Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Sometimes you think you have too many thoughts. If you want your mind to be still then you need to do abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (dispassion).
Through practice and dispassion you can meditate. An over ambitious mind kills the spirit. Listening to knowledge for 15 to 20 minutes a day and doing the practice will ensure to you get into meditation.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

ConFused – Fusion with the consciousness and cosmos. Everytime you get confused, know that you are growing.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Sing, observe nature, and observe your thoughts. Look at nature as though you are looking at it for the first time – look at the trees, and look at the birds.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It is not the promise which is important. What is important is: what is best for ever body, for all human beings. Suppose you have promised your daughter to take her skiing but if the weather forecast says that there will be a snow storm, what will you do? Will you take her out because you promised or will you be intelligent and say, “The promise will not bring happiness now, so I take back my promise and not take you there now”.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Solve the problem. Problems are to be seen as challenges. Someone who is brave like challenges and you are brave, I tell you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You think life is miserable because you are hanging onto desires of the past, impossibles of the past, you are not accepting the present, you are not moving ahead or you are hoping for something too much. Correct? Be practical. Life is a mixture of problems and pleasure. What does your mind do? It messes up the problems and blows it out of proportion and makes oneself miserable. So who isresponsible for your misery? Yourself. So when is the program? When is the program not to be miserable? (Laughter) Now, right now have you gotten over your misery right now? (A dim ‘yes’ from the audience) The ‘Yes!’ should be louder (A strong ‘Yes’ this time). That is it.You know, if the room is dark for 20 years, it doesn’t take another 20 years to bring light in. it just needs one connection, one switch on and the whole darkness goes away. Your life may have been miserable in the past, but wake up and see, so what? Problems come and go in everybody’s life. Look at your past, problems came and they have all vanished. Right? We forcefully make the problem stay, just wake up and see, where is the problem? The problem is not there. You can have some physical problem in the body sometimes, some pain here and there but is there anyone who has never suffered physical illness?Everybody has some physical problem at some point in their lives and when you violate laws of nature, pain comes, suffering comes. Pain is inevitable, suffering isoptional.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I will give this question back to you. And that is my mission - to put this question back to you. Who are you? When you ask yourself who you are, the journey has begun. The spiritual journey just begins with these two questions. Asking others is futile. You ask yourself ‘ who am I?’ and ‘what do I want to do in my life?’.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Where do the thoughts come from? From the mind, or the body? Close your eyes and think about it. That itself becomes a meditation. Then you will reach the point or space within you from where all the thoughts come. And that is fantastic.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Very few steps for enlightenment. What is enlightenment? Being unconditionally happy. Everyone wants love that doesn’t get distorted. Love gets distorted as hatred, fear, jealousy and other imperfections. Enlightenment is having such a love.

There are two steps to enlightenment:

1. From being somebody to being nobody.
2. From being nobody to being everybody.

And how to be nobody? Just wake up and realize that this is a vast universe. What are you in this? Who are you in this? You may be a great businessman or scientist or doctor but how long will you be there on this planet? In 70 – 100 years you will go and the earth will continue to exist. It has been there from billions of years and it will continue to be there. Who are you? Where are you with respect to this magnanimous universe?

From being nobody to be a part of everybody.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

A secret for women: Always pump the ego of the man. Praise him. He always has to prove himself in society. Don’t burden him further to prove his love for you. With her words, a woman can enhance or decrease the self-esteem of a man.

And a secret for men, don’t step on the emotions of a woman. She may complain about her father or family, but you don’t join her. She will switch the part. Don’t complain about her family. Don’t say no to anything spiritual she wants to do.