Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
What does it take to accomplish ones destiny?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Faith, faith that you can accomplish your destiny.Q:
We read in some mythological stories that the yogis curse. Why do the yogis curse? On one hand they ask everybody to be happy, do meditation etc. then why curse?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When a yogi curses, even it helps one in some way. The anger of a learned one is also useful, and the love of an ignorant is harmful. For example, in a village when the children cry and say they don’t want to go to school, the mothers ignorantly tells them, instead of sending the child to school , to stay back and play at home, or take the herd to jungle. This may be harmful for the children in the long run. Likewise a yogi’s anger may be inspirational and may do good to others.Q:
How do we deal with extreme grief and loss?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Through meditation and Sudarshan Kriya, you will see how the grief gets vaporized.Q:
I am going through a hard time in life. My wife cheated on me but now wants to be back. What to do? I don’t have much trust anymore, but I find it hard to breakup. I am confused and worried about the future. Can the love develop again?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ya, certainly. Have a broad mindset. Suppose you were in that state. You made a mistake and you repented it, and you want your wife to forgive you. How would you feel if she doesn’t and hold on to it. How would you feel? Same way a mistake has happened through her. Some mistakes happen through you and some through her. Forget about it. Live in the present moment. Give her a chance. Move on to the future. But if it keeps happening too many times, then you can take a decision. If it is once or twice, you should give her a fair chance. If it happens more than three times, then you put your foot. I have no experience in this field. I can’t give any better advice on this. So, this could be a suggestion. I don’t know in what way has she cheated you, but it may not be so intentional. Our ‘Art of Living’s’ policy is not to see intention behind others’ mistakes. Once, twice, thrice as much as your capacity is there, you keep forgiving. But then when it comes upto your neck, you say, “No more”.There was a king who was all the time hurling abuses at Lord Krishna, when Lord Krishna was here on the planet. This Jarasandha was insulting him, and spreading wrong rumours about him. Lord Krishna forgave him not once, twice but 100 times. His patience was 100 times. But then Lord Krishna said, “I have forgiven you 100 times. I am not going to stop now. I want to finish off you now. I have given you enough room, you didn’t change. The only way is you to be punished”. So, it depends upon our capabilities. Jesus also said to forgive. See how much patience you have. How much can you take to forgive? Not just your wife but everybody for that matter.
Q:
Why are there so many religions and communities? Why is the evil so strong?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Evil is not strong. You are giving it strength. It appears as if evil is strong, but it is not. The greatest power on the Earth is love. Love can melt any evil. It is due to lack of love and wisdom that evil exists. The moment love and wisdom comes into play, evil disappears. Like when the sun comes, the dew disappears. We have seen this. You know, when we give some wisdom and love to the extremists like terrorists, there was total change in those people. Some 300,000 prisoners, so called criminals, have done the ‘Art of living’ part 1 course, and their life has so much changed.Q:
My friends who have not done the course keep on asking me which meditation is best for them. What should I tell them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are many CDs here. Any one will work.Q:
Is it possible for all of us to get enlightened?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Definitely. Anytime! The seed is there. It can sprout anytime. It can become a big tree anytime.Q:
Sometimes, I feel that you are with me and watching me all the time. At some other times I feel that I am not connected. I feel distracted during those times. I am unable to do sadhana also in such times. A lot of thoughts come in the mind. What should I do then?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: you have given answer in the question itself. Nature of devotion is such that you feel longing in its absence. Once you get a glimpse of devotion, then its absence causes perturbation in mind. It is not that devotion is absent there but you feel as if it is not there, and you feel restless with this feeling. If we look in the light of knowledge, Shri Narada has said in Bhakti Sutras that the very indication of devotion is that you experience bliss in its presence and its absence makes you restless. This shows that you have devotion, and consider yourself as lucky when you experience such restlessness in mind. You feel absence of devotion only for some time. Devotion is anyway always there, it never dies, but you may feel that it has decreased. This is natural. This happens only to those who have a very good luck. Otherwise, inert person doesn’t feel any devotion. Mind of such a person is tormented with worries.Q:
His Holiness, how can I concentrate in spite of my workload? At times, I get so upset and disturbed with customers’ complaints, esp. with those which are totally untrue.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Complaints are opinions. Listen to them carefully, and if there is something good in it then you can take that. If it is just a biased opinion, smile at them. That’s my policy. You can take something on board. I suggest you should take criticism with open mind, and also give criticism with open mind. You should never be shy about criticism.What is great is, when you can smile at complaints. That means you have achieved something.
Q:
Beloved Guruji, I have been practicing to give a percentage of my income to uplift the society for the last twenty years. Would you please elaborate on the idea and power of charity as a spiritual practice? Love and Gratitude!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ya ya, giving something back to the society is very important. You know, there is a proverb that says, “Rice is purified by a drop of ghee on it”. You know ghee, butter, a little fat. It was a practice in India, but we didn’t see any scientific basis for it.Lately, when we spoke to a scientist doctor, he said it is good to have a spoon of ghee, the clarified butter, on rice, because that prevents one from having diabetes. You know why? Rice or any food, starch or carbohydrates quickly gets digested, but it takes a little longer to digest that if it has a little bit fat. Then there is less chance of you getting diabetic or heart problems. So, a cardiologist said, “it is necessary to have a little fat in carbohydrates so that it becomes complex to digest it”. I said, “look, this was said some thousands of years ago. They said, ‘rice gets purified with a drop of ghee.’ ”.
In the same way the money gets purified by charity. When you give a portion of what you have earned for a good cause then the rest of the money that you have is pure money. Similarly, the mind becomes pure by meditation, body get pure by bathing, by a shower; mind becomes pure by prana, pranayama and meditation; Intellect becomes purer by knowledge, by wisdom. See, what we are listening make us pure. There is something that happens in you when you are listening to knowledge or read Yoga Vasistha. Right? You listen to Ashtavakra and that wow sprouts from within. Knowledge makes the intellect pure. And life becomes pure when there is dedication.
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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.
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