Wisdom Search

From many stories I understand you are omnipresent and all knowing. This sometimes makes me feel a little fearful that you know all about the mistakes I make. What is your attitude towards the mistakes? Are you angry when you see me making these mistakes over and over again?

Not at all. Do you know that devotees are more powerful than the Guru himself? Do you know this? It is so. You must have heard of my Guru stories, but I have many devotee stories. I will share one with you. In the last week of November, I was touring i ...

How does one achieve and maintain inner strength?

By waking up to this knowledge. It should not be that just once a year you come, listen to some knowledge and go away. Make it part of your daily routine, so that it is maintained. Also, humility is important. Sometimes, people get so numb to kno ...

Gurudev, please tell us how Vedic knowledge can benefit the whole world.

It is obvious that it is benefiting – Yoga, Meditation, Breathing Exercises, Ayurveda, all this is Vedic knowledge. Veda itself means knowledge; ancient and new. There is some value in the ancient knowledge and there is some value ...

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that ‘Of the Adityas I am Vishnu, of the Vedas I am the Samveda, of the Gods I am Indra, and among the Rudras I am Shankara. Why does he prefer one over the other?

He always said, ‘I am the best’. So he goes for the best. So among the Vedas, Samveda is considered to be the best because it is musical. It is the mother of all music, harmony, love and devotion. So Krishna prefers one over another. The ...

Gurudev, many times the mind suppresses the voice of intuition. What do we do to enhance our intuition?

There are three types of knowledge that we acquire. The first type of knowledge is called Indriya Janya Gyan. This is the knowledge that comes from the five senses, which is seeing from the eyes, hearing from the ears, smelling by the no ...

I have a question from the Yoga Vasishta. Shukracharya, the son of Bhrigu Maharishi, brings a dead person back to life by sprinkling holy water and chanting mantras. Is this possible?

The stories in the Yoga Vasishta have a lot of deep hidden meanings. It is not enough to read it once. As you read it again and again, you will start understanding the secrets hidden in the book. ...

Gurudev, when listening to knowledge, sometimes your mind thinks, 'Oh I have already listened to this before.' How do you get into a state where you are always in that wonder and openness to receive knowledge again?

If you feel you have heard this, then it is already there in the spirit, in the self. That is good. Recognizing, absorbing and then becoming a part of it - these three stages will happen spontaneously. ...

Gurudev, please tell us the significance of the 12 Jyotirlingas (literally meaning ‘pillar of light’, sacred shrines of Lord Shiva).

See Jyoti (light) is within you, and where there is Jyoti, there is Shiva. Jyotirlinga is inside you. The twelve Jyotirlingas are in our body itself. Our body has twelve places (where the twelve Jyotirlinga ...

Gurudev, in the Upanishads, we usually find references of Samit Pani (ritual of offering dry sticks to the Master). Gurudev, could you please tell us, what is the significance of this?

Samit is the stick which is ready to catch fire. Here, it is a symbol of being ready, so that when the knowledge is given, you just grab it. Samit Pani has many meanings. One is, ‘Be Attentive’; se ...

In the Ashtavakra Gita, it says, ‘You can go on reading scriptures, but you will get liberation only when you forget the scriptures.’ So then what is the purpose of reading the scriptures?

See, you get into a bus, but then you also need to get out of the bus. Now if you argue with me that, ‘If I have to get out of the bus then why should I get into the bus?’ You get into the bus from somewhere else and you get out from somewhere el ...