Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
I have to choose between my family and knowledge as they are not into knowledge. I feel suffocated and wish to leave my family. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are receiving knowledge so that you stay in the family and give them knowledge. Do it with skill. A doctor is required among patients only. Not all the patients are cured by the doctor, but still they don’t stop treating. Give them as much knowledge as you can with skill. Do not try to show off your wisdom to them. Educate them, advice them but don’t get carried away by the force of their ignorance. Hold on to satsang with one hand. Also, once someone gets the taste of satsang it is not easy to get rid of it.You are very powerful. Pray and take up a sankalpa (intention) that your family gets interested in knowledge. It does make a difference. We are unaware of the power of the mind, the strength in sankalpa. That is why we remain miserable.
Q:
What is the aim of life? If soul is eternal then what is life all about?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
To know this, you can make a list of what is not aim of your life.Being sad or making anybody sad is not aim of your life. Only eating, drinking and sleeping is not aim of your life. Though we need all this for living but that is not life.
Q:
What happens to those who die unhappy?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Can’t do anything. Be contented and live life. Don’t wait to get contented at your dying bed.Q:
Please talk about karma and karamfal (fruit of action).
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have asked this question – this is a karma. You are listening to my answer is also Karma. Life is karamfal only.Q:
Guruji, I often get confused. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
ConFused – Fusion with the consciousness and cosmos. Everytime you get confused, know that you are growing.Q:
Are our sins forgiven by God or does the Sudarshan Kriya clean them off?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, all the past is washed off. Definitely if you do Sudarshan Kriya it releases all the past impressions and makes you fresh and lively.Q:
Today, the youth only think of themselves. Are family and society no longer important?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The parents must also be only thinking of themselves, that’s why the kids are the same. If parents think of others, then even the kids will think of others.This is Sanskaar (culture), which is passed down from parents to children.
Q:
Guruji, when I heard that the world is going to come to an end in 2012, it was a blessing in disguise for me because I was able to stop my racing and really look at myself and do the things I really wanted to. I could bring some rest for my mind.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Pralaya (dissolution) can happen anytime. Thousands of black holes can swallow the solar systems, the sun is carefully moving through them. Whether dissolution happens or not, you still keep your calm and work to uphold justice and the truth without being caught up in craving and aversion. Do what you can.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:
How do I learn not to be selfish? Can I learn to act without a lot of self-doubt?
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!
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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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