Thou are that

Sri Sri: When you experience joy, your mind is expanding; when you experience pain, your mind is getting concentrated, focused. It comes to one point. We experience pain through out life, but never encounter it, never stayed with it, went deep into it. In love you experience pain, in that pain it brings a depth to yourself. Joy is expansion and height. Pain is contraction & depth.In pain you consolidate your whole energy, Consciousness gets deeper, intense.

And when you feel that pain, intensity, you are very delicate, very subtle inside. Have you noticed? Very vulnerable.



Love makes you very vulnerable. Love is very delicate, it makes you very vulnerable deep inside. Love makes you weak. However strong you may be, in love you become so weak. Yet it is the greatest strength on this planet. When you are in love, you are so vulnerable. Your whole being is so delicate, so etheric, ethereal. Your whole being becomes ethereal. You are not like a rock, solid rock. When you are sad, upset, you are like a rock. But in pain of love, longing, you are still ethereal, isn’t it?

Lord of the meek, means this is it. The divine loves the meek. Experience of divine is so delicate, so subtle, so ethereal. That’s why it’s akin to love. It’s a simulator.

Love is God, God is love, because both are of the same ethereal phenomenon. When you come and sit near the master, you cannot but catch this etherealness and when it happens, a master said what do you think you are? You think you are a solid body, you think a set of thoughts? You are set of concepts, ideas, a set of different emotions? No No No, Don’t mistake it. This love that you are feeling, that is what you are.



Say – “Thou are that.”



Close your eyes and look inside. What is there? You are all love. Every particle of your being is vibrant with this ethereal, something. Cannot be named, cannot be expressed, that for which you are longing. That which is longing. The very longing is divine. That very longing, that heart beating for, is divine, is God.



Say – Thou are that.

You are nothing but a burning longing. You are nothing but an alive glow of Love. So, Thou are that. You are that. “Tatvam Asi”. You are that.



This is called the great sentence. This is the first great sentence that the master departs to the students. First great sentence. You are that longing that you have for me, that love you have for me. You are that. Be with that.

Love and Authority

Sri Sri: Love and authority are totally opposite values yet they co-exist.

The grosser the consciousness, authority has to be more pronounced. The more refined and subtle the consciousness, lesser is the need to exercise authority.

When you are gross, you demand authority and when you demand authority, love recedes.

Asserting authority indicates lack of confidence and love. The more evident one’s authority, the less sensitive and effective it will be.

A sensible person would not demand authority at all... but will assume it. (laughter) The most effective CEOs will not make you feel their authority, for authority can never bring inspiration.

Your sincere servant has more authority over you than your boss, isn't that so? A baby has full authority over the mother. Similarly, a devotee has all the authority over the Divine, though he never exercises it.

So, the subtler you become, the more authority you gain.

The greater the love, subtler will be the authority.

The lesser the love, the more pronounced will be the authority.

Enthusiasm and Dispassion

Sri Sri: What is enthusiasm? Enthusiasm means to be connected to God within. When you are with your source, you can only be enthusiastic. Apathy is when you are away from the source of life. You cannot be but enthusiastic when your mind is totally in the present moment.

You should know that dispassion is not apathy. It is simply a broader perspective of reality. Dispassion is moving towards the source. Dispassion simply means the way back home. It is the journey towards the source, which is a reservoir of enthusiasm.

When dispassion and enthusiasm co-exist, that is the secret of perennial enthusiasm and profound dispassion.

Though they appear to be opposite, they are actually complementary.

Service and Silence

Sri Sri: Silence heals and rejuvenates. Silence gives you depth and stability and brings creativity. Service brings the dynamic experience of heart. It creates a sense of belongingness.

Lack of service can land a person in depression. Service alone can bring contentment in life, but service without silence tires you. Service without spirituality will be shallow and cannot be sustained for a long period of time. The deeper the silence, the more dynamic the outer activity. Both are essential in life.

Have confidence

Sri Sri: Have confidence in yourself. One who does not have confidence cannot achieve anything Confidence clears doubt. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. Once you eliminate the negative, you will see that the positive has already happened. When doubt clears, confidence appears. So to gain confidence in yourself, you must understand what doubt is.


If you observe the nature of doubt, it is always about something that is positive. You doubt the goodness of other people, never their bad qualities. You doubt your own capabilities, never your incapability. On the spiritual path, you learn to handle things with intuition and inner freedom. I don’t say don’t doubt. I say doubt as much as you can. That will help you get through it before progressing further.

The spiritual path is not an escape from life

Sri Sri: Actually, the spiritual path makes life more difficult! In India people think the spiritual life is easy — go to an ashram where you don’t have to work hard. No! The spiritual path is not an escape from hard work or sincere action, just as social service is not an escape to a comfortable life. In both situations you have to put your heart and soul into your actions and be ready to give of yourself hundred percent. The spiritual life will bring you enormous joy, more contentment, more peace and more energy than you can find — but it’s not an escape. Remember that.

The spiritual path means taking responsibility. If you think it is difficult to manage your children and your husband or your wife, you will be given more people to care for. If you are ready to take responsibility for twenty people, two thousand people, twenty million people — then you are on the path. The spiritual path is not an escape from responsibility, but taking responsibility.

Intelligent, effective work is part of the spiritual life. When you are working hard you may think you deserve compassion. I say that if you are working hard and doing it with intelligence, then you need appreciation — not compassion. If someone is taking 5 hours to complete something that can be done in half an hour, it doesn’t need compassion.

Another aspect of spiritual life is peace — knowing that peace is your nature. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing inside you there is a pure clear space that’s vast and deep. That inner space is what you are. Feeling this is knowing your spiritual dimension. ‘‘I have come from peace, I am in peace, I will go back to peace. Peace is my origin and my goal’’ - this inner affirmation or experience makes you a seeker.

Strength of commitment

Q: Why is it easier for some of us to commit to our own welfare rather than that of others?

Sri Sri: Because you do not know that whatever you are committed to brings you strength.
If you are committed to your family then your family supports you, if you are committed to your society, you enjoy the support of society. If you are committed to God, God gives you strength. If you are committed to Truth, Truth brings you strength.

Often one is not aware of this idea and that is why one is hesitant to commit to a greater cause. Also there is a fear that commitment would weaken one or take away one's freedom. Your commitment to a cause is bound to bring you comfort in the long run.

Commitment in life grows toward a higher cause. The higher the commitment, greater is the good for all.