Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
How to make someone dear to you understand that something is useful for themand they must go for it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Keep pursuing gently and have patience, they will allunderstand. First you should have the conviction that this is good for them,and they will get it. How to get a thought or a desire manifested is verysimple. First intention and keep attention on it and then manifestation willfollow.Q:
We have individualized ourselves too much, and have createdseparations around us. We have forgotten our human behavior of being awakened.How can we get back to that oneness? There are so many ways. How is this way unique and different?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is very simple and all you need to do is toattend to the seven levels of our existence – body, breath, mind, intellect,memory, ego and then the Self.I have spokenextensively about love in the NaradaBhakti Sutras, about awareness and consciousness in the Ashtavakra Geeta, and about mindfulnessin the Patanjali Yogasutras.
From the Part 1course to the Part 2 courses, it is a beautiful step-by-step journey, and youcan get to that experience. Not only what you read in books, but it will beyour own practical experience. The Yes!+ course for youth brings about amazingtransformation.
Q:
Are you my Guru? But they said Gurus find their devotees!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: That you have to decide!Yes, Gurus find their devotees, this is usually said. You know when was this said? In ancient days, when children would go to the Gurukul, the teacher would come and test the aptitude of all the children - this child is good in engineering, this child is good in music, this child will be good for this, for this, for this… Then the teachers would say, ‘Okay, you come and you do Veda, you study Ayurveda, you study music’; so teacher used to pick up. That was when parents would bring their children to the Gurukul and then the Guru would pick up which student would study what.
Once you are here in the knowledge, once you are on the path, your heart will tell you,” This is the place for me and I have to get here”, and that is when you accept someone as your teacher. Not that someone comes to you and says ‘I am your teacher, I am your Guru’. If so happens then don’t believe that, okay! Nobody can impose that; it should come from within. Your heart tells you that this is genuine, this is right, this is good. So once you accept someone as your Guru or teacher then this anguish disappears to a great extent, and know that you are not alone!
Q:
Guruji, What is Bhakti (devotion)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: Listen to Bhakti Sutras talk, I have spoken in that, yeah!Q:
How do I give more love to myself?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You want to give more love to yourself, IMPOSSIBLE. If an ocean says how can I give more water to myself, what can be said? If sugarcane says how can I give more sweetness to myself, what would you say? It is like sun saying how can it give more light to itself? It is impossible for you to give more love to yourself.In fact you love yourself too much, and that is the problem, you’re only thinking about yourself. Start thinking about everybody else, and give love to others. You are ‘love’ my dear, just relax and reduce your wants. Your wants and your desires are eating you up; you simply relax.
You should have wants. There is no problem if you have your desires, but don’t let the desires have you. I don’t mind you having desires at the initial stages. Later you find, before the desire arises in you, it gets fulfilled.
Q:
Jai Gurudev! How to educate someone about vegetarianism? I have tried educating and have been ignored!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
More and more people are becoming aware of vegetarianism. Here, I heard last week that a major newspaper in Germany carried three full pages on the benefits of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism has many benefits. It helps your body’s digestion; it helps the environment as well. You know, even if ten percent of the people in the world become vegetarians, the green house gas effect problem is gone. We are done with it; we will have no more problems of global warming. That’s what the scientists say. So we need to promote more and more vegetarianism. People change a little slowly and we need to have patience, Okay!Q:
I have wasted so many years of my life. I want to do something good and to be successful now. My age is about sixty now, is it too late?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No! Nothing is ever too late, no not at all, don’t worry. Don’t regret the past. Even now it’s not late. Keep smiling; be happy hmm… you are on the right track, right path, and right place. Move on! There are so many things to be done and I need so much help. So many hands I need to do this big mission, right! Bringing the whole world as one family, so we all play a very important role, let’s all do it!Q:
Can I ask you something? I was also thinking about all that has happened in Pakistan and this was the region which was also most affected by terrorism. Is there any relation how the karma is of the people’s action and the nature’s response?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yeah, at this time it is not wise to say, ‘it is because of your bad karma you are suffering’. It is not a wise thing to say, people are suffering from natural calamity. That is why they always categorize three types of calamities affecting people.Three categories, one is Adi Bhautik means natural calamities, nature’s response brings you into misery. And then Adi Daivik - a calamity that is manmade. You can say through one’s own wrong doings. And then the third calamity that comes in life Adhyatmik, What is it called in Christianity? Something like the dark age of the soul… what is it called? (Audience - The dark night of the soul). Yeah,that is you have everything but then depression sets in. You have money, all that you could have achieved in society you have achieved but you find there is darkness and you don’t know how to go in, how to cut the darkness. Your spirit is longing, missing something but it does not know what. There is type of inner vacuum. That inner vacuum where there is no joy, everything appears completely dead and meaningless.
This is called Taap Athreya. Taap means anguish, three types of anguish. Human life is faced with three types of anguish and how it can be overcome? Through Tapas!
Tapas means endurance, knowledge, wisdom, meditation, yoga, pranayama, all this comes under Tapas, from Tapas the three Taaps can be overcome, okay!
Q:
Sometimes we feel disconnected with you how to overcome that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Sometimes only na! So you got disconnected and then you feel the connection again, it will happen.Q:
How do we know that we are working on our life’s purpose and we are not doing somebody else’s job?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Okay! How do we know we are doing our life’s job? What is that we have come here to do? See whether you are happy and making people happy around you. Are you doing whatever you can do for people around you? Are you sharing your love and gaining knowledge? Whatever knowledge you have, can you share that with people? You have to ask these questions and you know, sometimes we shouldn’t doubt ourselves too much; sometime self doubt arises – ‘Am I doing this right?’ Just be spontaneous. In every action, there is something good and there is something wrong. There is no action that is totally perfect. The field of action has some imperfection, maybe one percent or two percent. So there could be imperfection in every action.Similarly every word that is spoken could be imperfect. But what could be perfect is our intention, our feeling. Do you see what I am saying? You have no ill intention towards anybody, and that is done. You know, I have never uttered any insulting word from my mouth all these years. At the most the word that has come out of my tongue is ‘stupid’. When I get really angry, I raise my voice and say ‘You stupid!’, but I have never cursed anybody and that is how I am made. I can’t take credit for it because I didn’t make any effort. I didn’t go to any course or school and try to make myself not to curse people, or not to blame anybody. To yell, shout or get upset is not in my nature at all. And all these bad words simply don’t come up.
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