Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
What is difference between accepting people as they are and labeling them as they are?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You tell me the answer. If you really want an answer then sit and think about it. If in your mind this question has arisen, the answer will also come. You have some notion of acceptance in your mind and some other notion of labeling. That’s why you are using two different words. You won’t ask the difference between ‘Kela’ (banana in Hindi) and ‘Banana’. When we ask the difference we already know what that difference is. You already know in your mind and a little introspection will give you the answer.Q:
I do seva for the society by organizing courses and I sometimes fail to do my home duties. In that case, my parents scold me saying, I am not taking care of home. Should I take care of the society or home? What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Your know, how to ride bicycle? How do you balance? Like that, you have to do both and balance the duties.Q:
Guruji, they say the recipe for depression is to only think about oneself. But at the start of Mahabharata war, Arjuna was thinking about others, yet he was depressed. Please explain.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, the mantra for depression is - “What about me, what about me”. And Arjuna was thinking how he could do the work which he was supposed to do, and what people would think of him. It was again about himself only. It is not just thinking about oneself, but your other different attachments and lack of understanding can also lead to depression. But one sure technique to get depressed is- Just sitting, doing nothing and thinking, ‘what about me, what about me, what will happen to me?’ You are sure to get depressed this way!Q:
You told that God can be experienced in a state of effortlessness. What does it mean to be effortless?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: Being effortless does not mean stop eating, drinking or doing other work. This has a deeper meaning. Keep on doing all your work, and while doing your work, know inside you that you are doing nothing. In the beginning, you sit for some time and experience that you are doing nothing. Then you will start experiencing that even you are doing but there is a field in you which is not doing anything. Ancient sages had beautifully explained this. There are two birds sitting on the same tree. One is eating and the other is only witnessing this. In the above context, it is the free bird which is being discussed, the bird which is effortlessly witnessing. Pay attention to that also. The two birds are friends. They live together. One is always witnessing and other is involved in all the work. Effortlessness does not mean sitting idle. Lord Sri Krishna said in Geeta that you cannot be without doing any action even for a second. Keep on doing your karma and at the same time be the witness of your karma. This is very deep knowledge.After the session a book was released – Understanding Shiva. While launching the book Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told that the book also included a scientific perspective of all pervading Shiva tattva.Q:
When you say lets stop the world for an hour, for 10 days. What do you mean by that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Stopping our mind, stopping the racing mind. It is always thinking about the past or it is always thinking about the future. We are angry about the past or anxious about the future. To take a fresh look at the world, the situation, you need to wake up and see, - as Mahatma Gandhi used to say never look back. He would say lets see what we should do now and for the future. That gives a lot of energy, encouragement, enthusiasm, and lifts you up from the ashes even though there are ashes around you.Q:
How does one balance between professional life and spiritual life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know how to ride bicycle or motor bike? How do you balance? You just do it.Q:
Is it humanly possible to love the Divine as much as the Divine loves me? I want to love the Divine more and more but this stupid ego, mind and body get in the way. How to stop it from coming in the way?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The nature of love is such that it always feels it is not enough, not sufficient. In love, you will never feel that’s it, enough is enough. When you are in love you think you should do more, give more and love more. That sense of wanting more, that sense of in-completion. That’s why love is infinite. Infinite has no end, no boundary - more and more, never bored. Boredom means boundary.Q:
How do we stop depression?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Doing pranayama (stress elimination breath techniques) and yoga regularly. Stop thinking about yourself only, “Oh, what about me?” This is a technique to get depressed, if anyone wants to get depressed they should only have one question, “What about me?” Come on. Think about the world, about other people around you, what you can do for the world. You have a big picture around you about what you can do, then depression will run away from you. So two things:1. Is to do your practices and
2. Is set up a goal for yourself, do something in the world that would be useful to many more.
Q:
Is astrology a science?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, definitely astrology is a science yet that doesn’t mean all astrologers are scientists. (Laughs)Q:
Can you throw some light on Bhakti Yoga?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you sit in the Ganga aarti in the evening, you will find everybody singing so beautifully and a wave of devotion. Bhakti yoga is seeing the Divine as mine and oneself as belonging to the Divine, and all that exists belongs to the Divine.