Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Wanting freedom is a natural phenomenon. What you feel after your exams are over is a little experience of liberation (moksha). In life also you burn in your own hopes and desires. These desires have only brought you misery. When you relax taking a step outside all this, there is liberation (moksha). When you sit for meditation with the feeling, I am nothing, I want nothing, and I do nothing - this feeling is the feeling of freedom. It is fun, it is freedom.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That is a big job. In the Geeta it is said, even the most brilliant people are confused about what to do and what not to, and how to handle the mind. Protecting the mind is a very great task but we need knowledge to do it. Up to this moment, see all that has happened so far, it’s all gone! Finished.
Wake up.
When you are full of energy, prana, you suddenly see it’s all gone. Now! All that has happened is ok. Think about what to do now. Sometimes 100 percent of what you do will be successful, sometimes not. A farmer knows that not every seed, that he sows, will sprout. He takes the seeds and throws them in the field, and does not worry that this seed will sprout, this won't.
From now on, it’s a new chapter. Every day is a new chapter. Bring up this awareness again and again that the whole world is filled with my atma (soul) – it’s all Me. It’s one Consciousness. This one consciousness works through one person in one way, through another person in another way. It is one ocean with many waves.
If this vision comes to you even for just five seconds then there will be such a major transformation in your body and mind. Then a realization will spring in you ‘Aho!’
All worries are washed off. Just for a second, recognize that it’s only me in my enemy. I myself have started the Game. Understand this, but don't turn it into a mood making. Have this understanding only in the nivriti, not in the pravritti mode. If we bring advaita (non-duality) in vyavahar (behavior), we only create more delusion. In pravritti, see duality. Taking up of the human form is impossible without pravritti. How much pravritti and nivriti one should have is a very sensitive matter. When there is more pravritti, then one becomes too negative and one is asked to be in nivriti.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You think that the people who do something wrong progress in life. But haven’t you noticed the downfall these people face afterwards? There was a man named Madoff in America. People from all over the whole world were crazy to have a photograph with him. Now he is in jail. His own son revealed his scandal. So whoever attains success with unfair means will definitely fall down. There are many examples like this.
If you are suffering that is not because you are good, but it may be due to a lack in skillfulness. We need four things in life- power, skill, devotion and liberation.(shakti, yukti, bhakti and mukti) You cannot be successful in society without power and skillfulness. And you cannot be successful in life without devotion and liberation. So you face problems because of a lack in skill.
Have you ever met the so called successful people? Some of them are so miserable that they cannot even sleep well at night and many of them have suicidal tendencies. People who do wrong may hide but they are very miserable inside. You can smile much better than them.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

All scriptures connect you with the Universal Spirit. The scriptures give you comfort, like an air conditioner (AC). The combination of knowledge and meditation is AC for the mind - Absolute Comfort.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Definitely spirituality is for peace. Peace, happiness, Joy and compassion - all these virtues are qualities of the spirit. There is not a single person on this planet who is not a spiritual seeker. You know why? Because everybody is seeking peace, love and happiness, and this is what spirit is.
In India we say Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Satyam - truth, Shivam - Divine, and Sundaram - beauty. The divine is beauty, and the divine is the truth. So wherever you see beauty, behind that there is a consciousness from which the whole universe is coming into existence.
Have you heard of String theory in physics? If you study quantum physics you will find as if you are studying Vedanta – an ancient wisdom. The two are exactly the same.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There are many ways. You can become a teacher or volunteer of the ‘Art of Living’. You can help in schools for rural children. Thousands of them are studying and thousands are waiting to get admission. You can participate in the ‘Dollar a Day’ project. One dollar a day can educate and provide medical, food and clothing for a child. We are 1000 people right here in this auditorium. If each one of us sponsors a child, 1000 more children will get access to education. These children are otherwise forced to work at a young age, and they get into violence without a value based education. If you want to take up any other projects, you are welcome. If you want to give your time, say six months or one year, you can go to places where you can bring peace to people. You are most welcome to come to India.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Still keep serving them. Using a detached approach, try to understand why they are saying so. It may be the case that you find them to be right, though they may lack in right expression. Or, you may find their observation to be wrong. It is not necessary to do everything that they say because their understanding and life experiences are different from the child's.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The thoughtless state, peace and joy that you experience after Sudarshan Kriya is inner peace.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First you meet your soul and then rest will follow. If you meet your soul, many will come and claim that they are your soul mates. Then you chose one of them.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Your doubt is always something about which is positive. We doubt in the honesty of a person. We doubt in the truth of a statement in which someone expresses love for us. We immediately believe if someone says, “I hate you”. How does one know if he/she has achieved knowledge or not? First, such a doubt arises. And its solution follows it. When your mind gets calm, you feel happy, such a fragrance comes from you, and love flows from you. Sometimes it happens gradually, and you don’t realize it. Then all of a sudden you find out that nothing can disturb you, you are happy and peaceful, and you are untouched by any events happening around you. This understanding gradually dawns in you. It can also happen suddenly. But it is good if it happens gradually.