How does one become an artist in their everyday life? Spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living Foundation, discusses how to reduce stress and insecurity, and promote peace with Tomek Niewiadomski, founder of the PRZEKRÓJ Foundation.
Tomek Niewiadomski: Dearest Gurudev, what is your message, your teaching?
Ravi Shankar: I am here to remind everyone—you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter!
I want everyone to be happy, I want a smile on everyone’s face, I want progress for the nation, I want poverty to be eliminated, I want all countries to come together as one, I want all conflicts to be resolved—all this is what I wish for.
Have these values been important to you since early childhood?
Yes, I always wished for people to be happy and peaceful, I couldn’t stand the conflicts. Whenever people fought, I would mediate and bring them together.
How could you be so mature so early?
It just came very naturally to me, I did not make any effort to be this way. But I see many people struggling with that naturalness in the complex world around them.
Have you ever used violence in your life?
Never.
Even as a child?
Not even once did I abuse or use bad words to anybody, all my life—sixty-seven years. I hope that will continue. See, when I was growing up, the values were very strong—our view of the world was influenced by the philosophy of non-violence, so my teachers, parents, and everybody had those value systems.
What does it mean to grow up? How does one reach maturity but not lose openness, enthusiasm, joy, or curiosity?
We are all children in some sense. I wish there was more of a child in us as adults. A child smiles four hundred times a day, an adolescent smiles seventeen times, and an adult often does not smile at all. There would be way less conflict in the world if people could only smile more. Retaining a childlike nature even after growing up—that is spirituality.
The whole question is, how do we reverse this? How do we get back to the innocence we were born with? How to smile again? This is the quest. If you think about it, there are three things that stop us from being joyful like a child: prejudice, insecurity, and stress. I don’t think there is any fourth thing. We need to get rid of these three. With meditation, yoga, and breathing techniques, we can get over stress. With wisdom we get over prejudice, and reflecting on your own life—having confidence and faith—gets you over insecurity.
Referring to the name “The Art of Living”—what does it mean to be an artist in life?
An artist is someone who appreciates what is and what creates. So being an artist in life is about expression and appreciation.
How does one become an artist in everyday life? How does one get inspired?
Inspiration is always from within. When you are committed to doing something in life, something in the world, giving something back to the world, you can draw inspiration from everything and from everybody around you. You cannot decide “I want to be inspired by this and that.” Inspiration is almost a spontaneous thing that happens to you. You see a child playing and something happens within you. You feel inspired. You see someone doing some good work and you want to do that too.
You’ve worked continuously all your life, dedicated yourself to others twenty hours a day. Your foundation has reached almost half a billion people and hundreds of thousands of them tell stories about life-changing experiences. Yesterday at the Unveiling Infinite lecture, I realized even more the unlimited potential we have. You said: “The body is like a shell floating in the ocean of life.” Now please tell me, how can one draw energy and inspiration from this ocean?
The secret is wisdom. Wisdom is to see that everything in life changes, yet there is something that doesn’t change. Logging into that thing that doesn’t change is the most important—meditation will be your main tool.
You also said, “Love is seeing God in the person next to us. Meditation is seeing God within us.” So what exactly is wisdom?
All is wisdom [Gurudev looks around and points gently at everything around us].
What, then, is ignorance?
Ignorance is seeing the temporary as permanent, and that which is not joy, as joy.
Now we are walking here, surrounded by the mountains and nature. There is so much beauty around. Is beauty created to help us experience what we truly are?
Beauty is nature, nature is part of beauty.
And yet we destroy the ecosystems of nature, even though they give us all we need. Together with the foundation you planted millions of trees around the world. Trees are not only beautiful, but they also play an important role. What is so special about trees?
Do you know plants and trees have emotions? They have life and can feel you. When you’re silent and happy, they absorb those vibrations of happiness and peace. Plants and trees bring you a soothing feeling. But everyone is so caught up in his or her own mind, they have no time to see nature!
Today, we know from the global warming phenomenon that planting trees is vital. We all must take care of this situation now. We all have to plant more trees. Over three hundred species of trees are in danger now.
The Divine, meaning life itself in everything and everywhere, seems like a very subtle energy to experience. How does one know they found it? Is it possible perhaps to hear God or even talk to God?
When you talk, it isn’t you, The Divine cannot be separate from you. When you’re talking to him is like you make him an object, got it?
Yes!
Nothing can be outside of space. You are in it. You can be it. You can feel it.
Modern science confirmed that the idea of matter is tricky. The atoms, creating everything, consist of 99.9 percent empty space. You also mentioned many times that the human body is hollow and empty and without the space that it contains, it would allow us to be packed into a matchbox. What does it all mean? Is the world we know through our senses an illusion?
What the ancient Vedanta philosophers were saying for ages, science is confirming today. However, what appears to be matter, really is matter.
But matter emerges from emptiness. How? Is this emptiness full of vibrations?
Yes, it’s full of energy.
Full of energy and love?
Absolutely.
And it is constantly fresh and new?
Yes.
Do we really need eons of evolution and millions of reincarnations to finally be able to experience our unlimited potential as humans? In other words, to be able to draw from the ocean of infinite possibilities, or just become the ocean?
Well, you are already here, you are a human now—what you have already got is in your hands.
Many people talk about the rise of consciousness taking place in this century. Is something special happening right now?
I think the world is waking up slowly. A few decades back it was so hard to talk to people about the unseen, ethereal reality. These days, people are much more open to the realm of the unseen, from where everything emerges, where energies uplift the planet, where lies the cause of all causes. Sometimes this path appears to be a little difficult, but ultimately it is most comforting, fulfilling, soothing, and satisfying.
What kind of ghost is the mind? It brings suffering, fear, and endless desire. Even at night it bites like a snake. How can we get rid of this misery and use the mind exclusively for high thinking and peaceful living?
Have you observed what is happening in your mind every moment? It wobbles between the past and the future. It is either in the past occupied with what has happened, or in the future thinking about what you must do. Knowledge means being aware of this phenomenon of the mind—of what is happening right now in your mind as you are reading this article.
You want to know how to control the mind? The awareness of your own mind cannot be learned from a book. You master it through the breath. If you can control your breath then you can control your mind. Also through meditation. With meditation, you can become aware of tendencies of the mind and bring it to the present. Happiness, joy, enthusiasm, efficiency, and effectiveness are all in the present. When the mind is your friend, it brings happiness, freedom, and liberation. So the mind can be our greatest enemy or our best friend.
What exactly is yoga and most importantly—how can it help us so much?
The practice of yoga has been known for centuries to give benefits in the areas of heath, mental clarity, and spiritual connection. Yoga is far beyond physical exercise. The purpose of yoga is to put a smile on your face in spite of all the stress, tension, and situations we face in our day-to-day life. Yoga is like a vast ocean. You can just go for a breeze, or you can go with an oil rig and drill for oil. Yoga offers many things to different people at many different levels.
You personally, together with The Art Of Living Foundation, have helped millions of people. Have you ever faced a problem you couldn’t solve—met a person you couldn’t help?
Conflict is the nature of the world. Comfort is the nature of the Self. Amidst conflicts, I am available to help people find comfort in the Self.
If you could only give me one piece of advice or wisdom, what would it be?
Why do you limit me to one piece of wisdom? In life you come across so many situations and each situation calls for a different kind of understanding and different type of wisdom. You don’t have to narrow down yourself to one rule, like you don’t ask whether there is one thing you should eat. You should eat everything. You need carbohydrates, proteins, many ingredients, and nutrients, usually we eat everything. Wisdom is like that—be open to it.
Ravi Shankar:
Ravi Shankar is a yoga teacher and spiritual guide, also known as Sri Sri or Gurudev. He’s a peace activist and founder of The Art of Living Foundation. His name means Sun.
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