Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Why do we want to be liberated?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Wanting freedom is a natural phenomenon. What you feel after your exams are over is a little experience of liberation (moksha). In life also you burn in your own hopes and desires. These desires have only brought you misery. When you relax taking a step outside all this, there is liberation (moksha). When you sit for meditation with the feeling, I am nothing, I want nothing, and I do nothing - this feeling is the feeling of freedom. It is fun, it is freedom.Q:
How do we protect our mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is a big job. In the Geeta it is said, even the most brilliant people are confused about what to do and what not to, and how to handle the mind. Protecting the mind is a very great task but we need knowledge to do it. Up to this moment, see all that has happened so far, it’s all gone! Finished.Wake up.
When you are full of energy, prana, you suddenly see it’s all gone. Now! All that has happened is ok. Think about what to do now. Sometimes 100 percent of what you do will be successful, sometimes not. A farmer knows that not every seed, that he sows, will sprout. He takes the seeds and throws them in the field, and does not worry that this seed will sprout, this won't.
From now on, it’s a new chapter. Every day is a new chapter. Bring up this awareness again and again that the whole world is filled with my atma (soul) – it’s all Me. It’s one Consciousness. This one consciousness works through one person in one way, through another person in another way. It is one ocean with many waves.
If this vision comes to you even for just five seconds then there will be such a major transformation in your body and mind. Then a realization will spring in you ‘Aho!’
All worries are washed off. Just for a second, recognize that it’s only me in my enemy. I myself have started the Game. Understand this, but don't turn it into a mood making. Have this understanding only in the nivriti, not in the pravritti mode. If we bring advaita (non-duality) in vyavahar (behavior), we only create more delusion. In pravritti, see duality. Taking up of the human form is impossible without pravritti. How much pravritti and nivriti one should have is a very sensitive matter. When there is more pravritti, then one becomes too negative and one is asked to be in nivriti.
Q:
I don’t know what the aim of my life is? I lost my parents long ago, and I see them in dreams everyday. Sometimes I see you. What does that mean?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is ok. Dream is another dimension where all these things exist, all the experiences come. So, when you wake up, be fully in the waking state.Q:
We have you as Guru in the ‘Art of Living’, but in family there are family Gurus and traditional rituals, different style of worshipping etc. Should these be followed also?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See if there is a family tradition being followed from a long time, then what is the harm in continuing that? One must keep up the family traditions.Q:
How do you define success in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Only in moments of true confidence do you recognize true success.Q:
There has been life for so many centuries on this planet. I wish to know why is it that some creatures live a prosperous and extravagant life, and yet there are some creatures who do not even have enough to eat? What is the basis on which a creature gets birth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is one of the five secrets – the secret of birth. Nature has been very kind that birth has been kept as a secret. Otherwise, you would be living a miserable life remembering all previous incidents that happened in the past lives. But a time will come in your life when your mind would be completely established in the present moment, memory would awake, and you will remember what you were and who you were in your previous births. It is alright if it does not happen with some people.The whole world is made up of cause and effect. If somebody is rich, that has a reason. If somebody is poor, that also has a reason. But does that mean we don’t have any independence of Karma? You definitely have freedom. We have been given discrimination. So, we do have freedom of karma, and also we are bearing fruits of past actions also. It is like you get some capital from someone. Now, it is up to you what do you want to do with it. A poor man can become rich, and a rich can become poor. There are all possibilities. Your karma decided where you were born. But it depends on you where do you want to reach.
Q:
How is our life a holy scripture?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
All scriptures connect you with the Universal Spirit. The scriptures give you comfort, like an air conditioner (AC). The combination of knowledge and meditation is AC for the mind - Absolute Comfort.Q:
Does spirituality necessarily lead to inner peace and happiness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Definitely spirituality is for peace. Peace, happiness, Joy and compassion - all these virtues are qualities of the spirit. There is not a single person on this planet who is not a spiritual seeker. You know why? Because everybody is seeking peace, love and happiness, and this is what spirit is.In India we say Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Satyam - truth, Shivam - Divine, and Sundaram - beauty. The divine is beauty, and the divine is the truth. So wherever you see beauty, behind that there is a consciousness from which the whole universe is coming into existence.
Have you heard of String theory in physics? If you study quantum physics you will find as if you are studying Vedanta – an ancient wisdom. The two are exactly the same.
Q:
First, how can we be of service. Second, how can I be a good human being of the society?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are many ways. You can become a teacher or volunteer of the ‘Art of Living’. You can help in schools for rural children. Thousands of them are studying and thousands are waiting to get admission. You can participate in the ‘Dollar a Day’ project. One dollar a day can educate and provide medical, food and clothing for a child. We are 1000 people right here in this auditorium. If each one of us sponsors a child, 1000 more children will get access to education. These children are otherwise forced to work at a young age, and they get into violence without a value based education. If you want to take up any other projects, you are welcome. If you want to give your time, say six months or one year, you can go to places where you can bring peace to people. You are most welcome to come to India.Q:
When children talk silly, parents reason with them to make them see their folly. But when parents start getting aged, they sometimes talk silly and don't respond to reasoning with them, what should a child do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Still keep serving them. Using a detached approach, try to understand why they are saying so. It may be the case that you find them to be right, though they may lack in right expression. Or, you may find their observation to be wrong. It is not necessary to do everything that they say because their understanding and life experiences are different from the child's.
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Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives.
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