Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Which is better: satvic guna (calmness, meditation) or triguna ateet (beyond the three gunas {roughly translated as energies})?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you do not have satvic guna, you cannot be triguna ateet.You have to move from tamogun (inertia), to rajogun (that energy which is not used productively in activity and which becomes restlessness) and from rajogun to satogun.
From satogun, you will know mukti (freedom).
However, don’t get attached to satogun. You use soap to wash the dirt off your body. Do you allow the soap to remain on your body?
There’s a saying which says, drown your good deeds in a well. Otherwise, you become attached to them, and doing good deeds will make you arrogant.
When you are not attached to even mukti, then you will be triguna ateet.
There is a quote in Sanskrit:
‘Samam pashyanti sarvatra
up mam pashyati sarvatah’
Krishna says, ‘See equality in everything. The one who sees me in everything and sees everything in me, I won't be apart from him and he won't be different from me.’
* a type of breathing technique
Q:
What can you say about 2012?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen. Things will be as usual. In fact more and more people will become spiritual.Q:
How can one see Shiva in everything and everyone?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
‘Shiva is everywhere’ is spiritual truth, and another is practical knowledge. Both have to be considered together. One who is too much stuck in social behavior, does not get anything. So is true for one who is too much stuck with the concept of meditation and spirituality.If a thief comes to your house, you cannot let him do whatever he wants considering him to be a form of Shiv .(Jokingly) Then let the Shiva in the form of police handle this form of Shiva.
You cannot justify intake of drugs or alcohol, saying Shiva is present in these also. Our body is such made that if you increase awareness and prana(life force), you experience divinity. And if you decrease these, you experience inertia.
Where prana is there, that is true beauty or Shiva.
.
Q:
How to keep the God and world together?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
How can you keep them together? They are already one. Where is the question of combining them? In the nature of form, it is world, and same is God in its formless nature. You don’t have to do anything to bring them together.Q:
What is the difference between a dream and an aim?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you talk about an aim you think it is practical, but when you say I have a dream, you think it may be or may not be practical. When you say, ‘I have a dream’ there is a little doubt about it but you feel stronger about having an aim.Q:
What is samadhi?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When the mind is at ease and centered, that is a glimpse into samadhi. The experience you have when you lie down after the Sudarshan Kriya. When you feel – I don't know where I am but that I am.Q:
How to deal with attachment on the spiritual path?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you are aware of the attachment, then your behavior will naturally become balanced.Q:
Is there life on any other planet in the universe?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes there is.Q:
Does numerology have an effect? There is a number which I consider lucky for me, and there are certain numbers which are not so lucky. Is this just a notion in mind or the effect actually exists?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That has some effect but the power of chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaye’ mantra is much more. The power of mantras can nullify the effect of any unlucky numbers, and then all the numbers will be lucky for you.More from the same conversation in the next post.
Q:
Can we achieve a goal within time? Please tell a way so that we may achieve a hundred percent result.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is a sukti in Sanskrit - Kriya siddi bhavati mahta, kriya siddhi bhavati satve mahta . An act is perfected by satva. The higher the satvaguna rises in us, an act is achieved easily and without hurdles. When rajoguna and tamoguna are increased, then it takes longer to complete a work.Thus, to increase the satva, follow a satvic diet, meditate, do satsang, pranayama and yoga. With all this, sadbuddhi (good sense) is developed.
Displaying 6851 - 6860 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