Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Guruji, very often I get bad dreams. How to get rid of them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Meditate and even before going to bed meditate and listen to some nice chanting, that will help.Q:
When I prepare for my exams I set my goals of what to study and how to study, but I always get distracted and study half the time, what do I do Guruji?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
In-between studies take some time to relax, listen to music. Eat proper food, sometime it is the type of food you eat. Junk food can also block your mind. Have confidence that everything will be okay - this is number one, then prayerfulness - the best will happen to me, and then proper food and rest, pranayam and yoga - all this will help.Q:
How do we follow non-violence when the youth are being killed by the LeT, Maoists and Naxalites?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is a matter of great concern that violence has taken over 300 of 600 districts in this country. It is a serious concern. This is because we have brushed aside all spiritual things. We have been educating people in a system that does not inculcate human values and spirituality. All of you must insist that spirituality takes a front seat in everything.Around 150 saints were born in Tamil Nadu (an Indian state). They have all written many songs, spiritual treatises and books. The education system in Tamil Nadu has removed all this spiritual knowledge from these books. As a result, today, people don’t even know that they are groping in a rootless system. A similar situation is seen in Hyderabad. There were so many saints who would sing the Vedanta – the highest knowledge. All the literature has been bundled aside.
Even in our school – we rarely read about Kabir, Gorakhnath, Meerabai. We read about other things.
If spiritual education is encouraged then Naxalism and Jehadi terrorism will all go away.
Q:
Guruji, what is Patanjali Yoga Sutra?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Patanjali was a Rishi who lived some thousands of years ago. He worked on Ayurveda to reduce the impurities of the body, from the body. To eliminate the impurities he wrote on Ayurveda, his treaties of Ayurveda. Then he wrote on grammer, phonetics. How sound is formed, how form and sound are connected. The meaning the sound and the nature of the object and the connection. All that he made. Nobody can study Sanskrit if you don’t study Patanjali. So Patanjali has written on grammar also. Then Yoga Sutra, he is the one who wrote the Yoga Sutras.Q:
The people of West Bengal are suffering under the CPI government and their ideology since 30 years, it seems to be unending. Can we expect a change at all and how?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Change can happen by educating people. People like you (points to the crowd) do padayatras (walkathons) and educate people. West Bengal is far behind. There’s little industry and business, it has obsolete ideology. Make people aware.Communist China and Russia have changed their course. But in India, it doesn’t change because of lack of awareness. So, create awareness and meditate. Nothing is impossible. If something is impossible, then we can do it!
Q:
You say innocence is a virtue. Aren’t innocent people exploited?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are innocent people who are foolish as well as intelligent people who are cunning.What is desirable is a combination of intelligence with innocence.
Q:
What is emptiness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Emptiness is the doorway between the material and spiritual worlds. It is where you come to understand the nature of the spirit, if you do not know emptiness, then you cannot know the joy of the Being. The knack for experiencing the Being causes emptiness. From the emptiness begins the fullness.On one side of emptiness is misery and on the other side of emptiness is joy.
That is what Buddha said: “The whole world is misery and what is to be achieved is emptiness.
Q:
Guruji, when we are doing our practices kriya and meditation together, are we affected by other people’s negativity and bad karmas?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, no, no, absolutely not. Don’t worry. If you feel like you are getting affected by somebody’s depression or somebody’s negative energy, just say Om NamahShivaya a few times. It’s gone. It can happen. When people are so depressed and are not in proper shape and you meet them you may feel that. How many of you feel that, when you meet very depressed people something happens to your own body, right? Om NamahShivaya, Jai gurudev - it just disappears.Q:
Could you please explain the reason for selecting soghum in long kriya with respect to breathing in and breathing out?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, in Tamil it is difficult. Soghum in Tamil means sadness. In Tamil, there is very little difference between soghum and sohum.It is not soghum, it is sohum.
It is the natural sound of the breath. Sohum. If you deeply observe the breath, you will observe that with every inhalation, there is sohum.
Q:
Guruji, whoever meets me ends up pulling my cheeks, what do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t be tense about it; you must be really cute for everyone to pull your cheeks.