Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri: I’d like you to keep guessing.

Sri Sri: First you have to understand that everything is made up of one thing. Is there air around us? Do you have to constantly remind yourself that there is air? No, isn’t it? But you believe it? Yes!
Where is air? It is present in the space all around you, isn’t it?
Do you believe that the Earth revolves around the sun? How do you know that? Have you ever seen the Earth revolve around the Sun by yourself? (Ans: No Gurudev, I have just felt it.)
Correct, so you just heard and believed that, isn’t it?
Similarly, people say that man landed on the moon. They said somebody went there, and they just show us the pictures and we believe in it by simply looking at the pictures. Similarly, when you see pictures of Lord Krishna you believe that he did exist, right?
So there are some things you should know, and some things to just take for granted to be true. Just move ahead and embrace everyone with love. That is it!

Sri Sri: See, our senses are naturally outgoing. The natural tendency, when you wake up from sleep is, the eyes want to see, the ears want to hear, the nose wants to smell, the skin wants to touch, and the tongue wants to taste. So, the natural tendency of the senses is to go outwards, and enjoy the whole creation. But the ability of the senses to enjoy is limited. Today we went to the park and the scenery was beautiful, but for how long are you going to watch the beautiful scenery?
The desire to enjoy through the senses first comes in the mind, but the capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited. Suppose you love pudding, or apple-pie; how much can you eat? One piece, two pieces, three servings? By the time you have the third serving, the same thing that was giving you pleasure, becomes painful. This is because our ability to enjoy is limited to our senses. Often one finds this imbalance – of the mind wanting more but the senses not having the capacity to enjoy.
There can be three situations:
1. Things are not available; the mind wants to have food but it is not available
2. Food is available but there is no desire in the mind to enjoy it
3. There is desire in the mind, food is also available, but the senses are not capable of enjoying it Do you see these three situations? A gentleman came to me and said, ‘Gurudev, I am 50 years old and I am looking for a relationship, but I am not finding the right person.’
I said, ‘Wait, and look for another 20 years!’
If you are so choosy about it, and keep looking for something, then when you get it also, you don’t enjoy it. Why? This is because your mind is not there. There is an imbalance between the things that are available, the attitude in the mind, and the ability of the senses; all these have to match. Only then are you able to enjoy anything in the planet. The feverishness in the mind, the availability of the goods, and the strength of the senses, they all often don’t match. Now suppose everything is available. You are hungry, you want to have food, and you can enjoy it, but even that is momentary. It stays for a few moments and then again, you are back to square one. This is how things are! And what does it cause? Frustration!
A desire fulfilled causes frustration, a desire unfulfilled also causes frustration. What do we need to do? What is the answer?
The answer is to look inside. Go to the source of happiness, from where joy comes. When you go to the source of happiness, the senses are strengthened, contentment comes to the mind, and things become available the way you want them. All three happen when the senses are turned inwards, and that inward turning of senses is called dispassion. We need three things in life, Dispassion, Passion and Compassion. Often, we think dispassion is being so dull, boring, and uninteresting; that is how these so-called dispassionate people are, lifeless. No, that is not dispassion. To me, dispassion is that which is full of life, full of enthusiasm.
There is an old saying in Sanskrit, ‘What pleasure, what joy is there that dispassion will not bring to you?’
This means that dispassion will bring to you all the joy that you would ever want in life. You need passion. Your breathing in is passion, your breathing out is dispassion, and in between is compassion.
If you have only passion, you get burnt out and frustrated. People who have too much passion, they do things and get burnt out. Do you know why? It is because they are holding onto it. They put their heart and soul into it. They put so much strain, and still they don’t get anything in their hands. That is a sorry state of affairs.
This can change with dispassion, and that is why dispassion will make a big difference.
So, passion when you work, dispassion when you turn inward, and compassion all the time, is the key.

Sri Sri: Know that it is a test for your love to be unconditional. They are giving you an opportunity to be unconditionally in love. You can use it for your benefit to become stronger and grow in love, or you can get upset, angry, frustrated and jealous.
What would you prefer? To grow in jealousy and get all those jealous feelings inside of you; feel bad, upset and spoil your vibrations, or to be happy for someone else, wish the best for the person you love!
I know the second option is difficult, but the first is not easy either. It is even more difficult to bear the jealousy and walk around with it, isn’t it? Think about it.
Anyways, life is short. Everything is going to finish one day. Think about it, you will have more peace.
Whenever anything disturbs you, you feel injustice, uncomfortable, or you feel you can’t sleep or can’t handle it, remember it is all going to end! Everything is going to finish, and you will be gone from here. You will be able to sleep well. Again, this is dispassion.

Sri Sri: See, the Shastras (scriptures) nowhere insist on a strict practice of maintaining cleanliness and purity. We need to understand the deeper meaning behind this. Two types of cleanliness are there. We have the maintain Antahashuchi (cleanliness from within) and Bahirangashuchi (cleanliness of the surroundings).
So these are the two that we have to maintain. But people have interpreted this differently and made it complicated over time, and some have become very strict about it. That is why I say, just by chanting Narayana, all your negativity gets washed off and you are cleansed. Have you understood? That is why we chant, ‘Apavitra Pavitrova Sarvaavasthangatopiva Yasmaret Pundarikaksham Sabahyaa-bhyantaraha Shuchihi’. This means, one who meditates upon Narayana, the all-pervading divine Consciousness is immediately cleansed from outside and within.
So tell this to your mother that it is enough if we just chant, ‘Pundarikaksha Punatumaam’.
By doing this all will be cleansed, both internally and externally.
Have you understood? And why are you getting depressed because you mother is asking you to maintain cleanliness. She is doing what she knows is best. Understood?
Don’t think that she does not love you. Each person has different ways of showering their love to you. You shower love on everybody. You should have a big heart to accommodate everyone. Love should not be conditional. If it is conditional, then you will get depressed. Just keep loving everybody, everything will keep happening in its own way. No mother can ever be without loving her child. You have to understand this, that is all. Your mother is also feeling bad that her own daughter does not understand her. Just accept her as she is. Be with love and compassion towards your mother. Let her maintain whatever cleanliness and other practices that she wishes.

Sri Sri: Vedanta is pure Quantum Physics.
What Vedanta says, or the knowledge from the Vedas say is, the entire creation is made up of only one thing, there is no two. And that is exactly what Quantum Physics says, everything is a wave function. Thus, what appears to be different, it only appears to be different, but in reality, it is all only one. One of the top physicists of the world today spoke at the Bangalore ashram. He said, ‘I studied matter for 40 years, only to discover that it does not exist. It is not there!’ He used to say, ‘When I speak, people think I am speaking some ancient philosophy, which is correct, because all this is nothing! This is what spiritual knowledge says, that everything is nothing, and nothing is everything.’
Your meditation is an appointment with nothing!

Sri Sri: Rishi Kapila lived in California. That is how the name California has come. Kapilaranea is the Vedic name of California. At one point of time, Vedic knowledge was prevalent in all of South America and North America. In the scriptures, it is said, the time difference between Kapilaranea and India is 12 hours. When it is day there, it will be night here, and vice-versa; that exactly fits California, which is called Kapilaranea. Kapila was the son of a lady called Devahuti. Today’s Detroit has some connection with Devahuti, and that is where Detroit gets its name from – Devahuti. Devahuti’s son, Kapilaranea, lived in California. He was the previous incarnation of Lord Krishna. He is the founder of the philosophy called Sankhya Darshana. Sankhya means counting the different elements and principles that the whole universe is made up of, i.e., Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, Mind, Intellect, etc. Like that, 24 different tatvas or principles are present in his philosophy, which is why it is called Sankhya Yoga.
He speaks about how consciousness and matter are different, and the relationship between consciousness and matter is discussed in detail. The second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita also is called Sankhya Yoga, where Lord Krishna speaks about how the mind and the spirit are different from matter, and self is immortal. This knowledge of self is given.

Sri Sri: See, what do you have to surrender? You will not surrender something that is good. You do not have to surrender love. You do not need to surrender truth. So what will you surrender?
You surrender your bad habits, your problems, stress and all that which troubles your heart. That is what you are asked to do – drop your problems. What does God ask of you? He will not ask you to give up your comfort. God is the very manifestation of all that is good. So what will he gain by asking you to give up the little happiness that you have? He is the ocean of love, so what will he do with a little love that you have?
What is it that God does not have? He does not have problems, miseries and difficulties; and that is what he asks you to give him. Can you not give this to him? So surrender all your negative qualities to him. No one will ever ask you to surrender your good virtues. You surrender your pride and negative qualities to him. By surrendering to him, you become so light.
So this is a process to help you feel light from inside. Surrender all that which you do not want. Why are you still holding on to it? This is what surrender is. By doing this, you return to your true nature, your true form. And what is your true nature? It is love, happiness and contentment. To come back to your true nature is what Samadhi really is.
That is why it is said, ‘Samadhi Siddhau Eshwari Pranidhanath’. By surrendering to God, one naturally attains the state of Samadhi. This is what has been said in the scriptures.

Sri Sri: That is a good question. Today there was a bomb blast in Bangalore and Boston. This is intolerance; the culture of non-violence is missing. That is why we all have to do our work. Don’t you think so? Shall we all together do some work? In India also, unfortunately, the politicians have spoilt this situation. Instead of providing general education to people, they encourage communal-based educational institutions, which only nurture such extremism. It is so unfortunate.
This kind of religious extremism has to end, otherwise the world will not be a safe place. Respect every religion, honor everybody. You don’t have to say that only my way is the way to God, everyone else is going to hell, only I go to heaven.
These kind of people create hell for everybody else. These are the people who think they are doing service to God by eliminating the not-religious. This is so unfortunate. Children need to be educated. Otherwise, they grow up thinking only this is the truth, that everybody else are non-believers, and they don’t have right to exist. This type of mindset is dangerous.
How many of you think this is the problem? We need to change this mindset, bring in a broad spectrum of understanding, and we all have to work for it. As we are speaking, there is a program happening in Iraq. The Health Minister and Sports Ministers came, inaugurated our course in Iraq that the youth organized.
Today, they did the second Sudarshan Kriya, and there has been a complete transformation in their understanding. These youth now want to reach out to the public, make them undergo yoga, meditation, and Sudarshan Kriya. This is very good news. We have to do this; we have to reach out to more people.