Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Jai Gurudev, Guruji, I know the world through the mind, intellect, memory, ego, etc., but only after leaving these six levels can I know my true self. So my question is when we leave these six levels, how do we establish our self in the seventh level?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We don’t have to leave the six levels; we cannot leave the body, mind, intellect. We have to be with this and know the Self. The body, mind, memory, intellect, ego is there and let it be there. Start meditating and relaxing for a few minutes every day, before starting your work, after your work. See, when you meditate and your mind becomes quiet, that peaceful mind is the house of God. That is why you cannot know God but you can be one with God. You are feeling peaceful, you are feeling happy, going deeper and deeper. In this, you will start to experience that 'I am everybody, it is all only me'.Q:
If everything is impermanent, and life is moving at such a speed, how can everything be impermanent? How can the impermanent, and the absolute coexist?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You cannot know impermanence unless there is something permanent. Change is there when there is non-change. To notice changes, there should be a reference point, and that is non-change.Q:
Guruji, why is it that many times we do not trust our own people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
One could be because you know him very well. That is why you do not trust or you do not consider him as your own and that is why you does not trust.Q:
Guruji, can spirituality be explained by science? Sometimes I get amused by this creation which is yet to be explained by science. Do the Vedas have a solution?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, amusement is the preface for Yoga. When you are amused then you start enquiring into the nature of truth and then your journey begins. So, it is perfect. ‘Vismayo Yoga Bhumika,’ spirituality begins with amusement and then it is like being in an amusement park all the time. You get surprised, wow! What is this? What is this world? So many different varieties of trees, plants, flowers, leaves, vegetables, fruits, people, what is all of this? When such a thought arises, then knowledge begins.Q:
Whom should we pray to, you or God? Will you transfer our prayers to God or go to you directly?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Prayer is innate. It’s not something that you do with your mind or is in your mind. It’s something that happens automatically when you need help. Do not make an effort to pray. Relax. There is only one God who works through everyone. Whomsoever you address your prayer, it only goes to one God who is the cause of the Universe. Don’t worry about anything. Give me all your problems and go back happily.Q:
Guruji, in conferences in and out, usually a lot of people have stage fear, you know a lot of people have their minds really swaying here and there but you are always still wherever you go. You are always relaxed, so in such a state of awareness you answer everything. So how do you attain that state of being relaxed always?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Practice and dispassion.Q:
Shiva is the Lord of the Universe. Who does He meditate on? And why?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Shiva is not a person sitting somewhere. Shiva himself is meditation. Shiva is Shiva tatva. How do you experience it? By meditation. When you sit and meditate, you get in touch with the Shiva tatva deep inside you.Q:
First time when a human being was born, the consciousness was pure. When and how did it become impure Guruji?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, during the course of time impressions started piling up on the consciousness. Consciousness never become totally impure, its only impressions which are on top of it and that goes away with meditation, seva, sadhana and satsang.Q:
I heard this statement in a religion that we have come on this planet earth so many times that the amount of our mothers' milk we have drunk is, as much as, water in the ocean. Is it not too much? Have we really come here that many times on this planet earth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Never mind! Who keeps a count of how much you drink. There are better things to do. Every day you drink eight litres of water. The figure goes to 1,200 litres of water for a year. This is a conservative figure. If you’re forty years old – imagine how many gallons and gallons of water. And how many truckloads of food?This lifetime itself is a lot to count. Why bother about other lifetimes?
Q:
Money, mind or meditation – All three are not in my control? Money doesn’t come, mind doesn’t stop and not able to meditate. What will happen to me Guruji?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You can’t do meditation? Okay, so first see why you are not able to meditate. The part of you that is entangled in money and mind, detangling it from there, entangle it in me! Then meditation will also happen, mind will also be happy and money will also come on its own.
Displaying 5331 - 5340 of 7916
Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives.
Mehr