Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are trying to please them in your own way. If they are not happy, it is their fate, their luck. That is why there is a saying in Sanskrit, ‘No one can cause suffering or bring comfort to anyone. Everyone experiences pleasure or pain according to his/her own karma.’Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The world has a big population. Less space is taken up; land is so expensive. The body goes to Nature. Bones remain and are given to the river. Once the body is cremated, 700g to a maximum of 1kg of bones and ashes remain. The soul becomes free.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Both. You have to perform your duty and you have to be happy. Why do you want to have a choice between these two? Hmm... If there is a choice, go for duty first because if you are unhappy it may be momentary, right? Happiness is there, will come. But if you are choosing happiness before duty then you will be unhappy in the end. So it’s better to be unhappy in the beginning than keep it a long, long program.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Why should we not? Listen, now why should we have so many types of vegetables? You should have had only one egg plant. You should have asked why there are so many types of fruits. There are grapes, oranges, so many types of oranges, so many types of bananas. You should have had only bananas. Nature should have created only bananas. You eat the banana and go bananas. You would have really gone nuts. Nature loves diversity. So nature made so many types of rice. You know, in rice there are 152 types in India alone. World over if you count there are thousands of types of rice. There are types of rice, types of cows; different types of vegetables, fruits. The Divine loves diversity. So the Divine can manifest itself in so many diverse forms. That is what the ancient people said. You should give the freedom for Divine to wear whatever clothes it wants to wear. Don’t say that the should come in the same dress all the time.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just let go. If you find it difficult, just live in the present moment. Now, now. The past is gone. The future is yet to come.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
At least you are aware that the mind is comparing with others. That means you are already becoming free from it, somewhat. Gradually it will move away completely.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See, these tendencies come in you because you are made up of both mother and father, a combination of two. Everybody has both male genes and female genes. When male chromosomes are dominating or when female chromosomes are dominating, these tendencies come and go. You don’t have to brand yourself about that. It can all change. There is a possibility of those tendencies changing. Know that you are more than just the body. You are a scintillating consciousness, energy. You are sparkling light, and so, identify yourself with that light more.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Listen, people have gone through abuse. Practices like the Sudarshan Kriya, pranayama, and yogasanas will help them to erase those impressions and move forward. Along with the kriya, see the whole event as a movie, a dream. This understanding, without giving them the depth of meditation, is incomplete.This understanding and the practices complement each other. It’s like watching television and listening to it. You have to do both.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I take it as a challenge and I enjoy challenges!Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Many options. Poke them. If they continue, accept it. If you find it is irritating you more and more, get up and sit somewhere else.