Pod Insights The School of Greatness A Spiritual Approach To Death, Abundance & Purpose w/Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar EP 1216 About this episode Today’s guest is Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar! He is recognized globally as a humanitarian, spiritual leader and peacemaker. He has touched the lives of more than 450 million people around the world, resolving conflicts through dialogue and self-awareness, teaching positive approaches to living including techniques to alleviate stress and anxiety, and by his example of selfless service. His organization The Art of Living is best known for their SKY Breath Meditation program that we get into and he’s also released his new book “An Intimate Note to The Sincere Seeker” In this episode we discuss what he believes happens when we die and how we should think about death, the importance of meditating and how you tap into your meditative power, the different ways to find spiritual abundance, why we’re bad at being happy and a few simple practices to bring more joy into your life, why it’s crucial to find a higher purpose in your life and so much more! For more go to: www.lewishowes.com/1216Learn more about his SKY Breath Meditation ProgramGet his new book "An Intimate Note To A Sincere Seeker"The Wim Hof Experience: Mindset Training, Power Breathing, and Brotherhood: https://link.chtbl.com/910-podA Scientific Guide to Living Longer, Feeling Happier & Eating Healthier with Dr. Rhonda Patrick: https://link.chtbl.com/967-podThe Science of Sleep for Ultimate Success with Shawn Stevenson: https://link.chtbl.com/896-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX
Transcript 11,294 words · 2 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Lewis Howes? This is episode number 1,216 with Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.
0:30 Lewis Howes? Welcome back, my friend. Today's guest is very special. His name is Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and he is recognized globally as a humanitarian, spiritual leader, and peacemaker. He has touched the lives of more than 450 million people around the world, resolving conflicts through dialogue and self-awareness, teaching positive approaches to living, including techniques to alleviate stress and anxiety, and by his example of selfless service. His organization, The Art of Living, is best known for their Sky Breath meditation program that we get into.
1:10 Lewis Howes? And he's also released his new book, An Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker, which I've been diving in and loving reading. It's really inspiring. In this episode, we discuss what he believes happens when we die and how we should think about death, the importance of meditating and how to tap into your meditative power, why we're bad at being happy, and a few simple practices to bring more joy into your life, how to find spiritual abundance, and so much more. I was really moved and inspired by this message. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please share this with a few friends. You can text a few friends, post on social media. Make sure to tag myself and Guru Dev as well.
1:54 Lewis Howes? And if this is your first time here, please subscribe to the School of Greatness over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or over on YouTube. And let us know what you enjoyed most about this episode. At the end, you can leave us a review or post on social media and let me know what you enjoyed the most. Okay, in just a moment, the one and only Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
2:21 Lewis Howes? I speak from experience when I say the best way to stay consistent with your fitness goals this year is to switch them up. It'll make it easier to stay excited for your workout each day. And of course, it can be hard to always come up with new types of workout routines, which is why I love Peloton and what they do. They are always coming out with new stuff to help switch up your exercises, especially right now to ring in the new year. The Peloton Bike and Bike Plus are releasing new classes, new music, and new ways to keep your workouts fun and motivating. Keep your workouts interesting. Peloton has a workout for every goal, day, and mood. De-stress from a long day with 30 minutes of strength and 20 minutes of cardio,
3:03 Lewis Howes? or do a quick 15-minute total body class before work. Stay motivated while having fun with bike workouts, yoga, meditation, dance, cardio, and more. And I want to see you achieve your goals. For a limited time, try the Peloton app free for two months, then $12.99 per month after. New members only. Visit onepeloton.com/app to learn more. That's two months free at O-N-E-P-E-L-O-T-O-N.com. Offer expires January 31, 2022. Terms apply.
3:42 Lewis Howes? I read in your bio that you graduated college when you were 17, I believe, and you also studied physics. But you're also a very gifted spiritual leader. So I'm curious what you have learned from physics and spirituality about death and what happens when we die. This has been something I've been very curious about. Heard lots of different answers out there, but I'm curious from your experience and your wisdom, what happens when we die?
4:12 Speaker 01 You know, by physics, we know matter and energy, they're interchangeable, and you cannot destroy them. Right? So our spirit is nothing but energy.
4:26 Speaker 01 So it's just a parting way with the body, the spirit.
4:32 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
4:33 Speaker 01 It stays on, the energy stays on. I would say it's just like a mini sleep. You know, when you go to, every night when you knock the pillow and then you are off for, you know, so many hours. You don't know where you are and then you wake up. In the same way, think, but with little more intensity, with little more awareness, little more awareness. Death is parting away from the physical body. It's, it appears to be so painful for, once you have not had that experience. But people who have had near-death experiences, you might have heard from them all.
5:16 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
5:16 Speaker 01 That it's a very pleasant thing. So also in meditation, when you go into deep meditation, you can see that there is a difference, very notable difference. And it's not as painful or ugly as one think of.
5:37 Lewis Howes? Right. Do you think we should fear it or be more excited about death then?
5:42 Speaker 01 Neither, just take it as it is.
5:43 Lewis Howes? Just take it as it is. I heard, I don't know if this is 100% true or not, but I heard that the country of Bhutan is supposed to be one of the happiest places in the world. I'm not sure if that's 100% true or not. And I heard that one of their practices or philosophies is to think about their death multiple times a day. I don't know if it's three times or five times a day. And I don't know if the whole country does this or if this is just a practice that some people do. Why would it be valuable to think about our death multiple times throughout the day or the week?
6:16 Speaker 01 You don't have to think multiple times, but time and again reminding ourselves that we are in a transit launch, my dear. We are going to exit from here sometime. And the life here is temporary, you know, it's ephemeral. When this idea comes to our mind, what happens is those unnecessary things that we get embroiled into, they just drop off.
6:44 Lewis Howes? Right.
6:45 Speaker 01 So more purposefulness starts coming into our life. And we think, hey, what is, look, wait a minute, what is that I want? You know, is this what really what I want? These questions rise up within you.
7:00 Lewis Howes? Mm hmm.
7:01 Speaker 01 Because you know, life is short. And you want to, you want to get maximum out of it.
7:07 Lewis Howes? Right. Was there ever a point in your life where you didn't know what you wanted? Or why you wanted something?
7:14 Speaker 01 Not since I was a child. Always had an idea, you know, what's going to happen.
7:21 Lewis Howes? There's a lot of people that seem, in the world, that seems like they're struggling to figure out their mission, or purpose, or what they want. They're kind of scattered, or they're just unsure of what direction to go. It seems like you didn't have that.
7:34 Speaker 01 No, I didn't have that problem, yeah.
7:35 Lewis Howes? So for people that have that problem, how can they start to figure out, at least just the next step towards a direction?
7:41 Speaker 01 You know, confusion is very good.
7:43 Lewis Howes? It's good.
7:44 Speaker 01 They should feel that, they should be lucky that they got this confusion.
7:48 Lewis Howes? Why is that?
7:50 Speaker 01 Every confusion tells you that you are growing. You're not happy with what it is, what is, you're not contented, but you're looking for something more. And confusion is that state in between two, uh, two steps of progress in life. So if you're confused, know that it's just a momentary phase. And something of the past, you're, you're ready to let go.
8:25 Lewis Howes? Interesting.
8:26 Speaker 01 And you're looking for something, uh, different in the future.
8:31 Lewis Howes? So you, it seems like you weren't really confused that much because you knew what you wanted to create, you knew what your direction was, and you've been on that journey for a long time.
8:39 Speaker 01 Yeah. It's another aspect within us that is intuitive power.
8:44 Lewis Howes? Intuitive power.
8:45 Speaker 01 If we tap into our intuitive power, then you know, um, not much confusion is there.
8:52 Lewis Howes? Mm hmm. Besides meditation, because I'm assuming that's a big part of it, how would we tap into our intuitive power more powerfully?
9:03 Speaker 01 Live in the present moment. Keep your mind more focused in the now and here. Be with the nature.
9:13 Speaker 01 And keep aside for some time that busy mind which says, "I have so many things to do. They want to do this, do that, do that." Say, "Okay, I'm not going to do anything now." How about not doing anything for a few moment? Getting off of that coat that you wear all the time. That gives you an opening into a space that you really seek for. And then there you get the intuition.
9:55 Speaker 01 Deep relaxation, deep rest is very essential in life.
10:02 Lewis Howes? Yeah, it is. I mean, you're a world leader who's helping, you know, people relieve stress and anxiety, solving problems, massive problems in the world for people, for countries, for governments, for businesses. How do you create the space and time for yourself to rest, to be present, when more and more is demanded of you potentially, of people needing your service?
10:29 Speaker 01 You know, one thing I know is whatever demand is put on me, I have that energy and capability to do that.
10:36 Lewis Howes? You have the energy and capability to do it, yeah.
10:38 Speaker 01 I believe that.
10:39 Lewis Howes? Yeah, otherwise they want to be put on you.
10:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, right. Otherwise, nature won't put those situations in front of you. So I'm not bothered. Second is, I'm not bothered about the outcome either.
10:55 Lewis Howes? The outcome.
10:57 Speaker 01 You know, if you're worried about the outcome, that's when your energy gets strained. And when you're confident, your outcome is going to be the best.
11:09 Speaker 01 And it happens so.
11:13 Lewis Howes? Yeah. What do you worry about then?
11:15 Speaker 01 Nothing.
11:18 Speaker 01 If put all you had to worry, I would say, you know, you should worry big. You should worry about the planet, about the environment, about the violence in the world. These are some big worries it's worth having.
11:35 Speaker 01 And once we think in these lines, then that gives you a lot of energy. It motivates you, like you motivate people to do things, you know. It's a self-motivating factor.
11:49 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
11:50 Speaker 01 When you see world with a wide-angle lens.
11:55 Lewis Howes? It motivates you more when you focus on bigger challenges in the world as opposed to focusing on yourself? What happens when we just focus on our needs, our own goals, and not also supporting others?
12:11 Speaker 01 Well, you don't realize your full potential. If you're just thinking about yourself, your little things that you need to... Anyway, you can achieve it, anyway you can do it. You're going to have what you focus on.
12:30 Speaker 01 But it cannot give you that satisfaction, which you get by sharing with everyone, with the whole world. Now, there is a formula to get depressed, that is, just think only about yourself. What about me, what about me, you know? You're bound to get depressed.
12:51 Lewis Howes? Right.
12:53 Speaker 01 And today, in our world, this is the biggest challenge. People who are only thinking about themselves, they are more depressed than those who are, you know, focused on some social activity, some service activity.
13:08 Lewis Howes? It's really hard to be depressed when you're in service to someone else, when you're helping others, when you're giving, when you're listening to people. It's really hard.
13:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, it doesn't happen that often.
13:18 Lewis Howes? It doesn't happen, right.
13:21 Lewis Howes? Has there ever been a time where you doubted yourself?
13:25 Speaker 01 You know doubt is just low prana. Prana is energy, I would say.
13:30 Lewis Howes? Low prana?
13:31 Speaker 01 Low prana.
13:32 Lewis Howes? What is prana?
13:33 Speaker 01 Prana is a life force. When your life force is low, then you doubt. You doubt yourself, you doubt others, you doubt everybody. The best way is to do some breathing exercises at that moment. And then, right there, you are out of that doubting mind. You know, another thing is, we must
13:58 Speaker 01 understand the mechanism of doubt itself.
14:02 Lewis Howes? Say that again?
14:04 Speaker 01 We should understand what doubt is all about.
14:07 Lewis Howes? What is it? Yeah.
14:08 Speaker 01 It's always about something positive. Have you thought about it?
14:11 Lewis Howes? Give me an example.
14:13 Speaker 01 You know, someone doubts the honesty of someone. But you don't doubt the dishonesty of somebody.
14:21 Lewis Howes? Right.
14:23 Speaker 01 See, you hear from somebody, so and so is dishonest. You don't go, "Really?"
14:28 Lewis Howes? Right.
14:29 Speaker 01 Same way, you know, someone tells you, "I love you so much." You ask them, "Really?" We doubt love, we never doubt hatred.
14:39 Speaker 01 If someone says, "I'm so, I'm mad at you," you don't, you never go, "Really?" You, you wonder about
14:49 Speaker 01 those wonderful qualities that we have. And so, we doubt them too.
14:54 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
14:55 Speaker 01 We doubt the honesty of a person. We doubt our own happiness. If someone asks, asks you, "Are you happy?" Say, "Well, I'm not sure."
15:07 Speaker 01 But you're so certain about your depression. No one ever says, "I'm not sure whether I'm depressed."
15:15 Lewis Howes? You're confident in your depression.
15:16 Speaker 01 You are confident. You are so sure about your negativities. But you're not so sure about the positives.
15:23 Lewis Howes? Why is that?
15:25 Speaker 01 That's the nature. That's how it is. So, when we understand this, then you know, we get a very different perspective of doubts. We raise above them. And breathing techniques help.
15:38 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
15:39 Speaker 01 In a big way. It takes your self-doubt away. It brings the intuitive ability in you to trust others.
15:51 Speaker 01 And then you trust in a bigger power,
15:56 Speaker 01 the higher self.
15:58 Lewis Howes? Is that what you... I mean, do you ever doubt yourself when you're called upon to, to help, you know, bigger problems in the world and people, very important people in the world come to you and say, "Please, give us the answers," and they're expecting you to, to give them the solutions? Do you ever feel insecure or doubt yourself in your abilities?
16:17 Speaker 01 That has not, never happened.
16:18 Lewis Howes? Never?
16:18 Speaker 01 Never, ever happened. Because I know someone is asking me something, and nature has given those things to me. That's why they're asking. See, nobody will come and ask you to treat someone if they know you are not a doctor.
16:36 Speaker 01 They see you have some ability, that's why they come to you. And so, you give your ideas, you give your mind, you know, you give your thoughts to that, and you give your hundred percent.
16:49 Lewis Howes? Right. It seems like there's a lot of people in the world who just doubt their abilities. They doubt their abilities, their skills, their talents, and they feel insecure about, if they are capable of creating and accomplishing or achieving their dreams and goals, why do you think that people doubt them?
17:10 Speaker 01 It's all because you are so conscious about your own image. What will happen if I fail? The fear of failure creates the doubt in oneself. But when you take life in its totality, you know, like, life with all its ups and downs, and you don't, you don't wonder, I mean, you don't worry if a failure sets in for a little while. I say, "Never mind."
17:42 Speaker 01 You do your best. See, you go on a running race, and if you keep worrying, "Will I lose the race?", you will never be able to run.
17:52 Speaker 01 Right? So you do your best, you give your hundred percent. It doesn't happen.
17:57 Lewis Howes? What's been the biggest challenge you've had to overcome so far in your life, your adult life?
18:04 Speaker 01 Prejudice.
18:05 Lewis Howes? Prejudice.
18:06 Speaker 01 Prejudice. People have lots of different type of prejudice.
18:12 Speaker 01 Of race, religion, culture, language, gender. And this is the, this is what, you know, I feel
18:23 Speaker 01 is a hindrance to our society.
18:25 Lewis Howes? Hmm.
18:26 Speaker 01 World over, every country.
18:28 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
18:29 Speaker 01 There are prejudices. All, all type of prejudices. People who think they know and they don't know that there are paradigm shifts and things to keep happening differently.
18:43 Speaker 01 This was what we had to face in the beginning. You know, when I used to talk about meditation and yoga, breathing. Forty years back, people thought it's
18:54 Lewis Howes? You're crazy as a
18:55 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's, it's not for normal people. It's a little weird. It's not for the normal, you know, common
19:02 Lewis Howes? The mainstream masses.
19:03 Speaker 01 The mainstream.
19:04 Lewis Howes? And now yoga and meditation is everywhere.
19:06 Speaker 01 Everywhere.
19:06 Lewis Howes? You can't go down the street in L.A. without seeing a yoga studio.
19:10 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:13 Speaker 01 This type of prejudice, when we see this sort of prejudice about gender, what we see in Afghanistan or some other Gulf countries against women and in Africa, I mean, it pains, you know?
19:28 Lewis Howes? Hmm.
19:29 Speaker 01 It's, it's painful. See, they should all be treated equally.
19:34 Lewis Howes? Right.
19:35 Speaker 01 Justice should prevail.
19:36 Lewis Howes? How have you dealt with prejudice over your life then?
19:42 Speaker 01 With patience and perseverance.
19:44 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
19:46 Speaker 01 And not let that preoccupy you.
19:54 Speaker 01 You know, you, you see prejudice, but they don't pay too much attention to it. You just keep going ahead.
20:01 Lewis Howes? Hmm.
20:02 Speaker 01 And you know, it gets sorted out by itself.
20:06 Lewis Howes? That's beautiful. Do you feel like it's harder now? Do you face more prejudice now or forty years ago when you were getting started in this?
20:14 Speaker 01 I think in the beginning it was more than, yeah.
20:17 Lewis Howes? Why do you think it's less now?
20:23 Speaker 01 I think people are more exposed to wide range of information.
20:32 Speaker 01 The internet and media has played a good role. People like you have all done greatness schools and brought more awareness to people about, you know, the real values of life.
20:49 Speaker 01 It has made an impact. And young people, young people today are much more aware.
20:54 Lewis Howes? Right, right. Young people seem to want, at least in this country, they seem to want to manifest abundance in their life. It seems like they want more financial abundance, more abundant health, you know, abundance in their relationships. Why do you think humans are wired for more? Wired for abundance? Why is it so important?
21:19 Speaker 01 There's nothing wrong about it. You go for abundance, but don't postpone being happy for a future date.
21:26 Lewis Howes? Yes.
21:27 Speaker 01 You have to be happy now, here, today. And nothing wrong for you to think about, you know, what you need to do in five years later or 10 years later.
21:40 Speaker 01 I don't know. You can, you can have, you can go for abundance. You can go for more and more, whatever you feel like. But don't forget, there is something much bigger inside of you.
21:57 Lewis Howes? What is that?
21:59 Speaker 01 That you should not forget. The joy, the happiness that you get in sharing.
22:07 Speaker 01 Now, there are two types of joy. One is that you get while you get things. This is an infant joy. As kids, we all have our New Year birthday presents, New Year gift, Christmas gift. And you know, you're eager to get something. And when you get, you become so happy. But there is another happiness. That's of the grandmother's happiness, grandfather's happiness, the Santa Claus happiness.
22:35 Lewis Howes? In a gift.
22:36 Speaker 01 When you give, you find yourself in a better space. When you share with others, you feel even more happy. That's a mature happiness.
22:46 Speaker 01 And that type of happiness we must dream for in our life.
22:50 Lewis Howes? Hmm.
22:52 Speaker 01 You know, it's okay, the joy of having,
22:57 Speaker 01 getting more, earning more, nothing wrong about it. Don't feel guilty about it. You can go on, but make sure you share and get the greatest joy by sharing.
23:10 Lewis Howes? What happens if we don't share?
23:13 Speaker 01 You remain, you remain very restricted in your personal and social life.
23:20 Lewis Howes? Hmm.
23:21 Speaker 01 In your spiritual life. You don't remain very restricted.
23:28 Speaker 01 I would say, how do you like a friend of yours who is very selfish?
23:33 Lewis Howes? Hmm, you don't like them as much?
23:35 Speaker 01 You don't like them?
23:35 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
23:37 Speaker 01 Right? So, don't you want you to be
23:42 Speaker 01 seen as someone who cares and shares with everybody?
23:45 Lewis Howes? Hmm. Is the greater joy in receiving a gift or in giving a gift?
23:52 Speaker 01 The giving joy, you know, the joy in giving is much more, much bigger and much stronger than the joy in getting.
24:03 Lewis Howes? Hmm. So if someone said, okay, I understand that giving has a greater joy behind it. But I really wanna, you know, attract more wealth or attract more opportunities in my career. I wanna, I wanna manifest abundance more. What would be the foundation for manifesting? Would it be in service and giving and gratitude?
24:27 Speaker 01 See, though they appear to be completely contradictory, they are not. You can't give unless you have.
24:36 Lewis Howes? Hmm, that's true.
24:38 Speaker 01 How can you give unless you have? You can't do charity from an empty bowl.
24:43 Lewis Howes? Right.
24:44 Speaker 01 So you take, but you earn, you focus on getting, you know, abundance in your life. Now, abundance is a necessary, it's also, abundance is not just what you materially have, it's also an attitude in the mind.
25:00 Lewis Howes? Mm-hmm.
25:01 Speaker 01 You may have lot and still you may feel that you lack. The sense of lack inside you will eat you up. It will eat the joy, it will constrain you in many ways. Your communication will break down. Your communication with others will break down. And it says a lot about your behavioral pattern as well.
25:33 Speaker 01 You know, it impacts your behavior.
25:35 Lewis Howes? Right.
25:35 Speaker 01 But when you have this idea, I want to share,
25:42 Speaker 01 and be part of everybody, and everyone is part of you, you know, a sense of belongingness with everyone else. That is when really, you know, life is fulfilling.
25:53 Lewis Howes? Mm-hmm. You hear lots of stories of people who make all the money in the world, but then commit suicide, or aren't happy, or get divorced, they're stressed inside, right?
26:05 Speaker 01 Absolutely.
26:07 Lewis Howes? So how does someone learn to develop spiritual abundance then? The abundance inside you're talking about. Whether they have all the material things in the world, or they have nothing. How do we start to develop this spiritual abundance?
26:22 Speaker 01 You need to have balance.
26:27 Speaker 01 You can't spend half of your health to get wealth, and then half of your wealth to get back your health. So basically, we need to find that balance between work-life balance, like, you know, and then social life and personal life.
26:45 Lewis Howes? Mm-hmm.
26:46 Speaker 01 You have to balance that. Take some time for oneself to go within. You know, meditation will help you a great deal to bring the balance in life. And it also will kindle a lot of creativity from within you.
27:08 Speaker 01 Meditation is not just sitting and thinking of something. It's tapping the source of enthusiasm that you are.
27:17 Speaker 01 See, you may have all wealth and all abundance, but if there is no sense of wow in your life,
27:25 Speaker 01 it's all a waste.
27:26 Lewis Howes? Right.
27:27 Speaker 01 Correct?
27:28 Lewis Howes? Yes.
27:28 Speaker 01 So...
27:31 Speaker 01 And to be in a perpetual state of wow
27:35 Speaker 01 is what I would call as a spiritual elevation, a spiritual attainment.
27:39 Lewis Howes? Right. A consistent state of wow or awe.
27:44 Speaker 01 Oh.
27:45 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
27:47 Speaker 01 Yes. And then, um... Love for everyone.
27:52 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
27:54 Speaker 01 Sense of belongingness with everyone.
27:56 Lewis Howes? How does someone love the people that do a lot of harm in the world? Or that are causing a lot of pain? Or that are hurting them personally? How does someone learn to love without being taken advantage of? Or, you know, abused or these things?
28:12 Speaker 01 See...
28:15 Speaker 01 When you see someone is doing wrong, you can't love them straight away. It's impossible. And you'll try, do all that you can, then it will be failure.
28:26 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
28:27 Speaker 01 First and foremost is we have to see every culprit as a victim inside them crying for help.
28:37 Speaker 01 If someone is doing wrong, why are they doing wrong?
28:40 Lewis Howes? They're hurting inside.
28:41 Speaker 01 They are hurting inside. So when you see them from a wide-angle lens,
28:49 Speaker 01 you see that they need help.
28:53 Speaker 01 See, every child who has come into this planet have come as a good baby. Lovely, happy, loving child.
29:04 Speaker 01 But in growing up or with wrong information, lack of proper education or an environment has made them what they are today. So they need no condemnation but compassion.
29:23 Speaker 01 So if you can reach out to them, reach out and understand them. And you know, when we start shaking hands with these people and make them understand where they are, what they are, they transform. You know, we have been doing this work in the prisons around the world. About 800,000 prisoners.
29:48 Lewis Howes? Prisoners?
29:49 Speaker 01 Prisoners, yeah. The hardcore criminals, many of them. Total transformation in them. And you see, they're not bad guys as we think they are.
29:58 Lewis Howes? Right, just made bad decisions, yeah.
30:00 Speaker 01 Yeah. And circumstances and situation put them where they are.
30:05 Lewis Howes? Absolutely.
30:06 Speaker 01 And they're nice people, good people, good people. So then, you know, first, when you see them from this angle, and first you forgive them. After you forgive them, you understand them. Then you have compassion. Then that compassion turns into unconditional love. So it's a step to go there. You see, it's a couple of steps to reach to the level where you can love everybody.
30:41 Lewis Howes? You mentioned the soul's enthusiasm. I'm curious, in your thoughts, when does the soul enter the body?
30:54 Speaker 01 The body.
30:55 Lewis Howes? When does it enter the body? This is something I'm very fascinated about. When the body is being formed in the belly, when does the soul enter? And where is the soul? How big is the soul? Where is it? We'll start with that question first.
31:14 Speaker 01 No, if I ask the question, where are you in your body, what you would say?
31:18 Lewis Howes? I'm everywhere in my body.
31:20 Speaker 01 Everywhere and yet nowhere.
31:22 Lewis Howes? Right.
31:23 Speaker 01 That's exactly the soul. You know, soul is that energy, that vibe.
31:31 Lewis Howes? Energy vibes, as you said?
31:32 Speaker 01 Energy vibes, it's vibrations.
31:34 Lewis Howes? Vibrations, yeah.
31:36 Speaker 01 So it's not a substance, it's a light.
31:41 Speaker 01 So
31:44 Speaker 01 at the time of conception,
31:48 Speaker 01 you know, this energy comes in, sometimes at the third month or ninth month, or when the child is being born. At that time also, these vibes can change three, four times in in the total period of those nine months.
32:07 Lewis Howes? Wait a minute, the soul can change?
32:09 Speaker 01 Yeah, the vibes of the souls can change.
32:12 Lewis Howes? Or the souls can change?
32:13 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:14 Lewis Howes? Different souls can be...
32:15 Speaker 01 Really?
32:17 Lewis Howes? That's interesting.
32:18 Speaker 01 Yes.
32:18 Lewis Howes? So where does this soul come from?
32:22 Lewis Howes? Like, just light enters and the soul is formed?
32:24 Speaker 01 Yes, it's there. See, in this space, now I'll give you one example. In this space, there is CNN, there is Fox News, there is BBC, there is all these different waves are here. Correct?
32:39 Lewis Howes? Yes.
32:41 Speaker 01 And whatever you tuning to, that will start manifesting in your boombox.
32:45 Lewis Howes? Right.
32:46 Speaker 01 In your tube.
32:47 Lewis Howes? Or your TV, yeah, yeah.
32:48 Speaker 01 In your TV.
32:50 Speaker 01 See, our bodies are just like the boombox.
32:53 Lewis Howes? That's crazy. That's crazy.
32:56 Speaker 01 It just manifests to certain frequencies.
33:01 Speaker 01 So usually, it's at the time of conception, it stays on. Sometimes, it can also happen that after some time, that gives pace to another soul, then it carries on.
33:16 Lewis Howes? Really?
33:18 Lewis Howes? It's fascinating. So when we, when our bodies die, does our soul go into another body? Does it stay in space for a while?
33:28 Speaker 01 Space for a while.
33:30 Lewis Howes? And then it re-enters into another?
33:32 Speaker 01 Then enters into.
33:33 Lewis Howes? Another physical form?
33:34 Speaker 01 Physical form.
33:35 Lewis Howes? Is it always another human form? Is it?
33:37 Speaker 01 Mostly.
33:39 Lewis Howes? Is it, it can be animal form too, or?
33:42 Speaker 01 Very rare.
33:43 Lewis Howes? Very rare?
33:44 Speaker 01 It is possible.
33:44 Lewis Howes? Interesting.
33:45 Speaker 01 It's possible. It depends on your last thought with which you leave the body.
33:50 Lewis Howes? Really?
33:51 Speaker 01 Yes.
33:51 Lewis Howes? Your last thought?
33:52 Speaker 01 Yeah, if your last thought is about your body form, you can find yourself in the body form.
33:58 Lewis Howes? Wow.
34:00 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:01 Lewis Howes? How many body forms do you think one soul enters? Or goes into over time?
34:11 Speaker 01 I don't know. There is no criteria like that, no.
34:14 Lewis Howes? Right. But you do believe that we enter different, different physical forms over time? Yeah. It could be a few, it could be many, but we don't know.
34:24 Speaker 01 Yes. According to the Vedic thought, is it twenty-four, eighty, eight-hundred-and-forty thousand?
34:37 Lewis Howes? Eight-hundred-and-forty thousand?
34:39 Speaker 01 Forms and bodies.
34:41 Lewis Howes? Wow. That soul enters?
34:43 Speaker 01 Souls can.
34:44 Lewis Howes? That's amazing. Is that from the Bhagavad Gita? Or is that from?
34:48 Speaker 01 It's from the Puranas.
34:49 Lewis Howes? Okay. And did I read that you've?
34:51 Speaker 01 Eighty-four lakh. Lak is hundred thousand.
34:55 Lewis Howes? Oh my gosh. And did I read, I don't know if this is true, but did you, did you memorize the Bhagavad Gita? Or you're, you can recall a lot of it pretty much? You've read it many times?
35:06 Lewis Howes? That's incredible. So multiple, multiple physical forms that the soul enters. So do we have the same soul
35:16 Lewis Howes? in the next life then? Or is the soul evolved into something else?
35:24 Speaker 01 See, soul is the energy which has some impressions with it. You leave this body with its strongest memories and impressions.
35:38 Speaker 01 And that's with you like a balloon.
35:42 Speaker 01 And then when you get the body, that those qualities manifest.
35:47 Speaker 01 I know.
35:49 Speaker 01 This is a common thing. There are many child prejudices. You'll see small, young children playing violin when they're three, four years old. Nothing uncommon. You find it so very often, so many places.
36:03 Lewis Howes? This is all fascinating to me, so I'm very curious. If it sounds, these questions are, you know, weird, I'm just curious. So, does the soul, in your opinion, stay on planet Earth? Or does a soul go into different places in the universe? Does it have that potential?
36:20 Speaker 01 See, the soul is like energy waves, vibes. So they cannot be restricted to locations.
36:29 Lewis Howes? They go anywhere.
36:29 Speaker 01 Yeah.
36:30 Lewis Howes? It's incredible, isn't it?
36:34 Speaker 01 It's fascinating. I tell you, when we get into meditation and get into this new dimension that we have not been aware of in our own life,
36:49 Speaker 01 a whole new world opens in front of us.
36:51 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
36:53 Speaker 01 I know. It not only makes us happy, but also brings up that curiosity within you and so much more new information that can keep you fascinated for the rest of your life.
37:12 Lewis Howes? Can you recall a meditation experience for you that actually blew your mind? That made you think, wow, like, I've been meditating for decades now, but this one thing, I just saw things in a different way? Or I went to a different place?
37:27 Speaker 01 No, no, every meditation is a wow, wow thing too.
37:32 Speaker 01 Because it is going from a happening space to a space which originates all happenings.
37:43 Lewis Howes? What is that space?
37:45 Speaker 01 That's something which cannot be described. You cannot describe it in words.
37:51 Speaker 01 That's why it is wow. And awe is something which words cannot explain.
37:58 Lewis Howes? You can feel it though.
37:59 Speaker 01 You can feel it. You can be it.
38:01 Lewis Howes? You can be it, but you can't explain it.
38:05 Lewis Howes? How often do you feel that then for yourself?
38:09 Speaker 01 All the time, every day, every day.
38:14 Lewis Howes? What is something that's
38:18 Lewis Howes? surprised you about the human condition in the last few years that maybe you weren't even aware of? Something new you discovered? Because I feel like you've learned so much at a very young age. Is there anything new that surprised you about human behavior? Why humans are acting the way they act, you know?
38:37 Speaker 01 See, I learned to see the human behavior, human life, like a movie.
38:46 Speaker 01 It's interesting.
38:48 Lewis Howes? Yeah, it is.
38:51 Speaker 01 You know, human interactions and
38:56 Speaker 01 the way things go on, the way people behave, it's it's an entertainment place. It's a Disneyland. I think we are on a perpetual Disneyland.
39:06 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
39:07 Speaker 01 We are living. So when you see this from that witness, when you don't get yourself immersed in it, in the happening,
39:20 Speaker 01 then you can enjoy it.
39:24 Speaker 01 It's again very difficult to say where we are heading to.
39:31 Speaker 01 So
39:33 Speaker 01 why people are doing whatever they are doing? If you question this,
39:38 Speaker 01 one thing comes very clear. Everybody is looking for some happiness.
39:42 Lewis Howes? Why are they looking for it? Why don't they just be it?
39:45 Speaker 01 Just be, because they don't know.
39:46 Lewis Howes? They don't know how to be happy.
39:47 Speaker 01 How to be happy? How to get to the space? But as children we have been.
39:53 Lewis Howes? Right. It's easy to get there.
39:55 Speaker 01 And we were there. As kids, we all had that experience.
40:01 Speaker 01 And if you are wise,
40:05 Speaker 01 you understand life with a broader perspective, you are there.
40:13 Lewis Howes? What's the fastest way to be happy if you're feeling stressed or anxious?
40:20 Speaker 01 Number one, you need some practical tools when you feel stressed and anxious. Any amount of talking doesn't help.
40:30 Speaker 01 I would recommend people to attend to their breath. Take long, deep breaths. Do some breathing exercises.
40:40 Lewis Howes? Get back in the body.
40:41 Speaker 01 Get back in the body.
40:42 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
40:43 Speaker 01 Learn about breathing exercises. Do some breathing techniques. Number one. Second, see life from a bigger perspective. Like we began today remembering the death. Remember, yes, I'm going to kick the bucket, you know? I'm going to go off of the screen. What next, you know? Think about it. Think about the end of your life.
41:14 Speaker 01 You know, of this...
41:18 Speaker 01 The curtain is going to come down on this show.
41:23 Speaker 01 That awareness, number two. Third, I would say, wake up and see there are people who are much more needy than you are.
41:38 Speaker 01 There are those who are in a bad shape.
41:46 Speaker 01 You know? Think what you can do for them.
41:50 Speaker 01 Instead of sitting and worrying about your own issues.
41:57 Speaker 01 And fourth is, know that with your own experience from the past, this is not the first time you are anxious in your life.
42:06 Lewis Howes? No.
42:06 Speaker 01 You have been anxious before. You have already, you have always had some help.
42:13 Speaker 01 Remember, there is some force, some power. You call God, or Higher Self, or something is there that is compassionate and that has helped you before. And that's going to help you now also.
42:27 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
42:29 Speaker 01 These few things, you know, just remembering them, keeping in mind, can help you immensely.
42:38 Lewis Howes? And where does depression come from? We talked about it a little bit. But anxiety and stress is one thing, but depression, why do people get depressed and stay in a depressed state? Is it only because they're thinking of themselves, or they're...
42:52 Speaker 01 Again, I would say low energy.
42:54 Lewis Howes? Low energy, yeah.
42:55 Speaker 01 Low prana.
42:56 Lewis Howes? Low prana.
42:58 Speaker 01 And suicidal tendency is also same thing. You know, when the prana goes so down, then you don't want to keep this body. It's like having a very tight jacket. If your jacket is too tight, you just want to...
43:12 Lewis Howes? Take it off.
43:13 Speaker 01 Take it off. But it's not going to help. You know, it's very cold and you're taking the jacket off. It's not going to help you.
43:20 Lewis Howes? Right.
43:22 Speaker 01 Here again, when you increase your prana level, your energy level.
43:27 Lewis Howes? Breathing, yeah.
43:28 Speaker 01 Breathing, meditation, all these practices.
43:30 Lewis Howes? Service, yeah.
43:31 Speaker 01 You are just out of it. You know, here in America, we have done these programs, Welcome Home Troops for about 5,000 veterans. You know, they were all very depressed and PTSD syndromes, and you know, post-traumatic stress. Once they did the sky exercises, the techniques, in three days, two days, three days, they were back, back to normal. They're back in themselves.
44:03 Lewis Howes? Their prana was higher.
44:04 Speaker 01 Their prana was higher and their families were so happy, you know. You can't, you can't be happy if one of your family member is in depression. And the two heads of the family is in depression. They are staying in the basement all day. You know, it impacts the entire family.
44:23 Speaker 01 So when they started doing these techniques and practice a little bit of meditation,
44:30 Speaker 01 short time, three, four days, five days, they are back to normal.
44:37 Speaker 01 And this has happened here.
44:41 Speaker 01 Same with youngsters also in colleges, you know. They're teaching this SKY program in 101 universities all across US. So it's for credit in many universities here. Stanford, Harvard, everywhere.
44:58 Speaker 01 This helps as a student also to to raise their energy level, enthusiasm level, and give a bigger prospect to life itself. Perspective to the bigger and I would say, greater purposefulness in life.
45:21 Lewis Howes? What happens if human beings don't find a meaningful mission or a high quality of purpose? What happens to the human mind, the body, the spirit?
45:34 Speaker 01 No, one thing is, they live a routine life,
45:40 Speaker 01 like boredom or not even feel the boredom. Where the intellect goes to sleep, then you don't need to look for a purpose in life. You know, you just exist, you don't start living then.
45:55 Speaker 01 But it's when your intellect awakens or it's more mature, you start thinking, what's the purpose of life? Where do I want to go? After all this, what do I get? These questions start coming up within you. That's a sign of a mature intellect.
46:18 Speaker 01 And once we have the spirit of inquiry about life itself,
46:26 Speaker 01 then our spiritual journey begins.
46:31 Lewis Howes? What about people that say, you know what? I just, I wanna have a simple life. I wanna not try too hard, not do too much, like I'm happy just, you know, living by a pond and fishing all day. I have a couple of friends, but I'm not really contributing more beyond that. I don't need more, I'm happy with little things. I don't need to manifest more money or serve on a big level, but I'm happy kinda where I'm at. What do you say to people like that? Should they be striving to reach a higher potential? Is that a great life in itself? Or what should they be thinking about?
47:11 Speaker 01 No, that's fine. Tell them you're satisfied, you're fulfilled, good.
47:15 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
47:17 Speaker 01 Good. Unless your house is on fire, where you need help from others.
47:22 Lewis Howes? Right.
47:22 Speaker 01 Then you run here and there and you want to gather some help and you see. Till then, you're very comfortable in your comfortable space, that's okay. You can be. But remember to stretch your hand to those who are in need. If you can have that tendency in you, that's good.
47:44 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
47:45 Speaker 01 You don't have to be over ambitious. You don't have to change the world or nothing, no need. You are happy, then you radiate happiness. That's good. If you're not stressed, if you're not irritable, you know, and you don't get irritated too much, then you are really spiritual.
48:06 Lewis Howes? Yeah, that's nice.
48:08 Speaker 01 You're already, you know, very mature.
48:11 Lewis Howes? Right. What happens when we radiate love energy or we radiate stress energy? If we're being that state, in that state of being, how is that energy radiating? How far does it radiate and ripple into others?
48:30 Speaker 01 I got that.
48:35 Speaker 01 It depends on your centeredness, your dispassion. That's strong it radiates.
48:50 Speaker 01 See, each one of us are just a fountain of love, fountain of joy.
48:58 Speaker 01 But somewhere it gets clogged.
49:00 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
49:02 Speaker 01 So you unclog it, then it's already available.
49:13 Speaker 01 Human potential is huge, humongous. I would say, each individual can radiate so much of positivity.
49:25 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
49:26 Speaker 01 In the world. And that itself is a very big thing. It can nullify a lot of negativity around.
49:34 Lewis Howes? Just having a positive energy?
49:36 Speaker 01 Absolutely.
49:37 Lewis Howes? Yeah. What's more powerful, a positive energy or a negative state? Is it, is it easy to lift someone out of a negative state? Or is it easier to pull someone down into a negative state if you're there?
49:50 Speaker 01 See, the easy or difficult is very comparative. It's very relative.
49:54 Lewis Howes? Right.
49:55 Speaker 01 It depends on who is doing it.
49:57 Lewis Howes? Sure, and their energy, yeah.
49:59 Speaker 01 Yeah, their energy. For someone, it's very easy to get the negativity off like that. For someone else, it's very difficult to suck them into negativity.
50:08 Lewis Howes? What?
50:08 Speaker 01 So it's a very, it's very relative, I would say.
50:16 Speaker 01 But one thing, people with negativity are more active than those with positivity.
50:22 Lewis Howes? They're more active, meaning what?
50:25 Speaker 01 In the world, you see, the, the negative energies becomes a little more active.
50:30 Lewis Howes? They speak more, they talk about it, they...
50:33 Speaker 01 More active, yes.
50:35 Lewis Howes? They gossip more, they're causing drama, they're bringing it on other people, right?
50:39 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
50:40 Lewis Howes? Why is that?
50:41 Speaker 01 That's all it is.
50:42 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
50:45 Speaker 01 See, with the Colombian peace process, people who are for the peace were more, but they all didn't go to vote. People who were against the peace accord were very, less in number, but they were all very proactive.
51:00 Lewis Howes? Right.
51:01 Speaker 01 They all voted. And then, you know, the referendum, well, same with Brexit.
51:07 Lewis Howes? Uh huh.
51:08 Speaker 01 You see, in London, you'll find that the negative tendency is more active, more dynamic than the positive. It may be necessary for some time. When you want to break a system, you need more of those negative forces.
51:28 Lewis Howes? Right.
51:30 Speaker 01 But you cannot hold on to it forever. You can't do anything constructive about it. So for construction, you need a positive, conscious, aware energy.
51:41 Lewis Howes? And what happens when we're creating in life? Building a business, going after a goal in athletics and sports or music? What happens when we create from a place of hurt, pain, and anger and resentment? As opposed to creating from a place of love, light, joy, and peace?
52:04 Speaker 01 Doesn't matter.
52:05 Lewis Howes? Doesn't matter.
52:05 Speaker 01 From whichever, even from pain, you are creating something. As long as you're creating, it's fine. If the pain is self-destructive and is distracting others, that is where you have to worry. But if the pain becomes a cause of some creativity, you should know that same energy is being channelized in a very useful and proper manner. After all, it's just energy. It's the same energy, whether positive or negative, within us. Just its direction makes it whether it's positive or negative. So it can be utilized that way. There's nothing wrong.
52:42 Lewis Howes? So you can create from any emotion?
52:44 Speaker 01 Any emotion, all emotions.
52:46 Lewis Howes? But what I'm hearing you say is if you're creating from a painful, wounded, hurt place, or anxious place?
52:52 Speaker 01 Many, many good songs have come out of it. Many melodramas have come out of those. And so, and we cannot expect the world not to have them at all.
53:06 Speaker 01 See, pain and pleasure are two sides of the, of existence.
53:11 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
53:11 Speaker 01 They, they all exist, they, the contrast make, the contrast brings the knowledge of them, actually.
53:18 Lewis Howes? Right.
53:19 Speaker 01 You, you start appreciating the other one.
53:21 Lewis Howes? Mm-hmm. Do you experience a lot of pain in your life?
53:26 Speaker 01 Not in this lifetime.
53:27 Lewis Howes? Not in this lifetime? That must be nice.
53:29 Speaker 01 But I do feel the pain of anybody out there.
53:32 Lewis Howes? Really?
53:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
53:34 Lewis Howes? So you feel the energy.
53:35 Speaker 01 I feel.
53:36 Lewis Howes? But you don't hold on to the energy?
53:38 Speaker 01 No, no, no.
53:38 Lewis Howes? It comes in, you let it go?
53:40 Speaker 01 Yes.
53:40 Lewis Howes? How does someone learn to not let the energy of someone else be like cling on to their heart, their soul, their body, their mind? If they're empathetic, compassionate human beings?
53:54 Speaker 01 Meditation.
53:55 Lewis Howes? Meditation?
53:58 Lewis Howes? Because there's a lot of empathetic people that will listen to someone's, you know, challenges and pain, and then it just, they're almost depressed because of it.
54:07 Speaker 01 I know, I know, I know. I know I have experienced this with the volunteers who are working for Red Cross.
54:13 Lewis Howes? Uh-huh.
54:14 Speaker 01 You know, they go out and they do so much with all their heart, their soul, and
54:20 Speaker 01 they get, they face such a burnout.
54:23 Lewis Howes? Because it'll take on so much pain and suffering.
54:25 Speaker 01 So much, and the, the burnout is so big, you know? So when they start doing meditation, taking some time for themselves, be with nature, listen to music, relax, and you know, erase all that impressions they got in their mind, they find themselves back into action, back into energy. I think it's very important for us to save our mind, save our, you know, consciousness from these impressions.
55:02 Speaker 01 It's similar, like you know, a doctor is going to treat patients in the hospital and he has to take care of himself and not carry those with him, you know, and bring it to home, bringing home.
55:16 Speaker 01 So.
55:16 Lewis Howes? So is it a compartmentalized? Or is it let it come and let it leave, like more of a flowing situation?
55:25 Speaker 01 No, you become so robust that it doesn't touch you.
55:28 Lewis Howes? Doesn't touch you. So you can hear it, you can listen, you can watch it, but it doesn't affect you?
55:33 Speaker 01 It doesn't stay inside of you.
55:35 Lewis Howes? Doesn't stay.
55:36 Speaker 01 See, no images stay in your mirror, right? When you're driving.
55:39 Lewis Howes? Right.
55:41 Speaker 01 They all reflect.
55:44 Speaker 01 But if they stay, it's no longer a mirror.
55:46 Lewis Howes? Right, yeah, right.
55:49 Speaker 01 So our mind is like a mirror, right? It can reflect anything 100%. But if you keep it wiped and keep it clean, then it doesn't hold on to anything.
56:03 Lewis Howes? Speaking of the mind, why do you think so many people hold on to negative thoughts? Why do they say negative thoughts about themselves, think negative thoughts and repeat it internally?
56:12 Speaker 01 See, neither at home, nor in school, have we ever been taught how to handle negative emotions.
56:20 Lewis Howes? That's why we're here at the School of Greatness.
56:23 Speaker 01 Never we were taught, right?
56:24 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
56:25 Speaker 01 Nobody taught us how our breath is linked to our emotions. And our emotions and the sensation in different parts of the body are all linked.
56:41 Speaker 01 Nobody taught us this wisdom. So when we learn something about ourselves, you know, about our body, our breath, mind, our intellect, our emotions, our memory, what do you... You know, if you are given 10 compliments and one insult, what do you hold on to?
57:01 Lewis Howes? Most people hold on to the insult.
57:04 Speaker 01 And 10 years of friendship and 2 months of conflict equalizes them. It just erases the rest of it. So these tendencies of the mind, we have not understood.
57:21 Speaker 01 And that is what I call this whole program as art of living, art of happiness is learning about the seven layers of your own existence. Body, a little bit about our body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego. What is your ego, what is your, you know, self-pride? Or how it interferes with you, with your behaviors, how it is necessary.
57:52 Speaker 01 If you are low self-esteem, how to get out of that? If you have hesitations inside of you, how to break that? And why you draw boundaries around you and say, this is what I am, rather than seeing a little bit beyond your own identity, what you think as your identity. These are some very basic things, you know, that can trigger you and uplift you to a happier state of mind.
58:25 Speaker 01 And so these are the workshops we teach, I have been teaching for last forty years now.
58:31 Lewis Howes? You said the seven things, the body, the breath, the mind, intellect, memory, ego.
58:35 Speaker 01 And the self.
58:36 Lewis Howes? And the self.
58:37 Speaker 01 There is something deep inside you that doesn't change. Your body has changed, your thought has changed, your emotions keep changing all the time. But there is a reference point by which you knew that everything is changing. That's something that is not changing.
58:54 Lewis Howes? What is that thing?
58:56 Speaker 01 That is what we don't pay attention to. That is what is you, you know? And that is the space, that is the most beautiful aspect of your being, your soul. You know, and to get connected with this,
59:14 Speaker 01 being aware of it, makes a whole lot of difference in one's life.
59:22 Speaker 01 And meditation is getting to itself.
59:25 Lewis Howes? Right.
59:27 Lewis Howes? That's the solution.
59:28 Speaker 01 So, you go around and come back to the point, you back to the point.
59:33 Lewis Howes? So, thoughts and emotions. If someone is thinking in a pattern of thinking negative thoughts. I'm not good enough, I'm not lovable. I made a mistake over and over again, I'm an idiot, I'm stupid, whatever the negative thought is. What would you say is one of the fastest ways to get out of negative thought and into at least neutral thought? Or more positive vibration? Is it, again, back to the meditation practice? Is it the awareness? Is it these three things you said, the four things you said before about happiness? Breathing, seeing life from a bigger perspective?
1:00:07 Speaker 01 All that is bliss. I would tell them, okay, whatever happened, happened in the past.
1:00:14 Speaker 01 Why don't you wake up now? And start a fresh new life today? You know? Can you close a chapter and begin a new one?
1:00:26 Speaker 01 Just think about it. And don't think you cannot do it, you can.
1:00:30 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:00:31 Speaker 01 I would say, that's good friendship. A friend is one who uplifts the other from the state of low self-esteem, low feeling. You see?
1:00:52 Speaker 01 I have a criteria for a good friend and a bad friend. A good friend is one with whom you sit and share your problem. And when you walk away from them, you would feel very light and see, oh, you thought the problem was so big and it's not so big anymore.
1:01:09 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:01:10 Speaker 01 And a bad friend is one, you come to him with a problem.
1:01:13 Lewis Howes? Keep you worse.
1:01:14 Speaker 01 And then when you walk away, you said, oh, I thought it's, I didn't, I didn't realize it is much bigger than what I thought it was. So that guy, that friend, she, he or she, is not a good friend. Because he made you feel your problem much bigger than what you initially thought it was.
1:01:37 Speaker 01 You see? And another aspect is we have to see that in the world of changing events and changing things, people's mind change. Don't sit and worry what others are thinking about you all the time.
1:01:52 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:01:53 Speaker 01 You know, nobody has any time to think about you.
1:01:57 Lewis Howes? Right. They're worried about themselves.
1:01:59 Speaker 01 They're worried about themselves, they're in their own little world.
1:02:01 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:02:03 Speaker 01 So, often people worry what others are thinking about them. They're concerned about others' opinion.
1:02:11 Lewis Howes? Why does that hurt us so much when we think about other people thinking about us?
1:02:18 Speaker 01 This itself is hurting.
1:02:20 Lewis Howes? What's that?
1:02:21 Speaker 01 This, this very idea itself is hurting, you know? What others may be thinking about me.
1:02:27 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:02:27 Speaker 01 This doubting and guessing. It, it shows, it erodes our self-esteem.
1:02:38 Lewis Howes? When we worry about what other people are thinking about us, it erodes away.
1:02:44 Lewis Howes? So how do we get out of that fear of judgment?
1:02:46 Speaker 01 We should see that, see, put yourself in the same shape. You have been thinking about others, what you write all the time. You have judgment about others, you have found 90% of the time they were all wrong. You know? And you change your thinking, you change your ideas, you change your, you know, your concept about others.
1:03:10 Speaker 01 And so, give them also their time, they will also change. Why do you have to be football of their opinions? Right?
1:03:19 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:03:19 Speaker 01 Don't make your life a soccer ball of others.
1:03:24 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:03:25 Speaker 01 Yeah. So, be centered.
1:03:28 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:03:28 Speaker 01 Be centered.
1:03:29 Lewis Howes? So when we worry about what others think about us, it's eroding us inside. It's eroding our soul, our spirit, our self-esteem, is that what I'm hearing you say?
1:03:40 Speaker 01 That doesn't mean that we should be arrogant and not...
1:03:44 Lewis Howes? Doesn't matter what anyone thinks about me.
1:03:46 Speaker 01 Not that arrogant.
1:03:47 Lewis Howes? What happens when we do that?
1:03:49 Speaker 01 That's too extreme.
1:03:50 Lewis Howes? Yeah, okay.
1:03:51 Speaker 01 You become too insensitive and, you know, you appear very arrogant. You may not think you are arrogant, but you appear very arrogant. And you'll be very unfriendly.
1:04:05 Lewis Howes? I like this concept of knowing who's a good friend in your life, based on if you bring them a challenge and a problem, and if they make you feel better or worse. How do we develop that inner friend? The friend in our mind that communicates with us when we're having, you know, negative thoughts.
1:04:23 Speaker 01 You're making me come back to the same point. Meditation.
1:04:26 Lewis Howes? There you go.
1:04:28 Speaker 01 There you go. See, meditation is the way. See, when you're thirsty, water is the only way to quench the thirst. In the same way, to make all those inner faculties, talents, creativity in you blossom, the way is meditation.
1:04:47 Lewis Howes? When you're hungry, you gotta eat. When you're thirsty, you gotta drink. When you're stressed, you gotta meditate.
1:04:52 Speaker 01 You gotta meditate. And when you want to be creative, you gotta meditate. When you want to be happy, you gotta meditate. And when you want to find the real purpose of you being here.
1:05:04 Lewis Howes? You gotta meditate. You gotta listen at some point to what's calling you, what's pulling you into whatever direction that is. And if you're too distracted or it's too loud, it's hard to hear that voice, your own voice, right?
1:05:17 Speaker 01 You're busy talking all the time. You don't listen. So, you have meditation is hey, come on, I'm ready to listen now. What's it, what's in store for me? That's meditation. Giving this space, the shift from chattering mind to a serene, silent self. That's meditation.
1:05:43 Lewis Howes? Speaking of the mind, we talked about the soul. What is the mind compared to the soul? And where is the mind?
1:05:50 Speaker 01 Mind is the wave, soul is the ocean.
1:05:54 Lewis Howes? Mind is the wave, soul is the ocean. Okay, interesting. Where is the mind? Is the mind also consciousness? Or is the mind separate from consciousness?
1:06:06 Speaker 01 Mind is a function of conscious.
1:06:09 Lewis Howes? Okay.
1:06:11 Speaker 01 There is nothing separate from consciousness, including our body.
1:06:15 Lewis Howes? So consciousness, the soul is in consciousness.
1:06:19 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:06:20 Lewis Howes? And the mind is in consciousness.
1:06:22 Speaker 01 Everything is in consciousness.
1:06:26 Speaker 01 It's like the space, consciousness is like the space.
1:06:29 Lewis Howes? Okay.
1:06:29 Speaker 01 What is not in space, tell me.
1:06:31 Lewis Howes? Everything is in space.
1:06:36 Lewis Howes? So what is the difference between our consciousness and our mind?
1:06:45 Speaker 01 Our mind is a function of consciousness, which is chatting, which is expressing its emotions. You see? And then it is called intellect when it starts grabbing, grasping and judging, deciding. This is intellect. Mind is perception. You know, it's through the eyes the mind sees, through the nose it smells and through all the five senses. It's the mind which is experiencing.
1:07:19 Speaker 01 See, our mind is elsewhere and you are tasting a pudding, maybe apple pie, you don't taste it. You don't find the taste.
1:07:27 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:07:28 Speaker 01 And your mind is elsewhere and music is being played, you don't hear it. So it's the mind which hears, sees, smells, touches, feels.
1:07:41 Lewis Howes? The mind experiences the senses.
1:07:43 Speaker 01 All the senses, yes.
1:07:45 Lewis Howes? The intellect.
1:07:47 Speaker 01 Judges, agrees, disagrees, grasps, that's intellect.
1:07:57 Speaker 01 And memories that restores them, you know.
1:08:01 Lewis Howes? Hmm.
1:08:01 Speaker 01 Which stores our certain things he doesn't forget. Those are memories.
1:08:10 Lewis Howes? Then how do we, say we go through a traumatic event in our lives that, you know.
1:08:17 Speaker 01 A deep impression which has not left the mind, that's memory.
1:08:22 Lewis Howes? A deep impression that has not left the mind.
1:08:24 Speaker 01 Left the mind.
1:08:25 Lewis Howes? That's memory.
1:08:25 Speaker 01 That's memory.
1:08:26 Lewis Howes? So imagine we have a deep impression and then.
1:08:29 Speaker 01 You can get over it because, yeah, you can get over it by increasing the prana level. With breathing, meditation, these things, you know, it's like using an eraser.
1:08:41 Lewis Howes? Ah, interesting.
1:08:42 Speaker 01 Yeah, seeing a blackboard, you keep on writing and somewhere you need to use the erasers.
1:08:49 Lewis Howes? Right, to create space, yeah.
1:08:51 Speaker 01 So that you can write more.
1:08:52 Lewis Howes? Right, right. So how do we, how do we heal the body and the mind from the memory or the impression of the past events that are holding us back from greater prana?
1:09:05 Speaker 01 This is where this Sudarshan Kriya, what we teach, the sky technique.
1:09:09 Lewis Howes? Yes.
1:09:10 Speaker 01 Of breathing, rhythmic breathing immensely helps, immensely. I was talking about the Welcome Home True project where we are teaching the, you know, the war veterans, the veterans, the, this technique really, really helps.
1:09:32 Lewis Howes? Because they go through a lot of traumatic experiences for themselves.
1:09:35 Speaker 01 Absolutely.
1:09:36 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:09:36 Speaker 01 You know, that, that's what causes PTSD.
1:09:38 Lewis Howes? Mm hmm.
1:09:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, they cannot forget it.
1:09:41 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:09:42 Speaker 01 So, but these, these techniques does magic.
1:09:45 Lewis Howes? Help you heal, help you.
1:09:46 Speaker 01 Absolutely, absolutely.
1:09:48 Lewis Howes? This is called the sky breath meditation technique?
1:09:51 Speaker 01 Yes, sky breath meditation.
1:09:52 Lewis Howes? And it's at Art of Living's, it's your signature program, right?
1:09:55 Speaker 01 Correct, correct, correct.
1:09:56 Lewis Howes? Um, so what do people get from this program? Is it, how long is the program and what do they, what do they experience?
1:10:03 Speaker 01 It's a 12 to 14 hour program according to the groups, you know, sometimes people want to ask more questions and experiences. Three days, four days tailor-made, where people can learn. And then it's a do-it-yourself thing.
1:10:17 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:10:18 Speaker 01 They can practice at their home, every day, ten minutes, fifteen minutes.
1:10:21 Lewis Howes? Right. How long have you been doing this type of breathing meditation technique?
1:10:26 Speaker 01 I think forty years.
1:10:27 Lewis Howes? Forty years?
1:10:30 Lewis Howes? What were you doing before this? If you weren't practicing the breathing meditation?
1:10:37 Lewis Howes? And were you experiencing pain or lower prana energy when you weren't, when you were growing up? Or?
1:10:45 Speaker 01 No, it was in nineteen eighty-one, you know. Before that, I was teaching meditation, yoga, and all that. And giving talks on philosophy and knowledge. But in eighty-one, I took a ten-day of silence. I felt that there is something more to come. There is something, something drastic, something very important has to come out, you know. So then I took a few days of silence. And the end of the silence, I started teaching this.
1:11:16 Lewis Howes? Really?
1:11:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, it is just like a poem that comes out of, you know, it's an inspiration. Then I started then teaching in nineteen eighty-one. Since then, this is...
1:11:29 Lewis Howes? This has been...
1:11:30 Speaker 01 My word of mouth and people, then I trained a lot of teachers around the world.
1:11:34 Lewis Howes? Yeah, that's cool.
1:11:34 Speaker 01 So they went around.
1:11:35 Lewis Howes? That's cool.
1:11:36 Speaker 01 Teaching.
1:11:38 Lewis Howes? Love and relationships, it seems to be a great joy for a lot of people, but also causing a lot of stress and anxiety for people. Depending on where they're at in their lives, the partner they chose, you know, all that stuff. You talk a lot about love and relationships. Why is it so? How do you find the right partner? That is a great match, that adds the right values to what we're all about? And how important is choosing the right partner? Or a partner that is aligned to your values and vision towards your life?
1:12:11 Speaker 01 See, if the partners come with the, they have a common goal in life.
1:12:19 Speaker 01 It's like two parallel lines going to, going to the goal.
1:12:25 Speaker 01 They'll always be there.
1:12:26 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:12:28 Speaker 01 But if they're focused on each other all the time, there is a point they come and they cross.
1:12:35 Lewis Howes? What happens when you cross?
1:12:37 Speaker 01 That's it, you go away.
1:12:41 Speaker 01 You know, you keep going away. So, to make this point more clear, I would say, first of all, have a common goal. A purpose, together.
1:12:53 Lewis Howes? Within the relationship, together. Not just, "I have this goal, you have a goal," but our common goal.
1:12:58 Speaker 01 Our common goal, shared values. Number two is, give a room for others.
1:13:07 Speaker 01 Give a room for others' mistakes.
1:13:09 Lewis Howes? They don't have to be perfect.
1:13:10 Speaker 01 They don't need to be perfect.
1:13:19 Speaker 01 That acceptance of others with their flaws.
1:13:24 Lewis Howes? What happens when we don't accept the person who we chose to be with? Certain things about them, we don't accept. What happens to the relationship?
1:13:33 Speaker 01 Well,
1:13:36 Speaker 01 you can't expect everybody to be like you all the time.
1:13:41 Speaker 01 You have to give them some room, you know, to change. Even if you want them to change, you have to give them time and space for changing.
1:13:50 Lewis Howes? You can't expect them to change right now.
1:13:52 Speaker 01 Right now, it's not possible.
1:13:55 Speaker 01 Third thing is, understanding.
1:13:59 Speaker 01 Deeper understanding. See, when you do a mistake, you say, "Well, it happened." But when others think, when others do the same mistake, you think they have purposely done it. They could have avoided it. But when you have done a same mistake, it's a, "Well, I didn't mean it, it happened." We excuse ourselves, but we hold others against their flaws.
1:14:23 Lewis Howes? So high, yeah, we hold them high.
1:14:26 Speaker 01 We hold them against their problem, their mistakes. And hold... Excuse me.
1:14:39 Speaker 01 And hold on to them for their and hold them for their mistakes for their life.
1:14:45 Lewis Howes? Right, they hold on to it for the whole life.
1:14:47 Speaker 01 Whole life. That's not fair.
1:14:50 Lewis Howes? Right.
1:14:52 Speaker 01 A third thing is, I would say, you are there to help others grow. Your partner grow. And when each one of you have that attitude, I think that will be more robust.
1:15:08 Lewis Howes? Yes. What do you think most people misunderstand about love and relationships?
1:15:18 Speaker 01 When you start demanding, you are destroying love.
1:15:22 Lewis Howes? Demanding what? What do you mean by that?
1:15:24 Speaker 01 Demand love. Demand attention, demand respect.
1:15:29 Lewis Howes? That's when you destroy it.
1:15:31 Speaker 01 You know, love and respect have completely opposite in nature. In respect, it demands some space. In love cannot, love cannot stand the distance. In love, you want to know everything about the other. So, but in any relationship, both needs to be there, love and respect.
1:15:57 Lewis Howes? So you
1:15:57 Speaker 01 You need to balance yourself.
1:16:00 Lewis Howes? How does someone
1:16:03 Speaker 01 If you are balanced, these things get balanced.
1:16:06 Lewis Howes? They come to you, yeah, yeah. If you're a balanced human being, it's easy to love you.
1:16:11 Speaker 01 If you balance your emotions.
1:16:13 Lewis Howes? Yeah, it's easy to respect you, it's easy to love you. But if you're out of balance, it's hard to respect and trust you, and it's hard to love you fully.
1:16:22 Speaker 01 Absolutely. If you're not centered, I would say be centered.
1:16:27 Lewis Howes? Yeah. And the key to being centered is meditation. So I'm not gonna ask you how to get there. What are some of the routines or mantras you believe are essential for getting centered and balanced beyond meditation? Are there other routines that you do?
1:16:48 Speaker 01 Seeing life from a broader perspective, as I said, you know?
1:16:54 Speaker 01 This planet has been here for billions of years.
1:16:58 Lewis Howes? Crazy.
1:16:58 Speaker 01 And it will continue to be here. And your lifetime is not a speck in this whole, whole universe. See your life in context with the, with the magnanimity of the, of the creation.
1:17:11 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:17:13 Speaker 01 The magnificent creation, the billions of stars, where are you? You know, it just opens up your, your mind, your awareness. And what are you worried about? Some little things here and there, you know? So a bigger context to life.
1:17:33 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:17:34 Speaker 01 And commitment, commitment to values.
1:17:42 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:17:43 Speaker 01 And compassion.
1:17:45 Lewis Howes? Values and compassion, yeah. What happens when we have a value, but we don't live up to that value? We break the value once or multiple times. What happens to our self-esteem or our identity?
1:18:00 Speaker 01 Never mind. You know, a child crawls and when he tries to walk and it falls several times, but it doesn't stop walking. It should stop. It doesn't stop running. A kid runs, you know, and then it trembles. So you have trembled once, twice, thrice, never mind. Don't stop.
1:18:19 Lewis Howes? Keep going, yeah. Get back to your values, try to get back to it, yeah.
1:18:23 Speaker 01 Keep going, keep going.
1:18:25 Lewis Howes? This is a question I ask towards the end of my interview is called the three truths. So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario. It's, you live a very long life, but then it's your last day on earth, right? Hypothetical. And you continue to serve humanity in such a massive way and help people heal and be centered in meditation and breathing, all the things, you, you live that life. But for whatever reason, all of your message goes away. Your content, the courses, all the, all the videos, for whatever reason, it goes somewhere else and we don't have access to it anymore. But you get to leave behind three lessons that you would share with the world.
1:19:07 Lewis Howes? Three things you know to be true from everything you've learned. And this is all we would have left from you. What would you say would be those three things, the three truths that you would leave behind?
1:19:19 Speaker 01 Smile.
1:19:20 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:19:22 Speaker 01 That's it.
1:19:23 Lewis Howes? That's it?
1:19:26 Lewis Howes? If you had...
1:19:26 Speaker 01 Smile, smile, smile.
1:19:28 Lewis Howes? There you go, three truths. Why are you smile?
1:19:32 Speaker 01 What else you do? You know, you came into this planet crying.
1:19:39 Speaker 01 When you exit, you should smile.
1:19:41 Lewis Howes? Hmm, yeah. And you should smile throughout your whole time here. There you go. That's some wisdom for you.
1:19:48 Speaker 01 Yeah. And if you have not smiled throughout your life, you will not even smile at the end. You'll only do what you have been doing all through.
1:19:59 Lewis Howes? Be stressed, sad, yeah.
1:20:04 Speaker 01 See, when you, when you go into a movie, nice movie, you see the movie. When you come out of it, what you say? Oh, I enjoyed it. It was nice. That's good enough.
1:20:14 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:20:15 Speaker 01 You don't have to carry all the story of the movie in your head. Usually, people don't. They see that, they enjoy it, and they come out. That's it.
1:20:24 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:20:25 Speaker 01 Same with the life. This is a movie.
1:20:30 Speaker 01 That you are imperishable. I am imperishable. We are part of... We appear to be two, but we are part of one light.
1:20:37 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:20:38 Speaker 01 Although there are so many waves, they all appear different. But they're part of one ocean.
1:20:47 Speaker 01 So the entire human race, or all living creatures, are nothing but one big, part of one big life.
1:20:58 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:20:58 Speaker 01 So the whole planet is one organism.
1:21:03 Lewis Howes? Smile. I love... Guru Dev, you've got this amazing program, the Sky Breath Meditation, that I want people to get access to. We'll link everything up on your website and your social media as well, beneath this video and this podcast. Where is the best place we can support you to learn more about you? Is it on YouTube? Is it the website? Is it, you know, where can we support you the most?
1:21:31 Speaker 01 Yeah, website.
1:21:33 Lewis Howes? Your YouTube channel is amazing, by the way. I love the short content you have there and really inspiring, so we'll have it all linked up.
1:21:40 Speaker 01 Instagram, I'm on the Instagram.
1:21:43 Speaker 01 Twitter.
1:21:44 Lewis Howes? Yeah, everywhere. We'll have it all linked up, but I highly recommend everyone watching or listening, you go check out his YouTube, the website as well, to check out the course, Sky Breath Meditation, Art of Living Signature Program. I want to acknowledge you for a moment, Guru Dev, for your mission, for having a clear intention about your life from a younger age, and using your gifts and your talents to be of service to the best way possible. You know, before all of social media, you were doing it one-to-one and in groups, and now you're able to really impact more lives. So I really acknowledge you for constantly showing up with a smile on your face. Every video and photo is you smiling that I see.
1:22:29 Lewis Howes? And to bring that joy to your daily practice, I think is a beautiful gift. So I really acknowledge you for showing up the way you do and being of service to so many of us, giving us tools, strategies to get back to a centered place. So thank you for your service. My final question is, what is your definition of greatness?
1:22:53 Speaker 01 Simplicity.
1:22:55 Lewis Howes? Yeah.
1:22:57 Speaker 01 Simplicity is the greatest value.
1:23:00 Lewis Howes? There you go.
1:23:01 Speaker 01 Being one with everyone is the greatest value.
1:23:04 Lewis Howes? Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's show with all the important links. And also make sure to share this with a friend and subscribe over on Apple Podcasts as well. I really love hearing feedback from you guys, so share a review over on Apple and let me know what part of this episode resonated with you the most. And if no one's told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.
Previous Your Life Is A Story: Why You Should Write Your Own Eulogy TODAY w/Donald Miller EP 1215 Next How To Develop A Peaceful Heart & Warrior Spirit w/ Dan Millman EP 1217 Page updated September 29, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
