Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
How to handle fear?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Pranayama will help. Sudarshan Kriya will help. Meditation will help. Give it to me if you have any fear. You go back home with a smile.Q:
What do you think of 2012?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Let me remind you of 1999. There was a hue and cry in North America. The world is going to shut down. There was going to be a big disaster. But nothing happened. I think it will be the same in 2012 as well. Business as usual. But people will be more creative. Children will be more spiritual. People will imbibe human values more. The amount of violence, the sense of aggression and violence will decrease. We will make more sustainable choices. Naturally we will become more spiritual. There will be less addiction and sickness.Q:
What is the significance of bowing down to the feet in India?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Only in India, so much significance has been given to the feet. The legs take you forward. Our energy can be transmitted through the hands and the feet. The energy or vibrations are absorbed by the head. This transmission can happen simply through sight as well. Even just being in the presence is enough to soak in the Divine energy.Q:
Guruji why is it that Sanskrit language that originated in India finds its second reference in Chicago? This is still the case.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are asking my question! We are giving away our ownership over Sanskrit..You know Dr. B.R. Ambedkar asked that Sanskrit be made our national language.It was seconded by Nasiruddhin Ahmed.
Malayalam contains 80 % of Sanskrit, Telugu 70%, Kannada 70%, Tamil 30% and Hindi 80%. Even many words in foreign languages are similar to Sanskrit: Swasa – Sister, Duhita – Daughter. However, we have lost the link somewhere and failed to establish the reputation of Sanskrit. You know what rain is called in Italian? Piyorja! The Sanskrit word is parjanya. They are so similar in many aspects.
Q:
What does Vishalakshi mean?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Vishala means broad, Akshi means vision. That which gives you broad vision is Vishalakshi.Q:
Who are you and what is your mission?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I will give this question back to you. And that is my mission - to put this question back to you. Who are you? When you ask yourself who you are, the journey has begun. The spiritual journey just begins with these two questions. Asking others is futile. You ask yourself ‘ who am I?’ and ‘what do I want to do in my life?’.Q:
The mind is running all the time. We are caught up in right or wrong. But when does the mind stop?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(After a pause) Got it? When you are waiting for an answer, what is waiting? The mind has already stopped. When you are astonished, the mind has stopped. When you are in laughter, or panic, or fear, or when you are in deep love, the mind has stopped. Time has stopped. There is an experience of timelessness. Have you experienced that timelessness? Just sit on the banks of the Ganges alone and watch the water flowing. Suddenly you feel it is a moment of eternity. Same way when you watch the sun rise or set, moon rising or setting or watch a child playing, a sudden spurt of energy comes from within you and the mind is already still. You don’t have to wait for this to happen sometime in the future. It is happening here and now.Q:
Guru, I often see people bow down to you. Is doing all that necessary?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, no, not at all. These things are really insignificant. You know, these outer gestures are insignificant. Don’t give too much importance to them. All these gestures don’t matter. We all are connected from a deeper level, the level of the heart. That’s how we have met and we are all here.Q:
Guruji, they say the recipe for depression is to only think about oneself. But at the start of Mahabharata war, Arjuna was thinking about others, yet he was depressed. Please explain.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, the mantra for depression is - “What about me, what about me”. And Arjuna was thinking how he could do the work which he was supposed to do, and what people would think of him. It was again about himself only. It is not just thinking about oneself, but your other different attachments and lack of understanding can also lead to depression. But one sure technique to get depressed is- Just sitting, doing nothing and thinking, ‘what about me, what about me, what will happen to me?’ You are sure to get depressed this way!Q:
What is crisis and how to handle anxiety?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Crisis is the mother of many inventions. A crisis makes us very creative. However the crisis should not go on too long, that is not good.What can help anxiety is breathing techniques like pranayama which channelizes the life force energy in our body. We all float in a sea of prana (life-force energy). There is prana even in a stone.
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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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