#677 - Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a global humanitarian, peacemaker and spiritual leader known for founding “The Art of Living”. Gurudev joins Theo to talk about gaining a reputation as a child prodigy, how he helped end a war in Columbia, and real ways meditation can improve our lives. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: https://www.instagram.com/gurudev/ ------------------------------------------------- Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour New Merch: https://www.theovonstore.com ------------------------------------------------- Sponsored By: Celsius: Go to the Celsius Amazon store to check out all of their flavors. #CELSIUSBrandPartner #CELSIUSLiveFit https://amzn.to/3HbAtPJ Shopify: Take control of your income. Start your free trial at http://shopify.com/theo Ladder: Head to http://ladder.fit/THEO to find the right plan for you, and get a free 7-day trial and $10 off your first month when you use my link! Armra Colostrum: Go to http://tryarmra.com/THEO or enter THEO to get 30% off your first order. Chime: Join the millions who are already banking for free and sign up now at http://Chime.com/THEO Perplexity AI: Ask anything at https://pplx.ai/theo ------------------------------------------------- Music: “Shine” by Bishop Gunn Bishop Gunn - Shine ------------------------------------------------ Submit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to: [email protected] Hit the Hotline: 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: https://www.theovon.com/fan-upload Mail stuff to: ATTN: TPW PO BOX 40137 Nashville TN 37204 ------------------------------------------------ Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend X: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheoVonClips Shorts Channel: https://bit.ly/3ClUj8z ------------------------------------------------ Producer: Zach https://www.instagram.com/zachdpowers Producer: Trevyn https://www.instagram.com/trevyn.s/ Producer: Nick https://www.instagram.com/realnickdavis/ Producer: Andrew https://www.instagram.com/bleachmediaofficial/ Producer: Halston https://www.instagram.com/halstonrays/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  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 Ravi Shankar.

• 0:37Speaker 00

  Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is that correct?

• 0:41Speaker 01

  Right.

• 0:43Speaker 00

  Thank you for being here today, I appreciate your time. I appreciate your, your energy that you've put into the world. Thank you so much for your, just, your, just, your ability to be a guide for people. For our listeners that don't know, you're a humanitarian, a spiritual leader, a practicer of peace, is that fair to say?

• 1:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09Speaker 00

  Okay. And Guru Dev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  You can just call me Guru Dev.

• 1:14Speaker 00

  Guru Dev is fine?

• 1:15Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 1:16Speaker 00

  Excellent. You had an experience that happened when you were very young, at the age of four years old, from what I, from what I hear, if the story is true, that...

• 1:27Speaker 01

  I could recite the ancient texts.

• 1:29Speaker 00

  You could recite the ancient texts of the Bhagavad Gita?

• 1:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, Bhagavad Gita.

• 1:33Speaker 00

  Bhagavad Gita.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:35Speaker 00

  Can you tell us what the Bhagavad Gita is for our listeners that don't know?

• 1:38Speaker 01

  Gita is the scripture, which was written 5,000 years old, but when Lord Krishna gave advice to, or lessons to Arjuna, he's the warrior of that time. So it's about, it's a knowledge of yoga and about, everything about life. So, this is what Mahatma Gandhi had as a handbook.

• 2:07Speaker 00

  Ah, okay.

• 2:08Speaker 01

  And everyone in India, it's almost like a bible for the Indian continent, you can say, Hindus mainly.

• 2:17Speaker 00

  Got it. So at four years old, you were kind of a prodigy, you were kind of like the Justin Bieber kind of of meditation, maybe, you know? In a way, I don't know if that's, you were kind of the Jambané 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?

• 2:35Speaker 01

  I just felt very normal to me, yeah.

• 2:39Speaker 00

  Was there a reason that you...

• 2:40Speaker 01

  I didn't feel any special, I felt as normal as anybody else.

• 2:45Speaker 00

  Was there a reason you felt like you kind of received this download, sort of? That you received this capability?

• 2:52Speaker 01

  You know, there are so many child prejudices these days, you can see them all, so... It's very natural thing, it was not, not something that, you know, you make out of it.

• 3:06Speaker 00

  It was just part of your life?

• 3:07Speaker 01

  Part of your life.

• 3:08Speaker 00

  What effect did that have on your childhood?

• 3:11Speaker 01

  I was a little strange in my childhood. As you know, that I didn't take much interest in normal things that kids would do. So I spent most of my childhood with elderly people.

• 3:25Speaker 00

  With elderly people?

• 3:26Speaker 01

  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.

• 3:38Speaker 00

  Take me through some of what happens after that in your life that kind of leads you into becoming a guru?

• 3:46Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I'm a guru by accident.

• 3:51Speaker 01

  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 with Mahatma Gandhi for 48 years.

• 4:33Speaker 00

  Your teacher lived with Mahatma Gandhi for 48 years?

• 4:35Speaker 01

  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 Erwada 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, you know? So, I grew up in such an environment where, you know, this non-violence and friendliness, love, compassion, all had great value. Society, and also my grandfather was also a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi and he lived in Gandhi's ashram, wow, many years.

• 5:19Speaker 00

  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?

• 5:24Speaker 01

  I think it's, 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, there are two judges of Supreme Court of India, one was a thorough believer, atheist, and another was an atheist. Justice V R Krishnaya, he was an atheist.

• 5:50Speaker 00

  And what was the first one, he was a...

• 5:51Speaker 01

  He was a believer.

• 5:53Speaker 00

  A believer?

• 5:53Speaker 01

  A great 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, he said. You know, to hold a picture, you need a frame. So, we will be the trustees and we'll make it a mega organization. So, it's 45 years now.

• 6:15Speaker 00

  So the government started to help you sort of put a frame?

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Not the government, no, individually, their individual capacity, the people.

• 6:22Speaker 00

  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?

• 6:36Speaker 01

  Correct, the breathing techniques. You know, though 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, their habits. You know, there was a struggle, so I thought there must be something that would... So I went into a silence of 10 days and at the end of those 10 days, I 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 about of that.

• 7:18Speaker 00

  And that's the sky breathing technique?

• 7:19Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 7:20Speaker 00

  And can you take me through a little bit of what that technique is? Is that okay to ask you?

• 7:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, it takes a couple of days to learn it, just 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, you know, brings a lot of freedom from within. And that's how it started, you know?

• 7:51Speaker 00

  And at that point, do you start traveling around to, to, to share your knowledge and share your experience?

• 7:56Speaker 01

  Correct, correct. Though in the earlier years, there was a lot of prejudice against meditation, yoga. People thought, eh, this is not, you know, this must be for someone who is out there, all cuckoo.

• 8:09Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  You know, I'm talking about 45 years back, 40 years back. There was a lot of prejudice against anything about meditation or breathing.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  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?

• 8:26Speaker 01

  I would say Europe had that and also US. You know, we wanted to teach this in, in the prisons and then there was a lot of resistance. Because I knew that when we taught the prisoners, because every culprit is a victim himself or herself.

• 8:45Speaker 00

  Wait, say that again, every culprit is a victim?

• 8:48Speaker 01

  Victim of something, you know, situation, hanging up, I... So, when, they need healing, they need that healing touch, you know? When you teach this, that 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.

• 9:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, I've 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?

• 9:22Speaker 01

  It's, it's just this technology, you know? See, how through your own breath, you can change your feelings, your moods. Many times people feel so desperate, actually, you know, like trapped with their own emotions.

• 9:38Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  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.

• 9:55Speaker 00

  What are some of the first things someone will notice from using some of the techniques?

• 10:01Speaker 01

  First of all, calmness of the mind. Then you feel your immune system becomes better, you feel better.

• 10:09Speaker 00

  Really?

• 10:10Speaker 01

  And then clarity in mind, you know, 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. You know, just few minutes of this that takes care of all those issues.

• 10:32Speaker 00

  Amen.

• 10:34Speaker 00

  I, um, I know you just turned seventy recently.

• 10:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:37Speaker 00

  How, uh?

• 10:38Speaker 01

  Do I look seventy, can you tell me?

• 10:40Speaker 00

  You look twenty-five.

• 10:43Speaker 00

  Does our consciousness age? Does it make sense to you kind of?

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Our intellect age, our intellect becomes mature. But consciousness is the same.

• 10:53Speaker 00

  Has your consciousness felt the same from the beginning, do you feel like?

• 10:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's something that doesn't change in you.

• 11:00Speaker 00

  I got it.

• 11:01Speaker 01

  You know, there are two aspects inside, one is that changes constantly, right? And there's something else in you that's a, that's a referral point of all changes.

• 11:13Speaker 01

  So that which is a reference point of all changes cannot change.

• 11:18Speaker 00

  That's fascinating. What is, what is consciousness to you? Like, how would you describe consciousness?

• 11:24Speaker 01

  Everything is consciousness.

• 11:25Speaker 00

  Everything?

• 11:27Speaker 01

  You are consciousness, the trees are consciousness, whole world is consciousness.

• 11:33Speaker 00

  And what are some?

• 11:34Speaker 01

  It's just energy, the consciousness is that ocean of energy which has manifested everything here in the planet.

• 11:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think I just, I think, I don't know, I get scared a lot. Do you ever get scared?

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Not so far.

• 11:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think I just have a lot of fears sometimes.

• 11:57Speaker 01

  You know, fear is nothing but love standing upside down.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  Really? Like, explain it to me.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  Fear is a sensation you get, right? In your chest region or in the belly.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  What are you afraid of? Because you love something and so that from the other side appears to be as a fear.

• 12:23Speaker 00

  Right, because I'm afraid it'll be different than what I think. Or I'm afraid it'll feel different than how I want it to feel.

• 12:30Speaker 01

  Afraid you will lose what you have.

• 12:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 12:33Speaker 01

  Or you will not get what you want, that's a fear, right? And if you just look back, sit back and relax, there's no fear.

• 12:45Speaker 00

  Do, do you think there's like a group, like, I, 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?

• 13:01Speaker 01

  Listen, uh, it's like a boy or girl going for an examination and you're so scared, what's the outcome of the exam? But someone who is, 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, hey, nothing, don't worry, go ahead. So similarly, we have to, uh, if you are mastered the art of life itself.

• 13:34Speaker 01

  You know, seeing life from a broader perspective, hey, so what? This is not the first time you're scared. It has happened to you when you were a child, when you were a boy, when you were a teenager, when, whatever. But still you are here. So broadening of our consciousness, our awareness, the fear disappears, number one. Second, uh, way to combat fear is attending to your breath.

• 14:03Speaker 01

  Breathe from the back of the throat.

• 14:06Speaker 00

  Breathe from the back of the throat?

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Long, deep inhalation and slow exhalation.

• 14:13Speaker 01

  You know, that settles down. That settles down the fear, the sensations.

• 14:20Speaker 01

  And third thing is, know that this is all just a game.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Everything around you is a game, you know, you shouldn't be afraid to play a game.

• 14:32Speaker 01

  What do you think?

• 14:33Speaker 00

  No, I think I'm, I'm still, I'm still a little scared.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  But you know, you're thinking about the past week, that's why you are scared.

• 14:42Speaker 00

  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?

• 14:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 14:48Speaker 00

  Okay. 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 too just 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.

• 15:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I, I get what you're saying. You know, I make a little distinction between concern and fear.

• 15:13Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 15:15Speaker 01

  I'm also concerned, where are we going in the world? We are all, uh, you know, moving in the age of technology and how mankind is going to use this technology. Whether it will be for, for the benefit of people or for selfish gain. I mean, that's a concern.

• 15:33Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 15:34Speaker 01

  Concern must be there. If you don't have any concern, then you will have no passion.

• 15:40Speaker 00

  Right.

• 15:41Speaker 01

  You must have concern, we're all concerned. Any conscious person will be concerned.

• 15:46Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 15:47Speaker 01

  And that concern, uh, is a great motivator, it makes you act.

• 15:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's a good point, yeah. So I'm glad I have concern because it makes me want to take action.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:00Speaker 00

  Got it.

• 16:03Speaker 00

  How do you look at that? How do you view that concern?

• 16:06Speaker 01

  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. Uh, young people, one in every fourth person is mentally challenged, are getting into some sort of, you know, problems, issues.

• 16:28Speaker 00

  For sure.

• 16:28Speaker 01

  So we need to attend to this, number one, and then, uh, we need to realize that, uh, the human society is one family. Always espouse a world as one family.

• 16:45Speaker 00

  Yes, sometimes it feels like, uh, like we're losing our sense of purpose. You know? I think that's one thing that scares me.

• 16:53Speaker 01

  They can only lose the purpose once if, if they have not found, there is no point, they cannot lose it.

• 16:59Speaker 00

  Oh, I see.

• 17:00Speaker 01

  Many have not even found what is the purpose of their life.

• 17:03Speaker 00

  Oh, that's a good point, huh? I should be grateful that I've found some purpose.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:10Speaker 00

  When you look at, at kind of where we're headed with technology, do you, what, what's a positive way that you see it affecting us?

• 17:18Speaker 01

  It's very good, you know, uh, 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 that. Today, in the fingertips, you can get any knowledge, anything from any, anywhere, you see? You don't have to, um, wait for such a long time to understand something. So knowledge is easily available in every corner of the world.

• 17:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Number one. Second is artificial intelligence, many are very skeptical or even scared about artificial intelligence. As though it will take away their jobs. Yeah, but you know, artificial, artificial intelligence, AI is, is a boon also. It's not just a curse, it's.

• 18:04Speaker 00

  So it's a positive as well?

• 18:05Speaker 01

  It's a positive thing. It challenges our intellect to be more original. It can only put what has already been discovered.

• 18:15Speaker 00

  I see what you're saying, so if it, if it only has knowledge, right? And if everybody has knowledge, then creativity should maybe go to another level.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  Another level, yeah.

• 18:24Speaker 00

  Because that will become sort of a primary, uh?

• 18:28Speaker 01

  It's a challenge for, for an individual to be more creative, more original.

• 18:33Speaker 00

  Because everybody has the same information now. So now creativity kind of has a new stage.

• 18:38Speaker 01

  New stage, yes.

• 18:40Speaker 00

  That's pretty fascinating. I, yeah, I guess I hadn'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 like in good, do, do you believe like in good and evil? Do you think there's such thing?

• 18:58Speaker 01

  Thio, no 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 leads them where they are. That's where I feel there is a lack of values in the education system.

• 19:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:35Speaker 01

  And if those people were cared in the very beginning, you nib those negative qualities, trends in child, in adolescent. In children, they don't come. In adolescent, they start getting up into the sort of, you know, rage.

• 19:50Speaker 00

  In adolescence?

• 19:51Speaker 01

  Adolescence, rage and, you know, anger. So there is no education. There is no peace education in the world.

• 20:02Speaker 00

  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.

• 20:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:19Speaker 00

  Is that just an American education system, or do you find that that's almost everywhere?

• 20:23Speaker 01

  That is, it's almost now everywhere. Universally, it is 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 evil is only a veil around the goodness of a person.

• 20:50Speaker 00

  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?

• 20:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, we do.

• 21:00Speaker 00

  We do?

• 21:00Speaker 01

  We do.

• 21:01Speaker 00

  Oh, man. Because that's a bummer, because I'm just, I could be dealing with somebody else's junk.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  You know,

• 21:13Speaker 01

  from junk, you can create something.

• 21:15Speaker 00

  Okay, that's fair.

• 21:18Speaker 00

  But yeah.

• 21:19Speaker 01

  On this creation, nothing is a waste.

• 21:21Speaker 00

  But imagine.

• 21:22Speaker 01

  And the waste also brings wealth.

• 21:24Speaker 00

  A waste also brings wealth. That's a good point. Manure, huh? Look at manure.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Manure, manure.

• 21:29Speaker 00

  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?

• 21:35Speaker 01

  That shows lack of awareness.

• 21:40Speaker 00

  I think you're right. That kind of, that kind of does show, like, yeah, I probably picked up somebody else's.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:48Speaker 01

  And if someone picks up yours, you call them a thief.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  Right?

• 21:53Speaker 00

  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?

• 22:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know. I very well understand that. Delima, you know, that's why I say forgiveness 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.

• 22:37Speaker 00

  Really?

• 22:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:39Speaker 00

  And how does breathing help you heal from the past?

• 22:43Speaker 01

  Because you know, the emotions which are stuck in our system, that need to be released. And breath is the best tool. Mind, mind is so abstract, you can't catch hold of the mind and do anything about it. You know, you've tried and you can't, you know, do something with your own mind by the mind.

• 23:03Speaker 00

  Right, it's like a, yeah, that's, yeah, it's ridiculous. It's like trying to grab your hand with your hand.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  With your hat. Of course, you have another hand to hand.

• 23:10Speaker 00

  Oh, that's a good point. Okay.

• 23:12Speaker 01

  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.

• 23:25Speaker 00

  Is that true that breathing has a pattern for every emotion?

• 23:27Speaker 01

  Correct. See, when you are happy, how do you breathe? And when you are angry? Yeah. See, you know, your emotions and the breathing has a deep relation. And they have sensation in the body also. That's why attending to the breath and rhythms of the breath

• 23:48Speaker 01

  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.

• 24:00Speaker 00

  Yeah. Oh, yeah, man. It's like, I know it's like, yeah, sometimes you just forget to breathe, you know?

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. We use only about thirty percent of our lung capacity. We don't even breathe.

• 24:12Speaker 00

  Is that true?

• 24:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:13Speaker 00

  We use thirty percent of our lung capacity?

• 24:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. That's what scientists say.

• 24:19Speaker 01

  So breathing and meditation, combined with meditation, makes a big difference. That's the reason there's been programs or, you know, in big demand, popular with people because they get a great benefit out of it. Yeah, we are working with the war veterans.

• 24:37Speaker 00

  You guys, you guys have been working with the war veterans?

• 24:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, war veterans.

• 24:40Speaker 00

  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?

• 24:54Speaker 01

  You know, war veterans, the PTSD syndrome in them.

• 24:58Speaker 00

  The PTSD?

• 24:59Speaker 01

  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, where a war veteran is saying the transformation that has happened in his own life.

• 25:14Speaker 00

  Almost Sunrise?

• 25:15Speaker 01

  Almost Sunrise.

• 25:16Speaker 00

  Not familiar with that one. It's a good movie?

• 25:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was there in, you know, many, yeah.

• 25:23Speaker 00

  Okay, I'll check it out. Almost Sunrise. So that's a one, but you've had experience doing this, right?

• 25:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. You know, I had got so many letters from the families of the veterans. They say, "Thank you, Guru Dev. We got our son back. Thanks for getting my wife, my husband back." These are the letters, you know, because they would hole up in their own basement. 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 could become strong and get back with their families. About eight thousand of them we have taught in this country, and you should see the

• 26:13Speaker 01

  the joy in the eyes of those people, the family. It's so fulfilling, you know, to see that. Heartwarming.

• 26:21Speaker 00

  And was that a certain program that you guys started?

• 26:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, we started this, we started this Welcome Home Troops.

• 26:28Speaker 00

  Welcome Home Troops is the name of the program?

• 26:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:30Speaker 00

  And that was just in the US?

• 26:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, this was US. No, we did it also in Canada, in some places in Europe as well, yeah.

• 26:39Speaker 00

  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.

• 26:56Speaker 00

  Wow, 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 trauma. It's, it's kind of fascinating how the body stores so much trauma. Why does the body want to store trauma?

• 27:10Speaker 01

  This is asking why both eyes are in one side.

• 27:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's true, huh? Yeah, I guess if one were back here, it'd be more helpful, huh?

• 27:18Speaker 01

  That's what it is. It does, you know? A 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, you spend time with the, with the nature, you know, your body responds to that. It stores.

• 27:42Speaker 00

  Or with a puppy?

• 27:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, puppy, yeah.

• 27:46Speaker 00

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• 30:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think one thing 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 like a, just a memory will come up of 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 almost getting struck by lightning, you know? It's like just getting so disappointed in myself.

• 30:43Speaker 01

  I understand that, I understand.

• 30:45Speaker 00

  You get like the shame shivers kinda, you know what I'm talking about?

• 30:47Speaker 01

  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, one that changes all the time, and one that doesn't change at all. The aspect that doesn't change in you is all good.

• 31:26Speaker 00

  Oh, really? So that's a-

• 31:29Speaker 01

  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.

• 31:42Speaker 00

  Amen.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  You know, there is a beautiful story about Lord Buddha about this. Have you heard about that?

• 31:48Speaker 00

  Lord Budabides?

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Lord Buddha's story. You know Buddha?

• 31:53Speaker 00

  Buddha, oh Buddha.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Buddha.

• 31:55Speaker 00

  Oh yeah, I heard of him.

• 31:56Speaker 01

  You have heard Buddha's story on this?

• 31:57Speaker 00

  No, you want to tell me it, please?

• 31:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, you want to?

• 32:00Speaker 00

  Yes, please.

• 32:01Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 32:02Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 32:03Speaker 01

  Buddha was teaching meditation. There were 10,000 people in his congregation. And 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, "You 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, it just stuck him.

• 32:46Speaker 01

  I said, "I yelled at him, but he was so calm." There is something, you know, there's something very ethereal about Lord Buddha's that impacted him. So he felt so bad, he felt so guilty. So next day he comes and says, "I'm so sorry, I did, will you please forgive me?" And Buddha said, "No, I can't forgive you." Everyone else got shocked because Buddha's principle is to forgive. No, he's saying, "No, I can't forgive you." And Lord Buddha said, "You see, you are not the same person. You are here now yesterday.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  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.

• 33:57Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:58Speaker 01

  So we just move on. It's not just enough to forgive others, we have to forgive ourselves also.

• 34:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think I have a-

• 34:06Speaker 01

  Self-forgiveness.

• 34:07Speaker 00

  Self-forgiveness. I have a tough time with that. I think I hold a lot of resentment against myself. Sometimes for things that I can't, that were a long time ago, I just like, I'll think like, "Man, I wish I could have figured that out," or "I wish I could have done better," or it's like, I always have my expectations so high, so I can never achieve them. So I'm always falling short.

• 34:28Speaker 01

  You know, a little bit of, little bit of guilt is okay, that keeps you moving, but not too much. How much guilt you should have? Just as much as a salt or Tabasco in your-

• 34:42Speaker 00

  Just a flavor.

• 34:43Speaker 01

  It's a flavor.

• 34:44Speaker 00

  But not a meal.

• 34:45Speaker 01

  Not a meal. So when guilt bothers you, what you have to know is pick up and see, the whole past is like a dream, isn't it? Some pleasant thing happens, some unpleasant things happen, none of them exist now here.

• 35:03Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 35:04Speaker 01

  Right?

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Right. What here, what's here now is new.

• 35:07Speaker 01

  Either you are reeling in rage of anger, what others did, or what you did, guilt of what you did. Both these 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. But the person inside of you is untouched by all that.

• 35:39Speaker 00

  I see what you're saying. Yeah, it is-

• 35:44Speaker 01

  And of course it has brought some pain to others. If you feel you have brought pain to others, okay, now you bring some comfort to others. You know? Giving comfort is what compensates for the pain.

• 36:00Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  So no point in brooding over it, regretting the past, because regret causes a lot of toxins in our own body. And it blurs our vision. It doesn't help us to be happy now or, you know, more compassionate also. So again, here meditation, breathing helps you to completely reverse these impressions in mind and make you feel that you are a mirror, not a photograph.

• 36:32Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 36:33Speaker 01

  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 forwards and see this world is so beautiful, there are beautiful people around, and there are many who are doing the same mistake you were doing before.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:05Speaker 01

  And how we can help them to come out of those mistakes.

• 37:08Speaker 00

  Ah, that's the gift that we have now is, we already did it and we know it better.

• 37:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:14Speaker 00

  And we know different and we can share.

• 37:15Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 37:16Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 37:18Speaker 01

  Because you have a beautiful person inside you, you are a beautiful person.

• 37:22Speaker 00

  You think so?

• 37:23Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, definitely.

• 37:24Speaker 00

  Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, I think, yeah.

• 37:28Speaker 01

  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.

• 37:41Speaker 00

  Yeah?

• 37:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:44Speaker 00

  How are ways, do you think that we can love ourselves better, do you feel like? Or is that a big question?

• 37:51Speaker 01

  Love is not an act. It's simply have to realize-

• 37:54Speaker 00

  Love is not a what?

• 37:55Speaker 01

  It's not an act.

• 37:59Speaker 01

  It is not something that you do to say though. All actions are expression of love, but not. Love is, love is what you are. That's your nature. Like your body is made up of amino acid, protein, carbohydrates. Your consciousness is made up of love.

• 38:17Speaker 00

  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.

• 38:23Speaker 01

  It's what you are.

• 38:24Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  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.

• 38:39Speaker 00

  Oh, so your love, so your love is off.

• 38:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:42Speaker 00

  You gotta tune your love better.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, your love is in wrong place.

• 38:46Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 38:47Speaker 01

  Narcissism is what, you love yourself too much.

• 38:49Speaker 00

  More than others.

• 38:50Speaker 01

  More than others. Jealousy 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.

• 39:04Speaker 00

  It's just love with a knife.

• 39:06Speaker 01

  Yeah. You know, love for perfection.

• 39:09Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 39:12Speaker 01

  Brings anger for imperfection.

• 39:15Speaker 00

  I've struggled, that's something I've struggled with.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Cause you love perfection so much, any imperfection brings up the anger inside of you.

• 39:24Speaker 00

  Well, it makes me feel like I could have done better, something could be better. There's all, I'm not, I, I, I'm always looking for like, okay, this could be different. This could be more, this could be less, but I'm not.

• 39:34Speaker 01

  You are punishing yourself too much.

• 39:36Speaker 00

  I am. I'm punishing myself a lot.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  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. And we say, okay, I offered 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.

• 40:04Speaker 00

  God wants us to let go of the past?

• 40:06Speaker 01

  Let go of the past. I know that the love of God is with you.

• 40:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, do you think that that's what puts the love inside of us? It's God did it?

• 40:16Speaker 01

  God is love. I wish God and so are you. You are made in the image of God means you are loved too.

• 40:23Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. That's cool, huh? It's kinda cool. It makes you feel good when you think about that. Sometimes I just don't even think about that enough, you know? That God cared enough that he would make us. It's pretty fascinating. It's pretty cool of him.

• 40:40Speaker 01

  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 the Michelangelo painting.

• 40:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 40:50Speaker 01

  God is love and you can never be away from God. You can close your eyes and you can, now, turn your face away, but it's there. Like air, like space. How can you go away from space? Can you go away from space?

• 41:07Speaker 00

  No, I'm in it right now.

• 41:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:09Speaker 00

  And I'm still in it.

• 41:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, and just realizing that pure energy, love is all, always with us, all around us. And that's what meditation does. If we meditate for a period of time, this awareness wakes up inside us that, oh, then there is no other, everyone is part of you.

• 41:30Speaker 00

  Hmm. What is the, what is the feeling of the awakening of the awareness? What does it feel?

• 41:35Speaker 01

  It just feels very normal.

• 41:37Speaker 00

  What does it feel like?

• 41:37Speaker 01

  Very normal.

• 41:38Speaker 00

  It feels normal?

• 41:39Speaker 01

  Normal.

• 41:39Speaker 00

  How do you notice that you have, you start smiling more maybe?

• 41:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't feel any walls between you and others.

• 41:46Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  You don't feel it, like how you feel with your own family. That's what you feel with everybody. You don't have any, anything to show off, you know? There's, there's no barriers between you and other.

• 42:00Speaker 00

  Cause you're all family then?

• 42:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, everybody is part of you.

• 42:03Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 42:05Speaker 01

  More than a family, I tell you, more than a family.

• 42:08Speaker 00

  More than a family?

• 42:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:10Speaker 00

  Is, 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.

• 42:21Speaker 01

  Don't be too hard on yourself.

• 42:22Speaker 00

  It's too hard? Yeah.

• 42:24Speaker 01

  Shouldn't be too hard on yourself. Yeah?

• 42:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, I am, people tell me that a lot.

• 42:31Speaker 01

  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.

• 42:42Speaker 00

  Hmm, that's the truth?

• 42:44Speaker 01

  That's a sign of love.

• 42:45Speaker 00

  It is?

• 42:46Speaker 01

  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.

• 42:55Speaker 00

  Ah.

• 42:56Speaker 01

  You know, you, your love is, has found a boundary.

• 43:01Speaker 00

  But when you're, but when you're not feeling that, it means that you're, you're still giving.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  It's, it's, yeah, you, you'll always feel you can do more.

• 43:12Speaker 00

  And that's a good feeling?

• 43:13Speaker 01

  That's a good feeling. That's a good feeling.

• 43:15Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 43:16Speaker 01

  It's always good to have the feeling, I have to do more for the world, for the people, for the ones you love. That's good to have that. And what one has to get over is, I did wrong, I did bad. Or wish I had, regret. We should calm out of the regret and have a positive attention of what we want to do. And, and you have that.

• 43:46Speaker 00

  Amen. Sometimes we look for awe when it comes to relationships. I'm gonna 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 to, 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, all by myself.

• 44:13Speaker 01

  Of course. Um, in this world, we're all interdependent, the whole world is interdependent. I can't, I can't grow my own, uh, you know, cotton. I had to get my clothes done by somebody, like I don't stitch my own clothes. So, um, but you know, that's what the world is all about. Yeah, someone grows food for you.

• 44:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 44:37Speaker 01

  And we have this illusion, just giving a little bill and we think, hey, food is all mine, no, but still, you have done some help to them, but they have done something for you. I think that sense of interdependency in the whole world of, of all of humanity is the what we need to recognize and realize it.

• 45:00Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 45:01Speaker 01

  If we do this, conflicts will just evaporate.

• 45:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, cause we need each other. Yeah, if you need each other, you wouldn't wanna get rid of each other.

• 45:12Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 45:12Speaker 00

  Yeah. Where do you think that evil to want to cause harm? Where does that come from? Cause there's so, 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.

• 45:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, you are right, you are right, you are right.

• 45:29Speaker 00

  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.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  That, that shows, you know, the rage in, 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 to 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.

• 46:24Speaker 01

  We have to help them to get out of both this and be normal, happy individuals.

• 46:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, it just feels like we got, it feels like we took a wrong turn.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  Uh, we can turn better.

• 46:41Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, we, we can turn better, yeah. Um, there is some lore, uh, that you were part of, uh, stopping a war in Colombia. Can you take me through some of that?

• 46:54Speaker 01

  There were 2 million people of, uh, internally displaced people in Colombia. They were all with anger, rage, and a lot of suffering. Because of the FARC conflict, this has been happening for 52 years.

• 47:08Speaker 00

  Cause of the FARC conflict, yeah? Bring that up just so I can let our listeners know what it was. And thank you for your time today, brother.

• 47:17Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 47:18Speaker 00

  I needed it.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  It's all you ask.

• 47:22Speaker 00

  The Colombian armed conflict is one of the longest running, ongoing armed conflicts in the world. It officially began in 1964 with the creation of two major guerrilla groups. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, Revolucionarias de Colombia. That's FARC. Founded by rebel leader Manuel Marulanda and the National Liberation Army.

• 47:46Speaker 01

  Emmanuel, yeah. So.

• 47:48Speaker 00

  So this was going on for a long time.

• 47:50Speaker 01

  For a very long time. So a lot of people were internally displaced. So I went to, 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 their highest civilian award for this work.

• 48:11Speaker 00

  So you went there to do it. Was it scary when you went there? Was it, was it?

• 48:15Speaker 01

  It was the Colombia, I mean, the capital, Bogota, was almost like a shambal. You could never recognize that city when you compare from what it is today, you know?

• 48:24Speaker 00

  And the people were hurting?

• 48:25Speaker 01

  People were hurting. So when we, then after that, there was a formal handshake with the president. It was supposed to last for five minutes. And we were there for about forty, fifty minutes. We spoke to him and then the president Santos said, I don't think there is any hope with these people because so many people tried the peace process and they are not agreeing. So I said, why not go and try? So he said, you can do it, any help is welcome.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 48:59Speaker 01

  So I took a flight from there. I chartered a plane and went to Cuba to meet with this guerrilla. There were fifteen of them commandos. First they said, no, we don't have anything to do with, we don't have anything to do with the spiritual leader.

• 49:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's kind of.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 49:19Speaker 00

  Taboo.

• 49:19Speaker 01

  Taboo. We don't want to. So they said, our philosophy is Karl Marx.

• 49:28Speaker 00

  Their philosophy is karma?

• 49:29Speaker 01

  Karl Marx, Karl Marx and.

• 49:32Speaker 00

  Carmax?

• 49:33Speaker 01

  Karl Marx, Karl Marx, you know?

• 49:37Speaker 00

  Carmax?

• 49:39Speaker 01

  The communist philosophy.

• 49:41Speaker 00

  Okay, what is the communist philosophy, you know it?

• 49:44Speaker 01

  Karl Marx.

• 49:46Speaker 00

  Karl Marx, oh Marxism.

• 49:48Speaker 01

  Marxism.

• 49:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, what was the Marxist philosophy? Let me just dictate it so that our listeners can follow along.

• 49:56Speaker 00

  Marxism, a social, political and economic philosophy created by Karl Marx. It states that society is split into two main groups. The working class who do the labor and the owners who take the profits.

• 50:06Speaker 01

  So he said, our ideal is Karl Marx. So we don't need to, any more philosophy, we are happy with that.

• 50:12Speaker 00

  Because they have everything.

• 50:15Speaker 01

  So, but then that evening in Havana, I had a public talk in the university. So they sent two people to check me out, what this guy is talking about, coming from India. So they came and I had given some talk and then I let people through a meditation. Then they told them, you know, maybe we should meet him, that he can influence the government and others to stop the bombing.

• 50:45Speaker 01

  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 route of non-violence? Gandhian principle of non-violence.

• 51:23Speaker 01

  First 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 a forgiveness process. I got some of the victims flown in and the FARC, they put them face to face. They, there was forgiveness process, they forgave each other. And that was a very moving incident. Then we had that forgiveness process all over and the peace deal happened. There is a movie coming about this, someone has made a movie.

• 52:00Speaker 00

  Really?

• 52:01Speaker 01

  It's going to come, it's called White.

• 52:03Speaker 00

  White?

• 52:04Speaker 01

  White, Colombia and they are all making a movie.

• 52:09Speaker 00

  Wow, that's just so exciting, huh? And how long did the whole process take?

• 52:16Speaker 01

  I would say a few months, couple of months.

• 52:20Speaker 00

  Wow. Yeah, there's just so much conflict in the world. Wait, there we go. Mont, the director is, go back? By Montu Basi?

• 52:32Speaker 01

  Montu, Montu Basi, yes.

• 52:35Speaker 00

  Will be the director, oh, that's, oh, wow. And there's an actor named Vikrant Masri.

• 52:40Speaker 01

  Vikrant Masri, he is acting as me.

• 52:42Speaker 00

  He's playing you, he better do a good job.

• 52:46Speaker 00

  But if he doesn't, it's okay.

• 52:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's okay.

• 52:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's okay. Oh, he's handsome, man, you think it's same?

• 52:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, same guy.

• 52:54Speaker 00

  He's pretty handsome, huh?

• 52:57Speaker 00

  Okay, man.

• 52:58Speaker 01

  You think I am not?

• 52:59Speaker 00

  No, no, it's good. Hey, very close, it's very close, very close.

• 53:07Speaker 00

  One thing I think sometimes about, like, I think about relationships a lot, right? Like, I'm not married yet, but maybe, hopefully, one day, you know, and.

• 53:17Speaker 01

  Good luck, good luck to you.

• 53:19Speaker 00

  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, I have a tougher time probably with, uh, like, I'll notice sometimes, instead of trying to figure out how to love myself, I will try to find someone else and have them, like, like, I'm not going to figure out how to, 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 else? Like, it's their responsibility to love me instead of my responsibility. Does that make any sense? If I say it to you? Like, say if I meet someone, right?

• 53:59Speaker 01

  I see the confusion there.

• 54:01Speaker 00

  Yes, the confusion.

• 54:01Speaker 01

  I see, I keep seeing this all the time.

• 54:03Speaker 00

  You do?

• 54:04Speaker 01

  People, yeah, every bit.

• 54:07Speaker 00

  Because it's easier, it's easier for me to say, hey, you love me, instead of me say, hey, let me, let me make sure that, that I love me.

• 54:15Speaker 01

  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.

• 54:24Speaker 00

  Wait, say it again for me, Gurudev?

• 54:27Speaker 01

  When you want to love someone, you should take it for granted, they also love you. Their way of expression, their way of, or their expression of love may be different, but never questions the love of a person for you.

• 54:43Speaker 01

  Do you see what I'm saying?

• 54:44Speaker 00

  Because then, no matter what, they love me.

• 54:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:46Speaker 00

  Right, oh, they love me, they might express, maybe they don't call, but they.

• 54:50Speaker 01

  They don't express, they don't know how to express it properly, they love me.

• 54:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, they don't text me, they don't text me back, but they love me. That's okay.

• 54:58Speaker 01

  That's okay, you know, in that sense, your love for them grows.

• 55:03Speaker 00

  Oh, you're right.

• 55:04Speaker 01

  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?

• 55:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:15Speaker 01

  Suppose your girlfriend, every day asks you to prove that, do you really love me? Do you really love me? Then you'll, you'll go like this, oh, my God. How more, how more I can convince, you know? What else I can do to convince this person I love them? See, you know? Expression of love can never be complete because love is infinite.

• 55:41Speaker 01

  So, and the whole humanity from ages, they've been trying to encapsule word, 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 are all interconnected.

• 56:12Speaker 00

  So now I should think, say if I text a girl or something and she doesn't text me back, it's like, oh, she loves me, she just doesn't tell me, she just doesn't tell me.

• 56:19Speaker 01

  She doesn't know yet.

• 56:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 56:22Speaker 01

  But you wait in patience, you know, you were taught.

• 56:26Speaker 00

  Maybe I wait a few lifetimes, maybe, that's okay.

• 56:29Speaker 01

  See, again, you're putting that intention in you.

• 56:32Speaker 00

  Oh, you're right, huh?

• 56:34Speaker 01

  So many lifetimes, why? In this lifetime, you want to achieve something, you put the positive thought. See, everything is vibrations in this world.

• 56:44Speaker 00

  Do you think that's true, that we can summon other, you, do you believe that?

• 56:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, everything is vibration, you know? All our actions are, they, they, they go after our thoughts, right?

• 56:58Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 56:58Speaker 01

  Our intentions, they precede our intentions. I mean, they, they follow our intentions. Our intentions precede all our actions, most of the actions at least. So you love somebody, you are attracted to someone, you love someone, then you have to express yourself and express in such a way that it is acceptable to others.

• 57:23Speaker 00

  Yes, that's the key, acceptable.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  Acceptable to others. You know, we have to make a distinction here. First one is attraction and then attachment and then comes emotional entanglement or love.

• 57:40Speaker 00

  So sometimes it might not even be love, it might just be attraction, it might just be attachment.

• 57:44Speaker 01

  That's excellent, yeah.

• 57:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, and sometimes you just want somebody to valid, you just want somebody to make you feel okay. You just want somebody to.

• 57:57Speaker 01

  There's nothing wrong in it, so what?

• 57:58Speaker 00

  It's okay.

• 57:59Speaker 01

  It's okay, it's okay.

• 58:00Speaker 00

  Everything doesn't have to be a problem, huh?

• 58:04Speaker 01

  Nothing had, nothing need to be a problem, can take everything as a challenge.

• 58:09Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah. What, 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 inner relationship?

• 58:26Speaker 01

  When both of them have a common goal.

• 58:32Speaker 01

  To achieve, not. Focused on each other too much, you know, 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.

• 58:49Speaker 01

  That is one thing, they should have a purpose, a goal, because attraction doesn't last forever. It, it has its time. Right? You're hungry and you eat food and. That's done, you can't be perpetually hungry. So in same way, attraction also is time bound. But if you both go on ambition. 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.

• 59:27Speaker 01

  That's like, third is understanding, giving, creating a room, giving a space for others to be. What they are.

• 59:35Speaker 00

  Let them grow. If you stand by a plant like this, it's gonna maybe get nervous.

• 59:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, but stifle, don't stifle someone with your love.

• 59:43Speaker 00

  Yeah, if you stand by a plant with a magnifying glass, maybe it's gonna get nervous.

• 59:47Speaker 01

  It may not get nervous, you are wasting your time. It will take its own time when it wants to grow to grow.

• 59:55Speaker 00

  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.

• 1:00:06Speaker 01

  There's nothing wrong about it.

• 1:00:08Speaker 00

  It's okay.

• 1:00:08Speaker 01

  It's okay, it's okay, that's what now you are need is.

• 1:00:11Speaker 00

  It's a good, so, and it's a good thing to search for, I'm not looking for something bad.

• 1:00:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:15Speaker 00

  I'm just looking for, yeah, we just want, yeah, that's what we want.

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  And you, when you find it, don't start doubting it.

• 1:00:21Speaker 00

  Oh, that's what I'll do too.

• 1:00:24Speaker 03

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• 1:02:20Speaker 00

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• 1:03:38Speaker 00

  You know, sometimes I'll have a feeling that, something that comes up and I don't want to do it, but it like, it's like, uh. Something like, you know, I have a bad idea that comes up, you know? And it tries to plant a seed in me, you know? It's like, oh, maybe you should do this at some point, you know? And it could be something bad, it could be, or for me, it would be bad, like, because I'm in recovery program, so it could be, you know. Drugs, alcohol, you know, just things like that, behaviors I don't want to do. Sometimes I have a seed that, like a little idea will come up. Like with a little bell and be like, hey, you know? Or he'll wear something fancy, I'll be like, look what I'm wearing, you know, like a little idea, like a little.

• 1:04:18Speaker 00

  Like a little lady will walk by, just an idea will walk by and try to get me to follow, you know what I'm talking about? And sometimes it's, it's a bad behavior.

• 1:04:31Speaker 01

  You know, these ideas come and your will and your, your intellect says, no, this is not good for you, so you stay away from it.

• 1:04:42Speaker 01

  You know, if it's so compelling, why it is so compelling, because it is promising some joy, some pleasure.

• 1:04:49Speaker 00

  Yes, that's part of it.

• 1:04:51Speaker 01

  So then you go for it, then you automatically you run towards it. Here, you need to get a better joy, better, you know, some. I've been dealing with addictions, people with addictions all the time, you say. Okay, I'm so addicted to alcohol, I tell them, I'll give you a better brand of intoxicant that will never let you go.

• 1:05:16Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:05:34Speaker 00

  So you're saying a lot of it is you have to replace it with something else of value?

• 1:05:38Speaker 01

  Of value, of larger joy.

• 1:05:42Speaker 00

  More importance, more joy.

• 1:05:43Speaker 01

  More important, more joyful thing. When it is, when it bothers so much, first of all. Your discrimination itself will stop you.

• 1:05:53Speaker 00

  Tell me that part again, please?

• 1:05:54Speaker 01

  Your wisdom alone will stop, it's enough to stop.

• 1:05:58Speaker 00

  Sometimes.

• 1:05:58Speaker 01

  Sometimes. When it doesn't do, then the. Better joy will just.

• 1:06:07Speaker 01

  Take you out of it, you'll just feel, see, you never, you won't care.

• 1:06:13Speaker 01

  You know, as you grow up, you're not.

• 1:06:17Speaker 01

  Craving for candies or chocolates like you were doing when you were a young boy, right? It doesn't, it doesn't bother you anymore.

• 1:06:25Speaker 00

  Yeah, I don't even like it, other things are more important.

• 1:06:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:06:29Speaker 00

  Ah, so you have to find something more important.

• 1:06:34Speaker 00

  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?

• 1:06:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, I've, you know, I've trained 38,000 teachers, volunteers. Who are all volunteers and teachers and they all run the whole thing.

• 1:06:53Speaker 00

  And they've run the, it's a recovery community?

• 1:06:55Speaker 01

  They do the recovery, they do the teachings in the schools, in colleges. Sky campuses, they do in all the universities.

• 1:07:04Speaker 00

  For the sky breathing?

• 1:07:05Speaker 01

  Sky breathing.

• 1:07:05Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:07:06Speaker 01

  The university, we are in 170 universities.

• 1:07:09Speaker 00

  Let's go.

• 1:07:11Speaker 01

  For young people, yeah, young people feel so good, so, such a different. When they feel such a disconnect with their parents, with their parents, you know, after doing their breathing, they feel so good. You know, so many parents have written to me, you know, he, you know, our, our. Our children are behaving so much better now, they've been very kind, they're not aggressive, they don't have that rage. And anger like before and. They've been very kind, you know, they were helpful in nature. All these good qualities in a person start to manifest.

• 1:07:45Speaker 00

  And all that can come from our breathing?

• 1:07:47Speaker 01

  Come, come, when we get rid of our stress.

• 1:07:50Speaker 00

  Ah. Stress is the cause of a lot of violence.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  Is the cause of all violence.

• 1:07:57Speaker 01

  Simple, Matthew. Clarity in mind, purity in heart, sincerity in action, that's my formula.

• 1:08:05Speaker 00

  Clarity in mind, purity in heart, sincerity in action. In action, yeah. How do we make sure our actions are sincere? What can we do? What can we ask ourselves, do you think?

• 1:08:16Speaker 01

  Being spontaneous.

• 1:08:18Speaker 00

  Oh, spontaneous. Sometimes, yeah, I get it, sometimes, yeah.

• 1:08:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:08:28Speaker 00

  Is meditation, is it, does it have a stronger effect on younger people, do you think?

• 1:08:33Speaker 01

  Young or old?

• 1:08:35Speaker 00

  Doesn't matter?

• 1:08:35Speaker 01

  Doesn't matter.

• 1:08:37Speaker 00

  I've seen a lot of videos of, of children doing intuition tests.

• 1:08:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:41Speaker 00

  Can you take me down, uh, some of the understanding of intuition tests? And you guys have an institute for intuition, is that it?

• 1:08:48Speaker 01

  Correct, Institute of Absolute Intelligence, we have.

• 1:08:51Speaker 00

  It's called Institute for Absolute Intelligence?

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  Intelligence.

• 1:08:54Speaker 00

  First of all, I would, I would love absolute intelligence. So please, what grade do you have to be in? I'll, I'll go.

• 1:09:01Speaker 01

  The children now, on teenager, up to eighteen years of age, we take them. And it's good.

• 1:09:09Speaker 01

  And, you know.

• 1:09:10Speaker 00

  And it's a, it's a, it's a full school?

• 1:09:12Speaker 01

  No, no, it's just eighteen days program.

• 1:09:15Speaker 00

  Okay, it's an eighteen days program. And so what is the program like? Take me through it if you don't mind, Guru Dev.

• 1:09:19Speaker 01

  The program is they learn some breathing technique, they learn some meditation technique, and they learn how they can use their intuitive ability, their gut feeling. Much more stronger and, uh, you know, gut feeling that is, which is invaluable. That doesn't fail, that's what gut feeling is all about.

• 1:09:37Speaker 00

  What is our gut feeling? What's it made out of?

• 1:09:40Speaker 01

  We all have it, but we don't use it. Many times it becomes very obscure.

• 1:09:47Speaker 00

  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.

• 1:09:57Speaker 01

  Never mind.

• 1:09:59Speaker 00

  Have you ever seen?

• 1:10:00Speaker 01

  No, no, if you get no, you will get S also there.

• 1:10:03Speaker 00

  You think so? Maybe you're right. Maybe I just not, maybe I gotta, yeah, you're probably right.

• 1:10:08Speaker 01

  No for something, then S for something else, right?

• 1:10:11Speaker 00

  But what is that feeling? What is it, what is that feeling, do you think? 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.

• 1:10:22Speaker 01

  See, your, your head says something, your intellect says, 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, hey, boy, that was right. Then you call it gut feeling.

• 1:10:43Speaker 00

  And how do you guys help children to understand that better? Like, are there certain practices you use?

• 1:10:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, we teach them a set of practices.

• 1:10:52Speaker 01

  Fifteen minutes per day and then they get it.

• 1:10:56Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:10:56Speaker 01

  Because they don't have strong craving or aversion, their mind is still very fresh, you know? It's like, uh, learning a ballet dance. When the body is very flexible, they can, they can learn the ballet very easily. So, and for an adult, it will take some more time to bend their.

• 1:11:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:16Speaker 01

  Their joints, yeah, like that. With kids, they're, they're easy to learn. But not that adults cannot, they too can, they too can. But if you're a long-term meditator, yeah, you can.

• 1:11:29Speaker 00

  What's the youngest age you've seen someone start meditation at?

• 1:11:34Speaker 01

  Meditation with ten, twelve, something.

• 1:11:36Speaker 00

  Ten or twelve years old? That's a good age.

• 1:11:38Speaker 01

  That's good age. But they have different meditation. But, uh, in the teenage or in twenties and twenty thirties, that's good. You have to do a proper meditation, full meditation.

• 1:11:52Speaker 01

  So we have, that's why we have designed sixty-seven different workshops. It should suit all different ages and, um, you know, conditions.

• 1:12:02Speaker 00

  And is that through the Institute of Absolute Intelligence, or that is through the Art of Living?

• 1:12:05Speaker 01

  Art of Living.

• 1:12:06Speaker 00

  Art of Living.

• 1:12:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:08Speaker 00

  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, what does, what, what does it constitute now, the Art of Living?

• 1:12:27Speaker 01

  Art of Living, you know, the, the very aim is to make life a celebration. Educate people to make life a celebration. Get over anger and anxiety.

• 1:12:39Speaker 00

  Do you think it was always there, the anger and anxiety from the beginning of time? Or do you think we picked it up?

• 1:12:44Speaker 01

  Well, it, it's there, being there, only, um, you need to learn how to overcome them. Anger about the past and anxiety about the future. When we learn how to rise over theirs, you know? You know, waves have always been there, only you need to learn how to surf.

• 1:13:09Speaker 01

  So, uh, main thing, let me put it in a small capsule. Uh, the Art of Living Foundation is group of volunteers, largest volunteer-based organization. They help Perava, there is disaster, there is problem, trauma. And then the main thing is to make a violence-free and stress-free society. We want to eliminate stress in society. Violence-free, stress-free society.

• 1:13:39Speaker 01

  Disease-free body. Make people healthy with breathing and meditation and all the thing. And then confusion-free mind, confused about everything, you know? And bringing clarity to mind and inhibition-free intellect, you know? People carry on, different type of inhibition, about gender inhibition, about age inhibition, you know? People of different age don't mix with everybody, you see? They all find their own levels and so there is a gap between the generations. The Art of Living brings that thing together, make better understanding.

• 1:14:17Speaker 01

  And inhibition between race, religion, gender, all that inhibition to be done away with. No, listen, we are in, uh, in the twenty-first century, where we see the technology has united the whole globe into a village. Now we still hold on to those sort of small-mindedness and prejudices. That's no good, you know? They're helping people to get over their prejudices, all type of prejudices. Trauma-free memory and sorrow-free soul.

• 1:14:54Speaker 01

  That's what I would say. Let me depict it. Violence-free society, disease-free body, uh, confusion-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory and sorrow-free soul.

• 1:15:06Speaker 00

  Amen.

• 1:15:07Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 1:15:08Speaker 00

  Sign me up. Thank you. I love those goals. I believe that those are probably, in our heart, it feels like those are all of our goals.

• 1:15:16Speaker 01

  All of our goals, yeah.

• 1:15:17Speaker 00

  That's what we want. It feels like that's how we should live.

• 1:15:20Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:15:21Speaker 00

  I just, it's, it's amazing that we got so off course sometimes.

• 1:15:24Speaker 01

  And that's how, you know, people from hundred and eighty-two countries have taken this up.

• 1:15:31Speaker 00

  How many volunteers do you have total that work within your program, within your organization?

• 1:15:36Speaker 01

  Oh, millions.

• 1:15:40Speaker 01

  We had a big world culture festival. I wanted to bring everyone together, every four years we did this. The first one we had was in.

• 1:15:49Speaker 00

  The first one you had?

• 1:15:50Speaker 01

  We had in India, that was in twenty, uh, twenty-six, two thousand and six.

• 1:15:56Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. In Madras, where?

• 1:15:58Speaker 01

  In Bangalore.

• 1:15:59Speaker 00

  In Bangalore.

• 1:16:00Speaker 01

  Bangalore we had.

• 1:16:01Speaker 00

  I've never been to Bangalore, it's nice.

• 1:16:02Speaker 01

  You must come, it's the IT capital of India, it's the Silicon Valley of India.

• 1:16:06Speaker 00

  Really?

• 1:16:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:16:08Speaker 00

  Oh, good, I'm gonna stay with you.

• 1:16:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, you must.

• 1:16:11Speaker 00

  Oh, good.

• 1:16:12Speaker 01

  We have a nice campus there, you can see two elephants there. You can go to World, uh, World Culture Festival, yeah.

• 1:16:18Speaker 00

  That's it right there?

• 1:16:20Speaker 01

  This is DC. We had this in Washington DC. And.

• 1:16:26Speaker 00

  Hey!

• 1:16:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:16:30Speaker 00

  What a beautiful group of people, huh?

• 1:16:32Speaker 01

  We had one point one million people joined in DC and see, look at that.

• 1:16:38Speaker 00

  Did you really?

• 1:16:39Speaker 01

  Can you go back a little bit?

• 1:16:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, let's see it again.

• 1:16:42Speaker 01

  And seventeen thousand artists.

• 1:16:48Speaker 00

  Let's go, there's Gary Busey.

• 1:16:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, this is in Washington DC.

• 1:16:52Speaker 00

  That's beautiful.

• 1:16:53Speaker 01

  Then we had in, in New Delhi. Just imagine how many it was. It was thirty-six thousand, six hundred two artists on a, that's one.

• 1:17:07Speaker 00

  Wow. You put this on?

• 1:17:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. On, uh, on a stage which was, uh, six, uh, soccer grounds.

• 1:17:19Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:17:19Speaker 01

  Seven acres of stage.

• 1:17:22Speaker 00

  This is unbelievable, and people who are just listening and who can't see this video, this is, I mean, it's absolute, it looks like the Olympics.

• 1:17:29Speaker 01

  Yeah. It was like the Olympics of culture.

• 1:17:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:17:35Speaker 01

  And I wanted all the, you know, amateur artists to come up on stage from hundred fifty-five countries. This is from Lithuania and.

• 1:17:47Speaker 00

  Look at that, meatloaf.

• 1:17:51Speaker 00

  Wow, this is beautiful. Thank you for sharing. This is amazing. And so every four years this happens?

• 1:17:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. So this was in New Delhi 10 years back and we had 3.75 million people in attendance for this program.

• 1:18:08Speaker 00

  So it's growing.

• 1:18:08Speaker 01

  And they all meditated.

• 1:18:10Speaker 00

  They all meditated at the same time?

• 1:18:12Speaker 01

  At the same time. Just imagine the sea of people so silent for 20 minutes. It was something. It was wonderful.

• 1:18:22Speaker 00

  It's powerful.

• 1:18:22Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:18:41Speaker 00

  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 whining, we're crying, we're upset. But it's like, this is the mag, 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.

• 1:19:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:19:24Speaker 00

  Spending time with you is such a nice reminder that that's not where we need to be and that's not where we have to be.

• 1:19:28Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:19:29Speaker 00

  It is a celebration. The fact you get to see someone that loves you sometimes, that's a celebration, you know?

• 1:19:36Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:19:41Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:19:42Speaker 01

  There are two types of joy. One type of happiness is that you get when you get something. You get a gift on a Christmas day or you get your birthday, you get a gift.

• 1:19:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, you get a new hat or something.

• 1:19:55Speaker 01

  You get some gift.

• 1:19:56Speaker 00

  Caramels.

• 1:19:57Speaker 01

  Getting something is really brings happiness to you, right? People give you a compliment, you go, wow.

• 1:20:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:20:04Speaker 01

  Right? But there is another type of happiness that comes to you when you give.

• 1:20:11Speaker 01

  That's more mature happiness, I would say. That's, that's akin to the, the joy of a grandmother. You know, your grandmother, when you go home, she makes nice dishes, she makes a cake for you and all that.

• 1:20:25Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:20:25Speaker 01

  Her joy is in feeding you, not eating by herself.

• 1:20:29Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:20:29Speaker 01

  Right? So the joy of giving is where we need to grow into life. But that is more, so similarly, when you are here to give love and not wanting love, you realize the source of love is within your life is very short. So let me give love as much as I can to everybody around me. You will see, you will get 10 times more love towards you, coming towards you.

• 1:20:57Speaker 00

  And you believe that's true?

• 1:20:58Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:20:59Speaker 00

  Got it. And sometimes we're afraid to, I think, even give, like there's been times where I'm afraid to give because I won't, I guess it comes from a place that I won't have something, you know?

• 1:21:08Speaker 01

  No, you give only what you can.

• 1:21:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:21:11Speaker 01

  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, you come and help me. You will have to say, no, I can't. But whatever you can, you will give, you will do anyway, right?

• 1:21:30Speaker 00

  Yeah. What, what's the longest that someone can meditate for?

• 1:21:35Speaker 01

  24 hours.

• 1:21:38Speaker 01

  You know, I would say you meditate for 10, 20, 20 minutes.

• 1:21:43Speaker 00

  20 minutes is good.

• 1:21:44Speaker 01

  25 minutes, 30 minutes. That's good enough for you. But you know, after practice, then that state of calmness, inner calmness continues even when you are acting, when you're talking, when you're doing anything.

• 1:21:57Speaker 00

  Well, I notice it gives me a little more space between moments if I'm in a, think of an answer. I'm not, I, I'm not as reactive. It give 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?

• 1:22:14Speaker 01

  Just be.

• 1:22:14Speaker 00

  Yeah. It gives me a little bit of space before I react sometimes. If I'm, if I'm having a strong meditation practice.

• 1:22:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:22:23Speaker 00

  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? Has it, 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?

• 1:22:37Speaker 01

  It's more on a larger scale now.

• 1:22:40Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:22:40Speaker 01

  It was not so prevalent. When I was a student, even now I think I'm a student. In the student days, you could see that there was no mental health issues, there was no bipolar. I've never heard schizophrenia, bipolar or breakdown due to nervous.

• 1:23:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's a lot, it sounds very new.

• 1:23:04Speaker 01

  All these things are today, in every corner you find them. It's more intense and more prevalent everywhere.

• 1:23:14Speaker 00

  What do you think are the causes of some of these things? Have you noticed?

• 1:23:17Speaker 01

  No, 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.

• 1:23:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, I definitely noticed.

• 1:23:34Speaker 01

  And helping people get out of drugs. You know, we started in India, Drug Free India Campaign.

• 1:23:40Speaker 00

  Drug Free India?

• 1:23:41Speaker 01

  Drug Free India Campaign.

• 1:23:43Speaker 00

  What's the most popular drug in India? What are they using over there?

• 1:23:46Speaker 01

  All kinds of drugs are there.

• 1:23:48Speaker 00

  Really?

• 1:23:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:49Speaker 00

  Anything good, like or anything not good?

• 1:23:51Speaker 01

  I'm not too familiar about all the way. But I'm only familiar about what has helped people all.

• 1:23:58Speaker 00

  That's what I meant.

• 1:23:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. And our programs, you know, for them. We have, we conducted a program, Yes Plus Program, Youth Empowerment Seminar.

• 1:24:06Speaker 00

  Say it one more time, what's it called?

• 1:24:07Speaker 01

  Youth Empowerment Seminar.

• 1:24:09Speaker 00

  Youth Empowerment Seminar.

• 1:24:10Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:24:11Speaker 00

  Yes Program.

• 1:24:12Speaker 01

  Yes Program. So that is, that has helped, you know? It includes the sky breath technique in that and many other things. And with the children, yeah, you see.

• 1:24:23Speaker 00

  Oh, beautiful.

• 1:24:24Speaker 01

  With the kids, I give them seven things to take, take home. You know, when I say make one new friend every day. You know, first, first question I ask children, how many friends do you have? They count on their finger, three, four, five. I think, come on, you are living, you are going to a school for so many hours with, and so many years with several thousand kids there and you could be friendly with all of them.

• 1:24:54Speaker 00

  Yeah, get out there.

• 1:24:56Speaker 01

  And how can you be with, friendly with 8 billion people when you come out of the school?

• 1:25:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:25:04Speaker 01

  So that just kindles that awareness in them. Then they take a walk to make one new friend every day. And they become friendly by nature.

• 1:25:14Speaker 00

  Hmm, yeah, because it's a practice.

• 1:25:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. Friends, it's not friendship for something, but to be friendly in nature.

• 1:25:23Speaker 00

  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.

• 1:25:32Speaker 01

  To be friendly.

• 1:25:32Speaker 00

  In general.

• 1:25:33Speaker 01

  In general.

• 1:25:36Speaker 00

  What's a way that we can start to get to know ourselves? One thing that I think is, is, might be causing some discomfort in our society and in our time is that we have less of a relationship with ourselves. You know, I think when we didn't used to have so much technology and we didn't have our cell phones so readily available and usable all the time, we had more time to process things.

• 1:26:02Speaker 01

  I wouldn't blame on the cell phones or social media, no.

• 1:26:06Speaker 00

  You wouldn't?

• 1:26:07Speaker 01

  No, no. They're all there, that it's, it's, it's a tool. You know, it depends on how you use it. If you excessively use anything, you're going to harm yourself. In all this, you must take some time, spend real time with people, engage in music, dance, meditation, breathing, and some time just for yourself. And to be with nature. See, working for environment is also something that aids in your development. You know, if you care for plants, if you care for nature, you know, it shifts your energy level.

• 1:26:50Speaker 00

  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.

• 1:27:04Speaker 01

  You don't need to have four more. It's okay, you can have a goal. Okay, I want to achieve that. But being feverish about it is not going to help you.

• 1:27:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:27:13Speaker 01

  You have a goal, say, you want to go to Hollywood from here. And if you keep thinking the whole time, I'm going to Hollywood, Hollywood, you will miss the exit, you will go somewhere else. You will land up somewhere else, right? So it's okay to have an intention, but not make it feverish. It feverishly grip your whole life, hold your mind. You know, how should I get something better in your life? So again, here, and you relax and you cool down, calm down. You still can have a passion, but then you go with awareness.

• 1:27:56Speaker 00

  What's the first, what's the way that someone like, how do someone start to get to know their self, right? What's a way to get to know yourself? Like, what's the, how do you start to have a conversation with yourself? Does that make?

• 1:28:07Speaker 01

  See what's not yourself.

• 1:28:10Speaker 00

  Does that make sense to you when I ask you that? Okay, so go ahead, I'm sorry.

• 1:28:15Speaker 01

  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,

• 1:28:59Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:29:15Speaker 00

  And that's achieved through meditation, through a relationship with your consciousness?

• 1:29:18Speaker 01

  Consciousness.

• 1:29:19Speaker 00

  Yeah. Do you believe?

• 1:29:21Speaker 01

  Meditation is one of the tools.

• 1:29:23Speaker 00

  Meditation is one of the tools?

• 1:29:24Speaker 01

  One of the tools.

• 1:29:25Speaker 00

  What are some of the other ones to nurture that relationship?

• 1:29:30Speaker 01

  Other thing, it can come to you as a gift.

• 1:29:34Speaker 01

  Gift from above. And then, you are intelligent, your analytical mind will also help to,

• 1:29:45Speaker 01

  you know, go deep, see the futility of other things. And then, you get to this very core. So through knowledge, wisdom, music, meditation, service, expressing your love, unconditional love in the society, all this will contribute to that inner blossoming. 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.

• 1:30:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:30:21Speaker 01

  So, though they all appear to be big ideals, but I say, it is doable.

• 1:30:28Speaker 01

  Okay?

• 1:30:29Speaker 00

  Do you, do you have any pets at home?

• 1:30:31Speaker 01

  I have two elephants.

• 1:30:33Speaker 00

  You do?

• 1:30:35Speaker 01

  We have elephants, hares, cows, there's everything.

• 1:30:38Speaker 00

  What's the elephants' names?

• 1:30:41Speaker 01

  We have one is called Maheshwar.

• 1:30:42Speaker 00

  Maheshwar?

• 1:30:43Speaker 01

  Another is Indrani, the girl.

• 1:30:45Speaker 00

  Indrani? Ooh, she sounds cute.

• 1:30:48Speaker 01

  She can play harmonica, you know?

• 1:30:51Speaker 00

  Can she?

• 1:30:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:30:52Speaker 00

  Oh yeah, these women are so talented now. Oh my gosh, that's her?

• 1:30:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. This is her without the tusk, the tusk is the other one there. He's a little tough. But they're very cute.

• 1:31:09Speaker 00

  And do you have a family at home? Do you have children?

• 1:31:13Speaker 01

  I have, no, I'm not married.

• 1:31:15Speaker 00

  Oh, you're not?

• 1:31:15Speaker 01

  I'm single like you.

• 1:31:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:31:17Speaker 01

  I hope to remain single the rest of the time also. But everyone is my family.

• 1:31:24Speaker 00

  You have a big family.

• 1:31:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:31:25Speaker 00

  Do you feel like you received enough, like, that that was your space in the world for family, was just everyone? Yeah, that's cool. Before you go, Guru Dev, I know you have this book, Journey Within, that talks about the essentials of the art of living. Is that a good manual for someone to start to develop their own meditation practice?

• 1:31:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's good, it just brings some practical wisdom to your life and whatever you need, whenever you need. Journey Within is a book that people love. You know how it came out? I don't write books, but you know how it came up?

• 1:32:03Speaker 01

  We used to, you know, a group of young people used to get around, get around and ask me questions. And every Wednesday, we had this habit of coming up with some new topic. Like, like you said, this past week, we used, every week we would, and then I would send that around the world to everybody. So that's how this came with seven years of Wednesday knowledge sheets. We call it knowledge sheet.

• 1:32:31Speaker 00

  So this new topics on Wednesdays, you guys would discuss them?

• 1:32:33Speaker 01

  Every new topic, we discuss. And then that was compiled into this book. Journey Within, it helps people to, yeah.

• 1:32:43Speaker 00

  So there were kind of a lot of authors of it in some ways? Because a lot of people's thoughts were included?

• 1:32:47Speaker 01

  There were, there were questions, answers of mine.

• 1:32:50Speaker 00

  Got it.

• 1:32:51Speaker 01

  They were all questioning me all the time.

• 1:32:52Speaker 00

  Okay, got it.

• 1:32:54Speaker 01

  That was the one to, yeah.

• 1:32:56Speaker 00

  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 there. We went to work, we worked at like some children's homes and we're doing some stuff like that.

• 1:33:20Speaker 00

  You guys started a group, like you, you've started schools over the years called Free Schools?

• 1:33:26Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:33:26Speaker 00

  And those are in India?

• 1:33:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, in India, in Nepal, and also in other places.

• 1:33:31Speaker 00

  And that, is that a K through 12 or what is the?

• 1:33:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:33:34Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:33:35Speaker 01

  Eight to 12. And the free schools all over, we have, you know, 150,000 kids studying in the schools.

• 1:33:45Speaker 00

  And is meditation part of the curriculum?

• 1:33:48Speaker 01

  A little bit yoga and some meditation, yes, part of the curriculum. We have a university also. It's one of the very good universities, the happiest campus. Everybody's very happy and service mine and all that stuff, yeah.

• 1:34:03Speaker 00

  For people, just before you go, for people that believe that they don't, 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?

• 1:34:18Speaker 01

  Everyone can feel better. Again, I would say, if it's an extreme case, you have to see a doctor and if psychiatrists say you have to take medicine, you must take medicine. But this is, other than that, practices which would first of all, prevent you from getting there. Second, it also helps you to recover.

• 1:34:41Speaker 00

  But, but it takes practice, you have to, you have to, you have to apply yourself.

• 1:34:45Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:35:03Speaker 00

  Got it.

• 1:35:03Speaker 01

  Right? Similarly, if you practice doing some breathing and meditation in the morning or afternoon, evening, once it gets fit in your system, then it becomes a natural thing for you.

• 1:35:16Speaker 00

  It's like mental flaws, kinda?

• 1:35:17Speaker 01

  Mental flaws, yeah, you're right.

• 1:35:20Speaker 00

  When we leave this life, right? When this body ends,

• 1:35:25Speaker 00

  we, our consciousness has to stay alive, you believe it?

• 1:35:28Speaker 01

  If the TV is shut off, but still the vibrations, the radiations do remain here, right?

• 1:35:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:35:37Speaker 01

  We are just the tubes or the screens. The consciousness is what gets projected in it.

• 1:35:44Speaker 00

  Cool. So we might see each other again in another time, huh?

• 1:35:48Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:35:49Speaker 00

  Thank you so much, Guru Dev, I appreciate your time today, thank you very much.

• 1:35:52Speaker 01

  Lovely. Keep doing the wonderful work you are doing.

• 1:35:55Speaker 00

  You too, brother, thank you so much.