Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Beloved Guruji, I have been practicing to give a percentage of my income to uplift the society for the last twenty years. Would you please elaborate on the idea and power of charity as a spiritual practice? Love and Gratitude!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ya ya, giving something back to the society is very important. You know, there is a proverb that says, “Rice is purified by a drop of ghee on it”. You know ghee, butter, a little fat. It was a practice in India, but we didn’t see any scientific basis for it.Lately, when we spoke to a scientist doctor, he said it is good to have a spoon of ghee, the clarified butter, on rice, because that prevents one from having diabetes. You know why? Rice or any food, starch or carbohydrates quickly gets digested, but it takes a little longer to digest that if it has a little bit fat. Then there is less chance of you getting diabetic or heart problems. So, a cardiologist said, “it is necessary to have a little fat in carbohydrates so that it becomes complex to digest it”. I said, “look, this was said some thousands of years ago. They said, ‘rice gets purified with a drop of ghee.’ ”.
In the same way the money gets purified by charity. When you give a portion of what you have earned for a good cause then the rest of the money that you have is pure money. Similarly, the mind becomes pure by meditation, body get pure by bathing, by a shower; mind becomes pure by prana, pranayama and meditation; Intellect becomes purer by knowledge, by wisdom. See, what we are listening make us pure. There is something that happens in you when you are listening to knowledge or read Yoga Vasistha. Right? You listen to Ashtavakra and that wow sprouts from within. Knowledge makes the intellect pure. And life becomes pure when there is dedication.
Q:
Can you please talk about our connection of our solar plexus and the sun? How to strengthen the connection, strengthen our nervous system and increase our immunity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Pranayama and meditation. Simply know there is a connection. You are connected to the air all around. Whether or not you know, the connection is there. The center of gravity in the body is the solar plexus, and the center of the universe is the sun.Q:
How can I motivate myself?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Only three things can motivate you or inspire you - love, fear, greed! But I don’t agree with fear or greed, I believe in love!Q:
How to give 100 percent. I often feel I don’t know how to give my 100 percent?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you want the answer?(Yes from the boy)
Do you really want the answer?
(Yes from the answer)
Do you 100 percent want the answer?
(Very Intense yes from the boy)
Really?
(Calm and Enthusiastic Yes from the boy)
See, you already have it.
Q:
Please speak about wealth.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
As per the ancient scriptures, there are eight types of wealth. Wealth is not only money. Of course, bank balance is wealth, progeny is also a type of wealth, so is health. If you have the confidence that you can create wealth in any situation, even when the economy is not doing well, you will have courage. That courage and confidence is a wealth. The ability to make friends is a wealth. Knowledge is also wealth.The goddess of wealth, Laxmi, is floating on the lotus. She moves with the wind. The Goddess of knowledge, Saraswati, is on a rock. A rock is stable. Once you have learnt knowledge, you have learnt it for life. Wealth is not an end in itself. It is the means to an end. Wealth, happiness and life are to be shared with all those around.
Today, many people have lost faith. When you lose faith, it takes you within. Every crisis is an opportunity. When all doors are shut and you have nowhere to go, that is when you go within.
Many hurdles and crises come, but you must keep your intention strong. You have to have vision. When you look around, people who break your trust will be few. Those whose values falter will be few. Though sometimes you may shake, but hold on to your vision and mission.
If you don’t want others to cheat you, why should you cheat others? Money is essential, yet you cannot sleep well having only money. Half our health is spent on getting wealth and then we spend half our wealth to get back the health.
Q:
Sometimes I don’t know whether I am doing the right thing. I lose courage. How do I handle such a situation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
At those moments, just relax. The right thing will happen to you.Q:
What is your advice for people on planet Earth? How can we live such that after 50-100 years we would still have fresh air to breathe?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Care for nature, like native communities worship nature. Honor the environment. In a place in India if you cut one tree, you have to promise you will plant five of the same kind within the next forty days. There is a whole ritual in which one who is cutting the tree speaks to it, telling it that after cutting it will be useful to us. We must care for nature, not exploit it.Q:
I feel happy and peaceful here. My heart is really contented. All negativity comes when I go out. I encounter all problems like corruption and bribery. How to face these problems? How to maintain the same positivity when I go from here?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You forget a strength in you – Prayer and power of your Sankalpa (positive intention). You keep doing practices and your things are taken care of. Don’t ask for small things in your prayers. Ask for big things – Let government be good and stable, Let this knowledge reach out to many more people. It is up to you to make a divine society. You can start a collective moment. There are many good people and a very few people who cause disturbance, but their influence looks like they are many. You come together and you will find what difference you can make.Q:
Sometimes I feel good and sometimes bad. How to balance?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Keep silence for a few days and then essential right things will come out.Q:
I have lost my trust, how can I regain it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t make an effort to regain it. Listen to your heart. Trust can never be lost. Doubt as much as possible, but truth always stands up to the doubt. Truth is so strong that doubt cannot destroy it. So, it is good to doubt. And the trust which moves through the doubt and stands, that is true trust.How many of you here have not visited India yet? How many of you would like to come to India? Oh, very good. You know, we will organize a group from here. You have a home there in India. All of you come for a week, ten days, 15 days…whatever is possible. You can all come to India, and have a glimpse of all the service activity.
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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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