Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
What is the difference between prayer and meditation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I have already said it. Prayer is asking, meditation is listening. In prayer, you ask, ‘Give me this, give me that, giving instructions,demanding.’ In meditation you say, ‘I am here to listen, what is it that you want to tell?’ Listening to God is meditation. Asking God is Prayer.Q:
Could you please explain about karma?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Karma is the impression in the consciousness. The impression draws similar situations, events and actions. So karma has three things:- One is the latent karma. It is karma as an impression
- Karma as an action, and
- Karma as a result
You look at a banana. Looking at a banana is a karma. It is an action, and you want to eat it because you know that you have eaten it before. That is the impression of the banana. It is karma as an impression. Then you crave for it. That is a result of it. That’s also karma. Looking at it, wanting to have it, craving for it, and, in fact, really eating it is also karma.
Q:
If we have to choose between happiness or enlightenment, what should we choose?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Enlightenment is the biggest happiness. Why to go after small happiness when the biggest is there?It is not easy to believe in God. God is there: if you experience this then the mind calms down. Then you find only God is there and I don’t exist.
Inn ankhon mein ankh mila ke dekho to sahi, pyar dikhta hai ki nahi,
Ek kadam bada ke dekho to sahi, rasta milta hai ki nahi,
Hath batake dekho to sahi, kaam hota hai ki nahi,
Ek baar muskarake dekho to sahi, duniya apnati hai ke nahin,
Ek baar naam le ke dekho to sahi, jeevan safal hota hai ke nahi.
When these eyes meet yours, will you not catch a glimpse of love?
Take just one step forward, will you not find the entire way?
Extend your hand, will you not find the work is done?
Smile just once; will the world not make you its own?
Take the name even once; will your life not be fulfilled?
Q:
God is in the details, but we should also have a broad outlook. How do we combine the two?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is happiness in detail. When the heart is heavy, and the head is like a stone, there is no place for subtlety or details. When the heart is light, then you experience love, and happiness. There is no subtlety in sorrow.Being light is being dense, and being dense is also being light. When you go deep in meditation, you will experience both density, and subtlety. That is why so many processes are required to go deeper within you.
In surrender, we feel subtle. Love is subtle, and work is dense. After lunch, we experience heaviness. In the morning we feel fresh, and subtle.
Q:
Is there a gene for knowledge, any nadi (channel for energy flow) that has to be opened for creativity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Definitely and you all have it. And it opens whenever you listen to knowledge.Q:
How to be rid of jealousy while still being competitive?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is better to compare yourself with your own self. How you were ten years or five years ago and what you can be yet tomorrow, compare with yourself. Second thing is you know, create a sense of belongingness with all those who are making progress.Q:
What is the difference between the Spiritual Master and the Divine?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is no difference between the Master, the Self and the Divine. The Master can be seen, that is all. The Master is not the individual, He is the light, the consciousness.Q:
I am little nervous in front of you and my heart beat is also rising. While doing the course I heard that our existence is eternal. I want to know what is connection of this incarnation with the eternal presence?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
To know that everything is changing you need to have a reference point. That reference point is the unchanging in you. There is a non-changing, eternal element in you because of which you can experience change.Q:
How to develop an interest in what we don’t like, for instance studies and pranayama?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is not necessary to do only what you like. Know it clearly that studies are for your good. Otherwise life won’t run! You do not brush your teeth every day with love. If you don’t like to brush and stop doing it, you will lose your teeth. You know that it is good for your health and it is vital to do it.Similarly there are some things in life that we can’t do without - studying is one of them. Make a habit of reading a scripture first thing in the morning. Similarly do some pranayama for at least 10 minutes. Breath is anyways flowing. Direct it here and there. If it keeps diseases away, then why not do it?
Like you brush your teeth for dental hygiene, pranayamas maintain your mental hygiene!
And to have a sharp intellect you need to study, otherwise you will regret it later. You buy a dress from the shop and the time you bring it home, you dislike it. Buddhi Yoga (Intellect Yoga) is the best. Manmaani karna, following your feelings is inviting misery.
Q:
Dearest Guruji, I sit here with you and after all that happened in my life in the past, today I know it was worth going through it to live and experience what I feel today. Fullness, love, gratitude, excitement and inspiration. All because of what you have given to this world. Eternally yours!
Q. Does the strength of the Guru lie in the fact that he represents a symbolic father who helps to heal the wounds from the real father?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The wounds need to be healed, that is more important. Whatever relation you put, whatever attachment you put, it is secondary. See the world from a fresh eye, from a fresh look. Anybody who has inflicted pain to you, know that they have done it because they have no knowledge. They were deprived of this spiritual knowledge. That is why they were behaving that way. They were handcuffed, they were blindfolded, they were dumbfounded and they acted the way they acted. They are victims themselves. See them from this angle, you will feel compassion for them and you will feel grateful for what you have got in your life, ya?
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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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