17 July 2014 - QA 1

Gurudev, who are you? Are you God? Do you know everything? What is a Guru and why are you a Guru?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Why am I Guru? It just happened by accident. I kept sharing what I knew and people started calling me Guru. That’s how I became a Guru.
What is a Guru? The word coach or guide has come from the word Guru. If you want to play soccer, or go to the gym, or drive a car, you need a coach, don’t you? If you need a coach for simple things like driving or playing soccer, don’t you think you need a coach to delve into some unknown realm of consciousness? Don't you think you need a coach for meditation? Definitely you need one.

Now if you ask me, 'Are you God?' I would say, 'Yes'. I would say, 'You too are God'.
What is meant by God? God is not somebody sitting up in heaven, love is God. What did Jesus say? Love is God. Are you not love? Am I not love? The whole universe is made up of a vibration called love and that is what I am and that is what you are.

So in India we say, mother is the first God, and you must see God in your mother, father, teacher and also in a guest. You must treat your guests as God, because you don’t know in what form God will come to your door step. So don’t see God as some separate entity sitting somewhere in heaven trying to give you a little finger, which if you try to catch, he goes further away. This concept of God has given rise to communism and atheism in the world. If you understand God as energy, as love, as a presence, as a being, as sum of the whole creation, then there can be no atheist left on this planet. This is a scientific way of seeing what God is.
God is Love, can anyone deny love from existence? Can someone say love doesn’t exist? If they do, they are blind. They don’t know.
So first you should know what God is. God is not a person with too many legs and too many hands sitting up in heaven. A man with a long beard, no. The concept of God is what has created lots of problems in the world and divided people into religions and sects.

We should always think scientifically. If you see scientifically, we are all made up of one thing and that is God. That’s why the ancient people all over the world including Canada always felt that God is in the mountains, trees, rivers. The native people of this country believed that God is present in nature, in the directions, in mountains and rivers, and they are right.

The ancient Vedic system also says that God is present in the creation, just like how oil is present in the sesame seed. So see God everywhere. If you see God within oneself, you will see God everywhere.
A Guru is one who helps you find God in yourself and in everyone.