Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Have faith that he will answer and will do whatever is good for you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(Jokingly) You want me to add more confusion to the words and give you one more definition! If I have a choice I would take away all the definitions and leave you in confusion because from that confusion something flowers up in you. My understanding is not going to help you. It has to come from within you. When you wake up and see, you will be surprised. I would like you to experience that WOW. Don’t make it a concept. If you don’t know what enlightenment is, thank God and say ‘ I don’t know what enlightenment is. Let me wait for it.’ It is the concepts that keep us away from experiencing the reality. That’s what I feel.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Not at all! I am easily available. I am most easily available. You know you enjoy putting effort and whatever you get after putting effort, you enjoy more. You don’t enjoy what you get easily. This is normal human psychology.Heart yearns for the old. Mind yearns for the new. Ego yearns for the difficult and unique.
Ego takes pride in doing difficult things. ‘Look I did such a tough job! I achieved such a tough thing! No one has achieved what I have achieved. I did something unique.’ Just be aware of these laws of nature, how the mind and heart works. I am not saying that is good, or that is bad. That is how it is.
Heart yearns for old. Heart takes pride in old friendship. Like wine is sold when it is old. New wine has no value. You don’t say, ‘This is my latest love, my fresh love.’ We go for the latest model - latest computer, latest car. We don’t say, ‘Oh this is a two decade-old car which I bought now’ - unless it’s an antique. We take pride in having the latest model or something which is unique. Like climbing the Mount Everest.
‘Oh, I climbed the Mount Everest.’ A very tough job. What do you get after climbing the Mount Everest? You don’t know! People go in hot air balloons across the world. Very tough job. Why you want to go in hot balloon when planes are available (laughter) and create so much heart ache, anxiety? Because the media is after you for you are doing something tough. Why do you want to do the impossible because the ego wants to do something. The memory clings to the negative. If ten positive things happen and one negative thing happens, the memory just goes and holds on to it. The Self is just a witness of all this phenomenon.
Untouched, unruffled, unconcerned with what happens to the mind, intellect, ego. It is just there, just enjoying. That is why if you have got just a glimpse of the Self, it doesn’t matter. The Upanishad has also declared that once you get glimpse of that unchanging aspect in you, the very central aspect of you, then everything else is futile. Knowing this, everythingbecomes glorified.When you are centered,ego becomes all encompassing,body glows,intellect becomes sharp,memory becomes sharp.All layers of existence simply glow when the Self is realized. I don’t like to use word self realized. It has been used so many times and distorted too much. I would say when you have a glimpse of Being.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Breath it out if you feel you are unworthy. Meditate and don’t be hard on yourself.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Being effortless does not mean stop eating, drinking or doing other work. This has a deeper meaning. Keep on doing all your work, and while doing your work, know inside you that you are doing nothing. In the beginning, you sit for some time and experience that you are doing nothing. Then you will start experiencing that even you are doing but there is a field in you which is not doing anything.Ancient sages had beautifully explained this. There are two birds sitting on the same tree. One is eating and the other is only witnessing this. In the above context, it is the free bird which is being discussed, the bird which is effortlessly witnessing. Pay attention to that also. The two birds are friends. They live together. One is always witnessing and other is involved in all the work.
Effortlessness does not mean sitting idle. Lord Sri Krishna said in Geeta that you cannot be without doing any action even for a second. Keep on doing your karma and at the same time be the witness of your karma. This is very deep knowledge.
After the session a book was released –Understanding Shiva. While launching the book Sri Sri Ravi Shankar told thatthe book also included a scientific perspective of all pervading Shiva tattva.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The tendency of the ego is to say “I am not crazy, I am proper. Ego is the biggest problem. Yet it is very easy to overcome. It is a one-day job. Just act like a crazy person. Can you do that? For one day. Done! Make people believe you have gone completely crazy. It is the best antidote for ego.” If you cannot do this, can you simply behave as a child for the rest of your life? No third option. Be a baby for the rest of your life or a crazy person. Be one who has attained the essence. Apart from this, keep the ego. Don’t try to get rid of it. Do this slowly. Otherwise it is impossible.When people laugh at you, can you relax? When people point at you, just relax. Smile and accept it. A mother has no ego. Whatever the children say, she accepts. If they kick , does the mother get perturbed? If you are unperturbed, you have conquered the ego. Ego is just a feeling of having a wall between you and others. There is no wall. You belong to me and I belong to you. You are accepted the way you are.
Naturalness is the antidote for you. Be spontaneous! Ego cannot stand spontaneity. Ego wants to present everything properly and prepare beforehand. Children are so spontaneous. They make mistakes. Never mind making mistakes. Just be like a child. Anybody can say anything about you.
Another block we often have is to feel something is not practical. No need to practice anything. Our own mind is saying it is not practical. We wanted 2,000 Hindustani classical musicians to perform together. Every teacher said it was impossible. A choir in India! It is not like here with so many people and that many styles. They have their own octaves. We had a program called Antarnaad. You should see it on Youtube. There were 2,750 singers. Only one day of practice! Make the impossible possible. We should remove the block in our own mind. Top musicians were spellbound at the Antarnaad event.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No way, you can’t increase your love. It is already there. You simply have to relax and realize it is there. Never question or doubt your love. You think, ‘Oh, others are having tears in their eyes and I am not having any’. Never mind, never look from at things that angle. Every child from the mother’s womb is complete. It is not that the first child is more complete than second and third is further less. Every mother knows that every child is full, complete. Same way your love is total, complete, at its height. Never doubt that and never compare it with others.If you feel your expression of love is less, it is because of your selfishness. All that you can do is be generous, be less selfish and you can’t do it overnight. Day by day, slowly be more generous, be more centered, and be more dispassionate. Then the love which is inside you, will start expressing itself.Even in the expression of love it should not be too much or too less. It should be the middle path. The problem in the world is that in the West, they express love too much. Husband and wife keeps on saying ‘honey’ and then they become diabetic (laughter), can’t touch honey any more. (laughter) It is just the opposite in the East, they never express love at all. Both ways are extreme. There should be a middle path. It’s like you want a seed to sprout, it neither sprouts when buried deep down in the soil nor when it is put on the top. It needs a little bit of soil and put in it and that’s it. Take the best of the orient and the best of the occidental. That is the middle path.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First of all remove this label – ‘I am a coward’. Who said you are a coward? Drop this label. When you label, like the saying in the bible ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’ you go on encouraging that. You are wonderful. We are all here to support you, and I am here to support you, and everybody here will support you! Don’t think you are weak. Just drop it.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
One who does not forgive, he is mistaken.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Look at your face in the mirror and give yourself a big smile. If you can’t smile, you can frown. You will gradually start smiling.