Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Millions walk on the spiritual path but very few reach the destination. Do I have any chances of being among the lucky few?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is nothing new. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagvad Geeta, that out of so many people in the world, very few walk on this path.Just like so many candidates fight for the post of a Prime Minister but only one is finally elected. Similarly thousands wish to be IPS, IAS officers. However, it is better in this field (spirituality) as there is the possibility to reach the destination for everyone.
In the time of Buddha ten thousand reached Mukti (liberation). Today millions are doing sadhana (spiritual practices) and many will reach.
Some people go to the ocean to take in the cool breeze, some take out pearls and others remove oil from the ocean. Our patrata (competence) decides where we reach. Even a single step on the path will not go waste. It will only take you ahead.
Keep your vision centered on yourself and not on others. Ask yourself what you want and you will find that you want bliss, peace and love.
Once you experience pain in love you would wish for liberation. Without peace and love, bliss is not complete. Bliss is our nature. There are no hurdles in reaching there. Don’t think whether you have any prospects of reaching there. If you want it, it will happen today or tomorrow.
Q:
If mukti (liberation) is our nature then why are we in bondage?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Who says mukti is our nature? Our nature is bliss. Love and enjoyment can put you in bondage, if it is devoid of knowledge. With knowledge, the same love, the same enjoyment leads you to the experience of liberation.Liberation and bondage go together. If there is liberation, there will be bondage and vice-versa. Liberation is valued because of bondage. If there is no bondage, what is there to be liberated from?
Similarly we can be liberated, that is why we experience bondage. With the desire for liberation we come to know that we are in bondage. If the desire for liberation has not risen then you will not even come to know of bondage.
Q:
Why is love painful?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It's human nature to want to help others. And everybody wants love. Without love, life doesn’t seem worth living.However love gets distorted, and turns into anger, greed, jealousy, hatred, possessiveness. Yet we all want love.
Q:
How to increase the seva bhav(intention to serve)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do not intend to increase the seva bhav. We assume that we lack the attitude of service and then try to increase it, so it doesn’t happen!That is why we assume we have seva bhav in abundance . What stops you from doing seva is laziness. You can get rid of laziness by giving importance to the right diet and some exercise. Doing seva by yourself might seem difficult, so do it in a group. That is why it is said,
“Ekastapasvi, dhwiradhyayi” -when you have to do adhyayan( Study), do it in a group. When you do tapas(penance), do it by yourself. Similarly, when you do seva, do it in a group. That leads to a rise in enthusiasm and is less tiring.
Q:
Is it rightly said that if you have Guru in one life, you will have same Guru in all the lifetimes?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You want to leave the work of the Guru incomplete in this life time? You want to be stuck in this lifetime & leave the remaining knowledge to the next life? Then you don’t need a Guru in this lifetime!Q:
Are you afraid of darkness and evil?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, because I’m connected with the light.n
Q:
Why do other people’s feelings inflict us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Because you are not a single individual but a part of a single collective consciousness.Q:
Where are Shiva and Shakti?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Both Shiva and Shakti are within us. You sit as though you are sitting in an ocean of bliss, in the ocean of cosmic energy, Divine energy, Shiva energy, Shakti energy. That is what is meditation.*Festival of nine nights in celebration of the all-pervasive Divinity in the form of Mother Divine
Q:
My father is an astrologer. Whatever he says comes true. He told me that I will get mental disorders after six years. I’m scared. Please help me.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Remind your father that there is upaya (remedy) also. There is no astrology without upaya. The mal-effects of astrology can be countered with upaya. The remedy is meditation and satsang. Sit and chant: Om Namo Shivaya. It takes care of all the mal-effects. All the five elements and the whole life force is present in Om Namo Shivaya. Don’t worry about it. On this path, you should drop those concerns and worries.Q:
There are many things in my life which I think are not ok. I don’t know what to do about these things.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you say, ‘It’s not ok, its not ok’, the seed of ‘not ok’ is un-abling your mind to relax. When do you go to bed? When everything is ok, when there is comfort. When you are hanging on to the discomfort, how can you ever be comfortable? You have to accept things as they are. ‘It’s not ok, it’s not ok’ keeps you all outside. Those imperfections are there for a cause or purpose. It is going to be ok, it will take some time.Things are ok the way they are now,
They will be ok in the future
Whatever happened in the past was ok.
When you understand this, you relax and in that relaxation you can meditate. When you want to retire, its nivriti but when you want to come out (of rest) its pravritti. Then you can act. When you are tired but you are hanging on to what is not ok - then you cannot retire. When you have to chill out, what do you say? ‘Everything is perfect,’ otherwise you can’t chill, you can’t act! It is neither pravritti, nor nivriti.
Dhyan yoga is nivriti, Karma yoga is pravritti. Most people are hanging onto the ‘not ok’ and are unable to relax, to enjoy life, to chill, to be creative. They are holding onto the seed of ‘not ok’. That person, this situation, the government, the administration - everything is not ok. Then it comes to you - I am not ok. Subtly, it reflects on you that you are not OK. Then you don't like that feeling and to cover that up, you make up many justifications and the mind is all confused.
If tamogun is too much, you don't know the pravritti or the nivriti. When there is Satva, then we know what to act, when to act, whether to act or not.
When Rajogun prevails then its half way through - you regret and act. Many of us act because we regret. Mother scolds her child, regrets it and then becomes nice.
In Satva, you don't regret, you retire and relax, there is clarity.
When Rajogun prevails then its half way through - you regret and act. Many of us act because we regret. Mother scolds her child, regrets it and then becomes nice.
In Satva, you don't regret, you retire and relax, there is clarity.
In Rajogun, there is confusion and chaos.
In Tamogun, there is total inertia and lethargy.
There is no strict border between the three gunas. It is very fluid, one flows into another.
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