Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you are listening but the mind is still somewhere else then there is no receptivity.When your mind is clogged with too many ambitions, it does not listen properly if the subject is not linked with your ambition. Even if it is related, it goes on a day dreaming trip. It listens to one sentence and it goes on a trip. For e.g. if someone has an ambition to become a Chief Minister and he is told that you have all possibility of becoming a chief minister the mind immediately goes on a day dreaming trip. So simply listen, just listen.
Also if your mind is stuck with so many thoughts then also the perception is low.
Another reason for alertness of the mind to reduce is vata de-arrangement or kapha imbalance.
When the mind is bombarded with sensory stimuli then also it is not receptive. Have you observed after watching a three-hour movie if someone tells you something you say, ‘Tell me later on.’
To enhance receptivity what to do?
Silence, Pranayama, proper food, less ambitions in the mind will all help. If you like a topic/ subjects then you tend to be receptive towards it. Teenagers often face a difficult phase in life when they have to choose a subject - Math, Computer Engineering etc and if someone is good in all of these subjects then it creates even more trouble.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Dharma and sanga. Our innermost nature is what dharma is. Yes, our innermost nature is dharma and sangha is our association, our environment.So events and attitude are influenced by only two things.The first is by your own true nature and another by your environment, the people whom you are with, you know.In a group if someone says, ‘Come lets go and have a drink,’ we will say, ‘Ok, lets all go.’ We will go.In a group if someone starts talking negatively, slowly another person will join a little later, then the third and the fourth. Soon you’ll find that everybody starts talking negatively – this is the influence of the groupA child is influenced upto 25 percent by the environment, by the friends in the environment and the school they grow up in. Another 25 percent is from the parents’ genes and tendencies. The next 25 percent is their own originality, their karmas, their samskaras, the impression that they come into this world with. The remaining 25 percent is through their own self-effort and their understanding. So parents have got only one-forth influence on their children. Only one forth. Similarly, our sangha which means our association has an influence on us. Usually what we call sangha is a group of people who are on the spiritual path. People on the spiritual path can help you with that much-needed energy, biodiversity energy for you to move on that path. That is why when you sit and meditate in a group, it is better than when you are alone.How many of you feel that way? In a group you feel like doing yoga, pranayam, even service activity. When you are alone, you get tired. You don't feel like doing it. But few of you join together and you do a lot of work. If you have to wash the dishes alone, you will feel so bored. But if 7, 8 or 9 of us are washing the dishes, time just flies like that. You don’t feel tired. I have told you don’t feel exhausted isn't it? How many of you have this experience?At home if someone is asked to wash that many dishes, you would crib. And here you do it with the smile, you do it happily joyfully. So sangha can or the group sangha can help you move up in life. It puts you in touch with the dharma; and sangha only happen with the enlightened.That’s why Lord Buddha said Buddham, sangham and dharmam. Three things - the enlightened one, the company of people and your true nature - all these things important and they all are one and the same.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Even now you get tensed, but it goes away right? Anger, tension - many people don’t even know they are like this! At least you know. On a white clean cloth - a small dust particle is also seen. When the mind is clear, little anger or tension is also seen. Slowly you will see nothing is affecting you. A few months or years of practice and you will see that nothing can touch you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This you figure out. When misery comes, everyone thinks of God. But to one who thinks of God even when happy, why will misery touch him? There is an old proverb which says this Sukh mein simran sabh karein, dukh mein kare na koi,Sukh mein simran jo kare to dukh kahe ko hoyeThis applies to us also. When you are doing pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, when you are happy, then that happiness will continue.Today, there was an article in the paper which says that the only way to cure depression is by meditation. Anti-depression medicines will make the depressioncome back. There is a rebounding of depression with anti-depression medicines but with meditation there is no rebounding. Today millions of people are suffering from depression and they don’t know something like this exists. They don’t know there is a way which can make them free from depression. When you go back tell everyone about meditation. It takes one out of depression, suicidal tendencies. Look at Rashid (pointing to a youth who has come from Kashmir), he is smiling after 12 years and is now doing wonderful service also.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
there are only few things which makes us do wrong:-Anger - we know that getting angry is not good for us but still we get angry.
Lust - we know it is not good but still the mind races.
Greed - we know according to the law it is wrong but still your greed increases.
Dishonesty - you know it is not good to speak lies but still you do so.
Anger comes only out of weakness. Yet you see now, after practising meditation and pranayama, it reduces. When you are constantly in knowledge your anger reduces. Behind anger, there is a desire. Anger arises whether your desire is fulfilled or not.
Desires are of two types - from the level of the body and the level of the mind.
At the body level, desires are influenced by the chemical responses in your body due to your food, water, environment, your age and the company you keep.
And at the level of the mind, past impressions influence the desires that arise. Only meditation and pranayama can bring a transformation in this.
Even well-educated people have made mistakes. It is ok. Whatever happened in the past, it is ok. Just drop it. In the present moment you are innocent.
One who is caught in self blame will repeat the same mistakes over and over again. So for this, you should listen to the Bhakti sutras. Surrender your mistakes to the Divine. Just with devotion you can calm down thousands of your desires.
Desires have no end. There are people who spend their lives earning money to simply have more money than somebody else. People keep on buying clothes, shoes, sometimes more than they can ever use. There is no satisfaction
Only through Seva (service) you can experience true satisfaction and joy. And that joy will reduce your desires. Greed has no end. It is ok to have desires. There is no harm. But you must be happy. Your happiness should not depend upon any desire being fulfilled.
One should have a calm and centered disposition, have awareness and live by the yamas and niyamas (the guiding principles for life). Integrate them in your life as much as it is possible. Don’t overdo anything. It is said ‘ahimsa paramodharma’ - Non-violence is the highest dharma. When you speak many germs die, some people always keep their mouths covered because of that. No need to go so far. The more you practise the yamas and niyamas, that much more you will shine. Your interest and pull in life should be towards these principles.
Violence starts in the mind. The root cause for violence is craving and aversion. Craving and aversion can be finished in the mind itself.
What happens at the body level without your knowledge, as Lord Krishna says in the Bhagvad Gita to Arjuna, “Know that you can neither kill any being nor give life.”
You know, the Bhagwad Gita is one of the most ideal scriptures. Even Einstein had said this. Integrate this Knowledge in your life such that your life itself becomes knowledge. And this can happen only through meditation. Only through meditation can true knowledge dawn within you. And then you see the world in new dimensions.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are different forms of Yoga. Raja Yoga is Royal Yoga. In some forms, they spend a lot of time in practice. Some forms are for people like the prince who has so many responsibilities such that they can do the practice in a short span of time. Meditation is useful for people in all walks of life.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The sound of ‘Om namah shivaya’ includes all the five elements – Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. Hinduism is not a religion as such. People have beenchanting this for thousands of years. Mantras are those sounds which you hear from deep within during meditation and the aim is to bring one back to the source. During later days, people started putting faces and drawings to these mantras. Mantras have got certain vibrations/ energy. They are universal.Even in churches in Latin America ‘Marnah nath’ is used. Its translation in Latin and Sanskrit is so close. For ‘Lord’ the word in Latin is nath and also in Sanskrit the word nath is used to mean ‘Lord’. So the word marnah nath meaning ‘My lord’ which is used in Christianity is actually a Sanskrit word.
Chanting in Sanskrit is beneficial because Sanskrit is the oldest language known to mankind. It has a deep impact on the consciousness. We welcome all songs – Japanese, Korean, Spanish. Any song you want to sing is welcome. We sing a lot of songs inSpanish and Portuguese in satsangs in South America. Of course, in India everybody easily connects with ancient mantras. Take any language you want but along with it take this also. How many of you feel singing and chanting these mantras creates some vibrations? (All raise hands in affirmation) It’s obvious. In Vedic chanting, many times you don’t know even the meaning but it has some effect.
In the morning we did Rudra Abhishek, this has been practiced for over thousands of years. We use crystal, milk, yoghurt and flowers etc. They all create a certain impact and send out positive vibrations.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you keep doing the same thing again and again, knowing that it brings you misery, you really don’t understand it brings you misery or you think it brings you some pleasure. Craving for pleasure and non-awareness that it is going to cause you misery are two things which makes you commit the same mistake again and again. That’s why they’re called habit. Habits don’t give you pleasure but they inflict pain by not following them.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Infinite souls. It’s like asking are there fixed number of stars in the sky? There are infinite stars. Vedic shastra and Agma shastra says there are 224 earths, worlds like ours in this galaxy. There are many but mainly 224. These are the visions of saints who have gone deep in meditation and explored the universe.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
With rest - you achieve devotion. When you put in effort along with rest you get power or strength. Effort and prayer, both, go together. Either is incomplete without the other. For completion of any task both are required.Normally women only pray and men only put in effort but both should do both.