Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Sharir ko aaram, man ko vishram to ban gaye tum atmaram. (When the body is at rest, mind relaxed, then you are one with Consciousness).With the rise in tamoguna, laziness develops in the body. When there is no tamoguna, then you get vishram.
In laziness, you don’t gain energy and strength.
If you rest well, you get energy and strength. If you sleep for seven-eight hours, you feel fresh.
If you are simply lying around, there is no enthusiasm, no strength, no freshness. The body is tired, the mind struggles with desires. When body gets rest, and the mind has no feverishness, that is happiness. It brings you strength. Sankalp siddh hone lagta hai. (Intentions start getting fulfilled).
When the mind is ridden with thoughts, then sankalpas don’t come true. When you are happy, sankalpas come true.
When you have desires, you become unhappy and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Try giving your desires to someone at least for sometime. Desires exhibit your tendency to want more. Keep it aside for sometime. See, everything fills up.
At least for sometime, akinchan aur achaha hokar vishram karke dekho. (Become nothing and desireless and experience the relaxed state.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See, there are two things: we think I haven’t changed. Ask any old man whether he is old. He will get angry. He says, “I am only 70, I am not old.” Within himself, he doesn’t think he has become old. There is something inside us that doesn’t change, it remains the same.That's why we think we haven’t changed. Think about it.
From another angle, there are so many changes in you, you are not the same as you were two months ago. Wherever your eye falls, you see I am not the same. I don’t think as before, feel as before. Then you think you are progressing in life. Some walk slowly, some take a big leap.
He, who takes a leap feels it’s a big change. Even if one does not experience a dramatic change, gradually the change happens.
When you look back in life see how much you have changed.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(making a gesture with his hand, turning it upside down) Got it? If you don’t get it, you will never get it.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are not to take it. You get more fulfilling prasad here in satsang! Just look at the faces of people who take afeem. Do you find any radiance on their faces? Are they in a very contented and blissful state? It is not at all observed. There is no glow, vibrancy or smile on their faces. One has no option but to be extremely blissful, contented and happy after receiving the prasad of Lord Shiva. But this is not found with such people who take afeem. I don’t consider it as prasad.Use your understanding to make them drop this. Make them experience Sudarshan Kriya.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No no, keep asking, if you don’t ask the Divine where else will you ask? But remember, you will only get when the time comes.Q: When will matter be united with the spirit? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:When were they separate? Who is listening to my answer? Is it matter or spirit? Matter listens or the spirit?
Reply from audience - don’t know
A dead body also has ears, the sound hits it. But does it hear? Who is listening?
When this small ‘I’ relaxes, it gets in touch with the Universal Spirit, and that is meditation.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Blind faith is that which do not give you any positive result. In blind faith you move on with notions that you have heard from people here and there, and carry similar hopes with you. Either you are deluded or you are there for fulfillment of any strong desire or craving holding on to you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You don’t have to make it an experience. You simply have to wake up and see life is a game. Wake up this moment when I am speaking. Whatever happened till now, is it not like a dream? You had dinner this evening, meditated in themorning, did yoga in morning and went to bed last night, and if you go to your own memory there were good events, bad events, you had profit, you had loss but right this moment it’s all gone.Wake up this moment and see from tomorrow to the next 10 years is also like a dream! When you realize this whole phenomenon that has happened in the past and future is all like a play, a game. You don’t have to think this is a concept and I have to experience it. My dear, memory is memory. Your thinking that you have to experience memory is a concept and your thinking that you don’t have it is again a concept. You simply have to realize right away it is a dream. This could be a dream. That very moment you feel a sense of relief. A soothing wave overtakes you. Don’t wait that someday you will experience it’s all a game.
May be after you leave the body you will experience one day. Then also you will realize I could have done that much before.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We want to achieve success in professional life. Isn't it? That's why we take up an enterprise or profession. That provides you means to have comforts for the body. Yoga, meditation and spirituality are about giving comfort to your soul. When the room is very hot, you switch on the air conditioner to give some comfort to the body. AC (Air conditioner) for the mind is meditation – Absolute Comfort to your mind.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That happens for a small period of time. Later on you will find they will fall badly. There was Bernard Madoff in America. People used to strive to have a picture with him. He was such a big businessman that if he said something it would be immediately followed. Then what happened? Everything got revealed. He is now in jail. His own son got him caught.So the ones, who walk on the path of untruth, enjoy some good times but later on they meet with a downfall. The problem with the path of untruth is that you don’t get sound sleep and feel restless. At least, the ones following the path of truth will have a sound sleep.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ram is the strength for the weak.