Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Dear Guruji, could you talk about spirits and ghosts, do they exist? How to get rid of them if they start liking you too much?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, it’s like getting into a muddy pond and trying to jump out of it. The more you try to jump out of it you sink into it. So the best thing is just do your sadhana and worry about people around you. Do some service project and get into some service activity. Do your bhajans, singing, all this will take care of everything. Don’t focus your attention on the spirits at all now.Q:
Guruji, is it okay to believe in God and not pray?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, it is okay. You be part of spirituality. That is what is important. See, you are born with some religion. Your name indicates the religion. You will be either cremated or buried. These things, your birth and your death, is determined by your religion. So denying a religion or going with it is all matter of choice. But what I would say is, you be spiritual and when you are here, this knowledge raises you to such a platform that gives you the essence of all religions.Q:
During the World Culture Festival, what did you enjoy most?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Every moment!Q:
How does one move past a broken and abandoned heart? Thank you, love you.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are in the right place. You know what, you must know about your death you must know you are going to die one day. That’s it. The whole drama is going to finish. Where are you? Wake up,wake up. We are all going to be finished one day. Everything is going to finish. Something bothers you too much? It is because you have forgotten you are going to die. Knowledge of death or just an awareness that we are going to die one day, everything is going to be finished, nothing will bother you anymore. Got it?Q:
Guruji, whatever is worth remembering, I forget, and whatever is useless, not worth remembering, my memory always remembers that.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
At least, you understood this. Many people don’t even understand this. Give a pat on your back. Say you have taken first step in the right direction. And it will change. Just a little effort and done. When you analyze the past, you should always come to this conclusion that everything happens for the good, because you learnt a lesson from the wrong things. But you should not apply this for the future. Looking at the past and knowing that everything happens for some good reason, you move on to the future. But if, in the present, you say, ‘ Oh! Everything happens for the good’, that is no good.Q:
Guruji, there are so many mantras. How do we know which mantra is right for me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do Sahaj and whatever mantra your teacher gives you will be appropriate for you.Q:
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Q:
After how many years of sadhana do we get 100 % control over our feelings?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No emotions are bad. But if they stay for long, then it is bad.Emotions should be like a line drawn on the surface of water. It is alright to be angry, but only for a few seconds or a few minutes. But, if it surpasses days and months, it is disastrous.
Q:
If there were a flaw in the Divine, what would it be?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Nobody can find any flaws or perfection in the Divine.Only when you see perfections, do you see flaws. However, the Divine has neither flaws nor perfections. The Divine is nobody. The whole evolution is going from somebody to nobody, and nobody to everybody. In a way, all flaws in the world are present in the Divine, because everybody belongs to the Divine.
Vices, and virtues are only viewpoints. For instance, Lord Krishna is an incarnation of God for Hindus. Yet Jains believe that Lord Krishna is in hell, because he was the cause of the war (Mahabharata). This is just a viewpoint. Sri Ram did not kill Ravana according to Jain tradition. They believe that Ravana was killed by someone else. They have to believe that Lord Ram is completely non-violent.
Many siddhantas (values) are present in us, that’s why we say saguna (with form), and nirguna (without form). In fact, our consciousness has no qualities, and no attributes. We are a combination of these two. When you become nobody from somebody, then negativity will simply leave you. It will no longer be a part of you.
The human system is like an atomic particle. The nucleus is positive, and the circumference is negative. As you go deep, there are no more electrons. This is exactly how every human being is. The scriptures say there is God in the heart of human beings. He manages the whole universe, not sitting somewhere in heaven, but in the heart of every human being. In the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna: ‘The Lord is in all beings, and is present in the space of the heart, my dear Arjuna.’
Q:
Can evil people meditate?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Anyone can meditate. When people meditate, they become good.I don’t see anyone as bad. If they are bad, it is because they do not meditate, or they are badly hurt, or they are deprived of spiritual knowledge. That is why anyone is bad.
Displaying 5241 - 5250 of 7916
Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives.
Read More