Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
We hear a lot about corruption these days in governments and other situations around the world. How can we do something to reduce corruption?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Corruption starts when the sense of belongingness ends. When we have a sense of belongingness, we can’t be corrupt. When we expand our sense of belongingness, corruption will disappear. Does this make sense? Corruption begins outside the boundary of belongingness.Q:
What are some habits that would promote success?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First you need to define success. Having a big bank balance and no sleep is not success. You may have lots of money but have diabetes, high blood pressure and all other health problems. That is not success. You may have lots of money but be filled with fear and anxiety, you may not have friends and that is not success. To me success is measured by your smile. How much of your life is filled with smiles and how much can you contribute to others? How much courage and confidence do you have in your own ability? You mustn’t be worried only about your own future. Money is needed in life but life is not all about money.Q:
How should we confront fraud and corruption?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Lack of a sense of belongingness creates corruption. A lack of friendliness creates frauds. If you have friends, you cannot commit fraud. If you don’t have friends, you feel afraid and then you become a fraud. You cheat others. Would anyone cheat someone whom you really think of as a friend? No. That sense of friendliness has to die away. So the show of friendliness is not true friendship. Isn’t it so? Will you ever cheat a sincere friend of yours? No way! You would give your life to save a friend, but not cheat them. When you don’t really feel the friendliness and sense of belongingness, it is then you will cheat others. So the fear in a person and the ambition to amass for oneself creates fraudulent people and attitudes. Corruption is again through fear. So, I would say we should spiritualize politics, socialize business and secularize religion.Q:
What is the link between ego and self confidence?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ego is feeling uncomfortable in the presence of someone else. Self confidence is, feeling at home. Ya? Being natural is antidote to ego, and being natural is so complementary to confidence. It goes with confidence and is inseparable from confidence. When you are confident, you are natural. If you are natural, you are confident.Q:
There is so many violence and natural disasters happening in the world. Why does God let this all happen? If God exists then why does all this happen?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You chop off some leaves and branches of plants. Don’t you prune rose plant? Does it die by pruning? It grows up. Same way nature brings all this from a bigger picture.It is not always ripe fruits that fall from a coconut tree. Sometimes even small coconut drops off. Baby fishes are also swollen by big fishes in an ocean. So, these natural calamities are all part of the nature. If we exploit nature too much, more natural calamities occur. We are putting dynamites in the Earth. We are blasting it every day. Imbalance gets created and so Earth starts shaking. Sustainable development is what is needed today. We need to care for the planet.
Nature moves with the law. God means a rule, a law. Everything goes by that. This planet Earth has to be protected and cared for.
One is natural calamity. Another is man-made calamity. Man-made calamities can always be avoided. People are not valuing human life for a little piece of gold. Human values need to be brought back into society.
Q:
The Bhagavad Gita is very close to my heart. And yet there is a passage in it that confuses me. It is when Arjuna wishes to flee the battle and renounce the world. But Krishna urges him to fulfill his duty by staying put and fighting.How is this advice understood with the principle of non-violence, a concept also central to the Gita? Is it similar to the notion of a just war in Christian and Islamic theology?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The whole essence of the Gita is to act without being attached to the action. It's all about yoga, not about war but your attitude. When you are faced with a situation like war, how do you manage yourself? The worst situation in life is when you have to face a war and when you have to fight not with an enemy, but with some of your own people. When you have to fight with your own brothers and sisters, how do you handle the situation? It's easy to fight a war with an enemy, someone you don’t like. But fighting with someone who is part of your own family is the worst thing.If you can manage your mind in the worst scenario, then you can manage yourself in any situation. Given the extreme example of how you can manage the mind, the consciousness, yourself, that’s the whole essence of the Gita, not the war. Skill in action is yoga.
A similar knowledge was taught by Ashtavakra, in the palace. When your spirit is very high and you want liberation, that was Ashtavakra's state. And when your spirit is so low, totally desperate, completely broken and depressed, that was Arjuna’s state. At that time the same knowledge of the Self was given to him in the Bhagavad Gita.
Q:
How can you find a purpose for living if you have lost your self-respect?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The Self is not lost, so the self-respect is not lost. Come on, wake up. You are loved and accepted by many. You are a precious flower of this planet. Do something useful. Do not think only about yourself.Q:
How does one stop the flow of negative thoughts?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Negative thoughts are due to three reasons. If your blood circulation is not good, if the lymphatic system is not ok or if bowel movement is irregular. In all these cases negative thoughts are likely. You can go on a fruit diet and cleanse your intestines. Then, pranayama will help. Take Triphala (an ayurvedic supplement) for a few days. Do yoga, pranayama and meditation. You will definitely find a difference. Group sadhana (practice) will also help.Q:
How much am I suppose to work?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, it is up to you.Q:
I am feeling confused between two men. One is father of my son. But I am not really happy with him as a woman. One is somebody to whom I feel really connected. What can I do? Shall I stay with the father of my son to protect the family life or shall I follow my heart?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Very difficult question! It depends on how old your child is. And if the child needs both parents’ love and care, then you should attend to that first. Children’s life is very much important. We need to sacrifice some of our personal wishes for the sake of the child when they are growing up. You know that. You have been doing it. So, protecting the family must be the first thing as far as possible. Many times you have to let go of some of your temptations. Let go some of your personal ambitions. Ya?It’s very important. Children need both, father and mother.If it’s impossible because the husband is so bad or the wife is so bad, then you have to go your separate ways. Then there is no option. But, as far as possible, give the children a good family life.
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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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