Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You want everything to be easy. You should also put in some effort. If you have grown too old, I can tell you easy ways. You have enthusiasm, you are intelligent..Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, it is true.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are two ways of going about work. One is wanting to do something for which you can always find an inspiration. Another is since you already have something, so you want to do it as an expression of joy. It makes all the difference whether work is done as an expression of joy versus expecting some joy. So, I’m not expecting joy in doing something. Rather, I am doing everything as an expression of joy. Everything is happening spontaneously. People find it very hard to understand this. These people ask me, “What is your motivation?, What is it that you want by doing all of this?”. I say, "nothing. I want nothing". It’s a little hard to understand at that time. For instance, suppose you have seen a nice movie. So many people who saw Avatar told me, “Guruji, you must go.” By canvassing for a movie you enjoyed, you are not getting anything. You are not getting paid for canvassing for that movie. You go around telling everybody, “oh, that movie is so good, you should watch it.” What do you get by that? You just tell people because you enjoyed watching it, and you want to share that happiness with everybody. Infinite joy is what we’ve all been born with. I give joy by sharing myself with everybody. So, we need to bring this shift from the joy of receiving to the joy of giving.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
She could be doing it because she might be worried about your dropping your family and becoming an ascetic. So you should give her the assurance that Guruji will not let you become ascetic in the first place.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is it that you want me to explain? Connection is a matter of heart. Explanation and understanding is a matter of mind.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Population of many animal species like scorpions, snakes is also decreasing. Animals in forests might have taken birth as humans. You think over this.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Experience happens on its own, but don’t hanker for experiences.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
For showing your love and gratitude for your country, you will have to do a lot of work in the society so that our villages develop and become self helping. To make a society which is void of corruption, violence, all have to put effort whole heartedly, OK.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Every child should know a little about all cultures and religions in the world. They will start to feel connection with all the cultures. Every child should know a little bit about all religions like Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism. They will grow up with a broad mindset.I feel at home wherever I go in the world. I feel connected, and everyone can do that because we all have that need to be connected. In fact you don’t have to make an effort, we are anyway connected.
I still remember an incident some 25 years ago, in Manchester, UK. A small girl came to me and asked: ‘Why cannot human beings connect with everyone else in the world?’ I told her this is because we are so stuck in our identities. It’s good to have identity but we have to grow beyond that.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are various concepts and understanding of this. So, people start attributing male and female genders to everything. But that is how human mind can comprehend things; it cannot comprehend anything which is beyond.