Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Confusion is good, you are so lucky to be confused all the time. That means you are progressing. Confusion happens when a set of ideas break and a new set has not yet formed. But that’s a temporary state. When new ideas come, you move on to that and again confusion comes when that breaks. So you are moving ahead.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Why, Laksham, Ram, they were all Patnivrathas. Ram said, 'besides my wife Sita I am not going to look at anyone else', and that’s when the entire problem started. Surpanakha came to marry Lakshman but he refused. Had he married her the war at Lanka would have not taken place at all. It would have become the house of his in-laws. He said,' no, I am already married to Urmila and I will not marry once more'. Ramayan started because of this, because of Patnivrathas. In those days their father had three wives but Laksham refused and said,' no I already have a wife'. Ram also saw that his father had to compromise after marrying three times and he decided one is enough.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It needs a major stir; to stir the ministers we need a major stir. Every one of you will have to work and take a sankalpa to eradicate corruption. Everything will definitely change, situations will change.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is a matter of great concern that violence has taken over 300 of 600 districts in this country. It is a serious concern. This is because we have brushed aside all spiritual things. We have been educating people in a system that does not inculcate human values and spirituality. All of you must insist that spirituality takes a front seat in everything.Around 150 saints were born in Tamil Nadu (an Indian state). They have all written many songs, spiritual treatises and books. The education system in Tamil Nadu has removed all this spiritual knowledge from these books. As a result, today, people don’t even know that they are groping in a rootless system. A similar situation is seen in Hyderabad. There were so many saints who would sing the Vedanta – the highest knowledge. All the literature has been bundled aside.
Even in our school – we rarely read about Kabir, Gorakhnath, Meerabai. We read about other things.
If spiritual education is encouraged then Naxalism and Jehadi terrorism will all go away.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Chant ohm namo shivay and meditate.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If someone is a compulsive liar, what to do? Somebody asked me a question yesterday, “Guruji, are you angry with me?” I said, “No.” That does not mean you can go on lying. Now, I know some people do wrong things, say wrong things and misuse the trust of other people. They say, “I have just spoken to Guruji on the phone and he has said like this.” I forgive and I don’t get angry but I feel compassion for them because they are putting mud on their own heads. They are causing trouble for themselves. So why should I spoil my mind getting angry with such people? I don’t feel angry but feel compassion that they go and create trouble here and there. Pitaji had written a quote, ‘The world is full of people and mistakes. Forgive the mistakes and love the people.’ What a wonderful thing he has said!'Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Where did these thoughts come in your head? It came in your head, right? Better find that out yourself. Before it comes, try to catch it. When you look inside, you will find that the thought is coming from an empty space. An empty space. And that empty space is the mother of all inventions, all creativity.That’s why, time and again, experience silence. You will get creative and innovative thoughts will come to you. Our mind is chattering all the time, 24 hours. That’s why be silent. Silence increases our energy level, our sharpness and awareness level. It has enormous potential. Imagine someone with insomnia – they are tired the whole day and are unable to sleep at night too. They don’t know how to rest. They chatter and chatter.
You continuously talk and listen to the television and radio. We get immersed in sound from morning to night, from the time we get out of bed till we go to bed again. Chatter, chatter! How much wear and tear would’ve happened to our brain! We don’t give it any time to rest. There is so much disharmony around you. You know why you like music? Because music is a harmonious sound and all disharmonious sounds gets submerged in it.
You will start enjoying that quietness. That inner harmony and serenity is much more pleasurable than the best music you can ever listen to.
I am not saying you should never listen to music. It is necessary but don’t overdo it. You should eat, but you shouldn’t overeat. Similarly, you should listen to music, but not get obsessed with it.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That’s good. I am happy if you feel happy and when you move on the right path, right knowledge and engage yourself in sadhana, seva and satsang, it’s very good for you and everyone.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, they say everything is fair in love and then it turns into a war! (laughter)When they say everything is fair in war, they, in turn, get jailed. That’s what happened to Miloshevich and many other people who just didn’t care for any rules and thought everything is fair in war and love and finally, they landed up in jail.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Why should we not? Listen, now why should we have so many types of vegetables? You should have had only one egg plant. You should have asked why there are so many types of fruits. There are grapes, oranges, so many types of oranges, so many types of bananas. You should have had only bananas. Nature should have created only bananas. You eat the banana and go bananas. You would have really gone nuts. Nature loves diversity. So nature made so many types of rice. You know, in rice there are 152 types in India alone. World over if you count there are thousands of types of rice. There are types of rice, types of cows; different types of vegetables, fruits. The Divine loves diversity. So the Divine can manifest itself in so many diverse forms. That is what the ancient people said. You should give the freedom for Divine to wear whatever clothes it wants to wear. Don’t say that the should come in the same dress all the time.