Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Guruji, what importance, if any, should we hold on to what the Pundits, Astrologers and the Psychics say about our future and its course?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Take it with a pinch of salt. Take it lightly, everything will change. You know, what your Astrologer says, you don’t have to believe one hundred percent. Astrology is a science, but not all astrologers are scientists. You have to take it with a pinch of salt. It can change also.Q:
Are you my Guru? But they said Gurus find their devotees!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: That you have to decide!Yes, Gurus find their devotees, this is usually said. You know when was this said? In ancient days, when children would go to the Gurukul, the teacher would come and test the aptitude of all the children - this child is good in engineering, this child is good in music, this child will be good for this, for this, for this… Then the teachers would say, ‘Okay, you come and you do Veda, you study Ayurveda, you study music’; so teacher used to pick up. That was when parents would bring their children to the Gurukul and then the Guru would pick up which student would study what.
Once you are here in the knowledge, once you are on the path, your heart will tell you,” This is the place for me and I have to get here”, and that is when you accept someone as your teacher. Not that someone comes to you and says ‘I am your teacher, I am your Guru’. If so happens then don’t believe that, okay! Nobody can impose that; it should come from within. Your heart tells you that this is genuine, this is right, this is good. So once you accept someone as your Guru or teacher then this anguish disappears to a great extent, and know that you are not alone!
Q:
Dearest Guruji, I’m not strong enough to take a commitment for whole one year. What can I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Not strong enough? Take one day at a time. You are strong enough to take commitment for one day,that is enough. And each day you can continue doing it. Don’t think of one long year, “oh my God! One year I’ve to do something! Today I do, that’s good. Tomorrow I do, that’s good”.Q:
Can you please talk in a little detail about these levels of existence you have talked about?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Mind, intellect, memory and ego are four functions of the mind or mind has these four aspects.So what is mind? Are you listening? If your eyes are open and your ears are of course open, sound anyways goes into your ears but if your mind is elsewhere, can you listen to me? No! Isn’t it? So this mind is that through which you perceive, you feel, correct! That, which goes out through the five senses and experiences, is mind.
Okay! so if you experience through mind then what is intellect? As you experience you say, ‘oh, this is good, this is not good, I want this, I don’t want that’. You know intellect is the judging or discriminating aspect. As I am speaking now, your mind is saying, ‘well, I don’t like it’ or ‘I believe it’ or ‘I don’t believe it’, you are going into a dialogue, this is intellect; and then memory, that which stores all this information. So sometimes you feel, when you experience something, ‘oh! I have experienced this before’. When you enjoy apple pie, not for the first time, you say ‘oh I have enjoyed this before, I had this pie before’. So memory is recognizing the experiences and storing it in the memory and then ego.
Ego is – ‘I am something, I am intelligent, I am stupid, I like this, I don’t like that, I am rich, I am very poor, I am ugly or I am beautiful, I am something, I am’, that is ego. When you understand all this then you feel is this the thing? No! After understanding ego also, there is something left, what is this? That is the self.
Catch more in the next post..
Q:
Course will be perfect without translation, when can we stop?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Okay now listen, this is your concept. Just imagine if you were on the other side and I would speak only Chinese, don’t speak any English, and there would be no translation, then what would you do? ‘Oh, please let me have translation’. Don’t keep the concept in mind, ‘oh translation is bothering me’. No it does not matter, let it be there. Listen to it like music.You know people who cannot read Chinese, we find it so beautiful when we go to Hong-Kong, because all these Chinese letters look like decoration. All the sign boards look like decoration, some rangoli or some designs. The entire Hong-Kong is decorated with design boards everywhere. It does not bother but if you know the language, you will be reading all the boards and it will be bothering you more. When you don’t know, it looks so nice.
Q:
I have wasted so many years of my life. I want to do something good and to be successful now. My age is about sixty now, is it too late?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No! Nothing is ever too late, no not at all, don’t worry. Don’t regret the past. Even now it’s not late. Keep smiling; be happy hmm… you are on the right track, right path, and right place. Move on! There are so many things to be done and I need so much help. So many hands I need to do this big mission, right! Bringing the whole world as one family, so we all play a very important role, let’s all do it!Q:
Can you bring more sun here?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Today there is enough sun. We will take it one day at a time.Q:
How does one know when one has been transformed by meditating? Does a person become aware that he has transformed?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Without doubt you will feel elevated. You don't need another proof. Do you ask someone whether you have pain or not. Similarly when you are happy, joyful you know that you are happy. In the same way it is very obvious when you are calm and serene, turn back and see what were you before and how the knowledge has transformed you now. That contrast, that difference will tell you.Q:
Will there ever be Men’s day?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(Smilingly) For that too, you would have to pray to the Devi(mother Divine). Even demons ask for boons from Her, and angels as well. Once somebody was telling this joke: Once a man was asked who the owner of the house is, and the man replied saying he would ask his wife!Q:
What shall we do to always be happy, because as I know your concept is to relaxand attain happiness by that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What to do to always be happy? First, drop the feverishnessto hold onto ALWAYS and you will find yourself happy. And then, if some momentsof unpleasantness creep into life, accept that also.
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