Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, I think I am able to do as much as I can yes. See our consciousness is so vast; our consciousness has many abilities you know, so we can do. Nature will provide you with only that much work that you can take otherwise nature will not give one inch more than what you cannot do, yes.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Meditate and even before going to bed meditate and listen to some nice chanting, that will help.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Where did these thoughts come in your head? It came in your head, right? Better find that out yourself. Before it comes, try to catch it. When you look inside, you will find that the thought is coming from an empty space. An empty space. And that empty space is the mother of all inventions, all creativity.That’s why, time and again, experience silence. You will get creative and innovative thoughts will come to you. Our mind is chattering all the time, 24 hours. That’s why be silent. Silence increases our energy level, our sharpness and awareness level. It has enormous potential. Imagine someone with insomnia – they are tired the whole day and are unable to sleep at night too. They don’t know how to rest. They chatter and chatter.
You continuously talk and listen to the television and radio. We get immersed in sound from morning to night, from the time we get out of bed till we go to bed again. Chatter, chatter! How much wear and tear would’ve happened to our brain! We don’t give it any time to rest. There is so much disharmony around you. You know why you like music? Because music is a harmonious sound and all disharmonious sounds gets submerged in it.
You will start enjoying that quietness. That inner harmony and serenity is much more pleasurable than the best music you can ever listen to.
I am not saying you should never listen to music. It is necessary but don’t overdo it. You should eat, but you shouldn’t overeat. Similarly, you should listen to music, but not get obsessed with it.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, they say everything is fair in love and then it turns into a war! (laughter)When they say everything is fair in war, they, in turn, get jailed. That’s what happened to Miloshevich and many other people who just didn’t care for any rules and thought everything is fair in war and love and finally, they landed up in jail.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, no, no, absolutely not. Don’t worry. If you feel like you are getting affected by somebody’s depression or somebody’s negative energy, just say Om NamahShivaya a few times. It’s gone. It can happen. When people are so depressed and are not in proper shape and you meet them you may feel that. How many of you feel that, when you meet very depressed people something happens to your own body, right? Om NamahShivaya, Jai gurudev - it just disappears.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When Lord Krishna sat in Samadhi that is when he recited the Gita. After the war, once Arjuna asks him that I have forgotten the beautiful knowledge that you gave me, at that time there was a lot of crowd and so much commotion on the war field and I didn’t listen to you properly. Please tell me again what you said. Then Krishna replied," No, I can’t tell you now, at that time I was in samadhi , so I made you sit and whatever came to me I told you at that time, now I cannot again tell you again". So whatever Lord Krishna said was not a person saying this knowledge but the universe speaking. These messages came from the Shiva tattva, the atma tattva. He said, ’I am the sun, I am the rain, truth and untruth, everything is me.’ This is very deep knowledge. If you see everything is made from one tattva, from atoms. What is your mother made of, father made of? Everyone’s body is made from the same thing, from food grains. Food grains are consumed and the body is developed, whoever eats, they all grow and the body is made from that. So everyone is made from one substance, one power and one energy. So, he is saying the whole world is made from that one consciousness, one energy, one substance. Now if you see the fan, mike and light are all working with one current, with electricity, isn’t it? But it seems like the mike is different, the light is different and the fan is something else. They all look different but they are all made up of the same thing. In the same way, if the sun was not there then the earth cannot exist. If the earth was not there, how could there be plants or trees or human beings? So what is our source? First from the physical aspect our source is the earth; more subtle than that it is the sun. What is the source of the sun? The universal energy - and so Lord Krishna says that universal energy is ME. That is the atma that is you and that is me and everything is made of this universal energy and this is what today’s scientist also say. Those who study quantum physics this is what they say - that the whole world is made up of one energy. Earlier it was said that there were different protons, electrons functioning and making things work but now they say it is all one energy, everything is a wave functions. What we consider physical things are not there in reality, it is all just energy and this is what Lord Krishna has said many years ago in the Bhagavad Gita. ‘Avajananti mam mudham manusim tanumasritam, Param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta- mahesvaram’, these people do not see my true nature as that one universal energy, consciousness and they are thinking I am a human being. I am in a human body but the consciousness inside me is that supreme consciousness. I am not a human being. I am a power.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You need the four things curiosity, fear, greed and love.Remember the planet has faced worse crises than these. If you have a crisis you only have to look at a bigger crisis – start to serve the bigger ones and yours seem smaller and you overcome it effortlessly. When a crisis seems too humungous for you and you feel you cannot handle your own, focus on a bigger one. Have you noticed how children come to you with a big problem, and it turns out that their friend doesn’t want to speak to them. It seems so big. Or you argue with your neighbor, your girlfriend or boyfriend. The problem seems so big but this planet has had so many crises. The tsunami, war, famine, economic meltdown and still we overcome them all. Have faith and confidence.
1. Have confidence in you. You have the strength to manage the problem. If the problem is the tail then the body is the solution. So have confidence.
2. If this doesn’t work then know that there are people with greater problems and start serving them. It will make you feel better.
3. Surrender to the bigger power. Feel your helplessness and offer the problem to God. The sincere prayer will make things turn around. You don’t have to think about what denomination to pray. Just from helplessness arises the spontaneous prayer.
4. Know that it is a passing phase. It will always go. See life in the bigger picture. No problem stays forever. It came and it will go.
Read more: https://www.artofliving.org/intl/Portals/0/founder/ontour/09April0SpiritualityIsRelevantToSociety.pdf
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Divide is created by the minds of people; it is not religion that is responsible. Even within one religion how much people fight. Forget about religion, in the family don’t brothers fight, right or not? Same family, children of the same mother and father. If there are four brothers or six brothers, that’s it, there are court cases against each other. People fight because they lack spirituality and they have not learnt meditation.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is a matter of great concern that violence has taken over 300 of 600 districts in this country. It is a serious concern. This is because we have brushed aside all spiritual things. We have been educating people in a system that does not inculcate human values and spirituality. All of you must insist that spirituality takes a front seat in everything.Around 150 saints were born in Tamil Nadu (an Indian state). They have all written many songs, spiritual treatises and books. The education system in Tamil Nadu has removed all this spiritual knowledge from these books. As a result, today, people don’t even know that they are groping in a rootless system. A similar situation is seen in Hyderabad. There were so many saints who would sing the Vedanta – the highest knowledge. All the literature has been bundled aside.
Even in our school – we rarely read about Kabir, Gorakhnath, Meerabai. We read about other things.
If spiritual education is encouraged then Naxalism and Jehadi terrorism will all go away.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Chant ohm namo shivay and meditate.