Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
During the World Culture Festival, what did you enjoy most?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Every moment!Q:
Should my first responsibility be to the Guru or the mother and spouse? If a conflict arises, who should I choose?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The Guru is already happy. If you are happy, the Guru is happy.But there is a Sanskrit saying: Kashtasya Sukhasya Na Kopi Vaa (It is impossible to make someone else joyful).
How much can you prove to your wife that you love her? The more you do, the more suspicious she becomes. It is next to impossible to make someone else happy.
So, you must engage in a service project. Ten percent of your income must go to spiritual and social causes. If not, the money is said to be impure.
There was a wealthy industrialist in India. He didn’t believe in charity and said he would do it when he got older. He became bankrupt six months later,. Even the greatest fortunes can disappear. See companies like GM and Citibank.
What stays with us is our good heart.
Q:
Guruji, the Dalai Lama says that dreams are the deepest form of meditation. Guruji what are dreams? Are they thoughts or are they actually events?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, there are different types of dreams and there are different levels of meditation. Sleep is not meditation. Right now you meditated, was it sleep? Or was it waking? Was it dreaming? No! it was different right, that is meditation. Was it good? Ha!Q:
How is it possible that you give the answers to all questions so quickly?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Very naturally, and easily.Q:
How do I change failure into success?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just move on, move forward. Don’t look back. Failure can only be in the past, never in the future. Again, it’s about understanding the event. If you see it from a broader perspective, you will see it better.Q:
Guruji, whatever is worth remembering, I forget, and whatever is useless, not worth remembering, my memory always remembers that.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
At least, you understood this. Many people don’t even understand this. Give a pat on your back. Say you have taken first step in the right direction. And it will change. Just a little effort and done.When you analyze the past, you should always come to this conclusion that everything happens for the good, because you learnt a lesson from the wrong things. But you should not apply this for the future. Looking at the past and knowing that everything happens for some good reason, you move on to the future. But if, in the present, you say, ‘ Oh! Everything happens for the good’, that is no good.
Q:
How to forget betrayal? Someone has betrayed me long back and that man keeps coming to my mind. After doing yoga, meditation, pranayam, etc., I am able to get these thought occasionally. Earlier it was coming frequently. How to completely drive away these thought?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It’s already less, isn't it? How much has it reduced till now?. Once in a while, it comes, right? So what? It doesn’t matter. The more you resist it, it’ll keep coming back. Just take it, it’s an experience in life.Q:
Guruji, can Demi-gods or Pitra Devtas or you get angry with us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, I cannot comment about Devis and Devatas but I do not get angry with you. Am I so stupid that if you do something wrong I will get angry for that and get upset? No, not at all. But yes, I do feel compassion when you keep on making mistakes again and again and waste such a beautiful life that you have. This does hurt me but I don’t get angry. But if you feel that I should not do this wrong thing because Guruji will become angry then definitely think that I will get angry if you do wrong.Q:
Guruji, it is said that at the time of death the last though or memory in the mind is what influences the future birth that one takes. In this mind of mine, there is a big influence of this material world. What to do for me to remember and have only you on my mind at the last moment of my life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You don’t have to wait for the last moment of your life. Live every moment with happiness and joy and do seva, sadhana and satsang.Q:
What is divine love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Love, itself, is divine. When it has no distortions, it is divine. When it is unconditional, it is divine. Conditions, such as, ‘I love you, so you must love me’, come from the small, small mind and small love. Divine love is unconditional. And always evolutionary.
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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.
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