Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
I have a habit of recalling the pleasant memories of life again and again, as it gives a glimpse of the same pleasure as I felt in the past. Is it something to be cautious of, can it hinder my growth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It’s alright, don’t make an effort to sit and go on remembering the past. I think you have too much free time. Get busy and start working. There are so many things to do in the world. Where is the time to live in the past, recollect all the past. Right? The world is new every moment. Go with it. Don’t turn back and keep looking back. Move forward.Q:
How can one be both friendly and centered?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you don’t expect anything from your friends then you will be centered. You know, when you are friendly some sort of expectation is there, you enjoy being friendly. Stop enjoying being friendly. But be friendly because it’s your very nature. Then you will be centered.Q:
What if I don’t reach my goal and experience misery instead?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you are doing good things in the world, you will never find yourself in a bad spot. Misery will never come to you when intentions and actions are benevolent.Q:
Dear Guruji, many of us who are on the spiritual path desire self-realization not only for ourselves but for society at large. Has such an enlightened human society ever existed on this planet, and is it utopian for one to desire this for our society in the future?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You should desire for utopia, you should have dream. You know, what you think impossible, you should really dream for it and make it possible. We did one village like that in India. There was a notorious village, notorious in the sense that nobody would go into the village after five or six o’ clock, because of robbers, thieves, full of crime and a lot of problems. This village was adopted by one of our teachers, and you know, what he turned that whole place into in three months? Unbelievable! He took this village and made everyone do the course. Now, everybody in the village, Young and old, sing and dance in the satsang everyday. They have made a rule that anybody, who smokes or drinks or any substance abuse, will be fined. So, the village is free of smoking and drinking, the entire village has become organic, and they have a shop without a shopkeeper. I have also brought a CD of this village.In my last trip, Swami Pragyapalji told me that we have such a village, and that there is a shop without any shopkeeper but the shop runs very well. People take the needed stuff and put the money in the basket there. People were all astonished that the village has been running like this since the last two and half years. A shop without a shopkeeper and nobody steals. And they have removed locks from all the doors. No door has any locks, no house has any locks and it has become the most self-sufficient village. It has pure drinking water and the entire village is painted in pink color. Everybody chose to have pink color on their walls as a symbol of unity. Both the government of India and government of Maharashtra gave this village cash awards calling it the most ideal village. So, one teacher, if you could imagine something that is thought of as utopia, made it possible.
After seeing this, 180 villages are on the way to become ideal villages.
In New Delhi, few volunteers thought to clean the Delhi for Asian games are coming. In India, there is lot of garbage here and there, and people don’t keep streets clean. They would take things out and dump those in streets. So, they started with this idea to clean Delhi.
They thought to forget about government for everyone keep blaming the government. You cannot imagine what a group of few ‘Art of Living’ volunteers have achieved? They inspired one million people to come up and take the brooms, take the plastic bags and segregate the garbage, and clean the whole city. They could gather one million volunteers in a city of 15 million people, and they are doing this from 12th of September. The Delhi government, who was never cooperative with the ‘Art of Living’, in the sense they never came to any of our functions, suddenly woke up and decided to help them. Now, the government is announcing the great job done by the ‘Art of Living’ volunteers.
So, you should think, plan and dream what you really want. It may not happen immediately but you can achieve that.
Q:
If a person feels emptiness inside in spite of having material prosperity and a good family, what should he do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
He should consider himself to be very lucky to feel that there is something more in life besides eating, drinking and sleeping. When you feel that emptiness within, then only the quest for the truth arises.Q:
Even after doing Advance course, I have negative emotions like anger, jealousy and greed. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have already assumed that you have all this. Now imagine what the case would be if you had never done meditation. These emotions were happening in you earlier also, and these are happening now also. But now these lose their grip on you very quickly. May be, few more Advance courses and you find that you are out of the grip of these emotions.Don’t assume that you have all these negative emotions in you. If you assume this, same will start manifesting. Where are these emotions right now? You are pure in the present moment. Have faith in your innocence in the present moment. Gradually, you will experience that all these are not present in you, and you would start feeling how beautiful you are from inside. You have heard this earlier, but now you would experience it.
Q:
Guruji, I am from Kerela. I want to ask – what does it mean to do puja (worship)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is a saying that talks about puja. Yen ten prakaren,Yatra kutrapi dehina,Santosham janaye pragyaTadaye vishva lochanCreate patience in people. When you bring a wave of happiness, wherever you go, that is puja. Whatever way when you create happiness and patience, that is puja, truly worshiping God. How beautiful it is!Q:
Is there a way to understand the course of karma?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Gehana Karmonogati - who knows the way of karma? It is so deep. Even great sages get confused over what is karma and what is to be done. It is never ending. Every action will have some flaw.There is no one standard to measure it. Jains had put Krishna in hell because of his sins of creating many wars. Then they saw his good deeds and put him in heaven. Do karma according to the intellect. An action which inspires you with enthusiasm and energy, even if it has flaws is worth doing. Leaving your karma by sitting idle is inappropriate.
There is some flaw in the best of the action. For instance, a teacher earns his salary by teaching students. If children were born wise there would be no need for teachers.
A doctor’s job depends on someone’s illness. Lawyers would not be required if there were no quarrels. Their sukh (joy) depends on others’ fights. In every interaction, you will see some flaw. If you focus on the flaws everywhere, the world will not work.
Be gungrahi (imbibing virtues) - put your attention wherever there are positive qualities. The wise give inspiration to everyone for their work. There is no big or small work - every work is respectable.
Q:
Why are there differences between religions?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Religion has three components: symbols, customs and traditions, and values. As far as values are concerned, there is no difference, because all talk about oneness. Customs and symbols are all very different; they have to be, this is what makes the world beautiful, because God doesn’t like uniforms! Nature has been created with such diversity- so many flowers, animals, people. Diversity is the language of God. In India, God can have any number of names and forms, and they all point to one Divinity.So in one sense, there is difference, and in another sense there is unity.
Wise ones celebrate diversity, fools fight over it.
Q:
How does one deal with insensitive people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t let it affect you. When you say somebody is insensitive, you are branding yourself as very sensitive. The moment you give a license to yourself to be very sensitive, you start to justify yourself when you get upset. The world is big and there are all sorts of people in the world. We have to live with all and work with them.
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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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