Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Can you give me a suggestion – how to be calm when your spouse is always mad at you?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: Well, an answer coming from me won’t be authentic! There are many experienced (spouses) ones here, you can exchange notes with them! But if someone gets angry so often then you get used to it, and it doesn’t bother you so much anymore, isn’t it? But if they are sweet and then get mad at you then you get more bothered about it, right?There is a very popular story in India. A gentle man got married to a woman who was very shrewd. She would do everything against his will. Whatever he will say, she would do just its opposite and he was so bothered and sad about it. Divorces were not that common those days in India, so he was stuck with this situation. Then, when you are stuck in a situation, you go to a wise man, so he went to meet a yogi.
The yogi whispered something in his ears and three months later when the yogi met this gentle man again, he was beaming with happiness. He came and told the yogi- “Your formula worked, now we have peace at home!” The formula was-whatever he wanted, he said just the opposite to his wife! So if he didn’t want to wear a green shirt that day, he would say- “ I want to wear a green shirt”, and she wouldn’t do that for him anyway! So, you only need to know the pulse and do accordingly.
If your spouse is all the time angry, then I know you might have experienced and found how to handle it , and how to increase or reduce the volume, right? Interesting!May be (with such people), you should try this for one month or two months, and take them by surprise. If they are angry, praise them, and love them so much. Don’t be too predictable with anger.
Q:
What is the whole point of this life? We are born, we study, we work and then eventually oneday we die. I am losing my passion for life.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Good. You are on track. What you are saying is like our intro talk. Imagine we live for eighty years. Out of that, twenty-five or thirty years we simply sleep. Ten years we spend in thebathroom. Another ten years, we are stuck in traffic. Then so many years we spend being sadand miserable. Ultimately, only some two or three years we spend in prayer, service and so on.Good that you are thinking along these lines. You are definitely on the right track.Q:
Guruji, what importance, if any, should we hold on to what the Pundits, Astrologers and the Psychics say about our future and its course?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Take it with a pinch of salt. Take it lightly, everything will change. You know, what your Astrologer says, you don’t have to believe one hundred percent. Astrology is a science, but not all astrologers are scientists. You have to take it with a pinch of salt. It can change also.Q:
Guruji, can you see the aura of other people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Is this a big deal? You can also see.Q:
How does one handle fear of death?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you isolate and think only of yourself then you will have the fear of death. Once you are in service, there is no fear of death. Terrorists are committed to something so they are not afraid of life or death. If you want to do good for others, your commitment to it will take care of this fear.Q:
Guruji, in Geeta what does Lord Krishna mean by the world as play of gunas?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If we start about Geeta, it will take a long time. So, not now. You read again. Sometimes you read and immediately understand it, and sometimes you read hundred times and then understand the same thing.Q:
What if we feel we have got more in life than we deserve and are afraid to lose it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Be grateful and prayerful. Know that whoever has given it to you cares for you and would not take it away. Do service. Put your attention on giving back to society. This is giving back to God. If negative thoughts, insecurities, doubts come into the mind, chant Om Namah Shivaya. This itself will put you on the right track. Take the past as destiny and the future as free will. What was meant to happen, happened. We tend to do the reverse. People who are foolish think the past is free will and the future is destiny. This only makes you miserable in the present.‘Om Namah Shivaya’ has been there for thousands of years. The five elements are represented there and each sound in the mantra corresponds to one of them. For instance, Om is the life force or divinity. Chanting energizes our psyche, our inner self. It is very powerful and we should chant this everyday. It will keep away depression. Just try this. You will see that whenever you are low, saying Om Namah Shivaya removes the negativity.
Q:
Please can you teach me how to be connected to the faith?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Trying to connect to the faith is trying to connect to the air around you. ‘I want to be connected to the air.’ My dear, you can’t be but! You are already connected. Relax.Why do you try to connect to air? Are you getting what I am saying? Doubt as much as you can. I would say, you should doubt as much as you can. A point comes when you no longer can doubt, the truth will stand up. Truth can never be destroyed by doubt. Do you understand what I am saying? Truth will stand. Doubt can cover it, delay it for some time, drag on for some time, but it can never destroy the truth.
Therefore, when people have doubts, I say, ‘doubt as much as you can. One day those doubts will fall off.’ If you are lucky, it will fall off immediately the way it comes. Unlucky ones hang on to it for a little longer time. That’s all. Unlucky ones will carry the garbage on their back for some long distance. Lucky ones know that they carry garbage and throw it right there. Two steps, and they drop their garbage. Otherwise one carries on the shoulder for a long distance.
Catch more from the same conversation in the next post..
Q:
Until 18 months ago I never believed in spirituality. Art of Living has changed my thinking and made an impact in my life. However there is something missing in my life and I don’t know what it is. The daily practices help keeping me smiling, but there is still unhappiness within me. Please tell me how to rejoice from within as well.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
A couple of advanced courses, (a couple of hollow and empty meditations). And listen to Ashtavakra Gita.Q:
The knowledge in the Vedas contains the truth and laws of nature. Is modern science also apart of this body of knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes. Knowledge is infinite. Many scientists of modern age are the rishis (sages) of today. They explore the universe. All are to be honored, whether ancient or modern.Today’s quantum physics discoveries are startling. There is so much similarity to Vedic knowledge. For instance, darkmatter and String Theory are both present in the ancient knowledge. Dr.Hans-Peter Dürr, thephysicist has told me that whenever he is giving a lecture, he feels as if he is speaking on Vedanta. The whole universe is made up of one substance, and not two. This is Vedanta. Ancient rishis and modern physicists both say the same thing.
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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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