SRI SRI PUBLICATIONS - The Art of Being You

25 Ways To Improve Your Life
Ayodhaya War & Peace
Ayurveda & Breath
Ashtavakra Geeta
Bang On The Door
Celebrating Love
Celebrating Silence
Creation - srishti Vignana
Enlightenment
God Loves Fun
Guru Of Joy
Historical Rama
Intimate Note To Sincere Seeker
Know Your Mind
Know Your Child
Lalitha
Living Values
Narad Bhakti Sutra
Now What?
Patanjali Yoga Sutra
Punarnava
Quotes From Sri Sri
Ramayana In Lanka
Satsang
Satwa The Ayurvedic Cook Book
Shiva Sutra
Spirituality
Sri Sri As I Know Him
Sri Sri Yoga Basic Practice Manual
Tales For Young & Old
Tejasvini
Timeless Wisdom
Trapped In Freedom
Understanding Shiva
Vedic Mathematics
Walking The Path
Waves Of Emotions
Wisdom For The New Millennium
Wonder
Yogasara Upanishad
You Turn India

Judith Clark has patiently gathered the teachings of the living master, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and lovingly organized, amplified, and celebrated them. The result is a treasure of uplifting insight and inspiration, filled with practical answers to the questions of life and spirit. Her gift is that she has made his wisdom so accessible to us, so able to soothe, reassure, and enliven us. This is a book to be kept close at hand and dipped in regularly, a book as refreshing as a spring breeze.

PETER STRANGER, Communications Executive and Environmental Activist

This surprisingly practical book reminds us that peace and strength are found within. It calms the mind and refreshes the soul. Pick it up, put it down and return to it oftenit is a wellspring of helpful hints for living in our modern-day world.

SCOTT SQUILLACE, Founder, Squillace & Associates, P.C.

This is not the kind of book I usually read, but when, by chance, I did pick it up, I read it straight through. There is something wonderful on every page.

ALAN HEBEL, Founder, the Book Designers

Judith Clark has created a wonderfully accessible book presenting the life teachings of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. These teachings move beyond the boundaries of our separate faith traditions into a deep understanding that even as we all belong to God, so are we all in the process of journeying more deeply into God. This book is a gift which will help the reader do just thatsimply, joyfully and peacefully.

ALICE MINDRUM, Episcopal Priest

Illuminating and inspiring. The Art Of Being You is a profound yet accessible discourse on consciousness, and an invaluable guide on how to live the best life.

EILEEN GREGORY, Co-Founder of Innergy, Documentary Filmmaker

Dont miss this bookit will make every day a better day.

AUSTIN MYERS, Motion Picture Costume Designer

THE ART OF BEING YOU

COMING HOME TO THE LOVE, JOY AND PEACE THAT YOU ARE

A PRESENTATION OF THE WORDS AND WISDOM OF

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
By
Judith Clark

SRI SRI PUBLICATIONS TRUST

The Art of Being You

1st Edition: October 2011

Copyright 2011 All rights reserved.

ePub Converted by Verse Innovation Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage orretrieval system without prior permission in written form from the publisher.

eISBN: 978 9 351 06639 2

Sri Sri Publications Trust,
The Art of Living International Centre,
21st km, Kanakapura Road, Udayapura, Bangalore - 560 082
Phone: 080-32722473
Email:
Website:

For Addison, Jared and Nathaniel, and all the children of the world.

M y deep appreciation to those who have supported the creation of this book from its beginning: Katherine, John and Chandler Clark; Peter and Camille Stranger; John Osborne; my friends and spiritual companions at St. Marys of the Harbor; and Birjoo Vaishnav. My appreciation also goes to Mary Gates and Janet Reinhart for their contributions to the text, to Terry Hiller and Hal Zina Bennett for their editorial counsel, and to Rejean FaFard and Patrick Milot, who recorded many of the words in this book. And lastly, my unbounded gratitude goes to His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who has graced my life with his presence, wisdom and love.

Judith Clark

The object of spiritual life is to be amazed, to say, Wow! and wake up to the fullness of life here and now.

SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR

by Judith Clark

S ome twenty years ago, at a time when few people in the United States or in the world knew who Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was, he offered to come to my home in Connecticut and gave a talk. I gathered some friends in my living room that evening to listen to him. When he had spoken for a while, he asked if anyone had a question. I did.

He had been explaining the importance of being with your feelings and that greatly troubled me. I was in psychotherapy at the time, where the guiding principle was Be With Your Feelings, but I had found that some feelings were too big and too overwhelming to allow in. I could not sit with them (I had tried!) and I did not want to. Now His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was sitting on my living room sofa and saying, Be with your feelings. When he asked if there were any questions, I raised my hand.

What if that is hard to do? I askedputting it mildly. He responded by explaininghow to sit with feelings and go fully through themexactly what I did not want to hear.

I was reluctant to press my point, but inside my question was still burning.

Sri Sri talked some more and then asked, Are there any other questions? Without a pause, he added, Judy has a question. He knew! Emboldened, I restated my question. What if the feelings are so powerful frightening actually that you cannot let them in?

He countered my question with another question: How did you feel at that time?

As I thought about that, the feeling itself came back and, to my own surprise, I heard myself say, Helpless.

The feeling of helplessness is the beginning of true prayer, he replied with a gentle smile.

The unexpected words brought a rush of relief. Helplessness was not the dead end as I had seen it to be, but a beginning place, a place where, I came to find, I had little to fear.

This book is based on the surprising wisdom offered by a man who walked into my life, without a context for me to put him in. His very figureflowing white robes banded with gold trim, sandals, long black hair and beardmade him appear different from me and from anyone else I knew. Yet he reflected back to me a sense of myself that had been missing for a very long time.

As the time passed I found myself being led, through his words and his presence, to look at a great heart and find there the possibilities for my own. All that you see in me, you will find in yourself also, he would say.

What began with words had expanded in experience. The breathing practices and meditation that he taught led me to a growing sense of wonder and the familiarity of inner quietness, even to moments of transcending name, time and place, and to feel happy for no reason.

HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE

Sri Sri (as he is known) speaks somewhere in the world almost every day. It was my good fortune to hear many of his first talks, and, because he asked me to edit some of them, I had a reason to go over his words again and again. Those are words that have transformed the way I see myself and others, words that offer the possibility of peace to each one of us and to this troubled world. Because they have opened my heart and changed me, and because Sri Sri has asked me to, I have gathered his words together and created this book. I have provided transitions and examples where needed, but the words are basically his; an offering of wisdom that joins a long line of ancient sages who came before him.