Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Q: I have been told since childhood that eating non – vegetarian is like committing a sin because we are killing helpless animals. Is it so?

Sri Sri: Don’t think those who eat non – vegetarian are sinful. It is only thattamsictendencies are encouraged when one eats non – vegetarian. That won’t be good for them, for the world and for society. My dear, don’t make your stomach a graveyard.

Q: How does one develop a sense of surrender?

Sri Sri: Just assume that it is there.Don’t put effort . Surrender is there – simply assume this and move on.

Q: Can knowledge exist without faith or they are correlated?

Sri Sri: Faith and knowledge are correlated. Because when there is knowledge, there is faith. And where there is faith, there is knowledge. So you have faith and that is why you are asking. You have faith that I will answer it and you will take my answer. So, knowledge and faith are all connected.

Q: It is difficult to control anger. What should one do so that I don’t get angry?

Sri Sri: First, anger is to be tamed. Know this: when the mind is so joyful and contented, when you arein meditation and leave room for imperfections and mistakes, you don’t get angry in the first place. Know that no mistake can be corrected with anger. Only with awareness can anything be corrected.

Q: I keep on asking the Divine for something or the other all the time. I don’t like this sometimes.

Sri Sri: When you get something after asking, your faith gets developed. And then even without asking you get what you need.

Q: Self-effort is required for enlightenment. But then you said effortlessness is the key. There is a paradox. So, what is the way?

Sri Sri: Both. To get into your train, you need to put effort, you take your luggage and go to the right platform. But once you are on the train, you put your luggage aside and relax.

Q: Some dreams don’t come true in spite of putting efforts. What should one do?

Sri Sri: You keep putting your effort. There is a proverb ’Try and try again and at last you will succeed.’ So, perhaps you don’t succeed the first time or second time. Yet if your intention is strong, it will happen.

Q: If a person thinks he is good for nothing in whatever he does, how should he move ahead in life?

Sri Sri: Just be here for a little while and know that God doesn’t create garbage.Everyone who is created on this planet is good for something.

Q: It is said that God likes innocent people and luck supports the innocent. What should I to do to be innocent?

Sri Sri: To be innocent, drop cunningness. Innocence is naturally present in everyone. You just need to blossom it. And how do you do that? Just be in meditation. ‘I am nothing –Akinchan, I don’t want anything, and all are my very own; I accept all and all accept me.’ When you know that everybody is accepting you, you move ahead with naturalness. When you think people are not accepting you the way you are, then you think of doing something to gain acceptance and you start becoming unnatural.

Q: Is someone’s destiny fixed orcan it change as well?

Sri Sri: A part of destiny is fixed, and certain things can change.