Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Can you speak about prana (vital energy) and apana (down breath)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Where the in-breath ends and where the out-breath begins is apana.Where the out-breath ends and where the in-breath begins is prana.
By putting your attention on that turning point, the mind becomes quiet.
Q:
Guruji, I am physically handicapped. I was thinking, how can I contribute tosociety? Now I am working with the Divine Karnataka Project, presently, in theSheshadripuram slum (in Bangalore). I am feeling very confident.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We have to work a lot in slums. We have to make them literate and we have to eradicate castism from slums. For that we all have to work together. In Bangalore alone there are 400 slums and Art of Living is working in 105 of thoseslums. People in slums are addicted to alcohol and we have to stop this. Those very places and countries have lost their culture where people were too much into alcohol. People in these areas earn good money but they spent more than half of that onalcohol. How can we stop them? By giving them an alternative source of intoxication, by bringing them to satsang and making them experience intoxication and the joy of meditation. Do you feel intoxication in meditation and satsang? (‘Yes’ from theaudience) So, you feel change after doing all this. All DKP yuvacharyas (youthleaders) have to go to slums and work in these places. You may face some obstacles but walk ahead and keep working. A member of the audience shares an experience:“I did the basic course three months ago in Andhra Pradesh. The happiness I haveexperienced in the last three months, I didn’t experience in the last 26 years of my life. I am very thankful to you.”Q:
If we are all God, then why do we have so many Gods and Goddesses?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The sun’s light is one, yet when it goes through a prism, seven colors come up. All gods and goddesses are part of one truth. One Supreme Self is referred to as Devi, Shiva, Ganesh, Kartikaya. Lord Krishna says rudranam shankaraschasmi, of rudras, I am Shankara. I am the moon, the sun, I am Shiva, I am the Ganges river, I am everything.Q:
God is all-abundant, totally full, and we are all connected to God. Then why are we in debt, except for some? Why do they have, and we don’t have?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Is it only money you lack? When you say you are indebted, that means you have received something! Otherwise how can you be indebted? Those who have received should feel indebted. Be thankful for having received. The more abundance you have, the more indebted you will feel. And when you feel indebted and grateful, more abundance comes to you.Feel indebted. Feel grateful.
Then abundance grows.
Abundance and indebtedness coexist.
Someone in the group: An abundance of indebtedness!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You think you are indebted, but you really are not.
Yet it is better to feel totally indebted, because every bit of what you have doesn’t belong to you anyway, including your own body. When you are infinitely indebted for your body, for Knowledge, for things you have received, and for your own life, then you bask in the abundance of the Creator.
Someone in the group: I feel very indebted. Thank you!
(February 8, 1996 - Miami Beach, Florida)
Yet it is better to feel totally indebted, because every bit of what you have doesn’t belong to you anyway, including your own body. When you are infinitely indebted for your body, for Knowledge, for things you have received, and for your own life, then you bask in the abundance of the Creator.
Someone in the group: I feel very indebted. Thank you!
(February 8, 1996 - Miami Beach, Florida)
Q:
I would like to have self realization. I have come to the advanced meditation course. At what stage and in what course will my desire get fulfilled?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It’s good. This is the highest desire, the only one worth pursuing. Whether you acknowledge this or not, everyone has come to this planet with this desire. If you have recognized this it’s very good.Q:
Guruji what do we tell people that have been through a calamity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Tell them to give all their worries to me. Disasters and calamities also have a positive side to them. They bring people together.There is a new creation after every calamity. Nothing is permanent. In every crisis there is an opportunity. The Chinese word for crisis contains the word opportunity in it. Every crisis reminds you to smile, makes you aware of the impermanence of everything, even ourselves. So instead of sitting and blaming, lets see how we can move forward, rebuild and help others.Q:
There are some schools of thoughts that say that you must always be aware of what your competitors are doing. Because if you don’t see your competitors, you will be like a bridled horse. You will end up making the best calculator of the world when the world has moved to computers. So how do you reconcile the two schools of thoughts?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The challenge is to manage the two contradictions - that is the job of the youth.One should be aware of the competitors. At the same time, one should have an eye of Arjuna. Be aware of what’s happening around you and one-pointedness towards the goal.
Over ambitiousness will not lead to anything.
Improve your intuitive ability, enthusiasm, relaxation.
It will give you everything that you need to.
Q:
Should one follow the heart or the head?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
A combination of both.Q:
This time you have come after 5000 years. Will you take me with you or I would have to wait for another 5000 years?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is the question? It’s more a wonder, isn’t it? So you have plans to come back? (Laughter).Ok, we will see, we will adjust our times (Laughter again). One life time is not enough? It’s not enough to just come back at the same time. You must be aware also of the Master.Q:
I am so lazy that I always have a lot of things to complete. I never take the remote control in my hands. It’s never like how it should be. I am happy, but everything around me makes me lonely. When am I going to be fulfilled?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I think you think a lot. Just sing, dance, meditate with your 100 percent. Anything that you do, put in your 100 percent. I will tell you a story.Once, some tourists stayed at a motel in a village. When they were leaving, several from the group found that their things were missing. They complained to the village head who confidently declared that the thief was someone from the group of guests. “It’s not someone from the village,” he said.
A gentleman who lost everything, except the dress that he was wearing said: How can you be so sure? The village head replied: ‘If it were someone from our village, they would have taken the pants that you are wearing as well. You see, they do everything 100 percent. If they steal, they steal everything.’
So, when we do everything 100 percent, we feel satisfaction. Otherwise, if are a little bit here, a little bit there, we are definitely looking for something.
So sing, dance, meditate. Ok?