5 March 2015 - QA 7

Gurudev, how does knowledge of substances lead to enlightenment? Are all physicists enlightened?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You know, a scientist once told me, 'Gurudev, for 40 years I have studied matter just to realize that it doesn’t exist'.
The one thing that exists in the world is waves, which appears to be matter. If you are a quantum physicist, you know this truth. And he also said, 'When I speak, people think I am preaching Buddhism or speaking of the Vedanta'.
I said, 'Yes because the Vedanta says that the whole universe is made up of just one thing. And that’s what Buddhism also says: All this is nothing'.
This is called the heart sutra, i.e., everything is nothing which is exactly what a physicist says.

We will go into all those philosophical things another time. It is very stimulating, fascinating and interesting for our intellect. But right now let's keep in mind this simple thing, that is, the motto of Art of Living is to realize that life is a celebration, and the whole world is one family.
Now how can this celebration happen? With knowledge! Without knowledge it is impossible.