Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The Self is not lost, so the self-respect is not lost. Come on, wake up. You are loved and accepted by many. You are a precious flower of this planet. Do something useful. Do not think only about yourself.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Don’t do anything. Just live in the past. It’s not easy to live in the past. Accept it. Encounter it. You are in the right place. Surrendering the past is not trying to run away from it. Alright, move on. Embrace the past with both arms. It is ok to have had the experiences. Don’t be afraid of it. You can handle it. It won’t go if you are tying to avoid it or being averse to it. Somebody is making a book that describes the five levels of surrender. How do you define surrender? Surrender has been misused so many times. First type of surrender comes into play when there is failure. When you are defeated, or you are miserable, you let go. Letting go, when life is a burden or mainly associated with defeat, is one type of surrender. Another type of surrender, which happens out of love, like a mother’s love for a child. Nothing else is important to her. If it is a choice between her own pleasure and that of the child, she will choose the child’s pleasure. In a love relationship between husband and wife, they feel completely at ease, fearless, with no concerns. A mother is so attached to the child; She willingly gives up small inconveniences or pleasures because she loves the child so dearly. Third type of surender mostly happens with knowledge. There is nothing anyways. It happens when you surrender to God. Fourth type is knowing that it is an illusion. Thinking that you have to give up something which you do not have is an illusion. This is the surrender of wisdom, it is just a sense of ease, knowing it all belongs to the one. This very state of surrender leads to the same place - the small mind opening to the big Self.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Is it better than before? Once you are here it will continue to get better.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Guru is not a physical entity, but Guru is embodiment of knowledge and discretion. Guru is pure consciousness. There is no difference between universal consciousness, Guru and the Self. You should also be a Guru to someone. What does it mean to be a Guru? You don’t expect anything from them, and do whatever you can to uplift them with the feeling of love. Start with the one, then two, three…..10. ‘I am for you; you don’t need to worry’ - Then you would also be able to say this for everybody.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If the person is sensitive, offer your other cheek, and he will not be able to do it. But if someone is insensitive like a buffalo, then you can give two three also!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I want to assure you that we will be able to see 2013. Just remember all the chaos that happened in 1999. Some people started storing food for six months in their basements. Even then I said things would be as usual. Things will be as usual in 2012 also. Actually spirituality will become more fashionable in the coming years; people will become more spiritual. Everyone will understand more about the consciousness. Right here, there are so many layers of the universe and existence. More and more of it will come to light. People will understand; science will also discover.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

In my opinion it is best to have 50 percent reservation for women. We should have equal number of males and females in society also. Then only balance is maintained. Imbalance in the ratio will give rise to crime in society. So ratio has to be same. This is the law of nature and we should follow it.
It is best to have 50 percent females in parliament but it is good that 33 percent are there to start with.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Every question is not answered on the spot. Once a couple went to a Master and expressed their wish to ask two questions. The Master said, “You will get your answers if you do service for two years”. The more precious is the question, more effort is to be done to get the answer. I will give answer to your question, but I will also put a condition if you are putting a condition.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Service can be anything. The world does not expect you to do what you cannot do. Doing what you can do without expecting anything in return is service. There are two ways. Either we expect joy out of what we do or we do it with an expression of joy. This is the difference between a job and service.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It makes you ordinary and it can happen only to ordinary people. If you think you are special, this meditation cannot happen. And that is what is so special about it.