Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Is knowledge born out of meditation or is meditation born out of knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The knowledge which is born out of meditation is authentic knowledge. Even astrologers and astronomers experience good meditation. They think about stars, galaxies and about quantum physics and they go into deep meditation. From knowledge, meditation is born. Both – knowledge and meditation - give birth to bhakti (devotion). If you do meditation, a fountain of devotion flows in your heart. Bhakti also rises in the heart of the knowledgeable person. They all are one. They seem to be different only from the surface.Q:
First, there was silence. Then an impulse came and manifested as word. Please tell us the mechanism by which yesterday’s impulse becomes today’s thought.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Have you all heard about Anadi and Anant? That which has no beginning, nor an end. Nobody knows when it started. It is present from millions of years. If we don’t know how it started, how can we know when it will end? Children often ask, ‘What is above this sky? How far does the sky go? We want to go above this sky.’ They speak this in ignorance. They say that this sky is a curtain and we want to see beyond it. Sky is ananta. It has no end.Q:
What is your suggestion for those who want to concur the world through a sharp intellect?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, you sharpen your intellect but don’t think that you can drink through the eyes. You can only see through the eyes. You cannot drink thought the nose or ears. Similarly, you can know of the Divine and satisfy your intellect. However, if understood through the intellect that there is no God, then you will not get the experience. Can you listen to music though the eyes?Like every sense organ has its own function, God can only be known through the heart. What is beyond intelligence is only Divine. However sharpen your intellect to become silent, sharp and talented.
Q:
What should I do to come in God’s most wanted or the top 10 list of people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The desire to be in the top ten along with seva is good enough to keep you on the right path. This is healthy competition. We should have such competition.Q:
How to develop mastery over hunger and sleep?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Rise above them naturally; not by force. Hunger and sleep are the dharma of the body. Don’t enforce limitations upon yourself. Integrate knowledge into your life. Study the Bhagvad Gita.Q:
I’ve heard your talk on the Ashtavakra Gita (the conversation between Sage Ashtavakra and King Janaka on the knowledge of the Supreme Self). When King Janaka explains Aho! In wonderment, what was the reason? How can I achieve the same state of wonderment?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When Ashtavakra imparted the knowledge to King Janaka, wonder arose in him. Aho! He wondered, ‘How did I not recognize this truth for so long!’Once he realized this truth, he said, ‘Salutations to myself!’ Namo mahyam! The transforming experience that ‘I am the paramatma, the Divine consciousness' came to him.
The knowledge dawned that there is no difference between myself and the Divine consciousness which is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.
Leaving behind the limited mind and being established in the infinite consciousness is the Ashtavakra Gita.
We search for the Divine everywhere except within us. The process of puja or worship is to lead us from the external world to within. The highest expression of puja is meditation. In puja, we use and honor the five elements which form the basis of this creation and we honor ourselves as well.
When we do achamanam or offering of oblations, we offer water to kesava, the Divine within us. Each process in the puja leads us within.
When you go to sleep at night, think that the Divine is within me, ‘Salutations to the Divine in my heart!’ Meditate upon this, and then go to sleep. Then see how the quality of your sleep is!
There is no difference between the Guru, the Self and the Divine. Antarmukhi sada sukhi - He who perceives the Divinity within, whose mind is turned inward, is always happy.
The Divine consciousness is not limited like the body but is present everywhere like the space.
Honoring this divine consciousness is the Ashtavakra Gita.
Q:
After experiencing happiness and laughter in life, what else does a person need to ask for?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is meaningless to ask, ‘What should I desire?’ Desires arise by themselves based on the need of the hour. To desire a desire is impossible.Desires are not bad. However, we need to see that the desires are not in opposition to viveka (the power to discriminate between truth and untruth, dharma (righteousness) and adharma etc).
In the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna says, ‘I am those desires that uphold dharma.’
Viveka gives you the awareness to save yourself (from desires that do not uphold dharma). It is necessary to awaken viveka within us. Do not try to suppress desires, awaken viveka in you. Through viveka, there is a transformation in the quality of desires that arise in us.
Q:
How can I decide which actions will give me happiness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Those actions which may seem to bring short term unhappiness yet bring long term happiness are good. Those that seem to bring short term benefits but bring long term misery are bad.Q:
When I met you recently at the end of my first advanced meditation program that I took, here in the ashram. I didn’t feel that I was meeting you for the first time.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is how it is! Our connection to Divine love is ancient! Whenever I meet you I never feel that it is the first time. I have known you from Lifetimes. The heart searches for the old. That’s why it is said that friendships are old. The mind searches for something new - latest trends, what is new today?Both are required.
The joy of being established is the self is nit nutan, eternal and new.
Q:
Who am I? Who is the Master?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First ask yourself, ‘Who am I?’ Until you find the answer to this, there is no way to even begin to understand the Master.
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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.
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