Fragen und Antworten mit Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know what? I’ll give you an advice. Take turns in an argument, don’t do it at the same time. You argue on Monday, let her argue on Sunday! And you keep smiling. You know, an argument cannot be countered with an argument. Questions cannot be replied with questions. When she argues you smile, okay!Make this a policy, and keep rowing the boat!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Now listen, let God rest. Don’t worry about God now. Worry about yourself.Who are you? First atma (spirit), and then paramatma (the Divine spirit).
The paramatma (God) is beyond the atma (individual soul). First get in to the compound (i.e., know who you are), after that you can get into the house (know God).
People who say, 'I don’t believe in anything', should at least believe in the word that they are saying. If you say that you don’t believe in anything, at least you believe that you don't believe in anything, right?
So, who is the one who is saying it? Who are you? Are you your thoughts? No, they keep changing. Are you your body? Just picture yourself 5-10 years back, your body has changed so much.
In one year, every cell in our body changes. Do you know that?
So each cell of our body is changing. The lining of our stomach changes every five days. Blood changes every 24 hours. Our skin changes in 30 days. And every cell, every atom in our body changes in a year’s time.
So your body is a flowing river. Same river, but water is new. So you are new and you are ancient as well. It is the same with Ganga, the same with Yamuna, the same with Kaveri (rivers in India). The river is the same, from many years, but the water is always new.
In the same way, you are new and you are ancient as well. Observe what is ancient within you and what is new. Know yourself. God will follow automatically.
So, don’t make an effort to believe. You shouldn’t force yourself to believe anything. Faith is not something you can force on yourself. It is something that comes up within you. Either through science or through spirituality. Through meditation you reach the same one goal.
What is that goal? The whole universe is made up of just one wave function, just one vibration, one thing! That one thing is responsible for everything. And that one thing is what I am.
You call it God, or Brahman, or he, or she, or it, or anything, it will work.
When you go deep in meditation you merge, you dissolve, into that one pure consciousness. With that innocent nature and with love, the attainment happens.
Love means, when your mind becomes so light.
In anger and hate, the mind stays lifeless, and heaviness is felt. When you are in love, the mind becomes so light. Have you experienced this?
See when you are happy, what is the feeling that you get? A sense of lightness. And when you are unhappy, it feels like a stone is sitting on your head, right? Yoga is the science to make you feel lighter. It is not just weight loss programs, but it make you feel mentally lighter as well. You lose all that mental stuff of anger, jealousy, hatred, greed, etc, that you acquire from everywhere, and feel so light from inside.
When can you feel light? When you know, when you believe, when you have the faith that the right will win – Satyamev Jayate (Truth alone wins). Then you have confidence that what you want will happen.
When you have a sankalp (resolve), and vishwas (belief), then even if you have to fight someone in a court, you will do it with a smile. Even for a fight you will go with a smile. Not with anger and heaviness of mind. Are you understanding this? This is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita.
In Chapter 2, Krishna says, 'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani, sangam tyaktva dhananjaya. Siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva, samatvam yoga ucyate'.
Become steadfast in yoga, feel the lightness within you. Demonstrate belief of victory and with this perform your duty, keep working. Then you will see, there is no tiredness. When do you tire? When the ray of hope becomes dim. And when raga and dvesha (cravings and aversions) dominate the mind, then a person gets tired.
If there is a unique gift given to the world by India, it is this – fight without cravings and aversions. This is a big gift to the world. So, challenges come. Face the challenges with poise, equanimity, serenity and dignity. Sincerity and serenity, these two are needed to face situations.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ja, es reicht aus. Es ist mehr als ausreichend.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That’s a job left for you to do.bguiphpa good heart. Something has gone wrong somewhere, but we can set them right.Kiran Bedi is here with us today. When she was in charge of prisons in Delhi, she made all those prisons into Ashrams. They were called Tihar Ashrams.
Even today in Tihar, we have a skill training center and our programs are continuing there. We not only conduct meditations, but there is an Art of Living center as well in many prisons. Do you know that?
Not only in India, even the largest prison in Argentina, having around 5500 inmates of that country, has an Art of Living center inside. Everybody does meditation there.
When I was in Brazil, they took me to visit the prison of Rio de Janeiro, and there was an Art of Living board inside the prison! They have painted the swans as well. I was surprised to see this, and there were tears in the eyes of those people. The people who society has condemned as criminals, they have a heart too!
In Tihar jail today, the prisoners are learning different skills. We have started teaching electrical skills as well. They are becoming electricians and carpenters.
One of our Art of Living teachers (Deepak) has done tremendous work in Tihar. He has opened so many skills training centers around the country through our Rural Development Program (RDP).
So basically, people are good in nature; they are intrinsically good. They just need that spiritual kindling.
Without Spirituality, life is dry. Do you see? When you feel so dry, you can’t but make mistakes. Anything you do will be a mistake. So you have a task, a goal, a job to do. Just get on the wagon.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know life is three states of consciousness – waking, dreaming and sleeping. When waking state ends and dreaming state begins; when dreaming state ends and sleeping state begins, and when sleeping state ends and waking state begins, at these junction points something fantastic happens. What is that? You get a glimpse of that which is beyond the three.Mind can experience only these three, but when it stops, you somewhere experience a state which is neither waking nor dreaming nor sleeping. And that is so Divine. And that is the basis of all of creation. A glimpse of that state is what is called Yoga.
Now, what does it do, it removes all fears and it gives a bigger dimension to life.
We think that life is my body, my mind, etc., no! There is much more to life than this.
This experience, i.e., transcending the thought and the emotions and going to another level of stillness, that is called Sandhya. Vandan means adoring that inner state.
When do you usually do Sandyavandanam? When there is transition. When the Sun is rising, the whole creation is undergoing a transition. When the Sun sets again there is a transition . So usually sunrise, sunset and the noon time, you just sit and meditate and do pranayama.
The Gayatri mantra is one of the greatest prayers mankind has.
What does it say? Let me soak in the Divine, and let the Divine destroy all my sins.
The Divine light that burns all sin, let me adore and soak in that Divine light. And let the Divinity inspire my intellect.
See, all our actions happen through our intellect, right? Thoughts come and then you act.
So you pray to the Divine to bring good thoughts into your mind. You pray to the Divine, 'Take over my intellect. Inspire my intellect'; dhiyo yonah prachodayat.
Dhi means intellect. May my intellect be guided by, kindled by, and inspired by you (Divinity).
When right thoughts come, your action will always be right. When intuitive thoughts come, your actions will be fruitful. So praying for the best thought. Let my mind, my whole life energy be soaked in Divinity. That is it.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Sprichst du von deinem Partner? Du brauchst Ausgewogenheit. Wenn du dir sagst: „Erst erledige ich alles, was zu Hause getan werden muss und dann mache ich Seva,” dann wirst du nie Seva machen. Zu Hause hört die Arbeit niemals auf, immer kommt noch etwas Neues. Auf der anderen Seite solltest du dein Zuhause aber auch nicht vernachlässigen. Aber zu Hause hast du Pflichten, das ist kein Seva. Nur draußen ist es Seva.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Auf dem spirituellen Pfad geht es auch ums Bekommen – man empfindet soviel Freude, wenn man sieht, wie viel Freude andere haben. Du musst dich also nicht schuldig fühlen. Geschäfte werden über den Kopf abgewickelt – man nimmt mehr, als man gibt. Die Spiritualität jedoch kommt aus dem Herzen, wo man mehr gibt, als man nimmt. Im Beruf solltest du also nie etwas mit dem Herzen machen und in der Spiritualität nie mit dem Kopf. Ansonsten gibt es Probleme.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Alle Frauen sollten genauso behandelt werden wie die Männer auch. Sei gelassen und ganz bei dir selbst. Dann werden dich die Männer respektieren.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Teilt den Frieden [, den ihr in den Kursen von Art of Living erfahrt] mit anderen und versucht, so viele Menschen wie möglich damit zu erreichen. Und überlegt euch jeden Tag, wie ihr unsere Welt friedlicher Gestalten könnt.
Betrachtet euer Leben aus der Perspektive dieser drei Aspekte: 1. Kosmologie 2. Engagement 3. Mitgefühl.Fragt euch, ob ihr euch einem schönen Planeten verpflichtet fühlt, einem Leben voller Freude. Diese drei Aspekte können drei andere Aspekte auslöschen: Korruption, Hinterlistigkeit und Grausamkeit.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Zuallererst lasst das „immer” weg. Ihr solltet nicht verallgemeinern und auch nicht so tun, als ob es immer so weiter gehen muss. Wir alle haben die Tendenz dazu. Wenn du auf der Autobahn die Ausfahrt verpasst, dann sagst du: „Ach, immer passiert mir das. Immer verpasse ich die Ausfahrt.” Aber verpasst du immer die Ausfahrt? Ist das überhaupt möglich?? Hört auf, dieses Problem zu verallgemeinern und zeitlich auszudehnen. Und dann schaut, ob jemand so negativ ist und eure positive Einstellung so schwach, dass sie nicht ein wenig Negativität aushalten kann.