Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, when you are asking about Sri Aurobindo, you already know. He wished more and more people would meditate. So the seed he had sown meant greater access to the collective consciousness. It's happening now. Those days it was very dull, although a few French people really caught on to it.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is what we all have to do, and that is what we are doing. Let us get more and more youth together and change this atmosphere in society.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You chop off some leaves and branches of plants. Don’t you prune rose plant? Does it die by pruning? It grows up. Same way nature brings all this from a bigger picture.It is not always ripe fruits that fall from a coconut tree. Sometimes even small coconut drops off. Baby fishes are also swollen by big fishes in an ocean. So, these natural calamities are all part of the nature. If we exploit nature too much, more natural calamities occur. We are putting dynamites in the Earth. We are blasting it every day. Imbalance gets created and so Earth starts shaking. Sustainable development is what is needed today. We need to care for the planet.
Nature moves with the law. God means a rule, a law. Everything goes by that. This planet Earth has to be protected and cared for.
One is natural calamity. Another is man-made calamity. Man-made calamities can always be avoided. People are not valuing human life for a little piece of gold. Human values need to be brought back into society.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First of all, don’t think you don’t love yourself. Who says this? Even a person who commits suicide loves himself too much, that’s why he commits suicide. Such a person doesn’t want pain, can’t tolerate pain. So, when people who can’t bear some little pain or suffering, and want only happiness, they commit suicide. They love themselves too much. They don’t love others. If the person who is committing suicide loves his mother or daughter or wife or husband or his near and dear one, how would he/she commit suicide? If one care for others, he/she would never commit suicide.They should know if they hang themselves, they will bring problem to his/her fellow beings making them miserable and sad. So, one commits suicide because of loving oneself too much.So, never doubt your love for yourself. Who says you don’t love yourself? It’s impossible, because you are love.It’s only misplaced. Somewhere you don’t get it right. And you are in the right place. As of now, not a single mother is born on this planet who is bad. As a mother, don’t think that you are a bad mother. Impossible! So, just relax and move on with your work.Don’t analyze too much about what happened because there is always imperfection in any action we do. This is an important thing to know. No action, whatever, on this planet earth is perfect. Every action has a dot of imperfection in it. But we should keep acting. Even the worst act has got a good dot in it, whereas the best action has got one flaw in it. It’s either 98 percent good and 2 percent bad or 2 percent good and 98 percent bad. This is what happens in all the actions. So don’t focus so much on the flaws in an action. Keep acting, as long as it is 98 percent good. Ya?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:
That is why I am saying these three types of trust are very important – Trust in oneself, in goodness of others and in the Divine. A little bit of religion, moral and spiritual values, and the way you treat your parents and ask them to treat their grandparents can make an impact on them. So, you tell your children to take care of their grandparents. They will start doing that way.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:
They all exist simultaneously.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Praying for peace does work! In 2004, there was a war between India and Pakistan. The chief of the Indian army called me and asked me to pray for the soldiers. We prayed for both the sides. The war did not happen at all. Action, education and prayer are all necessary for peace.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Naughtiness is not to be talked about, it is to be done! Everyone has child-like qualities in them. Not childish but Child-like. When one is a yogi, this happens automatically. There is naturalness in life. Everyone seems to be one’s own. This happens naturally. Ego, any kind of self identity that one has, gets dissolved.