Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (also called Sri Sri) is one of the people who have definitely helped turn this world into a better place, as his efforts to bring healing and peace have created some truly miraculous results.
I’ve gathered these 120 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar quotes for anyone who needs a bit of inspiration in areas such as relationships, love, success, spiritual healing, and so on.
Sri Sri is an Indian yoga guru and spiritual leader who actively got involved in achieving world peace and in creating many healing programs aimed at helping the most underprivileged populations of the world.
Truth be told, he is someone who has managed to make the world a better place in the real sense.
Just to give you a bit of a background into who Sri Sri really is and why I think his contribution was so important, I will tell you a bit about his life.
He graduated in Science and Vedic Literature; however, he knew from a very early age that he was spiritually gifted.
At the age of 4, Sri Sri was able to recite from the Baghavad Gita, an old Indian Scripture, and used to meditate by himself for hours.
Because he felt a strong calling to explore the spiritual side of life and help others, he started studying yoga and transcendental meditation and founded a powerful breathing technique – the Sudarshan Kriya.
Then, he founded The Art of Living, an international non-profit, humanitarian, and educational organization that works with underprivileged people from countries such as Mexico or Iraq and offers them tools to heal from stress and trauma.
Later on, Gurudev also founded the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), an organization that actively got involved in negotiating for peace around the world and helping the victims of natural disasters.
The IAHV has been involved in conflicts in India, Kashmir, Colombia, Iraq, Siria, Kosovo, and Coit ‘Ivoire in order to try and diffuse the armed conflicts and convince people to stop massacres.
They have been offering help and guidance to the victims of the war and also helped reduce the armed conflicts on many occasions.
Also, his organizations have implemented many youth support programs and programs that support prisoners and aim at helping them transform their lives for the better.
With the help of the IAHV, many prisoners have been released for good behavior, which I think it’s a remarkable achievement.
Thus, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is one of the people who fought for peace and managed to bring light and love to those who needed it the most.
He is actually one of the people I would call “an earth angel,” as he has dedicated his entire life to making the world a better place.
His words are always full of wisdom, love, and peace, and if you need an inspirational quote or some positive energy, I recommend looking at the following Sri Sri Ravi Shankar quotes.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes on Love
1. “Love is not an emotion. It is your very existence.”
2. “Don't Fall in love; rise in Love!”
3. “Love is seeing God in the person next to us, and meditation is seeing God within us.”
4. “In true love, there is no heartbreak. A broken heart means broken demands, broken expectations, broken hopes.”
5. “The path of love is not a tedious path. It's a path of joy. It's a path of singing and dancing.”
6, “In deep love, your mind is free from thoughts.”
7. “Love, when distorted, becomes greed, jealousy, fear, and hatred.”
8. “When you give love a name, it becomes a relationship that restricts love.”
9. “When the energy is high, and when there is love, healing happens automatically!”
10. “The fire of love or fire of knowledge creates unpleasantness or a sense of longing in the beginning, but it moves on to the blossoming of bliss, the blossoming of fullness.”
11. “Fear is a lack of love. Only one thing can eliminate fear, and that is love.”
12. “If you ever feel lonely and feel that no one loves you, remember me.”
13. “Attention is not love. In fact, when there is a lot of love, there will be no attention.”
14. “In love, you don’t expect anything. If you want something in return, don’t call it love.”
15. “Worry is the enemy of love. You cannot be in love and be worried at the same time.”
16. “Don’t make an effort to love or insist that someone should love you.”
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes on Happiness and Well-Being
17. “Listen to others, yet do not listen. If your mind gets stuck in their problems, not only are they miserable, but you also become miserable.”
18. “Welcome each day with a genuine smile from within.”
19. “Recognize and honor your uniqueness.”
20. “Never label yourself. Learn from the past and move on. Feelings come and go. They are never stationary. Neither blamer others nor yourself.”
21. “Activity and rest are two vital aspects of life. To find a balance in them is a skill in itself. Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have. Finding them in each other – activity in rest and rest in activity – is the ultimate freedom.”
22. “In your true nature, you are free the moment you see it’s not in you. If you have pain, observe it’s happening in the body. If there is tightness or joy in your mind, observe that it is tight, sad, unhappy, or happy. Just observe that you are not enjoying, and it is happening elsewhere, as though it is happening elsewhere.”
23. “If something can bring you great pleasure, it can also bring you pain.”
24.“Blessings are already there – just look.”
25. “There is nothing to worry about. There will be tough times, nice times, good times, and bad times. They all come into life and go. Nothing stays.”
26. “Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind, I tell you. In fact, others seem to be bothering you, but it is not others; it is your own mind.”
27. “There is no use getting angry at something that has already happened. All you can do is your best to check it doesn't happen again.”
28. “Do everything happily. Walk, talk, sit happily; even if you complain against somebody, do it happily.”
29. “But joy is never tomorrow; it is always now.”
30. “There are four sources of energy — food, sleep, breath, and a calm mind.”
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31. “What pleasure is there that dispassion cannot give? It gives all pleasure because you are so totally in the moment. It puts you one hundred percent into the moment. Every moment is a peak experience.”
32. “Health is… A disease-free body. A quiver-free breath. A stress-free mind. An inhibition-free intellect. An obsession-free memory. An ego that includes all. A soul that is free from sorrow.”
33. “Your desire for pleasure or happiness makes you unhappy.”
34. “Make your smile cheaper and anger expensive.”
35. “In joy, there is neither desire nor ambition. Ambition promises joy somewhere in the future. It creates a mirage of joy and leaves frustration in your hands.”
36. “If you are a taker of happiness, you get misery; if you are a giver of happiness, you get joy and love.”
37. “Dissolving the name is awareness. Dissolving the form is meditation. The world is name and form. Bliss transcends name and form.”
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes on Success
38. “Difference between motivation and inspiration – Motivation is external and short-lived. Inspiration is internal and lifelong.”
39. “A leader desires nothing from you except your well-being and progress on the path.”
40. “Don’t think of anything as difficult. Know that we have even greater power within, and according to that, we get tasks to do.”
41. “Just complaining without looking for a solution is irresponsibility.”
42. “If it appears as though you are failing, that failure is only to get you towards higher success. This is for sure.”
43. “In always wanting to be comfortable, you become lazy.
In always wanting perfection, you become angry.
In always wanting to be rich, you become greedy.”
44. “If you can win over your mind, you can win over the whole world.”
45. “You have to find a balance between your work and service. To make a living, you work, and for the satisfaction, you do service.”
46. “Perfect balance is like a razor’s edge. It can be found only in the self.”
47. “Worrying doesn't make any difference, but working does, and spirituality gives one the strength to work.”
48. “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but not the same mistakes. You have got to be innovative even in your mistakes!”
49. “Meditate and Smile. Smile and Serve. Serve and Celebrate.”
50. “Self-realisation is living in a state of love which is unconditional, and living in a state of joy which is unconditional.”
51. “When you don't worry whether you win or lose, or you don't even consider its effect, you give your hundred percent, then that is really playing, that is a real game.”
52. “When you consciously acknowledge dispassion as a prime factor to move life, then you are able to control the mind.”
53. “One who is galloping on desires has no peace, but one who is established in the Self has no desire. All the desires will flow in him, like rivers flowing into the ocean. He will have no dearth of anything.”
54. “Turn your demand into gratefulness. The more grateful you are, the more love comes your way.”
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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes on Faith
55. “Faith is realizing that you always get what you need.”
56. “When you share your misery, it will not diminish. When you fail to share your joy, it diminishes. Share your problems only with the Divine, not with anyone else, as that will only increase the problems. Share your joy with everyone.”
57. “Have this faith that someone is there to take away your weaknesses. Ok, you slipped once, twice, thrice. It does not matter. Keep moving ahead. People take vows never to commit mistakes again. Breaking the vows makes it worse. Surrendering is better.”
58. “Despite being amidst all pleasures and worldly things, one is completely untouched, untainted, and unstained by the events and happenings.”
59. “Faith is the subject of the head. Devotion is the subject of the heart, and meditation connects both.”
60. “Have <<eternal wait,>> infinite patience. When you have infinite patience, you will realize God belongs to you. Either through awareness or through practice, you reach the same spot.”
61. “In science, knowledge comes first, and then faith follows. In spirituality, faith comes first, and then knowledge follows.”
62. “If you pray to God with all your heart (dropping the sorrow, which simply means hanging onto the past), then whatever you desire will be given to you.”
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes on Life and/or Death
63. “Life is nothing to be very serious about. Life is a ball in your hands to play with. Don’t hold on to the ball.”
64. “Caught up between gaining and losing, they lose their entire life.”
65. “Life will always move in the best direction.”
66. “Today is a gift from God – that is why it is called the present.”
67. “Life works on strange laws of nature (Karma).
One never knows when a friend turns enemy & vice-versa.
Rely on yourself; self-reliance.”
68. “Every moment you spend on this planet, remember that you are here for a unique purpose and cause, far greater than just to eat, sleep, and talk.”
69. “Life gives you both positive and negative. Focus on the good and move ahead with commitment.”
70. “People lose half of their health to gain wealth, and they lose half of their wealth to regain their health.”
71. “Just be in the simple and innocent state of I don’t know.”
72. “Your head will be in the mud in a few years. Don't put mud in your head while you are still alive.”
73. “We all cried when we came into this planet, but it is important that at least when we go, we are happy and smiling.”
74. “Do not have regrets in life. You should feel that ‘I have done what I had to do, and whenever the time to leave this body comes, I will die happily.'”
75. “This truth must be realized here and now, in this lifetime. Do not postpone it until the next lifetime. It is the greatest loss if you do not know it this lifetime. There cannot be any greater loss than this. This is the greatest loss imaginable.”
76. “Why can't we control our anger? Because we love perfection. Make a little room for imperfection in our lives.”
77. “I say, drop all your defenses. Anyone can make a mistake — even you. Do not defend your mistakes; just accept them and move on. When you are totally defenseless, that is when you will be completely strong.”
78. “This temporary world is of death. Here, everything dies, and everything changes. Do you recognize that subtle field of energy, that subatomic level of energy that does not change? Objects disintegrate, but atoms remain the same. Atoms and molecules disintegrate, but the sub-atomic particles are the same. All these human bodies are different, but there is one field of energy, the mind, that flows through everybody. Do you realize that there is one thing that is in everybody? Do you recognize the one consciousness?”
79. “We should not exit from this world without finding out who we are and where we have come from. This is very important.”
80. “You need to see your life in the context of time and space — how vast creation is, how big the universe is and how small your life is, relative.”
81. “You are not here to be sad. You are not here to blame. You are not here to be miserable. You are not here to worry. You are not here to show off. You are not here to get stressed out. You are not here to get irritated and irritate others.”
82. “Think about a world which never irritated you. You’d be stuck with it forever.”
83. “Life is a ball; we should play with it !”
84. “If there is fear or confusion in your life, it is because you lack commitment.”
85. “When the <<I>> dissolves, worries dissolve.”
86. “Young children, who have not yet accumulated a lot of stress, exhibit an abundance of energy, enthusiasm, profound joy, and unconditional love. These qualities that manifest spontaneously in an innocent child demonstrate the truest, unadulterated essence of humanness. We are all born with a wellspring of love and joy. These qualities are not just emotions but the essence of our existence. The truth of our essence cannot change; it can only be covered over and hidden from us.”
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Quotes on Wisdom & Knowledge
87. “Knowledge is a burden if it robs you of innocence.
Knowledge is a burden if it is not integrated into life.
Knowledge is a burden if it doesn't bring joy.
Knowledge is a burden if it gives you the idea that you are wise.
Knowledge is a burden if it doesn't set you free.
Knowledge is a burden if it makes you feel you are special.”
88. “Past should be seen as destiny. The future should be seen as free will. This is wisdom. Wise people do like that.”
89. “Wise is the one who learns from another person’s mistakes. Less wise is the one who learns only from his own mistakes. The fool keeps making the same mistakes again and again and never learns from them.”
90. “The universe is one organism. The world is one organism, one living Being and each mind is just a part of that. This is the highest knowledge, and all knowledge has to lead to this universal truth.”
91. “The three Gunas [qualities] happen sattva, rajas, and tamas. These three Gunas come in cycles into our life. When Sattva comes, there is alertness, knowledge, interest, joy, happiness – everything comes. When Rajo Guna comes, there is more desire, feverishness, restlessness, and sadness. When Tamo Guna comes delusion, attachment, lack of knowledge, lethargy – all these come.”
92. “When you wish good for others, good things come back to you. This is the law of nature.”
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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Diverse Quotes – A Selection Of The Best
93. “Creativity can only come from silence. If we maintain two minutes of silence daily, we will see that a whole new dimension of life opens up.”
94. “If you want to make sense, it has to come from silence.”
95. “Infinity means it is permeating all the finite things.”
96. “Calm, quiet, and uniting all the loose ends of your existence. You become the object of your perception.”
97. “If someone blames you directly, do not believe it. Just know that they are taking away your bad karma and let it.”
98. “Discipline in words and speech. Do not speak any word (from your side) that would create turbulence and turmoil in the minds of others. Even if you don’t speak, some people get turbulent. You are not responsible for that, but from your side, do not speak. This is an oath you will take to begin with for the next five days. Do not speak any harsh words. Don’t let any harsh words come out of your mouth to anyone. Do not hurt with your words, for the Divine dwells in every heart.”
99. “Someone who does not have any responsibility can feel very detached, ‘Oh, I am doing nothing. I am free.’ But that freedom has no value. If someone who is responsible for the whole of society, the whole kingdom, can say, ‘I am not doing anything in spite of this responsible job, then that ‘not doing something is great. That is enlightenment.”
100. “I feel it is very important to teach our children and our people how they should handle their negative feelings and emotions such as anger, jealousy, and hatred.”
101. “To someone who is sleeping, it doesn’t matter whether he’s in prison or in a palace. One who is asleep doesn’t even feel the bondage.”
102. “Your comparison with your own performance is better, is healthy, but if you start comparing with others, in all probability, you will feel jealous.”
103. “The intelligent use humor as a shield against humiliation. The cruel use humor as a sword to insult others. The irresponsible use of humor to escape from responsibility. The fool takes humor too seriously! Humor is spontaneous; to make an effort to be humorous makes no sense.”
104. “There is some virtue to be learned from every part of the world — teamwork from Japan, precision from Germany, marketing and negotiation skills from the United States, courtesy, decency, and refinement from the British, and human values from the villages of India.”
105. “More tiring than the work itself is the memory of hard work, just thinking you have worked hard interferes with the quality of rest. Some people take pride in working hard without any results. And there are others who crave a long rest without knowing that true rest is in non-doership. Thinking you need rest makes you restless. Thinking you have to work hard makes you tired. Thinking you have worked hard brings self-pity.”
106. “Grace has the ability to change anything at any time.”
107. “Once you feel jealous, you will justify all your wrong actions because it clouds your discrimination and wisdom.”
108. “Human evolution has two steps –
From being somebody to being nobody;
…and from being nobody to being everybody.
This knowledge can bring sharing and caring throughout the world.”
109. “If people are not inspired from within, it will not be possible to build a good work ethic.”
110. “Science is about learning ‘what something is' and spirituality is about knowing ‘who I am.”
111. “Forgetfulness of the infinite is misery. Forgetfulness of the trivial is ecstasy.”
112. “Always place truth and service before pleasure. Sometimes even committed and one-pointed people avoid the path in pursuit of momentary pleasures.”
113. “Even in moments of utter danger, a person like Mahatma Gandhi remained totally involved in his work.”
114. “Regretting the past is the first sign of ignorance. Anxiety about the future is the second sign of ignorance. And being miserable is a sign of total ignorance. If you are in regret mode, you are on the first step, ‘Vishada Yoga’.”
115. “Dvityadvai bhayam bhavati which means,<< Fear is the result of duality>>.”
116. “Otherwise, every act has something positive and something negative.”
117. “There is a skill to learning. It is all about what is and what is not. While Science is knowing what is, Art is creating what is not.”
118. “Free from feverishness or desires in mind, united with your Being, centered, when you act without expecting something from it, without wanting to grab or take anything, your action becomes perfect and free from blemishes.”
119. “There are people who can go on forgiving themselves, but they are not sincere. So they can be where they are and continue doing the same thing.“
120. “Forget the past. <<Yes, I did something wrong, I am also preparing to do something wrong today, and I’ll continue with something tomorrow.>>”
Which One Is Your Favorite Quote By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar?
As you may have noticed, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has very diverse quotes – covering all areas of life.
And this makes a lot of sense because he has dedicated his life to helping people and transforming the world.
Thus he has delivered speeches and interviews about a variety of topics that can help a person heal their life!
All of his quotes are true pearls of wisdom – they are empowering, inspirational and healing.
If you are a fan of his, we would love to read your opinion in the comment section below and find out which one of these Sri Sri Ravi Shankar quotes you liked best and has inspired you the most!
Alexandra, the head author at Subconscious Servant is a Psychologist, Reiki Therapist, and writer. She loves writing about any topic from Applied Psychology, Metaphysical and Spiritual healing, hoping that people on a spiritual, self-discovery journey will find guidance and light through her articles. If you want to read more about Alexandra, visit her full author bio here.