Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is Ok. See it is not the best when the mind goes in all directions. But you have got into the habit of sitting with yourself everyday. That ways sometime you will get into meditation and an samskara (impression) is formed.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is what Art of Living is all about. Life is beyond definition. Much more than whatever you can capture or define. It is so vast, so big, it can’t be encapsulated in a few words. When defining life you are limiting the scope of life. Happiness is a factor that we have to consciously pursue. Unconsciously we all are happy, but somewhere in the pursuit of happiness we get stuck and miss the goal. That is what spirituality is all about - bringing that one smile.Once you are able to see the light, you see the entire past as a dream, move on. Wake up and see the present, you will find happiness is there, unconditional happiness. Then you are happy and not dependant on others for your happiness. Happiness depends only on your mind. When the mind is free of past impressions and future cravings, happiness is there.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Pity them. Have compassion and pity for them.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
How do we know false love, tell me? My dear! Love is love, you can’t call it is true or false. Don’t doubt love. We don’t doubt hate. What is the guarantee that people hate you? May be at that time they were angry! Love is our nature. Because of desires and greed our love is sometimes not expressed. It becomes hidden. There is no prani (living being) without priti (love). Prana (life-force energy) has come from love. Thousands of atoms together form the body. Without love, all these atoms would be separated and that is nothing but death. When the Prana loves the body it stays in the body, there is life. When that love ends, there is death. We should not mistake emotions for love. Love is our nature, know the difference.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When it comes to work, follow your intellect. And follow your heart when it comes to service.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are already not selfish! You are already out of it, my dear. Just know that you are not selfish. That’s it. Why? Because when you feel you are selfish, something irritates you, you don’t feel comfortable. You feel comfortable when you are at home and in your element. And that is already being generous. You can never cultivate virtues. You simply have them. You have to assume that you have them; then virtues will grow.You know what is doubt? Doubt is always about something that is positive. Isn’t it? If someone tells you, ‘I love you so much’, you say, “Really?” Yet someone says, ‘I hate you’ and you don’t say this. We never doubt when someone says, ‘I dislike you.’ ‘I too dislike you’, immediately it comes. ‘If you dislike me, I hate you more!’ But if someone says, ‘I love you,’ we say, “Really?” We doubt someone’s integrity. We question someone’s honesty. We never question their dishonesty. We doubt our capabilities. We never doubt our incapabilities or weaknesses. We take our weaknesses as the gospel truth. Similarly when someone asks if we are happy, we say we are not sure! We are never sure about unhappiness but this is never said in regard to depression. If someone asks you if you you depressed, will you say, ‘Well, I am not sure I am depressed.’ No? So sure about your depression! We are certain.
We doubt love. We doubt someone’s honesty. We doubt sincerity. Someone may be sincere all their life and be insincere in one incident. We believe in that insincerity more than their sincerity. Isn’t it? It’s the nature of doubt. That’s why we doubt the existence of God also. God is all truth so we doubt. He may be there or not. When we know the nature of doubt and go through the doubt, something starts to wake up within you. That is what I would call trust.
Trust in yourself. Trust in people around you and the law of nature. This will keep you healthy. Otherwise paranoia takes over the mind. If you can’t believe anybody, you can’t believe your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your friends, your brother. You will find everybody is a cheat and out to get you. Everybody wants something from you. This sort of paranoia shrinks our personality. Peace and spirituality ,I say, are the AC. Just as this room is air-conditioned so that you can feel comfortable sitting here, the spirit and mind function similarly and absolute comfort is called spirituality. AC for the spirit!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is science but it depends on who does it. Many times in the name of astrology, people cheat others. There is something in chart matching, and you can do all that if you like. But Chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaye’ is best cure for all the short comings.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Everyone has something good in them and everyone has something foolish in them. And it is because of the foolishness that you suffer.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is a story of Mullah Nasurudin. His wife was pregnant and the time of delivery had come. But the baby was not coming out. When doctor told this to Mullah Nasurudin, he ran to the market, bought a toy, and kept that toy in front of her wife. He said, “After all this is my child, so he will surely come out with greed”. Whole our life we keep on running behind things with the hope of getting something. We keep on looking for some kind of profit. How would such person experience happiness? Neither does a greedy person get happiness nor does a person who is bombarded with too many desires. The one who relaxes in his consciousness is happy. One, who is centered, experiences the true happiness. I am not saying there is no happiness in the outer world, but the happiness you get when you go within is incomparable.The world is running in search of happiness. The body gets baked, the mind gets baked, the intellect gets deluded but still we keep on getting stuck in the same repetitive cycle. When you meet Guru, you come to know that you are the source of happiness. Then the mind calms down, and you realize that you are the one in whose search you kept on running here and there.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Whatever intention you put, that will manifest. Do not label yourself. There should be no “always.” Accept that you are unaware of your own potentiality. You may think you always have some difficulty, but thinking so is what points the intention in a negative direction. Just know that whatever you want will happen.