Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, no, no, absolutely not. Don’t worry. If you feel like you are getting affected by somebody’s depression or somebody’s negative energy, just say Om NamahShivaya a few times. It’s gone. It can happen. When people are so depressed and are not in proper shape and you meet them you may feel that. How many of you feel that, when you meet very depressed people something happens to your own body, right? Om NamahShivaya, Jai gurudev - it just disappears.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Nobody can find any flaws or perfection in the Divine.Only when you see perfections, do you see flaws. However, the Divine has neither flaws nor perfections. The Divine is nobody. The whole evolution is going from somebody to nobody, and nobody to everybody. In a way, all flaws in the world are present in the Divine, because everybody belongs to the Divine.
Vices, and virtues are only viewpoints. For instance, Lord Krishna is an incarnation of God for Hindus. Yet Jains believe that Lord Krishna is in hell, because he was the cause of the war (Mahabharata). This is just a viewpoint. Sri Ram did not kill Ravana according to Jain tradition. They believe that Ravana was killed by someone else. They have to believe that Lord Ram is completely non-violent.
Many siddhantas (values) are present in us, that’s why we say saguna (with form), and nirguna (without form). In fact, our consciousness has no qualities, and no attributes. We are a combination of these two. When you become nobody from somebody, then negativity will simply leave you. It will no longer be a part of you.
The human system is like an atomic particle. The nucleus is positive, and the circumference is negative. As you go deep, there are no more electrons. This is exactly how every human being is. The scriptures say there is God in the heart of human beings. He manages the whole universe, not sitting somewhere in heaven, but in the heart of every human being. In the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna: ‘The Lord is in all beings, and is present in the space of the heart, my dear Arjuna.’
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Be in knowledge. Listen to knowledge and do your practices every day. Then you cannot get into depression. Follow medical advice and go gradually. Join a team, do seva. When you have nothing to do, you think about yourself and get depressed.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, if one day you are asked to eat a whole box full of chocolates, as much as you, and I tell you the same the next day, you will start nauseating, you will have trouble at least for a day or two. If you are ready to undergo that pain, one day sit and eat as much chocolate as you want, as you usually cannot eat. Do you see what I am saying? There is nothing wrong in liking chocolate but if you think it has become an obsession then do it for one day and see if you can get over the craving for chocolate.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The cause of insecurity is that you think nobody loves you. That is your own misunderstanding. There is so much love in the universe.1. I’m here. When you have that confidence, then fear disappears. At least here (at the ashram), there are so many people who love you.
2. Usually you feel that if someone loves you, you think they except something from you. I want nothing from you, other than your smile and happiness. When you know this, all your fears will vanish.
3. Practice pranayama, asanas, kriya, meditation regularly,
4. Your entanglement can cause fear. More the entanglement, more the fear. Only knowledge can bring freedom from entanglement.
Craving brings lack of peace.
Attachment brings fear and insecurity.
Greed brings ‘lack consciousness’, poverty.
Freedom from craving, will give you peace.
Through non-attachment, you are free from fear.
Generosity will help you to get over ‘lack consciousness.’
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, do exactly what you are doing, miss here and miss there but don't miss your meditations, don't miss your sadhana, seva and satsang. That will be everywhere.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
They keep getting into a conflict again and again. Like an old couple they get into conflict every day. (laughter)Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, definitely. When you make good business and you pass on to your children, you have passed on your Karma to them. Similarly, if you create a big hell, your children will have to bear it, or your parents will have to bear it. Definitely, Karma is not an isolated Island. It spreads on to the people around, into the family, into the nation. There are different levels in karma.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I have no idea. Perhaps it’s because I always walk my talk and talk my walk.)The satsang ended with a group of volunteers presenting a contribution of Rs 3 lakh for relief work in Sri Lanka. This group taught the Breath-Water-Sound workshop in 12 villages in the last week. They shared their sankalpa (intention) of reaching out to 1,000 villages in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu within a year’s time. From April 15th, a Youth Leadership Training Programme will commence in a village where alcoholism was rampant. “Even the police were unable to reach the residents of the village. Someone went and spoke to them about the YLTP. They agreed to participate in the programme,” shared a member of the group.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Soul is the English word, Atma is Sanskrit. The root word of self is swa, swa means atma. Most of the English words, when you go into the root, you’ll find Sanskrit there.Swa means Self.Swa means Atma. Jeeva is the Self enclosed in the mind. It’s like the air enclosed inside a balloon. Jeeva has sukha –happiness,dukha-sorrow, sanghata- it has associations, chaitanya- it is conscious, dhrti. These are five attributes of the jeeva, the embodied Self. Sanghata- it has impressions of associations, it is conscious and dhrti, it upholds.