Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, when you feel tired of the run, then a quest for the higher growth rises. You are fortunate that you can see there is something more to all this.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You chop off some leaves and branches of plants. Don’t you prune rose plant? Does it die by pruning? It grows up. Same way nature brings all this from a bigger picture.
It is not always that ripe fruits fall from a coconut tree. Sometimes even small coconut drops off. Baby fishes are also swollen by big fishes in an ocean. So, these natural calamities are all part of the nature. If we exploit nature too much, more natural calamities occur. We are putting dynamites in the Earth. We are blasting it every day. Imbalance gets created and so Earth starts shaking. Sustainable development is what is needed today. We need to care for the planet.
Nature moves with the law. God means a rule, a law. Everything goes by that. This planet Earth has to be protected and cared for. One is natural calamity. Another is man-made calamity. Man-made calamities can always be avoided. People are not valuing human life for a little piece of gold. Human values need to be brought back into society.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Pick up good things like cleanliness and following the rules from the Western society. Western Civilization has such cleanliness and the sense of following rules. Learn the Human values from the East. Every country or tradition has something good to offer. We need to learn hospitality from the Japanese, precision from Germans, etiquette from the English and marketing from America and from India, human values.
We can also learn, what not to learn or what to unlearn? Too much formality! At some places, the mother has to take permission to go to her daughter, or the daughter has to take appointment from the mother. This has started to happen somewhere in urban society here also. The naturalness, sense of belongingness is disappearing from the society. That has given rise to depression and other disorders in so many countries in the west. There is such a sense of belongingness and human values even in a village in the east, and that is to be maintained.
How do I know if I am doing the right job?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you had a million dollars in your bank and would still do what you are doing, then that means you are in the right place. - Contributed By Yes Plus Teachers
People around me feel jealous due to my good performance. Please suggest what I should do in these circumstances?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ok! About jealousy! Just join hands with them or praise them. Another thing that you can do is not to take any notice of their jealousy at all. - Contributed By Yes Plus Teachers
How to choose right career path?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Identifying your energy type is the most important. There are 3 energy types, predominance in creativity, sustenance or challenge facing ability. What kind of person are you? First identify that. Then it will become easy for you to choose a carrier. – Contributed By Yes Plus Teachers
In a world full of jealousy and hatred, how do I go on a path of humbleness and serenity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t label the world. Some people are this way, but don’t pay too much attention to them. Just move on. Let them get cooked in their jealousy. It is alright. That which you put attention on, will grow. Manifestation follows intention and attention. If your intention is clear, I tell you, you will move on. If someone is jealous, what do you do? Just move on. Your attention should be on something higher, on the blossoming of the self.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is destroying this world? It’s the greed, jealousy, hatred, narrow mindedness, selfishness, and all these negative emotions and qualities which are destroying the world, right? Because of greed of few people, anger and hatred of few people, lack of awareness, lack of understanding or misunderstanding and narrow mindedness of a few people, the world is getting destroyed. How can these negative emotions be overcome? Is there a way? Yes, SPIRITUALITY. It is only spirituality which can turn hatred into love, anger into awareness and selfishness into compassion. It is only spirituality that can save the mind of the people, isn’t it so?!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I think you have too much free time on your hands. Just get into doing something good for the world, some service projects, something. The mind is like that, sometimes up and sometimes down. You like something, next day you don’t like it. Who cares! If you’re caring for your emotions too much, you will be nowhere. One day you feel good, another day you don’t feel good. Again the same thing! So the mind goes up and down. Centeredness is knowing that you are much more than your mind, than your emotions, and mind plays tricks. Just imagine you are a mother and the mind is the baby. Sometimes the mother agrees with the baby, sometimes not. Sometimes the child cries and the mother will attend to the baby. At other times she will let it cry for a little while. Don’t be bothered by this all of the time. See how much harmony you can bring into others. It’s our responsibility; each one of us should take responsibility to create an uplifting atmosphere, one of positivity. Once you are centered than you become a source of inspiration, a source of joy, a source of peace to everyone. So we have to think, “so what?” Not every time, everything goes according to what we want, so then we say “so what?” and if “so what” doesn’t help then “so hum” (the Sudarshan Kriya taught in the ‘Art of Living’ courses) definitely helps. A combination of “so what” and “so hum” puts you on a higher platform.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, Spirituality is asking ‘who am I?’ and Science is asking ‘What is this? Objective analysis is science and subjective understanding is spirituality. And they go hand in hand. They were never in conflict in the east, because the paradigm was same. Science says understanding follows the experience and then the concept arises. But occidental philosophy says first you believe and then you can get experience in the future, which science wasn’t comfortable with. That’s why science and spirituality was always in conflict in the west, where as it never was in the east because science was always encouraged. It is said in Bhagvat geeta ‘Gyan Vigyana triptatma’, subjective knowledge and the scientific knowledge both should go together, and then only you will find fulfillment.