay with you. Yeah, you must. Oh, good. We have a nice campus there. You can see two elephants there. You can go to World Culture Festival. Yeah. That's it right there? This is D.C. We had this in Washington, D.C. Hey! Yeah. What a beautiful group of people, huh? We had 1.1 million people joined in D.C. See, look at that. Did you really? Can you go back a little bit? Yeah, let's see it again. And 17 ,000 artists. let's go there's Gary Busey yeah this is in Washington DC that's beautiful then we had in New Delhi just imagine how many it was it was 36 ,602 artists on a this one wow you put this on?

1:16:42yeah on a stage which was six soccer grounds. Wow. Seven acres of stage. This is unbelievable. And people who are just listening and who can't see this video, this is, I mean, it's absolutely, it looks like the Olympics. Yeah. It was like the Olympics of culture. Yeah. And I wanted all the, you know, a mature artist to come up on stage from 155 countries. This is from Lithuania. Look at that, it's a meatloaf. Wow, this is beautiful. Thank you for sharing. This is amazing. And so every four years this happens? Yeah. Wow. So this was in New Delhi 10 years back, and we had 3.75 million people in attendance for this program.

1:17:39Gosh. so it's growing and they all meditated they all meditated at the same time? at the same time just imagine the sea of people so silent for 20 minutes it was something it was wonderful it's powerful very powerful same in DC we had in the National Mall 1.1 million people sitting and meditating was very rewarding experience for people see this is what we need to do make life more a celebration, bring people of all culture, tradition, music. Well, the truth is that it is a celebration. That's the real truth. The truth is that we're here in the middle of nowhere, you know, in the middle of existence, and we get to see each other for just a little bit.

1:18:25And we're sitting here and we're worried about, and I'm part of the problem, but we're worried about it. We're like whining, we're crying, we're upset. But it's like, this is the magic part of the magic trick. This isn't like the practice and this is the ta-da. You know, this is the, when a magician goes like that, that's where we are right now. We're living, this is the magic. So it is kind of fascinating that we get stuck in these other places, you know, and this is such a nice reminder. Yeah. Spending time with you is such a nice reminder that that's not where we need to be and that's not where we have to be.

1:19:01Okay. It is a celebration. The fact you get to see someone that loves you sometimes, that's a celebration, you know? You know, you don't need to seek love. You know, there are two types of joy. I want to bring this up to you. Okay. There are two types of joy. One type of happiness is that you get when you get something. You get a gift on a Christmas day or you get your birthday. You get a gift. Yeah, you get a new hat or something. You get some gift. Caramels. Getting something really brings happiness to you, right? People give you a compliment. You go, wow. Yeah. Right? But there is another type of happiness that comes to you when you give.

1:19:43That's more mature happiness, I would say. That's akin to the joy of a grandmother. You know your grandmother when you grow mom, she makes nice dishes, she makes a cake for you and all that. Her joy is in feeding you, not eating by herself. Right. Right? So the joy of giving is where we need to grow into life. Because that is more. So similarly, when you are here to give love and not wanting love, you realize the source of love within your life is very short. So let me give love as much as I can to everybody around me. You will see you will get 10 times more love towards you, coming towards you.

1:20:29And you believe that's true? Yeah. Got it. And sometimes we're afraid to, I think, even give. Like there's been times where I'm afraid to give because I won't. I guess it comes from a place that I won't have something, you know. Yeah, yeah. No, you give only what you can. Yeah. If people expect you to give something which you cannot give, you simply say sorry. Sorry, I cannot give. Someone says, you know, I have a problem. I have my health issue. You come and help me. You will have to say no. I can't. But whatever you can, you will give. You will do anyway, right? Yeah. What's the longest that someone can meditate for?

1:21:0724 hours. You know, I would say you meditate for 20 minutes. 20 minutes is good? 25 minutes, 30 minutes. That's good enough for you. But, you know, after practice, then that state of calmness, inner calmness continues, even when you're acting and you're talking and you're doing anything. Well, I notice it gives me a little more space between moments if I'm going to think of an answer. I'm not as reactive. It gives me a little more like, let me think. Let me make sure. Let me be certain. Let me, let me, let me, even just let me. Just that, you know? Just be. Yeah. It gives me a little bit of space before I react sometimes if I'm having a strong meditation practice.

1:21:54Yeah. We live in a time right now when people are very anxious. There's a lot of anxiety going on. Have you seen that grow in your lifetime? Or has it always been there? You think just things have looked differently or different things have caused it? Or do you feel like we're at a time that feels a little more... It's more on a larger scale now. Okay. It was not so prevalent. When I was a student, even now I think I'm a student. In the student days, you could see that there was no mental health issues. There was no, I've never heard schizophrenia, bipolar, or breakdown due to nervous. Yes, it sounds very new.

1:22:37All these things are today in every corner you find them. It's more intense and more prevalent everywhere. What do you think are the causes of some of these things? Have you noticed? Whatever the cause is, I feel there is a solution for it. And that's what I would say, this meditation, breathing, engaging in art and culture and service activity. All this is help. And it's helping. Yeah, I definitely noticed getting... And helping people get out of drugs. You know, we started in India, Drug Free India campaign. Drug Free India? Drug Free India campaign. What's the most popular drug in India? What are they using over there?

1:23:18All kinds of drugs are there. Really? Yeah. Anything good? Or anything not good? I'm not too familiar about all the way. But I'm only familiar about what has helped people. That's what I meant. Yeah. And our programs, you know, for them. We have conducted a program, Yes, Bless program, Youth Empowerment Seminar. Say it one more time. What's it called? Youth Empowerment Seminar. Youth Empowerment Seminar. Yes, Bless. Bless program. Yes, program. So that has helped. You know, it includes the sky breath technique in that. and many other things. And with the children, yeah, you see. Oh, beautiful.

1:23:57With the kids, I gave them seven things to take home. You know, when I say, make one new friend every day. You know, first question I ask children, how many friends do you have? They count on their finger, three, four, five. I think, come on, you are living, you are going to a school for so many hours with so many years with several thousand kids there and you couldn't be friendly with all of them. Yeah, get out there. And how can you be friendly with 8 billion people when you come out of the school? Yeah. So that just kindles that awareness in them. Then they take a vow to make one new friend every day and they become friendly by nature.

1:24:47Yeah, because it's a practice. Yeah. It's not friendship for something, but to be friendly in nature. Got it. Oh, I see what you're saying. By making new friends, even trying to make new friends, you are creating the ability within yourself to be friendly. To be friendly. In general. In general. What's a way that we can start to get to know ourselves? One thing that I think might be causing some discomfort in our society and in our time is that we have less of a relationship with ourselves. You know, I think when we didn't used to have so much technology and we didn't have our cell phones so readily available and usable all the time, we had more time to process things.

1:25:35I wouldn't blame on the cell phones and social media, no. You wouldn't? No, no. They're all there. It's a tool. It depends on how you use it. If you excessively use anything, you're going to harm yourself. In all this, you must take some time, spend real time with people, engage in music, dance, meditation, breathing, and some time just for yourself and to be with nature. See, working for environment is also something that aids in your development You know, if you care for plants If you care for nature You know, it shifts your energy level One of the things it seems like is we spend so much time trying to get to Like trying to achieve some level in life You know, that's kind of that we made up You know, like a societal level you know so I think we miss out on a lot of the things that really do mean the most to us you don't need to have four more it's okay you can have a goal okay I want to achieve that but being feverish about it is not going to help you yeah you have a goal say you want to go to Hollywood from here and if you keep thinking the whole time I'm going to Hollywood Hollywood you will miss the exit you will go somewhere else you will land up somewhere else right so it's okay to have an intention but not make it feverish feverishly grip your whole life hold your mind how you might get something better in your life so again here and you relax and you cool down, calm down you still can have a passion but then you go with awareness what's the first what's the way that someone like, how does someone start to get to know their self, right?

1:27:35What's a way to get to know yourself? Like what's the, how do you start to have a conversation with yourself? Does that make, does that make sense? See what's not yourself. Does that make sense to you when I ask you that? Yeah. Okay. So go ahead. I'm sorry. No. How to find yourself. First of all, see what is not yourself. You're not just your body. Your body's changing. You know, every cell in our body is changing. the mind is changing all the thoughts are changing, emotions are changing so by negation it's like almost going to what is the purpose of your life if you ask yourself what is the purpose of my life I would say go with negation this is not the purpose, this is not the purpose then you find in the same way negation and you settle into a space deep within you, which is serene, calm, fullness.

1:28:37Once a glimpse of that, that's it. Then nothing can disturb you. Nothing can take away the smile from you. And that's achieved through meditation, through a relationship with your consciousness? Consciousness. Yeah. Do you believe that... Meditation is one of the two. Meditation is one of the tools? One of the two. What are some of the other ones to nurture that relationship? Other thing, it can come to you as a gift. Gift from above. And then your intelligent, your analytical mind will also help to, you know, go deep. See the futility of other things. And then you get to this very core. So through knowledge, wisdom, music, meditation, service, expressing your love, unconditional love in the society, all this will contribute to that inner blossoming.

1:29:40It may appear to be very difficult or very idealistic, but I tell you it's very, very practical. I'm a very practical person. So, though they all appear to be big ideals But I say it is doable Okay Do you have any pets at home? I have two elephants You do? We have elephants, horse, cows There is everything What's the elephants' names? One is called Maheshwar Maheshwar? Another is Indrani The girl is Indrani Ooh, she sounds cute She can play harmonica, you know. Can she? Yeah. Oh, yeah. These women are so talented now. Oh, my gosh. That's her? Yeah. This is her without the tusk. The tusker is the other one there.

1:30:36He's tough. But they're very cute. And do you have a family at home? Do you have children? No, I'm not married. Oh, you're not? I'm single like you. Yeah. I hope to remain single the rest of the time also. But everyone is my family. You have a big family. Yeah, big family. Do you feel like you received enough, like that was your space in the world for family, was just everyone? Yeah. Yeah? That's cool. Before you go, Gurudev, I know you have this book, Journey Within, that talks about the essentials of the art of living. Is that a good manual for someone to start to develop their own meditation practice?

1:31:19yeah it's good it just brings some practical wisdom to your life and whatever you need whenever you need Journey Within is a book that people love you know how it came out I don't write books but you know how it came up we used to you know a group of young people used to get around get around and ask me questions and every Wednesday we had this habit of coming up with some new topic like Like you said, this past week, we used every week. And then I would send that around the world to everybody. So that's how this came with seven years of Wednesday knowledge sheets. We call it knowledge sheet. So just new topics on Wednesdays, you guys would discuss them?

1:32:06Every new topic we discuss. And then that was compiled into this book, Journey Within. It helps people too. So there were kind of a lot of authors of it in some ways because a lot of people's thoughts were included? There were questions, answers of mine. Got it. They were all questioning me all the time. Okay, got it. That was the one thing, yeah. One thing, I had a great time. I got to visit India once as a student. We went to Madras, Shanae, same place. Yeah. And it was amazing. And one of the things I remember the most was just the children, just how like the happiest kids in the world, I feel like, that we saw that we went to work.

1:32:48We worked at like some children's homes and we're doing some stuff like that. You guys started a group, like you've started schools over the years called free schools. Yes. And those are in India? Yeah, in India, in Nepal, and also in other places. And is that a K through 12 or what is the? Yeah. Okay. K through 12. And the free schools all over, we have, you know, 150 ,000 kids studying in the schools. And is meditation part of the curriculum? A little bit yoga and some meditation, yes, part of the curriculum. We have a university also. It's one of the very good universities with the happiest campus.

1:33:29Everybody is very happy and service mind and all that stuff, yeah. For people, just before you go, for people that believe that they don't believe they can get out of the mental state that they're in, that's not true, right? Everyone can do better, do you believe? Everyone can feel better. Everyone can feel better. Again, I would say if it's an extreme case, you have to see a doctor. And if psychiatrists say you have to take medicine, you must take medicine. But this is, other than that, practices which would, first of all, prevent you from getting there. Second, it also helps you to recover. But it takes practice.

1:34:15You have to apply yourself. Practice, yeah. And it's not tough. Easily people can adopt that. I call it the mental hygiene. Like you have a dental hygiene. Like that. You know, kids don't want to brush their teeth. The parents have to force them to get into their habit. Got it. Right? Similarly, if you practice doing some breathing and meditation in the morning or afternoon, evening, once it gets fit in your system, then it becomes a natural thing for you. It's like mental floss kind of. Mental floss, yeah. You're right. When we leave this life, right, when this body ends, our consciousness has to stay alive.

1:34:59You believe it? if the TV is shut off but still the vibrations the radiations do remain here right? yeah we are just the tubes or the screens the consciousness is what gets projected in it cool so we might see each other again in another time thank you thank you so much Gurudev I appreciate your time today thank you very much lovely keep doing the wonderful work you are doing you too brother thank you so much thank you Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be cornerstone. Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found. I can feel it in my bones, but it's gonna take...