Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Do I need a guru?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you need an answer? If you need an answer that means you need someone who have to give you the answer, and that anyone who gives the answer automatically becomes a Guru.Guru means the one who gives the answer. The English word guide comes from the original sanskrit word guru.
You need a guide for everything, for learning guitar, music, or any field you take. Similarly, Guru is one who can guide you into meditation, wisdom, and knowledge.
Q:
Guruji, how do I silence my mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The will to silence itself pays in many ways. Meditation and Sudarshan Kriya helps, too.Q:
What should I do with the conflict in my mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The moment you realize that there is so much conflict in your mind, your eyes open. Satsang and pranayamas can put an end to it.Q:
How can we overcome fear of death?
Q:
Sometimes, I feel that you are with me and watching me all the time. At some other times I feel that I am not connected. I feel distracted during those times. I am unable to do sadhana also in such times. A lot of thoughts come in the mind. What should I do then?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: you have given answer in the question itself. Nature of devotion is such that you feel longing in its absence. Once you get a glimpse of devotion, then its absence causes perturbation in mind. It is not that devotion is absent there but you feel as if it is not there, and you feel restless with this feeling. If we look in the light of knowledge, Shri Narada has said in Bhakti Sutras that the very indication of devotion is that you experience bliss in its presence and its absence makes you restless. This shows that you have devotion, and consider yourself as lucky when you experience such restlessness in mind. You feel absence of devotion only for some time. Devotion is anyway always there, it never dies, but you may feel that it has decreased. This is natural. This happens only to those who have a very good luck. Otherwise, inert person doesn’t feel any devotion. Mind of such a person is tormented with worries.Q:
Whenever I see you, tears start to roll down the eyes. I feel as if I know you since ages. Is it true?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
: You are doubting your own experience. Then it is surely true. We doubt the positive, and not the negative. We doubt somebody’s honesty. Nobody has ever doubted dishonesty of a person. Same way, if somebody asks you if you are happy, you say, “I don’t know whether I am happy or not”. But we are so sure of our depression. We doubt in the existence of God. We never doubt in the existence of this changeable and mortal world. Evolved scientists understand that there is a question mark on the apparently looking reality.Q:
Sometimes, I feel that you are with me and watching meall the time. At some other times I feel that I am not connected. I feeldistracted during those times. I am unable to do sadhana also in such times. A lot of thoughts come in the mind.What should I do then?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
you have given answer in the questionitself. Nature of love is such that you feel longing in its absence. Once youget a glimpse of devotion, then its absence causes perturbation in mind. It isnot that devotion is absent there but you feel as if it is not there, and youfeel restless with this feeling.If we look in the light of knowledge, Shri Narada has said in BhaktiSutras that the very indication of devotion is that you experience bliss inits presence and its absence makes you restless. This shows that you havedevotion, and consider yourself as lucky when you experience such restlessnessin mind.You feel absence of devotiononly for some time. Devotion is anyway always there, it never dies, but you mayfeel that it has decreased. This is natural. This happens only to those whohave a very good luck. Otherwise, inert person doesn’t feel any devotion. Mindof such a person is tormented with worries.
Q:
You have been involved in this. How do you propose or manage to reconcile between enemies?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Many times those who appear to be enemies are not actually enemies. I would give you an example of what we did in Iraq. We gave some meditation and Sudarshan Kriya to the troubled youth there. There was such a huge transformation in them. The youth minister sent 50 youth leaders to the ‘Art of Living’ international centre in Bangalore to be trained as ambassadors of peace. It was challenging to begin with, but there was amazing transformation in them in a period of one month. The same boys went back and started to teach thousands of people how to be calm. You know, we are not taught how to manage negative emotions neither at home nor at school. You get angry, upset, greedy or depressed, but we are not taught how to manage our mind.I am not saying that we have solutions to resolve all the conflicts in the worlds tomorrow itself. It is not practical. But what has given us hope is, after experiencing meditation, there is enormous change in the same people who appear to be aggressive or enemies.
In 2001, there was a difficult situation in Kashmir. But things have changed now. We can make effort drop by drop. In Jahanabad also our efforts have given good results. All this has given me enthusiasm to go in all conflict zones and do more work. Though, it is a big challenge.
When some people think that only they will go to heaven and others to hell, they create hell for others. We need to educate them with a broader mindset. So, every child should know little bit about all the world’s wisdom. We have globalized things like potato chips but we haven’t globalized wisdom, and education on peace and non-violence. When people are stressed, they either become violent and aggressive or suicidal tendencies arise in them. The solution for depression, suicidal tendencies, social and domestic violence is to teach them how to calm their mind. It is very important to teach them how they can get rid of negative emotions, stress, and all those unwanted emotions. How can we heal them? That healing touch is essential.
Q:
Can you please talk about Trauma care?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is what happened after Tsunami. All these fishermen were afraid even to go near the sea. They were begging to be taken away to some hill. All their life what they did was fishing. Simple pranayama and a few minutes of meditation brought them out of trauma in matter of three days. The same people asked for boats to go back to sea on the very third day. So, trauma can be released. Same was observed in after 9/11 incident and Katrina. There are many volunteers who are devoted to bring peace in such areas.Q:
Are you really enlightened? I won’t go from here if you don’t give me a direct answer.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Every question is not answered on the spot. Once a couple went to a Master and expressed their wish to ask two questions. The Master said, “You will get your answers if you do service for two years”. The more precious is the question, more effort is to be done to get the answer. I will give answer to your question, but I will also put a condition if you are putting a condition.