The American financier and interviewer David Rubenstein — by his own admission, not a meditator — asks Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar what breathing actually does, why Thomas Jefferson never explained how to be happy, and how a physics graduate ended up teaching meditation at his own job interview.
On What Breathing Actually Does
Rubenstein: When did you first realise how important breathing was? And tell me the secret of breathing, because I’m probably not a good breather.
Gurudev: We all breathe. Everyone breathes. But there is a certain rhythm in the breath. If you observe, for every emotion there is a particular rhythm in the breath pattern. It was in 1981 that I discovered there is a different pattern for different emotions, and different states of mind. Only in theatre college do they teach you a little about how to breathe when you want to express anger, or love, or compassion. Other than that, it is a highly guarded secret.
Rubenstein: Suppose I don’t really know how to breathe. How long does it take to learn?
Gurudev: A couple of days to learn the different patterns.
Rubenstein: And when people learn to breathe better, what do you find?
Gurudev: They are calmer. More focused, more mindful, and more energetic, all the more.
Rubenstein: I’m a person under a lot of stress. Some people say a little stress is good for you. Do you?
Gurudev: A little stress occasionally is fine. But on a daily basis, no. It takes a toll on your health.
On Why a Non-Meditator Should Meditate
Rubenstein: I have never meditated. People tell me I should, but I never have. So tell me why I should — why is it going to make my life better?
Gurudev: First of all, you want to be more energetic. And you want the fog in the mind that happens so often when we are tired to go away. You want clarity in your perception. That can happen through meditation. Today there are more than a hundred benefits of meditation that scientists have come up with. It boosts your immune system. It gives you good deep sleep. It helps you control the stress hormones in the system. And it brings natural happiness from within you.
Rubenstein: How long does it take to learn?
Gurudev: An hour or two a day for three or four days. Then you can be on your own.
Rubenstein: And you do it every day?
Gurudev: Preferably every day. Twenty minutes. Ten minutes.
On the Pursuit of Happiness
Rubenstein: In our country, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that part of life is the pursuit of happiness. But he never defined how one achieves it. In your view, how does one achieve happiness?
Gurudev: The key to happiness is to keep stress at bay. Second, communicate better — with your surroundings, with your people. Third, have a mission in life, to do some service to the world you are in, the society you are in. If you are just sitting and thinking “what about me,” it is not going to make you happy.
Rubenstein: So would you regard yourself as a happy person?
Gurudev: Of course. And that’s all I could teach.
“If you are just sitting and thinking “what about me,” it is not going to make you happy.”
On Becoming a Teacher by Accident
Rubenstein: You took a degree in physics. Did you want to be a physicist?
Gurudev: I love physics, and I love astronomy. So I’m a science graduate, basically.
Rubenstein: When you graduated, you didn’t go and get a regular job. How did you get out of that?
Gurudev: It was very natural for me. I went to a job interview — but I ended up teaching them meditation.
Rubenstein: Did your parents say, please get a real job?
Gurudev: They found that what I was doing was very good. They supported me always.
Rubenstein: In those days there was no YouTube, no social media. How did people hear about you?
Gurudev: I started teaching this breathing technique, and my first batch of students were about eight doctors from the town I was in, in the south of India. They loved it so much that they told their friends, their patients. In the beginning we called it the healing breath workshop, because people found a lot of healing happening through those two-day seminars.
“I went to a job interview — but I ended up teaching them meditation.”
On Sitting Down With People Who Are Fighting
Rubenstein: You spend a lot of time trying to get countries to cooperate and not fight. How did you get into mediating these disputes?
Gurudev: There are different ethnic groups who fight. In India we had the Leninist-Marxist group — what used to be called the red terror. We have been having dialogue with them, bringing a change of mindset. And one of the most successful was the FARC, in Colombia.
Rubenstein: If President Trump called you up and said, look, I can’t solve Gaza or Ukraine myself, got any good ideas — what would you tell him?
Gurudev: I would not prepare something in the mind. I would see at that moment, spontaneously — whatever idea comes to me, I will bring it up.
On a Life With No Off Switch
Rubenstein: How many presentations do you make in a typical year?
Gurudev: You don’t want to know. Usually 260, 270 seminars every year.
Rubenstein: That’s a lot. Don’t you ever get tired?
Gurudev: I know the formula. If I get tired, I know what I should do.
Rubenstein: Sleep experts say you need eight hours a night. Do you?
Gurudev: Three to four hours.
Rubenstein: Do you ever take time off?
Gurudev: I take a week of silence every year.
Rubenstein: Where do you go for that?
Gurudev: I stay wherever I am. I just keep silence. That’s all.
“I stay wherever I am. I just keep silence. That’s all.”
On What He Would Say to the World
Rubenstein: Somebody watching this is a follower of yours. What is the main message you would want to convey?
Gurudev: I would say, have a vision in life for yourself. A violence-free society, a stress-free society, a disease-free body, a confusion-free mind, an inhibition-free intellect, a trauma-free memory, a sorrow-free soul. Today there is a lot of loneliness that people are undergoing. To get rid of loneliness is coming out and knowing that there are people around you who love you, who care for you — having that community feeling with everybody. Instead of sitting and brooding over the past, or being anxious about the future, see what you can contribute, and bring more positivity into the atmosphere.
