#677 - Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Today's guest is a humanitarian, he's a spiritual leader, a soul-summoner, if you will. He founded the art of living movement and he's one of the most respected teachers of meditation in the world, a fascinating chat with today's guest, Guru Dev Sri Sri Aravishankar. Thank you for being here today, I appreciate your time, I appreciate your energy that you put into the world. Thank you so much for your ability to be a guide for people. For our listeners that don't know you're a humanitarian, a spiritual leader, a practitioner of peace, is that fair to say? Yeah. Okay, and Guru Dev Sri Sri Aravishankar. We can just go up and go there. Guru Dev is fine, excellent. You had an experience that happened when you were very young at the age of four years old from what I hear, if the story is true. That I could recite the ancient text. You could recite the ancient text of the Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita. Yeah. Can you tell us what the Bhagavad Gita is for our listeners that don't know? Gita is the scripture which was written 5,000 years old, but when Lord Krishna gave advice to our lessons to Arjuna. He's the warrior of that time. So it's about knowledge of yoga and about everything about life. So this is what Mahatma Gandhi had as a handbook. Oh, okay. And everyone in it, it's almost like a Bible for the Indian continent. You can say, Hindus and mainly. Got it. So at four years old, you were kind of a prodigy. You were kind of like the Justin Bieber kind of a meditation maybe, you know? In a way, I don't know if that's it. You were kind of the jambanay of India, you know. Still living, of course. What was it like to have that much attention at such a young age? How did that affect you? I just felt very normal to me. Was there a reason? I didn't feel any special. I felt as normal as anybody else. Was there a reason you felt like you kind of received this download sort of that you received this capability? You know, there are so many child prodigies these days. You can see them also. It's a very natural thing. It was not something that you know. You make out of it. It was just part of your life. Part of your life. What affected that having your childhood? I was a little strange in my childhood. As you know that I didn't take much interest in normal things that kids do. So I spent most of my childhood with elderly people. With elderly people? Elderly people, adults. And yeah, I felt a little bit out of place many times. But I tried to fit myself in everywhere I used to be. Take me through some of what happens after that in your life that kind of leads you into becoming a guru. Well, you know, I'm a guru by accident. In the sense, you know, I just kept teaching or telling people what I know and then they started taking me as a guide. Well, apart from that, you know, I had deep interest in spirituality and science. As a teenager, I was very much into physics. So physics and astronomy, science and ancient scriptures, all this interested me quite a lot. Because I felt that such a similarity or parallel between the spirituality and science. So that was very interesting for me. And then you know, my teacher was one who lived at Mahatma Gandhi for 48 years. Your teacher lived with Mahatma Gandhi for 48 years. So he is the one who taught him the Gita, the script when he came from South Africa. He was in the Ayurveda, jail and all. So he was a very funny guy. He used to tell a lot of stories about his time with Mahatma Gandhi. And now he was a rebellious person that there and it was very interesting. So I grew up with such a environment where, you know, this non-violence and friendliness, love, compassion, all had great value. So satan, also my grandfather was also a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi. And he lived in Gandhi's Ashtam vow many years. At what point did you start to become a teacher? Like at what point did people start to come to hear what you were sharing? I mean, it's in my teenage that I started this one. And when I was 23, 24, I started the art of living movement. That time, two judges of Supreme Court of India, one was a thorough believer, a thesis. And another was an atheist. So one was, he was an atheist. And what was the first one? He was a believer, a believer. And they both, you know, came as a trustee, became the trustee of our organization. Then he made an organization. He said, you know, you have a beautiful knowledge to share. It needs a framework, you said. To hold a picture, you need a frame. So we will be the trustees and we'll make it up, make our organization. So it's 45 years now. So the government started to help you sort of put a frame? The government, you know, the individually, the individual capacity, the people. The people did. I read that you started the art of living after you had a 10 day period of silence where it was kind of this epiphany that fell upon you. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Correct. The breathing techniques. You know, I thought I was teaching meditations of yoga and all. I was feeling there's something missing. There's something that I need to bring about, you know. People do all that, but still they have conflicts inside themselves. They're unable to get over that. They're habits. You know, there was a struggle. So I thought it must be something that would come. So I went into a silence of 10 days. At the end of those 10 days, it was in a remote place in India. Then a few of the doctors and engineers in that area, they came. And then I started teaching the breathing technique. That's a birth of that. And that's the sky breathing technique? Yes. And can you take me through a little bit of what that technique is? Is that okay to ask you? Yeah, it takes a couple of days to learn it. Just like the three days to learn it. It mainly recognizing the rhythm in your breath. You know, your breath has a rhythm. And your breath connects your body and your emotions, your mind and sensations. So harmonizing this brings a lot of freedom from within. And that's how it started. And at that point, do you start traveling around us to share your knowledge and share your experience? Yes, correct. In the earlier years, there was a lot of prejudice against meditation and yoga. People thought, "Hey, this must be for someone who is out there, I'll cook." Oh, yeah. I'm talking about 45 years back, 40 years back. There was a lot of prejudice against anything about meditation or breathing. What were some of the places that had probably some more prejudice than others? Like, what were some of the tougher places to go and teach? I would say Europe had that and also US. You know, we wanted to teach this in the prisons and then there was a lot of resistance. Because I know that when we taught the prisoners, because every culprit is a victim himself or herself. Wait, say that again, every culprit is a victim. Victim of something, you know, situation, I'm thinking of, I. So, when they need healing, they need that healing touch. When you teach this in the anger, rage and distress, sadness, everything vanishes. So, that's where this has been very effective. We have taught prisoners all over the world now. You have read about that. When you're teaching this, when you say this, do you mean like someone's relationship with their consciousness? Is that kind of what you're talking about? It's just this technology, you know, see how through your own breath you can change your feelings, your moods. Because many times people feel so desperate, actually, you know, like trapped with their own emotions. Oh yeah. I feel so bad, I don't know how to get out of it, you know. Okay, I pray, I do this, I do that still. There is something inside of us that doesn't let us feel the freedom from emotion. Using the breathing techniques, it makes a huge difference. What are some of the first things someone will notice from using some of the techniques? First of all calmness of the mind, then you feel your immune system becomes better, you feel better. Really? And then clarity in mind, you feel more clear and your perceptions become better. Lots of many benefits, all the benefits of meditation, many people say, 'Oh, I can't meditate, you know, too many thoughts, bombard my head and you know, I can't sit quiet and I feel so restless.' And then just a few minutes of this, that takes care of all those issues. Amen. I know you just turned 70 recently. Yeah. How are you? Yeah, look 70 comes out of me. You look 25. Does our consciousness age? Does it make sense to you kind of our intellect age, our intellect becomes mature, but consciousness is the same. Has your consciousness felt the same from the beginning, do you feel like? Yeah. That's something that doesn't change in you. I got it. You know, there are two aspects inside. One is that changes constantly, right? There is something else in you that's a, that's a referral point of all changes. So that which is a reference point of all changes cannot change. Hmm. That's fascinating. What is consciousness to you? Like how would you describe consciousness? Everything is consciousness. Everything? You are consciousness, the trees are consciousness. Whole world is consciousness. And what are some? It's just energy. The consciousness is that ocean of energy, which is manifested everything here in the planet. Hmm. Yeah, I think I just, I think, I don't know, I get scared a lot. Do you ever get scared? It's not so far. Yeah, I think I just have a lot of fears sometimes. You know, fear is nothing but love standing upside down, really? Like explain it to you. You know, fear is a sensation you get right in your chest region or in the belly. What are you afraid of? Because you love something and so that from the other side appears to be as a fear. Right? Because I'm afraid it will be different than what I think or I'm afraid it will feel different than how I want it to feel. I'm afraid to lose what you have. Yeah. Or you know, get what you want. That's a fear, right? And if you just look back, sit back and relax, there's no fear. Do you think there's like a group like I feel like we're in a time in society where things feel very scary. It feels kind of stressful in the world, right? Do you, how would you, how would you suggest that we ward off that? Listen, it's like a boy or girl going for an examination and so scared what's the outcome of the exam. But someone who has already passed the exam would say, Hey, don't worry. If someone has to perform the first time on stage, they will feel so scared. But a seasoned performer says nothing, don't worry, go ahead. So similarly, if you are mastered the art of life itself, you know, seeing life from a broader perspective, hey, so what? It's not the first time you're scared. It has happened to you when you are a child, when you are a boy, when you are a teenager, and whatever, but still you are here. So broadening of our consciousness, our awareness, the fear disappears, number one. Second way to come back to feel is attaining to your breath, breath on the back of the throat, breath on the back of the throat, long deep inhalation and slow exhalation, you know, that settles down, that settles down the fear, the sensations. And third thing is, though, this is all just a game, everything I don't do is a game, you know. You shouldn't be afraid to play a game. What do you think? No, I think I'm still a little scared, but you know, you're thinking about the past week. That's why you are scared. Well, I think I probably am, you're right, I think what I think, I think some things I fear probably, can I share with you some of my fears? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I fear like, I fear that as a society and that we're that we're losing what it means to be human sometimes, that we're getting to this, like we're getting so like involved with technology that we're that we're forgetting that the value of being human is, it's starting to be. Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying. You know, I make a little distinction between concern and fear, okay? I'm also concerned, where are we going in the world? We are all, you know, moving in the age of technology and how mankind is going to use this technology, whether it will be for the benefit of people or for a selfish game. I mean, that's a concern, yes. One must be there, if you don't have any concern and you will have no passion, right? You must have concern, we're all concerned. Any conscious person will be concerned, okay? And that concern is a great motivator, it makes you act. Yeah, that's a good point, yeah, so I'm glad I have concern because it makes me want to take action. Yeah. Got it. And how do you look at that, how do you view that concern? I'm very concerned about the planet, I'm very concerned about the state of mental health in this, in the whole world, especially in this country too. Young people, one in every fourth person is mentally challenged, getting into some sort of, you know, problems, issues. For sure. So we need to attend to this number one, and then we need to realize that the human society is one family, always espoused, world as one family. Yes, sometimes it feels like we're losing our sense of purpose, you know? I think that's one thing that scares me. They can only lose the purpose oneself, and if they have not found, there is no point, they cannot lose it. Many have not even found what is the purpose of their life. Oh, that's a good point, huh? I should be grateful that I found some purpose. When you look at kind of where we're headed with technology, do you, what's a positive way that you see it affecting us? It's very good, you know, I tell you, I was going to college, I had to go to library and it would take a whole day to find the index and find the book, and today, in the fingertips, you can get any knowledge, anything from anywhere, you see? You don't have to wait for such a long time to understand something. So knowledge is easily available in every corner of the world, number one. Second is artificial intelligence. Many are very skeptical or even scared about artificial intelligence. As though it will take away the jobs, yeah, but you know, artificial intelligence, yeah, is a boon also. It's not just a curse, it's a positive, it's a positive thing. It challenges our intellect to be more original. It can only put what is already been discovered. I see what you're saying. So if it only has knowledge, right? And if everybody has knowledge, then creativity should maybe go to another level. Another level, yeah, because that will become sort of a primary, it's a challenge for an individual to be more creative, more original, because everybody has the same information now. So now creativity kind of has a new stage, new stage, that's pretty fascinating. Yeah, I guess I didn't really thought about it like that. Do you worry that a lot of the power that's in the world is in evil hands? And do you believe I can good it? Do you believe I can good and evil? Do you think there's such thing? Till not one child is born on this planet as an evil child. Everyone is born here as a bundle of joy. Every baby is a divine gift. They're all beautiful kids. But due to circumstances, situations, lack of understanding or wrong education or whatever you can say, indoctrination, it glids them where they are. That's where I feel there is a lack of values in the education system. Yeah. And if those people were cared in the very beginning, you nibb those negative qualities, trends in child, in a adolescent, in children, they don't come. In a adolescent, they start getting up into the sort of, you know, rage, in adolescence. Adolescence, rage and, you know, anger, so there is no education. There's just no peace education in the world. - It's really true. You know, it's interesting. I look back on like my experience in school, and a lot of it was just a lot of factual information, but they never taught me how to be like a person or to look at myself or to have a conversation with myself, or how to see if like something is going on with a friend and how I can be a good friend. Is that just an American education system? Or do you find that that's almost everywhere? - They say it's almost now everywhere. Universities there. Maybe a little less or more in places, but the lack of education in human values, you can see prevalent. And when that is given, you know, you will find there is no evil person. I always say that TV is only a veil around the goodness of a person. - Amen, I believe that. Do you think that we come sometimes from a past life with other stuff, or do you think it's new? - No, we do. - We do. - Oh man. Because that's a bummer, 'cause I'm just, I could be dealing with somebody else's junk. You know, from junk, you can create something with it. - Okay, that's fair. - But yeah, on this creation, nothing is a waste. - But imagine, suddenly the waste also brings wealth. - A waste also brings wealth. - That's a good point, manure, huh? Look at manure. - I do, I do, I do. - But it's kind of imagine you land at the airport and you look at your luggage and it's someone else's, you know. - That's just lack of awareness. - I think you're right, that's kind of, that kind of does show that. I'd be like, yeah, I've probably picked up somebody else's. - Yeah. - And if someone picks up yours, you call them a thief. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. - Yeah, I think I'm trying to think of some other fears that I have. I think I have fears sometimes of like letting go of the past. That's something that's been very tough for me in my life. Like sometimes I, I think I've let go of the past, but it comes back again, you know, some of the same feelings. Like, even though I've offered like forgiveness and things like that, sometimes it still comes back. Do you know what I'm talking about? - Yeah, I know, I very well understand that. Delima, you know, that's where I see forgiveness, it cannot just happen from your thinking, from your intellect. It has to come from within your feeling level. And that can happen when you do meditation. Do the breathing. - Really? - Yeah. - And how does breathing help you heal from the past? - Because, you know, the emotions which are stuck in our system that need to be released. And breath is the best tool. Mind is so abstract. You can't catch hold of the mind and do anything about it. You know, you try and you can't, you know, do something with your own mind by the mind. - Right, it's like, yeah, yeah, it's pretty, 'cause it's like trying to grab your hand with your hand. - With your head. Of course, you have another hand to hand. - Oh, that's a good point, that's good. - Okay. - But with the breath, it is much easier. Because breathing has a pattern for every emotion. You know, when you are happy, your breath moves with a different rhythm. - Is that true that breathing has a pattern for every emotion? - Correct. See, when you are happy, how do you breathe? When you are angry, yeah. See, you know, your emotions and the breathing has deep relations. And they have sensation in the body also. That's why attending to the breath and rhythms of the breath creates magic. And what you think is so hard to forgive, forgive, forget, and all that things become, as a matter of fact, so easy. - Yeah, oh yeah, man, it's like, I know it's like, yes, sometimes you just forget to breathe, you know? - Yeah, we use only 30% of our lung capacity. We don't even breathe it. - Is that true? - We use 30% of our lung capacity. - Yeah, yeah, that's what scientists say. So breathing and combined with meditation makes a big difference. That's the reason there's been programs are, you know, in big demand and popular with people because they get great benefit out of it. Then we are working with the war veterans. - You guys have been working with the war veterans? - Yeah, war veterans. - Yeah, take me through that experience that you had with some of those war veterans. I know you've had a lot of experiences, I know with like incorporating new schools for children. I know some of the different lore, but yeah, take me through, what were you guys doing with war veterans? - You know, war veterans, the PTSD syndrome in them. - The PTSD? - PTSD syndrome, they have been suffering a lot with that. You know, there are two movies made on that. Almost sunrise is one of that period. A war veteran is saying the transformation that has happened in his own life. - Almost sunrise? - Almost sunrise. - Not for me with that one, it's a good movie. - Yeah, it was there in many, yeah. - Okay, I'll check it out. Almost sunrise. So that's a one, but you've had experience doing this. - Yeah, you know, I got so many letters from the families of the veterans. They say, thank you Gurudev, we got our son back. Thanks for getting my husband back. These are the letters, you know, because they would hold up in their own base when they would not come and have dinner with their own family. That moral wound was so deep in them. Just in four days or five days of breathing technique, they were back, you know, they could erase all those bad memories and they couldn't become strong and get back with their families. About 8,000 of them we have taught in this country and you should see the joy in the eyes of those people, the family. It's so fulfilling, you know, so see that. Park bombing. - And was that a certain program that you guys started? - Yeah, we started this, we started this welcome home troops. - Welcome home troops is the name of the program? - Yeah. - And that was just in the US. - Yeah, this was US, no, we did it also in Canada. In some places in Europe as well, yeah. - Project welcome home troops offers the power, breath workshop as a resilience building program specifically designed to address the needs of returning combat veterans. It offers practical breath work, tools that decrease the stress, anxiety and sleep problems that many returning veterans experience. - Well, well, thank you for that. I know there's, I have a close friend right now who's dealing with a lot of that, a lot of past traumas. It's kind of fascinating how the body stores so much trauma. Why does the body want to store trauma? - This is asking by both the inside and one side. - Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, I guess if one were back here it would be more helpful. - That's what it is, it does, you know. Body has a photographic memory, whatever you feed it, that's what it takes. And if you keep putting your attention on negative things and your body is full of those negative vibes. And you go to the beach and you look at the sunset to spend time with the nature, you know, your body responds to that. It was a puppy. - It was a puppy. - Or with a puppy? - Yeah, a puppy, yeah. Yeah, I like that. - What happens when your health becomes the punchline? From seed oils to stress, toxins to pollutants. The modern world is screwing with our health at the cellular level, leading to exhaustion, brain fog, digestive issues and more. But here's the thing, you don't have to settle for feeling like garbage 24/7. Armra, colostrum is nature's original health hack. Packed with over 400 bioactive nutrients that fortify gut integrity, strength and immunity, revitalize hair growth, elevate focus and help you function like a human again. Harness the closely guarded secret of elite athletes, long prize for its unrivaled ability to take performance to its apex. And we've worked out a special offer for our audience. Receive 30% off your first order. Go to try armra.com/thio or enter Theo to get 30% off your first order. That's T-R-Y-A-R-M-R-A.com/thio. Summer adds up fast. A trip here, a dinner there, a couple concerts, maybe a Renaissance fair, just driving out into the sticks to tickle somebody. Makes you wonder if you're getting the most out of your money lately. That's where chime comes in. Chime is changing the way people bank. They're not like traditional old banks who charge fees and gatekeep perks and rewards. Chime offers the most rewarding fee-free banking, all with no overdraft fees, no monthly fees, no minimum balance fees. You get 5% cash back on chime card in a category of your choice, like gas or groceries, all while building credit through regular everyday spending with no credit check. Join the millions who are already banking fee-free with America's number one choice for banking. Head to chime.com/thio. That's chime.com/thio. I think I have, I just deal with a lot of shame. Sometimes shame will come up. You know what I'm talking about? And I'll be just, I'll be having like a normal kind of conversation or a normal experience. And I'll have a little bit of, you know what I'm talking about? And I'll be just, I'll be having like a normal kind of conversation or a normal experience, and I'll have a little bit of, you know what I'm talking about? And I'll have like a, just a memory will come up with something that I did that I'm ashamed of or that I wish I hadn't done. And it'll just make me feel like, I don't know. It's like, I'm just getting struck by lightning, you know? It's like just getting so disappointed on myself. I understand, I understand. You get like the shame shivers kind of. Yeah. You know what? When you did that, something wrong, you are not the same person that you are now. You are ignorant. You had no wisdom. You had no control over your emotions. So you did that. But now, at this moment, you're different. You know, there are two aspects in us. One is that which is different all the time, changes all the time. And one that doesn't change at all. The aspect that doesn't change in you is all good. Oh, really? So that's it. It's like a river. It's the old, 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. Lord Buddha's story. You know, Buddha. Buddha. Buddha. Oh, yeah, I heard of them. You have heard Buddha's story on this? No. You want to tell me, please? Yeah, you want to? Yes, please. Okay. Thank you. 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 came, they were trying to do meditation there. So he came and he was so upset and he stood in front of Buddha and was got angry and he 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. He struck him. I said, "I yelled at him but he was so calm." It was something, you know, something very ethereal about Lord Buddha that impacted him. So he felt so bad, he felt so guilty. So the 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 that Buddha's principle is to forgive. Now he's saying, "No, I can't forgive you." And Lord Buddha said, "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, I 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. Yeah. 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 forgiveness. So forgiveness. I have a tough time with that. I think I hold a lot of resentment against myself, sometimes for things 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, so I'm always falling short." You know, little bit of guilty, okay, that keeps you moving, but not too much. So much guilt you should have, just as much as a salt or a tabasco in your body. It's a flavour. It's a flavour. 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 things happen, some unpleasant things happen, none of them exist now here. Right? Right. What's here now? Either you are reeling in rage of anger, what others did, or what you did, guilt of you, what you did. Both this eats your consciousness and spoils the present and the future. And so wisdom is seeing this whole thing as a dream or a drama which happened and finished. Right? The person inside of you is untouched by all that. Yes. And of course it has brought some pain to others. If you feel you have bought 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 of a 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, you know, you are not a polaroid 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 learned and you have come up out of it. So not latch on to that but see forward and see this world is so beautiful. You have 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 it better and we know different and we can share 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 the feeling, you have the emotion, you 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 have to realize love is not a what? It's not an act. It is not something that you do to say, though, 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, I mean, you know, I say 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. Listen, all the negative emotions are just a distortion of love. Greed. What do you think greed is? You love objects more than people, all for yourself. Oh, so you love. So your love is off. Yeah. You got to tune your love better. Yeah. Your love is in wrong place. Yeah. Yeah. Narcissism is what? You love yourself more than others. Jalice is what, you want everything for yourself. So love gets distorted and forms all these 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. I've struck, that's something I've struck away. Because you love perfection so much, any imperfection brings up the anger inside of you. Well, it makes me feel like I could have done better. Something could be better. There's all. I'm always looking for like, okay, this could be different. This could be more. This could be less, but I'm. You're 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." You know, 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 said, "drop everything, drop the past." God wants us to let go of the past? Let go of the past. I know that the love of God is with you. Yeah, do you think that that's what puts the love inside of us? It's God, did it? God is love. Have He's God and so are you. You are made in the image of God, means you are love too. Oh, yeah. That's cool, huh? It's kind of cool. It makes you feel good when you think about that. Sometimes I don't even think about that enough, you know, that God cared enough that He would make us. It's pretty fascinating. Yeah. It's pretty cool of Him. No, we don't have to think God has someone up sitting up in the heaven and trying to give you a finger. And it's only in the Michelangelo painting. Oh, 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? No. I mean 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 you meditate for a period of time, this awareness wakes up inside us that then there is no other. Everyone is part of you. Hmm. What is the feeling of the awakening of the awareness? What does it feel? It just feels very normal. What does it feel like? It feels normal. It feels normal. How do you notice that you have, you start smiling more maybe? Yeah. I don't feel any balls between you and others. You don't feel it, like how you feel with your own family. That's what you feel with everybody. You don't have anything to show off. There's no barriers between you and that. Because you're all family then. Yeah. Everybody's part of you. More than a family. 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. Like I'm not living like, like I'm not doing what God wants me to do. I don't be too hard on yourself. This is too hard. Yeah. 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. Hmm. That's the truth. That's the sign of love. It doesn't, it never says, 'Oh, I've done enough.' When you say, 'I've done enough,' that means somewhere you are retrieving from doing. Ah. You know, your love has found a boundary. But when you're, but when you're not feeling that, it means that you're, you're still giving. It's, it's, yeah, you'll always feel you can do more. And that's a good feeling. That's a good feeling. Okay. It's only good to have the feeling. I took two 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, I wish I regret.' Yeah. We should come over to the regret and have a positive attention of what we want to do. And then do you have that? Amen. Sometimes we look for, oh, 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, you know? Yes, sometimes I just, it's nice to have a voice like this to help you think about something, you know? We can't do it by ourselves, you know? 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, you know? 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, I can't grow my own, you know, cotton, I had to get my clothes done by somebody, like I don't teach my own clothes. So, but you know, that's what the world is all about, yeah? Someone grows food for you, yeah. And we have this illusion just giving a little bill and we think if food is all mine, but still, well, you have done some help to them, but they have done something for you. I think the sense of interdependency in the whole world of all of humanity is 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. Yeah. 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. Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. 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. So it's kind of. But the shows, you know, the rage in the minds and hearts of people, the rage, see neither at home, nor at school, no one teaches you how to get rid of your negative feelings. You get rid of 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. We 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 two million people of internally displaced people in Colombia. They were all with anger, reason, a lot of suffering. Because of the far conflict has been happening for 52 years. Because of the far 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. We began in 1964 with the creation of two major guerrilla groups, the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, Fuerza Armadas, Revoluciníares, Revolucía de Colombia. That's FARC, founded by rebel leader Manuel Marrulanda 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 our group of people were doing their trauma relief for them and helping them with meditation and so that was a very big success. So the government of Colombia gave me the highest civilian award for this work. So you went there to do it? Was it scary? When you went there? Was it? It was the Colombia. I mean, the capital, Bogota was almost like the Shambles, 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 then after that there was a formal handshake with the president who was supposed to last for five minutes and we were there for about 40, 50 minutes. We spoke to him and then the president sent those said, "I don't think there is any hope that these people, because so many people tried the peace process and they are not agree." So I said, "Why not I go and try?" So he said, "Yeah, you can do it, any help, it's welcome." So I took a flight from there, I charted a plane and went to Cuba to meet with this Gorilla. There were 15 of them come on those. 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, so we don't want to. So they said, "Our philosophy is Karl Marx and the philosophy is Karl Marx?" Karl Marx. Karl Marx and Karl Marx, you know, Karl Marx. The communist philosophy. Okay. He's the communist philosophy, you know what I mean? Karl Marx. Karl Marx. Oh, Marxism. Marxism. Yeah, what was the Marxist philosophy? Let me just dictate it so that our listeners can follow along. Marxism, a social political and economic philosophy created by Karl Marx. States. that society is split into two main groups, the working class who do the labor and the owners who take the profits. - So is it, you know, our ideal is Karl Marx. So we don't need to. - Yeah, we'll have to. - We'll have to be very happy with that. - 'Cause 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, what's coming from India. So they came and had given some talk and then I light people through a meditation. Then they told them, you know, maybe we should meet him that he can influence that government and others to stop the bombing. To make this 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 root of non-violence, Gandhi in principle of non-violence? But they say, 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 the forgiveness process. I got some of the victims flowing and the fog, they put them face to face. They were forgiveness process, they forgot. They gave each other and that was a very moving incident. Then we had that forgiveness process all over and the peace deal happened. There's a movie coming about, someone has made a movie. - Really? - It's going to come, it's called White. - White? - White. The Columbia and they're all making a movie. - Wow, that's so exciting, huh? And how long did the whole process take? - I would say a few months, a couple of months. - Wow. - Yeah, there's just so much conflict in the world. White, there we go. Mont, the director is, go back. - By Mont, Montubasi. - Montubasi, yes. - We'll be the director, all that's. - Oh wow, and there's an actor named Vikrant. - Vikrant must say, he's acting as me. - He's playing you, he better do a good job. (laughing) - But if he doesn't, it's okay. - Ah, it's okay. - Yeah, it's okay. - Oh, he's handsome, man, you think it's same? - Yeah, yeah, same guy. - He pretty handsome, huh? Okay, man. - You think I am not? - No, no, it's good. Hey, very close. - It's very close. - Very close. - One day, I think sometimes about like, I think about relationships, it's a lot, right? Like I'm not married yet, but maybe hopefully one day, you know? And, but like, good luck to you. - Thank you, I appreciate it, yeah, yeah. I think I need a little bit of luck maybe. But sometimes I notice it's like, I have a tougher time probably with 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 gonna figure out how to love myself, but you love me. You know what I'm saying, kind of? Does it, like I'm gonna put the responsibility on someone, like it's their responsibility to love me instead of my responsibility. Does it make any sense if I say it to you? Like say if I meet it someone, right? - I see the confusion there. - Yes, the confusion. - I see, I keep seeing this all the time. - You do. - People, yeah, I have it a bit. 'Cause 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. You 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 a love of a person for you. Does it what I'm saying? Because they no matter what, they love me. - Yeah. - All right, oh, they love me, they might express it. Maybe they don't call, but they don't express, they don't know how to express it properly, they love me. They don't text me, they don't text me back, but they love me. That's okay. That's okay. You know, that sense, you are 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 you're a 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. - Yeah. - How more I can convince, you know? Whatever I can do to convince this person, I love them. See, you know, expression of love can never be complete, because love is infinite. So, 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 encapsulated. So, that's why you say, from self-love, the universal love, they're all interconnected. So, now I should think, say if I'm 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. (laughing) But, you know, wait, patience. You know, you would probably have waited a few lifetimes. Maybe, that's okay. - See, again, you're putting that intention in you. - Oh, 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 are. They, they go after our thoughts, right? - Yes. - Our intentions, they proceed our intentions. I mean, they follow our intentions. Our intentions precede all of 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 others. - Yes, that's the key. - Acceptable. - Acceptable to others. You know, we had 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, it might just be attraction, it might just be attachment. - Right, exactly. - Yeah, and sometimes you just want somebody to valet, you just want somebody to make you feel okay. You just want somebody to. - There's nothing wrong in it, so well. - It's okay. - It's okay, it's okay. - Everything doesn't have to be a problem, huh? The thing that need 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, it 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 like third is understanding, creating a room, giving a space for others to be. But they are not wanting to grow. If you stand by a plant like this, it's going to maybe get nervous. - Yeah, but 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. It may not get nervous, you are wasting your time. It will take its own time, but it wants to get in trouble. - Yeah, 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 this. - It's okay. - It's okay. It's okay, that's what now you need this. - It's a good, so, 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. Okay, I know my way around a barbell, I know how to do a baby squat, you know? But I'll be honest, sometimes I fall into a routine. Some of you guys may know what I'm talking about. Maybe you've been running the same program for years on end and you're just getting bored or you're hitting a plateau, you're just kind of going through the motions. Maybe the problem isn't your effort, it's the plan. That's where ladder comes in. 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It's like, oh, maybe you should do this at some point, you know? And it could be something bad, it could be. Or for me, it would be bad because I'm in recovery program so it could be drugs, alcohol, you know, just things like that. Behaviors I don't want to do. Sometimes I have a seed that'll, like a little idea will come up, like with a little bell and be like, hey, you know? Or where's something fancy of it? Like look what I'm wearing, you know? Like a little idea, like a little lady will walk by this and idea will walk by and try to get me to follow. And sometimes it's a bad behavior. You know, these ideas come and you are will, and you are 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 automatically you run towards it. Here, you need to get a better joy, better, you know? Some, I've been dealing with the 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, though. 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. That 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. A value of larger joy. More importance, 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 is enough to stop sometimes. And 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 won't care, as you grow up, you're not craving for candies or chocolates. Like you were doing when you were a young boy, right? It doesn't bother you anymore. Yeah, I don't even like it. Other things are more important. So you have to find something 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 or. Yeah, I've trained 38,000 teachers, volunteers, who are all volunteers and teachers. And they all run the whole thing. And they run it's a recovery community. They're the recovery. They do the teachings in the schools, in colleges, Skype campuses, they do in all the university. For the sky breathing. Sky breathing. Wow. The university, we're in 170 universities. Oh, so young people. Yeah, young people feel so good, so such a difference. When they feel such a disconnect with their parents, with their pals, you know, after doing the 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. I mean, 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. And all that can come from our breathing. Come, come, when we get rid of our stress. 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. Inaction. Yeah. How do we make sure our actions are sincere? What can we do? What can we ask ourselves? Do you think spontaneous? Oh, spontaneous. Sometimes, yeah, I get it. Sometimes I say, yeah. Yeah. Is meditation, does it have a stronger effect on younger people? Do you think? Young girl doesn't matter. I've seen a lot of videos of children doing intuition tests. Yeah. Can you take me down some of the understanding of intuition tests? And you guys have an institute for intuition? Is that correct? The Institute of Absolute Intelligence we have. It's called Institute for Absolute Intelligence. Intelligence. But first of all, I would love absolute intelligence. So please, what grade do you have to be in? I'll go. The children are teenager up to 18 years of age, we take them. And it's good. And, you know, it's a full school. No, no, it's just 18 days program. Okay, it's an 18 days 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. They got feeling much more stronger. And, you know, gut feeling, that is, which is unfathomable. 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, you get a feeling a lot of time this is unsure. That's what I, those are the two I get. I never get a yes. Never mind. Have you ever seen this? No, if you get, no, you will get a soul soul there. Do you think so? Hmm. Maybe you're right. Maybe I just not. Maybe I got a, yeah, you're probably right. No, for something, then ask for something else, right? But what is that feeling? What is it? What is that feeling? Do you think it? I never even think about it. It's the same feeling you get. Like when your heart is hurt. It's like, it's a feeling that's like, it's not, you're, your head says something. intellects and your rational mind says something. But your gut feeling just overthrows that, you know. All your rational, logical thinking is overthrown by some gut feeling. And then you follow it and you find 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? Yeah, yeah. We teach them a set of practices, 15 minutes per day, and then they get it. But 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 there, yeah, their joints, yeah, like that. It kids there, they are easy to learn. But not that adults can learn, they too can, they too can. But if you are 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 age. But they have different meditation. But in the teenage or in 20s and 20s, 30s, you have to do proper medities, full medities. So we have, that's why we had 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 spawned countless endeavors and outreach over the years. What 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 angering is from the beginning of time, or do you think we picked it up? Well, it's there, it's been 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. You know, waves have always been there, only you need to learn how to self. So main thing, let me put it in a small capsule. Art of living foundation is 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, it breathing and meditation and all that thing. And then confusion free mind, that confused about everything, you know, and bringing clarity to mind and inhibition free intellect, you know, people carry a 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 generations. The art of living brings that thing together to make better understanding. And inhibition between race, religion, gender, all that inhibition to be done away with. Listen, we are in the 21st century where we see the technology has united the whole globe into every age, how we still hold on to those sort of small-mindedness and prejudices. That's no good, you know, helping people to get over their prejudices, all type of prejudices, 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. Hey man, 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. Oh, I love our goals. Yeah. That's what we want. It feels like that's how we should live. It's just, it's amazing that we got so off course sometimes. And that's so, 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. You do it. 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's first in 2026, 2006. Oh yeah. In Madras where? In Bangalore. Bangalore we had. I never been to Bangalore. It's nice. You must come. It's the IT capital of India. It's a 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. What a beautiful group of people, huh? We had 1.1 million people joined in D.C. and 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 Busy. Yeah. This is in Washington D.C. That's beautiful. Then we had in New Delhi. Just imagine how many it was. It was 36,600 two artists on this one. Wow. You put this on? Yeah. Yeah. On a stage which was six soccer grounds, seven acres of stage. This is unbelievable. Who are just listening and who can't see this video? This is, I mean, it's absolute. It looks like the Olympics. Yeah. It is like the Olympics of culture. Yeah. And I wanted all the, you know, I'm a sure artist to come up on stage from 155 countries. This is from Lithuania. Look at that. It's meatloaf. Wow. This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing. This is amazing. And so every four years this happens? Yeah. So this was in New Delhi 10 years back and we had 3.75 million people in attendance for this program. Gosh. So it's 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. That's 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. And 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, why don't we cry where it loves that? But it's like, this is the magic, this is 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, spinning 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. 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. Let me, I want to bring this up to you. Okay. The 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 on a new hat or something. You get some gift that. Terramles. Getting something is really brings happiness to you, right? People give you a compliment as you go, yeah, right? But there is another type of happiness that comes to you when you give. It's more mature happiness, I would say. That's akin to the joy of a grandmother, you know, your grandmother when you were a 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 ten times more love towards you, coming towards you. And you believe that's true? Yeah. Got it. And sometimes we're afraid I think even give, like there's been times, I'm afraid to give, because I won't, I guess it comes from a place that I won't have something, you know? No, you give only what you can. Yeah. You know, 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, my health issue will come and help me. So 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? Twenty-four hours. You know, I would say you meditate for twenty minutes. Twenty-five minutes. That's good enough for you. But, you know, after practice, then the 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, 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, it gives me a little bit of space before I react sometimes. If I'm, if I'm having a strong meditation practice. 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 than a larger scale now. Okay. It was not so prevalent. When I was a student, even now I think I'm a student. In a student days, you could see that there was no mental health issues. There was no bi, I've never heard schizophrenia, bipolar, or breakdown due to nervous. Yes, it sounds very new. All 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? So, 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 that. And helping people get out of drugs. We started in India, drug-free India campaign. Drug-free India? Drug-free India campaigns. What's the most popular drug in India? What are they using over there? All kinds of drugs are there. Really? Yeah. Anything good? Anything not good. I'm not too familiar about all the way, but I'm only familiar with what has helped people all this time. That's what I'm in. And our programs, you know, for them, we have we conduct a program, yes, plus program, youth empowerment seminar. Say it one more time, what's it called? Youth empowerment seminar. Yes, plus program. Yes, plus program. So, that has helped, you know, it includes the sky-bread technique in that and many other things. And with the children, yeah, I see, oh, beautiful. With the kids, I gave them seven things to take home. You know, when I say, make one new friend every day. You know, first, first question, I asked children, how many friends do you have? They caught 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 could be friendly with all of them. Yeah, get out there. And how can you be with friendly with eight billion people when you come out of the school? Yeah. So, that just kindles that awareness in them. Then they take about to make one new friend every day. And they become friendly by nature. Yeah, because it's a practice. Yeah. Friends, it's not friendship for something, but to be friendly 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 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 use 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. I wouldn't blame on the cell phones as social media. I know. You wouldn't. No, no. They're all there that it's a tool. You know, it depends on how you use it. You excessively use anything. You're going to harm yourself. You know, 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, that like a societal, you know, so I think we miss out on a lot of the things that really do mean the most to us. No, you don't need to have four modes. Okay, you can have a goal. Look, I want to achieve that. But being feverish about it is not going to help you. Yeah. You have a goal. 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 end up somewhere else, right? So it's okay to have an intention, but not make it a feverish. I have feverishly gripped your whole life, hold your mind, you know, how should I get something better in your life? So again here, when 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 do someone start to get to know theirself, right? What's the 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 to you when I ask you that? 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 is 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 me, 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, this is not the purpose. Then you find, in the same way, negation, you settle into a space deep within you, which is serene, calm, fullness. Once 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. I love the tool. What are some of the other ones to it to nurture that relationship? Other thing, it can come to you as a gift, gift from above. And then you are intelligent, or your analytical mind will also help to, you know, relax, 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. It may appear to be very difficult or very idealistic, but I tell you, it's very, very practical. I'm a very practical person. Yeah. So, though they are all All of it will be great ideals, but I say it is doable. Do you have any pets at home? Have two elephants. You do? We have elephants, cars, cows, there's everything. What's the elephant's name? We have one is called Maheshwar. Maheshwar? Another is Indrani. Indrani. Indrani. Oh, 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 with of the tusk, the tusker, the other one there, he'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. Do 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? Yeah. It's good. It just brings some practical wisdom to your life and whatever you need, whenever you need. It is a book that people love. You know, how it came out, I don't write books, but you know, how it came up, 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 you said, this past week, we used every week we would do. And then I would send that around over to everybody. So that's how this came with seven years of Wednesday knowledge sheets, we call it knowledge sheet. So there's new topics on Wednesdays, you guys would discuss them? Every new topic we discuss. And then that was compiled into this book, Journey Within, it helps people too. Yeah. 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. And it 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, Chennai, same place, yeah, and it was, it was, 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, we worked at like some children's homes and we're doing some stuff like that. You guys started a group, like you, you've started schools over the years called free schools. Yes. And those are in India. Yeah. In India, Nepal and also in other places. And that, is that a K through 12 or what is the, yeah, okay, 12 to 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? Little bit yoga and some meditation, yes, part of the curriculum, we have a university also. It's one of the very good university with the happiest campus, everybody's. 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. Again, I would say, if it's an extreme case, you have to see a doctor. And if psychiatry say you have to take medicine, you must take medicine. But this is other than that practices, which should, first of all, prevent you from getting that. Second, it also helps you to recover. But it takes practice every, you have to, you have to, you have to apply yourself. Practice, yeah, and it's not tough, it's not, 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, you have to, the parents have to force them to get into their habit, got it, right? And 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. It's like mental floss, kind of. Mental floss, yeah, right. When we leave this life, right, when this body ends, we are consciousness has to stay alive, you 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. Oh, so we might see each other again in another time, huh? Thank you. Thank you so much, Guru Dev. I appreciate your time today. Thank you very much. Lovely. Keep doing the wonderful work. You too, brother. Thank you so much. 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 piece of mind I found I can feel it in my bones. But it's going to take.