Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
My wish and will for my spiritual growth is not consistent. Sometimes it is not very strong? How to be more aware of myself; how to see more and stop the chattering in my head for longer periods?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just drop this more. I want to be more; I want to be more… Relax. Love for growth in the field of spirituality and mind is deep relaxation. All positive qualities are already within you. When you go deep in meditation, they unfold naturally. We can’t say: ‘I want this flower to blossom quickly. What do I do? Should I open the petal?’If I want the flower to blossom, just allow, let it be. Pour some water; in time it will blossom.
Q:
I can’t meditate, please advise.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you watch TV, you get into meditation – There is no such thing that mind cannot meditate. Wherever your mind goes, whatever it likes, there meditation occurs. You need to move from “word’ (shabdha) meditation to “wordless”(nishabhda) meditation. We separate life and knowledge, but walk in life knowing that knowledge is life, life is knowledge. Just as our relationships are manmade, join that relationship/connection with knowledge.Q My nature is happiness but am overcome with periods of sadness – how do I overcome these periods?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Offer them to the Divine. Do your practices and meditate. Sometimes waves of worry/sadness take over. Just know that it’s a temporary phase, it’s a passing cloud and it’ll disappear.
Q:
How to be free from jealousy and ego?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Antidote to jealousy is the knowledge that everybody is going to die. You and the person, whom you are jealous with, are both going to die. There can be a little difference of time but this is going to happen.If ego bothers you then keep it with you thinking that God has given it you. Why are you disturbing yourself thinking it as yours? It is another big problem to get rid of ego. Being natural is an antidote to ego. You can do an experiment. Do some stupidity in front of ten people and accept your mistake. Few people will say something here and there, and gone is your ego. If it still bothers you then just think God has given you ego because of some reason. Don’t get too much stuck with it.
Q:
You are like Mahatma Gandhi? Did he inspire you?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
While we were little children, we grew up listening to stories of Gandhi. We grew up with a pride of being non-violent. My teacher was a close associate of Gandhi. The stories of non-violence were a part of our upbringing. We could never think of hurting anyone. This value was a part of our life.Q:
Every day, in different corners of the world, people ask you the same questions. Don’t you get bored? I am very inspired by your patience.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
My consciousness is nitnutan (new every moment). First we get bored with ourselves and then bore others or get bored from others. When we are joyous with ourself, then nothing from outside can seem boring to us.Q:
Guruji, Kabirdas has said Nindak neare rakiya angan kuti shava,bin pani sabun bina nirmal kare suhayHow to identify a good critique?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
How can a critique can be classified as good or bad? (laughter)Nindak neare rakiya angan kuti shava,bin pani sabun bina nirmal kare suhayThe great Indian saint Kabirdas has said that keep someone who criticizes you close by, that will keep your house, your mind clean - without soap and water. Like you need soap and water to keep your body clean, like that one who blames you, you should keep close by. If everybody around keeps praising you, they may not keep all the facts in front of you. Someone who is criticizing you, will show you your pitfalls. Welcome criticism, anybody who criticizes you, welcome that. Don’t shy away from criticism. Isn’t it a part of DSN? (an Art of Living program) You all have done DSN? You should be able to give constructive criticism and also take criticism. That is the strength. And there is no good critique or bad critique.Keep them nearby means that don’t run away from critique, don’t stop talking to them. You stop talking with someone who criticizes you. Yesterday if somebody criticizes you; you talk to them normally today. Don’t shun them.Q:
What happens to the consciousness of a person when it dies? Does it enter another body or get dissolved in the universal consciousness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is both. A part of the consciousness is all pervading and a part remains. It is like the air in the balloon, it is trapped in the impressions, and then it comes back.Q:
I always run into obstacles when there is something I really want to achieve. What should I do?
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.Q:
How to attain the power of vision that Sanjay had in The Mahabharata?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
By being centred. When you experience the depth of meditation then naturally you get knowledge. There is no effort involved, no roting of scriptures is required.Q:
I have benefited a lot after doing the YES+ course but a problem has emerged in life too. Previously, I used to ask my parents for every small thing, but I started taking some decisions of my own after doing YES+. Now my mother feels insecure about our relationship, she thinks her daughter is going away from her. But it is not the case in reality, and I also respect her more than before. How to get the situation where she does not feel insecure, and I can also do things with my decisions?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The most difficult thing to do is to express our feelings correctly, and to understand others’ feelings correctly. Lacking this skill is the biggest issue faced by the society today, and this has to be developed. It is never perfect, some ups and downs do happen in this matter. Like, what we feel, we cannot express fully, and cannot understand correctly what others feel. This keeps happening in life but when we become more calm and happy, we are able to understand other’s mind more and more. That’s why it is very necessary to do meditation, pranayama etc. That gives more inner clarity, and then we feel that others can understand us better, and also we can express our views better.
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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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