Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Guruji, I feel like doing a lot of work but that falls outside my boundaries. Do I have to think and dream about it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, you must have a dream for it.Q:
Can you talk to us about realizing our purpose in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is something everyone has to find for themselves. What is the purpose of our life? You can ask this question but don’t take an answer from anybody. One who knows will not give you an answer and anyone who tries to give you, does not know. That’s the criteria. The very question “What’s the purpose of life?” is very precious. It means a lot to you. If this question has arisen in your mind you can give a big pat to your back because this question can remove the cobwebs from your mind, your confusion. It can remove all those unnecessary things and put you on track again and again and again. There is no single answer. It is a path on which we need to travel. “Who am I, what do I want, what is the purpose of my life?” It will move you forward in life. So give a big pat on your back, “Oh I am so lucky this question came to my mind.” What’s the purpose of life? You know, many don’t even think about this question. They simply exist. They eat, sleep, watch television and then they die.Q:
Guruji, it is said ‘Advaita’ (Non Duality). Why it is not expressed as ‘only one’ but as ‘not two’?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Because you need two to count one.Q:
Guruji, is it important to have a purpose in life, a destination or should we just go with the flow?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is no choice between these two, you have to have both. You should have a purpose. Move towards the goal, and take things as they come on the way.Q:
Why is it so difficult to let go and surrender the past, what should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t do anything. Just live in the past. It’s not easy to live in the past. Accept it. Encounter it. You are in the right place. Surrendering the past is not trying to run away from it. Alright, move on. Embrace the past with both arms. It is ok to have had the experiences. Don’t be afraid of it. You can handle it. It won’t go if you are tying to avoid it or being averse to it. Somebody is making a book that describes the five levels of surrender. How do you define surrender? Surrender has been misused so many times. First type of surrender comes into play when there is failure. When you are defeated, or you are miserable, you let go. Letting go, when life is a burden or mainly associated with defeat, is one type of surrender. Another type of surrender, which happens out of love, like a mother’s love for a child. Nothing else is important to her. If it is a choice between her own pleasure and that of the child, she will choose the child’s pleasure. In a love relationship between husband and wife, they feel completely at ease, fearless, with no concerns. A mother is so attached to the child; She willingly gives up small inconveniences or pleasures because she loves the child so dearly. Third type of surender mostly happens with knowledge. There is nothing anyways. It happens when you surrender to God. Fourth type is knowing that it is an illusion. Thinking that you have to give up something which you do not have is an illusion. This is the surrender of wisdom, it is just a sense of ease, knowing it all belongs to the one. This very state of surrender leads to the same place - the small mind opening to the big Self.Q:
Guruji, when you meet terrorists and naxalites, don’t you get frustrated with their attitude and lack of knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: This is like asking a doctor- Don’t you feel sick of seeing the sick patients?!!Q:
How can we overcome fear of death?
Q:
What should I do so that I get enlightenment? I want enlightenment, I want to see God.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You want enlightenment? You want to see God? Do service and just relax!Q:
How can I control my anger?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Anger comes out of your love for perfection. Create some space for imperfection around you. Make a list of all the things you consider to be wrong. Then have people around you doeverything on that list! When you get angry, just observe that sensation. Observe how your teethare clenching and how the mind becomes. Take a few long deep breaths and see if it changes.However, I have no experience, since I myself have never had this problem. So my advice maynot be authentic. You should ask others. There are many here who will tell you. After regularpractice of Sudarshan Kriya, anger tends to settle down.Q:
The history of ancient India is filled with the accounts of enlightenment, yogis taking on supernatural states of awareness and capabilities. Yet, to help me understand, how does one interpret such stories? Are these methodologies with allegorical significance, or they point to the untapped potential hidden in each one of us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you know about the first airplane? Who flew the first airplane? (‘Wright brothers’ came the answer). This is what we hear or read in the books. Absolutely wrong. 50 years before Right brothers, one man from Bangalore, Subray Shastry, he went into meditation, in silence and then he went to meet a yogi. The yogi took him to deeper meditation, and he started recognizing the engines, he downloaded all that! He wrote a book called ‘Vaimanik Shastra’ and then he flew the plane in 1800 with a parsi gentleman. Parsis are the migrants of Iran to India who follow Zoroastrian religion. The parsi gentleman funded him to make the first plane. They flew it on the chaupati beach in Mumbai (or Bombay). This appeared in the ‘London times’ newspaper also. These two were put in jail by Colonial power, and they took and confiscated all the diagrams that he had made. A documentary of this came on television recently, with the newspaper cutting from England and the diagrams that he had cognized. He had made five different diagrams and this is available even today in a book called ‘Bhardawaj Vaimanik Shastra’ – The science of plane by Rishi Bhardawaj. He explained what type of engine that a plane has which takes off straight like a helicopter, and one which goes running and then takes off.You can find all the details in the website http://www.bharathgyan.com/
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