Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Change can happen by educating people. People like you (points to the crowd) do padayatras (walkathons) and educate people. West Bengal is far behind. There’s little industry and business, it has obsolete ideology. Make people aware.Communist China and Russia have changed their course. But in India, it doesn’t change because of lack of awareness. So, create awareness and meditate. Nothing is impossible. If something is impossible, then we can do it!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Those who do not have certain things think that others do not have it too. Even I have been giving proof all along so you too keep giving proof for some more time. what else? Think of your examinations also as play so that you do not feel pressured by them. Of course you must study and do well in your exams. But what to do if the staircase is twisted? You also have to twist yourself a little bit, anyhow you have to climb. If you try to straighten the staircase while climbing then you will get stuck. So, even if the stairs are twisted you hold on to the railing and move forward. Once you have moved forward then later on you can work towards fixing the staircase.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Keep your body healthy and keep your emotions positive. Very simple. It is like asking, “Where do I put on my pants and where do I put on my shirt?” You put your shirt on top and pants at the bottom, not the other way around. So everything has its place: ego has its place, emotions have its place, our body needs to be healthy and strong. So you need to respect the laws of nature, okay?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are innocent people who are foolish as well as intelligent people who are cunning.What is desirable is a combination of intelligence with innocence.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Educate people about good food, health that is very much needed.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Emptiness is the doorway between the material and spiritual worlds. It is where you come to understand the nature of the spirit, if you do not know emptiness, then you cannot know the joy of the Being. The knack for experiencing the Being causes emptiness. From the emptiness begins the fullness.On one side of emptiness is misery and on the other side of emptiness is joy.
That is what Buddha said: “The whole world is misery and what is to be achieved is emptiness.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Advanced course, sit in an advanced meditation class.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, in Tamil it is difficult. Soghum in Tamil means sadness. In Tamil, there is very little difference between soghum and sohum.It is not soghum, it is sohum.
It is the natural sound of the breath. Sohum. If you deeply observe the breath, you will observe that with every inhalation, there is sohum.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
A full stand should be there, total stand should be there. Only telling others of the values is not enough but also what should be done to instill these values in our lives needs to be taught. How to live these values should also be said with understanding. If one slips, then also with understanding they need to be motivated to move forward. This is the skill.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are four ways:1. Know that you have the strength. The problem has come, the grief has come. You can’t do anything about it.
2. Realise that every one is going to die one day. Everybody here will go under the soil. It will all happen in the next 100 years. Someone has gone earlier.
3. Look at those who have greater troubles than you. When we see people who have greater difficulties, and start serving them: our problems will disappear. See what is happening in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
In Iraq, the plane will land in circles. If it lands in a straight line, it can be targeted and shot. The amount of fear that people have …..
People in Sri Lanka don’t even know if they’re coming back, once they leave for their jobs in the morning. If you are a Tamilian, they will whisk you away.
When you see the bigger problems on the planet, then yours will become small.
4. The Divine is with you. Offer your problems to the divinity and relax. We must have that confidence.
If we are calm, then we can spread peace.
If we are happy, then we can radiate and spread happiness.
Today, Maoists have attacked 13 places in India. They are misguided people who believe in violence. That’s unfortunate.
That’s why spiritual education and knowledge is so essential. It is so needed. We all have to encourage our youngsters to join the Non-Aggression Programme (The NAP – taught by the Art of Living). It is so big in Europe and many countries. Children are so aggressive. They need to be taught to calm the kind. This job, we have to do.