Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q: Whenever I see a good looking girl, I find myself in love. Is that love or infatuation? |
Sri Sri:
Well, time will tell you! First, find out whether they are in love withyou or not. If that matches, it is a different story. If it doesn’tmatch, that is a different story altogether. Either case, you willbecome mature. But don’t keep falling in love. Rise in love! In love,you don't expect anything in return. If you want something in return,don’t call it love. Then that’s need. In a relationship there is aneed, but there is no need in love. Love is your very nature. If itsounds too philosophical for now, just keep it in the background andrelax. One day you will understand, when your heart breaks or when yourealize you expected something too much, something will pop up from thebackground of the mind and try to save you.
Q: Which is the way of being considerate in my society, neighborhood, my Art of Living group and my friends? |
Sri Sri:
Why are you asking this question? You think you are not considerate of others? If you are very stressed then you don’t care what other people think or what others are doing. You just do what you want to do. But sensitivity comes with serenity, sensitivity comes with calmness, sensitivity comes with culture. Your background, your culture, how you grow up, and what were the situations around you. You have that ability to be considerate. Do not doubt that. Compassion is in our very nature. Only when you are extremely stressed, compassion appears to have disappeared. It really doesn’t disappear, it stays somewhere deep inside.
Q: Can you tell us how the time of the day and night affect our body and mind? |
Sri Sri:
You have a mind and the mind passes through time. Why don’t you observeit! You have different moods in the morning, different moods in theafternoon, and different moods in the evening and night. Isn’t so?
Thereis alertness and wakefulness at sunrise. I don’t think anybody likes tolisten to romantic songs at dawn, dusk or afternoon. Unless you arenewly married or just fallen in love!
In the morning, the mind is in a state of knowledge, alertness and wakefulness.
It is action-oriented in the afternoon and in the evening, the mind is in a state of relaxation.
Onewho wants to be unhappy can be unhappy the whole time, and one whowants to be happy can be happy throughout the day. A fool will beunhappy all the time and the intelligent one will be happy in spite ofchanging moods. In the same way, seasons also affect the mind.
Definitely,the mind and time have a very unique relationship. If you havetranscended the mind, there is happiness throughout. An eternalcalmness and serenity dawns.
Sri Sri:
Don’t recognize complexity. Keep your sight on the One. In Sanskrit it is said, “Antarmukhi sada sukhi”.If your mind is turned inwards, it will always be happy. What iscomplex? People’s mind! They are bothered about their complexity, whyshould you be bothered about the same? People are complex, and theywill come down. Have patience and compassion.
Sri Sri:
Suppose there is only a hero in a film and there is no villain! Whenthere are all kinds of thrill, only then the movie works. If it wouldhave been just a hero or heroin, they get married and live together,that’s it! How would the film be? This is all a play, a drama. So, allkinds of things keep happening.
Thesoul is eternal. This world is ever changing, different changes keep onhappening. Knowing this, just relax. Be of service. Where ever thereis a need, be ready to jump in that. Service is our very nature and wecannot live without it. Service should not be like a heavy weight, butjust like a flower petal – easy and natural.
Sri Sri:
This is something very interesting. The place had violence before Jesusand it has violence after Jesus as well. This is something to bewondered about. This place has continuously seen bloodshed violence.Why? There is no answer. At least, I don’t know any answer. But if yousee history, even before Moses and after Moses, thewhole region of the middle East and Egypt suffered a lot, and have beensuffering continuously. Knowledge is most needed in that region.
