Sri Sri As I Know Him

By Sri Sri Ravishankar

An embodiment of love, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a rare combination of stillness and dance, silence and song, wisdom and humour. He lives his life with simplicity, effortlessness and joy. Knowledge flows, he sings with all his heart, dances in ecstacy, cooks and serves in the kitchen, plays with children, squirts water on the unsuspecting and pushes unpushed buttons with the glee of a child. Guru means ‘dispeller of darkness’. He has lit up the lives of more than 300 million people worldwide and steered them on the spiritual path. Every person feels at home with him- the village artisan, the student, the sceptic, the agnostic, the housewife, the corporate trainer, the national leader, the farmer and the fruit vendor on the street… Sri Sri As I Know Him is a book where people who have grown this movement open up about their personal experiences of and with Gurudev. Some anecdotes will make you laugh while others will moisten your eyes and your heart will want to burst with love for him. You’ll feel the familiar rush of gratitude with some and envy with others when you see him so personally involved in their lives. What this book conveys is the awe and the amazement, the joy and the laughter. One has to be there to experience it. For those who have experienced him, it will bring back the memories and help to relive it. For those whom this is the first…a journey begins

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aslan eReads
• Release date: Jun 13, 2021

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Preface

The sun was just beginning to go down through the scattered clouds, and the hills in the distance and all the trees seemed to emanate a light of their own-shades of gold and pink. It could have been any place and any time. On the dirt road below the hill, a farmer and a small herd of white goats with bells around their necks passed the cornfield where triumphant crows cawed. The juxtaposition of these sounds suddenly knocked me off my feet in a wave of happiness.

Who cared if it didn’t make sense….but I was gradually getting used to these inexplicable attacks of euphoria, which usually happened in Gurudev’s presence. Had it been a couple of years ago, I would have doubted all of this, even doubted reasons for my own happiness. Being an IIT engineering graduate, my mind would only go for the logical and seek explanations for everything.

By contrast the noisy dining hall that night was buzzing with incessant chatter and total chaos. Everywhere I noticed faces of people from different corners of the world fill this place with naturalness and genuine joy. Groups of people sat listening in rapt attention as their food got cold, some eyes lost in a faraway look. All at once a petite figure clad in white rushed past and before I knew what hit everyone they scrambled to follow him wherever he chose to go. This time it was to the Satsang...

It is not unusual for those having faith and devotion to get healed. It is the awe or confusion that one sees in the sceptics and agnostics, which is a sight to watch!! I remember how once Gurudev had picked up a packet of assorted nuts and with a twinkle in eye said, This is my collection!. What I came to realise was, that, some things are beyond explanation. Perhaps one such phenomenon was happening right now.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was born in 1956 in South India. At the age of four, he could recite the entire Bhagvat Gita. At this young age, his parents often would find him in deep meditation. At seventeen, he had completed his education in Modern Sciences, as well as ancient Vedic literature.

After a period of silence and deep meditation with the Sudarshan Kriya, which has proved to be a powerful tool of transformation, eliminating deep-rooted emotions and physical toxins, restoring the natural cycles of harmony to body, mind and emotions.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the inspiration behind numerous charitable organisations around the globe. The main focus of these organisations is spiritual upliftment, service through various programmes in the areas of holistic health, value education, social and community development, crime prevention, conflict resolution and social rehabilitation. Millions of people in over 156 countries have experienced a lasting transformation and profound peace…..

An embodiment of love, He is a rare combination of stillness and dance, silence and song, wisdom and humour. He lives his life with simplicity, effortlessness and joy! Knowledge flows, He sings with all His heart, dances in ecstasy, cooks and serves in the kitchen, plays with children, squirts water on the unsuspecting and pushes unpushed buttons with the glee of a child!

Every person feels at home with Him – the village artisan, the student, the sceptic, the agnostic, the housewife, the corporate trainer, the national leader, the farmer and the fruit vendor on the street…

This inspired me to collect these stories and compile it into a book. There are so many who are eager to tell their story; I could only accommodate a few in this book. And a few long ones I had to cut short.

What this book cannot convey is the awe and amazement, the joy and laughter. One has to be there to experience it. For those who have experienced, this book will bring back the memories and help to relive it. For those whom this is a first … a journey begins.

Dinesh Kashikar

Shreeparkash

Sri Shreeprakash is a computer professional from Trivandrum, India Currently a software exporter, he has earlier been the information Manager for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

The Bang?

All four of us drove to Waynad, in Kerala, to meet Guruji and to attend the Divya Satsang. On the last day, we had to leave early in the morning for the thirteen hour drive back home. Wanting to have a final glimpse of Him before departing, at around 6.50am, we reached the Kutir in the forest resort. The door was shut and we just waited nearby, hoping it would open. Suddenly, Nivedita, my younger daughter, shouted See, Guruji!.. There He was, silently standing behind us… asking, Are you driving back? Drive carefully. And then He just walked past, as if He had vanished.

About nine hours into drive, as the goldern orb was touching the horizon, caressing the swaying palms on the roadsides, I was lost in my thoughts. In the midst of this idyllic surrounding, a huge procession was advancing on us and our car was diverted into a bylane. Even that lane was blocked with people and the mob started becoming extremely unruly. Ours was the first car in the jam. My analytical mind told me to stay put but, in spite of it,

I found myself driving ahead into the bylane. Suddenly a youth with a huge log stood right in front of the car and, gathering all his power, hit the bonnet in front of my eyes..... instead of the thud, there was total silence, the log did not touch the car! The crowd cleared and, as if in a dream, I put my foot on the accelerator and moved on.

The journey

I wonder how many others there are who would have experienced the extremities of poverty to richness or hardship to comfort that I have gone through.I grew up as a non-believer with a rebellious nature and was a hard worker, proud and arrogant.

I had attempted to read and listen to Swami Chinmayananda, Bhagwan Rajneesh, D'Sylva, Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer during my spare time. In December 1998, I came across the book Bang on the Door which my wife, Chinmayi, had bought a year ago. I felt an intense attraction towards this book, thinking that the author was exceptionally intelligent and wise.

The very next week, in January 1999, I saw a small advertisement in the paper saying Art of Living course starting today. I told my wife that I would attend this course.. I was curious how such a brilliant person would teach us the 'art' of living. I had attended several international programmes, while I was with the Dutch Airlines. Each day of the six day course was unbelievable.

The course made a permanent change in my life-style and attitude towards life. I became generally happy instead of my usual generally stressed and angry nature. Frequent cold, fever and body aches became things of the past, along with the inevitable antibiotics.

Within three weeks I was at the Bangalore Ashram to do the Advanced course, and THE Man was present too... On the last day of the Advanced course, I met Him and experienced for the first time what could only be called Unleashed Love. The simplicity, the innocence, the love… it was all beyond words. I came back to Trivandrum as if I had returned from heaven. Back home, my software business started flourishing. I devoted time to be with my wife and daughters, Gayatri & Nivedita, and, after eighteen years of marriage, home became heaven.

I became a Basic Course teacher in August 1999 and now have become an instrument of my Gurudev. It is amazing to see how His Grace sweeps the misery away from the course participants in six days! And as I devote more and more time to courses, I find an increase in my business, with a drastic reduction in work load - a strange happening. Sri Sri, the invisible professional, has taken over. Life has become effortless, the feverishness has gone.

Memory games

In December 1999 I had mentioned to Guruji that meditation was not easy for me. Many months passed, and I forgot about it. After a year, I met Him in the Kottayam Satsang; when I was leaving His room, He gestured for me to stop and Raghuji returned with a CD of guided meditation by Guruji. It was too much for me. He, who is seeing thousands of people every week, who is getting busier and busier day by day, who is travelling all over the world – takes such minute care of each and every one of us!

Contrary to the commonly held belief that we need to leave what we are doing in order to take the spiritual path, I am directly witnessing an abundance of wealth, health and happiness every moment.

Dr Katherine Komanda

Dr Katherine Komanda, Ph.D. is a Professor of World Religions, from the United States of America

Before my Birth

My mother always told me that I had a guardian angel from the time I was a baby. I would often beg her to tell me the story about the night prior to my birth, when this angel visited her and took away her fears.

My mother had a difficult pregnancy. She had been quite ill during most of it and had been in a car accident towards the end. In the last month of her pregnancy, she was confined to bed as the doctor was worried that I might not make it. Needless to say, my mother was overcome with fear, and could barely sleep because of her worries. Then, one night, a strange thing happened. She told me that the room filled with a golden light and a Being appeared before her. I have always heard her describe Him as wearing a white, flowing robe, having long black hair and a beard.

But the most beautiful thing about this Being, my mother would tell me, were his eyes. She said she had never seen such beautiful eyes in her entire life; he didn't say anything to her, but communicated the most exquisite love through those eyes. He just washed wave after wave of love over her with those eyes, removing her fear forever. She always said that she thought he might have been Jesus, but whoever he was, she would never forget him; she never again felt fear in her life … even to this day.

When I was nineteen and in college, I met Guruji. My mother thought I had joined a cult and was worried about me. When I did my Sadhana, she would hear strange noises coming from my room and wondered who the saint with the long hair and beard in the picture placed reverently on my shrine was, but she would never actually look at it. Then came a time when she suffered from cancer. She wanted to know who my Guru was, what He taught me and what He looked like. When I showed His photo to her, she gazed into His eyes and began to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she answered , This is the man who came to me the night before you were born!!!

The mystery spot

A number of joyful years went by; at some point, I began to grumble. The organization had become so big and, I thought, impersonal. I started feeling left out. I was always complaining.

That summer, Guruji was in California, giving public talks in Berkeley. Steeped in my own negativity, I did not travel north from Santa Barbara, to see Him in northern California. But then I heard He was going to be in SanJose; I told myself I wasn't going to go see Him. Strangely, the next morning I woke up and without any thought at all, just got in the car and started driving. I took a long route, driving out of my way through the winding roads of Big Sur. I really enjoyed the day - the beautiful sunshine, the ocean, the dramatic cliffs of the California coastline. On reaching Santa Cruz, I made a startling realization. I had no idea where and when Guruji would be making His appearance!!! I had no phone number to call and no address. The traffic was very thick and I became worried. How would I find Him in such a large city? A prayer arose instantly; that instant a car drove past me and I thought to myself, Those are Indian people; perhaps they can direct me to an Indian grocery store where I might find a poster advertising Guruji's visit there. No sooner had I thought this, when the sunlight hit their dashboard reflecting the image of a poster - the image reflected was that of Guruji, looking as if He were standing on the road! I immediately followed the car - these were people going to the public talk!!!

Then the fun began. I noticed that the other cars on the freeway were trying to cut me off. Then I recognized the faces of these daredevils - our own Gopis and Gopas!!! I was a part of the Gopi* trail and I didn't even realize it. I started swerving and racing to catch up. Could the car of Indian people be carrying Guruji, Himself? I followed the car for some time as it exited the freeway and drove along winding, dirt roads through a thick forest. Finally, the caravan came to a stop. I got out of my car and ran through the trees until I came to a clearing. Standing there under a sign which read The Mystery Spot was Guruji with a big welcoming smile. You met us on the road! He chuckled. How can it be, Guruji? I asked with amazement, You were supposed to be driving from North to South and I met You driving South to North!

Some things are just a mystery! He laughed.

Later I learned that Guruji woke up that morning and changed the