Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
When I read the books and listen to knowledge, I really want to implement it. But when the time comes to implement the knowledge, I am unable to do it. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Knowledge gets implemented automatically; it is spontaneous. It is there at the back of the mind. What is it that stops you from implementing knowledge is small temptations. Small temptations go with three things: Love, greed and fear.
Suppose you are drinking alcohol or doing something that is not right, then the fear of disease, or fear of losing your reputation, or fear of losing a loved one can stop you. Fear as well as procrastination can stop you.
The second thing that can stop you is greed. If someone tells you, “If you drink alcohol, you will lose 10 million”. Or if you are a smoker and someone tells you, “If you don’t smoke for 30 days, you will get a lottery for 1 crore rupees”, I tell you, you will not touch a cigarette. You will say, instead of 30 days, let me make it 33 days just to be on safe side.
The third this is love. If you promise a loved one, you will keep it up.
Is it necessary to fast every week?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We fast not to please the Divine, but to cleanse our body. You overwork your liver, stomach and pancreas so much. If there was a labor court for the body, all these organs would have complained against you in that court. We don’t allow them to rest at all. We drink and eat the whole day until night, and we overwork our system. They do need some rest and for that you need to fast.
God is not going to be pleased by your fasting. It is more to detox your own body. And why fasting is combined with prayer all over the world and in all religions, is because when you are fasting, you are detoxified and your prayer becomes authentic and deep. Your meditation happens best when your stomach is empty. Isn’t that your experience?
If you meditate on a full stomach, you will fall asleep. That is why it is said, you can say your prayers when you are fasting as your body is detoxified and your mind is rested and alert.
Just think of your own classrooms. In which period do you feel very alert? First few sessions, or just before lunch. If you have had a heavy breakfast the first session can be boring. And when do you feel heavy and dull? Right after lunch!
When I was in college, I also used to sit and sleep because I had had some nice food, and that too with yogurt. At that time, classes are like a burden. Nobody taught us in those days that food has an impact on our mind. Nobody taught us not to eat these particular things during the day.
Do you know what is the worst punishment? Give someone curd and rice, and don’t let them sleep. It is so
difficult. So, our fasting has an impact on our alertness, and our mind which is why in all the religions of the world, be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism or Jainism, fasting has been followed. But it is only for the body not to please God.
What is the solution to an ego clash?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When egos are there, they do clash. There is no way out. When there is wisdom, you will rise above any small-minded attitude, bickering and judgements.
You judge people all the time, and if you turn back and look at your own judgements, I tell you, 80 to 90% of the time, they will be wrong. Sometimes people send some messages and before the other person gets it, they retract it. How many of you have done that? You type a message to send to someone, and something tells you that this is not okay and so you retract it. How many of you do this? This shows how poor your judgements are.
We create a huge cloud around what is not even close to truth, and it has happened to you so many times in the past. You hold grudges against people, you have concepts about people and you get yourself trapped into it. You must wake up from this. You know, if your time is good, your worst enemy behaves like a friend, and if your times are bad, your closest friend behaves like an enemy. So, your luck or time is totally responsible for your friends and enemies. Your karma is responsible for what you go through. So, you should take your mind away from judging others and bring it to yourself.
Often people who complain that others have a big ego, have a big ego themselves. Often those who complain others are rude, you will see somewhere inside, they are rude. You should reflect on yourself. See, you can’t correct others but others give you a chance to correct yourself.
What is the solution to an ego clash?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When egos are there, they do clash. There is no way out. When there is wisdom, you will rise above any small-minded attitude, bickering and judgements.
You judge people all the time, and if you turn back and look at your own judgements, I tell you, 80 to 90% of the time, they will be wrong. Sometimes people send some messages and before the other person gets it, they retract it. How many of you have done that? You type a message to send to someone, and something tells you that this is not okay and so you retract it. How many of you do this? This shows how poor your judgements are.
We create a huge cloud around what is not even close to truth, and it has happened to you so many times in the past. You hold grudges against people, you have concepts about people and you get yourself trapped into it. You must wake up from this. You know, if your time is good, your worst enemy behaves like a friend, and if your times are bad, your closest friend behaves like an enemy. So, your luck or time is totally responsible for your friends and enemies. Your karma is responsible for what you go through. So, you should take your mind away from judging others and bring it to yourself.
Often people who complain that others have a big ego, have a big ego themselves. Often those who complain others are rude, you will see somewhere inside, they are rude. You should reflect on yourself. See, you can’t correct others but others give you a chance to correct yourself.
What do your teaching hold for me as an atheist? I really struggle with this concept of God.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I would like you to be a sincere seeker of truth. Don't label yourself as a theist or an atheist. It's very difficult to be an atheist, do you know why? You say that something is not existing. When you say that something doesn't exist, you should know everything about the universe to be able to say that, and it is impossible to know everything in the universe. The same is with a theist also. Believers or non-believers, they are on the same boat because both of them think they know it all. I would say, it is better to be a seeker of truth. If you are a seeker of truth, you don't have to believe things that you don't know.
You know you exist and you believe you exist, then explore who you are, forget about God, keep God aside. Let's just go with this self-inquiry ‘Who am I?’
What do you think about Donald Trump?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I know Americans are very intelligent people. I will let them decide what they want. I shouldn't be imposing or influencing them directly or indirectly about my opinion. There are very different people on this planet with different mindsets and ideas, and you never know what works, when and where.
You travel all around the world. What do you see when you travel? Is there progress, and is there peace of mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
More and more people today want peace of mind. They want conflicts to be resolved. There are other people who are just struggling to make their ends meet.
There are two different aspects:
1. The physical requirements of people.
2. The mental requirement. Many people want solace.
People continue to feel lonely, after 40-50 a sense of depression dawns in them, and they feel they're not wanted by their family, people and society. This sort of anxiety has taken over some parts of the world.
We need to work on both levels. We need to give opportunities to people who are struggling to make ends meet. The Art of living is making some efforts in this direction by educating children, bringing education to unskilled people and unemployed people and giving them some hope to live. At the same time, those who have enough, we give them inner solace and make them see what life is all about. And we tell them that there is no point in crying and being worried all the time.
A lot of people still hide and go for meditation and yoga practices in Norway. How do we work around this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are different types of prejudices in different places in the world. A progressive society should just do away with prejudice.
In Norway, I am sure many people meditated. The others (who are not for meditation) are either misinformed or not well-informed about meditation. When doctors are telling you that with meditation your BP becomes normal, your blood sugar becomes normal, your heart rate becomes lower, then it must be good for you. Paradigms keep changing in the world and the intelligent people take to it faster than the others.
How do we find balance?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Through Meditation. Today scientists say, if you meditate even for eight weeks at least once a day, the grey matter in the brain increases and the structure of the brain changes. That's what I have been saying for the last 35-40 years. Today scientists have said the same thing, they have authenticated it in some way – that meditation does so much good to your nervous system and it does so much good to your brain. It creates a positive energy around you, it uplifts your spirit and alters your behavior pattern.
World Health Organization says that the biggest challenge that mankind is facing today is depression, and by the year 2020 depression is going to be much more prevalent. If half the population are on anti-depressants, then that is going to be terrible. Even anti-depressants work for some time and then they stop working. So, we need to bring a lifestyle change in people by making them understand how they can handle their own mind, their energy and their vibrations.
We live in era of quantum physics and today quantum physics says this is all about vibration. The whole world is nothing but vibrations, and this is what spirituality also says – it's all vibration. So, we need to teach people how they can shake off all the stress that accumulates on a day-to-day basis.
30 years ago, when I would talk about yoga or meditation, people would say, “Wow, that's not the normal thing to do. Someone who is crazy would go for all this”. That was the paradigm, that was the assumption people had. Today it has changed. Today, big companies like Daimler Chrysler, Benz, etc., show someone in a meditative pose to depict happiness in their advertising. Relaxation and happiness has become synonymous to meditation. I feel there's a big change in the mindset of the people.
With the culture and education system of today, how do we nature that childlike quality in us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
They are not contradictory, in fact they are complimentary. If you talk to any accomplished scientist, you'll find in them this quality of innocence, like a child. Any genius in any field for that matter, if you sit and talk to them, you will feel that there's a genuineness and a childlike simplicity in them.
Somewhere people think that childlike simplicity is contrary to being intelligent. I usually say that intelligence which is accompanied with cunningness is good for nothing, and child-likeness which is full of ignorance is good for nothing. We need that perfect combination of innocence and intelligence. A pure heart and a clear mind is a part of intelligence.