Buddha & Silence: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wisdom by Spiritual leader and Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

“Thoughts are not the goal in themselves. Their goal is Silence. When you ask the question "Who am I?" you get no answer, there is silence. That is the real answer.” - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji shares:

Buddha's life was not of lack, need or want. From the very beginning, he lived a very saturated life. Any pleasure would just be at his feet the moment he wanted it. Gautama, Siddhartha lived such a life, and you would wonder how a person of such pleasure and luxury could talk about sorrow! One has to experience sadness, sorrow, misery in the world in order to speak about it.

But Buddha said the first principle, first truth he discovered was--there is sorrow. As he was that sensitive, that saturated in the sensual pleasures from outside, there was nothing to go in for, because everything would be there. How would you go in for something which is already there? All the pleasures were there. He was silent from the very beginning, because there was saturation. His silence had arisen out of saturation.

But one day he said, "I would like to go and see what the world is." This inquiry, inquisitiveness arose in him. And when he saw someone who was sick, someone who is old and dying, and someone who is dead, these three instances or events was good enough to bring in him the knowledge that there is misery.

More On Silence : Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wisdom by Spiritual leader and Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

“Thoughts are not the goal in themselves. Their goal is Silence. When you ask the question "Who am I?" you get no answer, there is silence. That is the real answer.” - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Humanitarian Sri Sri Ravi Shankar shares:

Some questions can be answered only in Silence. Silenceis the goal of all answers. If an answer does not silence the mind it is "no" answer.

Prayer within breath Is silence Love within Infinity Is silence

Wisdom without word Is silence

Compassion without aim Is silence

Action without doer Is silence

Smiling with all the Existence Is silence!

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Respect & Ego : Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

“When there is genuine love, respect simply follows you.” - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wisdom by Spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Humanitarian Sri Sri RaviShankar says:

There are two types of respect.

1. Respect that comes to you because of your position, fame or wealth. This type of respect is impermanent. It can be lost once you lose your wealth or status.

2. Respect that comes because of your virtues like honesty, kindness, commitment, patience and your smile. This respect, no one can take away.

The less you are attached to your virtues, the more self respect you have. If you get attached to your virtues, you look down upon everybody else, and the virtues start diminishing. Non- attachment to virtues brings the highest self respect.

Often one confuses ego with self esteem. Ego needs the other for comparison; self esteemis just confidence in oneself. For example, a gentleman claims that he is thorough in Mathematics or Geography, this is self esteem. But to say that I know better than you, that is Ego.

Ego simply means lack of respect to the Self.

Ego upsets you very often. Self esteem is immune to getting upset by external factors. In self respect, everything is a game, winning or losing has no meaning, every step is joy, and every move is celebration.

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Organizing Is a Part of Nature : Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wisdom by Spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

"The whole world is nothing but organization." - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji explains:

The entire creation is a huge organization. Everything is made up of atoms. The whole world is nothing but organization, where the atoms have decided to organize themselves in a specific pattern to form a particular substance. And those particular patterns bring them specific qualities.

Death/decay/transformationhappens when the atoms get bored of patterns and decide to recognise themselves.

e.g. : When the atoms of the apple say "Enough of being an apple", that's when the rotting starts. If there is never boredom of patterns, there can be no decay.

The movement from one organized state to another is also organized. This is the transient organization which we call chaos. This transient organization may need a catalyst. Knowledge is such a catalyst.

So, you have absolutely no escape from organisation.

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Relationship between ego and talent-Talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wisdom by Spiritual leader and Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Q: Gurudev, why is there this huge ego that comes with talent? What is the relationship between ego and talent? For example, many talented singers do not let new singers come up. Why so?

Humanitarian Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If there is talent, there will always be some such problems. It is difficult to see all good everywhere, and prakriti (nature) brings some such negative tendency somewhere or the other.

Those who are talented, normally, they are very emotional. They tend to get angry very quickly, lose their balance very fast. These things happen, and we have to manage such things.

Q: Gurudev, is it alright for ordinary people like me to expect to be liberated?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Only ordinary people have a chance to be liberated. One who thinks they are special, hold no chance at all; especially VIPs, they don’t have a chance.