Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
How does the Divine look so lovable and beautiful?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Look within yourself, you are no less!Jaisa drishti, waisa srithti. Jaisa nazar waisa nazaare, nazariya. As is the vision, so is the world. Only a jeweler can know a jewel. Only the one who is beautiful can recognize beauty. Only those who are lovable will recognize love not everyone. But everyone has the capacity. If everyone recognizes what is within (the love and beauty) then the whole world seems Satyam, Shivam Sundaram. In the whole world the blissful consciousness will be seen.
Q:
How are we connected to the five elements?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Wherever we go, we are all connected!The earth and body connects us all.
Water connects everything. Air is everywhere. One can’t say, 'This is my air'.
And we are all connected in space.
*(A breathing technique taught in the Art of Living course.)
Q:
Guruji in your weekly knowledge you have said never to have an ambition. Will you please comment on that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I haven’t said like that. Be ambitious but don’t be over ambitious.Q:
If somebody does not like their name, is it OK to change it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Change. So what? (laughter) It´s like changing the clothes. Last question.Q:
How to live without expectations?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you know that joy from expectations is lesser than unexpected joy, that is sufficient. You need not try to achieve this, it happens effortlessly.Q:
The days, I don’t do my spiritual practices, I ask God for forgiveness. Is it okay?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, yes. Do only as much as you can do. In the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna: “Practice as much as possible, and if you can’t, then do my work. If you can’t do that, then feel that you are one with Me. Then drop the fruits of your actions, and relax.”Q:
Even though I do regular sadhana, many times I get feverish about things. How to deal with this feverishness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are feverish to get rid of feverishness will become a big hindrance. When you feel feverish, accept it. Your accepting feverishness itself will bring the calming effect. Otherwise, you are feverish to get rid of feverishness, will roll into a chain reaction of feverishness. Accept life in its totality and that is the way to be centred. Once you are centred, you are the source of creativity. You will be the source of happiness, joy and love.Q:
How do we overcome constant aimless feelings even though you’re focused?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Check to see how aimless your life was before knowledge. When you do so, you’ll realize that knowledge has transformed your life. Superfluous interest in knowledge will make your life aimless. With deeper interest in knowledge you’ll find life is so purposeful. If you think “what about me, what about me”, life is useless, you may as well put it in garbage. Knowledge gives life direction – then you find life is so purposeful.Q:
It must have taken Krishna three hours to give the knowledge of The Bhagwad Geeta to Arjuna. What were the others doing all this while?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is said that it took a lot of time to recite The Bhagwad Geeta but what Krishna told Arjuna while giving the knowledge of The Geeta, for that it did not take that long. He gave the knowledge through his vision (drishti) and it started manifesting within Arjuna. Time is unbounded. To recall what you did in the last five years, won't take you five years. It will take you less than half an hour.Similarly, there is no time in consciousness.
The knowledge in our consciousness is beyond time. So to recall and remember that, does not require time.
Q:
People try and hamper my faith by saying that we become what we think of. So, if we worship Krishna, we will become a thief and worshipping Ganesha would make us like an elephant. How do I respond to them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Giving knowledge to an ignorant person is a skill.There are many forms for one Divine. Really, any Divine form is light. Form is a symbol. Lord Krishna is the blissful consciousness. According to this argument, those who worship Jesus would have to die at the cross! This is all kutarka, wrong logic - better not indulge in this.