Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Evil things happen through people who are victims themselves. Inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help. You have to correct that person, heal that person. Then such things won’t happen. If you have worked in any prison, you will know. And if you’re an Art of Living teacher and worked in prisons, you will appreciate this. You will see how those people whom you think are evil people, are actually good people. Unfortunately, they were not exposed to the type of knowledge and culture that you have been. They have been victims themselves. So we need to heal them. That is why spiritual knowledge is so much needed. When people do the course in prisons, they say if only they had this knowledge before, they wouldn’t have been there. They wouldn’t have done the things that they had done.
So it’s our responsibility to reach out to those people who are doing wrong.
Even terrorists, they (Art of Living teachers) have taught so many terrorists in the world who are in prison as well as outside. Their lives changed the moment they did the Sudarshan Kriya.
Last month I went to one of the toughest parts of India, where Maoist violence is rampant. They had declared a 72-hour bandh. Nobody could stir out of their homes. My programme was organised there. Over 1,50,000 people came in a remote village and they lifted the ban to allow the people to come. And it was very nice.
People have changed, have transformed. When I went to jail, I met a lady and a man who have been ambushed. Not one or two – dozens and dozens have been ambushed. There are people there who have 200-300 cases against them.

The wife of a high court judge in the area is an Art of Living teacher. She went into this prison and taught these people. Their lives have been transformed. I had a talk with them.

After Iraq, the country most affected by violence is India. It is the highest in terror-hit regions. These communists are against spirituality, technology, business and industry. They are against democracy. They are against everything that is good. They don’t know why they are against them. They are indoctrinated by Maoist principles. Just as jihadis are indoctrinated by the promise of heaven: ‘If you kill the non-believers, you will go into heaven right away.’ Maoists are brainwashed – ‘If you throw out democracy, religion and spirituality, you can establish a just society.’
One approach is so material and another is so religious. These two types of violence are created to brainwash people. And if these people are educated in non-violence and spirituality, they will turn around. That is what is happening.

So we need to bring spiritual education in schools and class rooms. Talibans hit a young girl with big knives, suspecting her to have an illicit relation. Last month, they bombed five schools for girl children in Pakistan. I tell you, it is terrible, these people are being brainwashed because they never studied anything other than their fundamentalist religious beliefs.
They all should learn meditation, they all should know spirituality. We must teach them. They were never exposed to anything else, not a multi-dimensional or a multi-cultural education. ‘Only my way is the true way, only my God is the true God’: this sort of mentality puts the whole world into trouble. When someone thinks: ‘Only I will go to heaven and everyone else goes to hell, they will create a hell for everyone else.’
We need to change this. That can happen only through education.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes interesting! I spent my young days with all elderly people.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Bring peace, knowledge and spirituality to more and more people around you. Recently, I was travelling from Canada to America. A security guy at the airport came running upto me and showed my book – ‘Celebrating Silence’. “Are you the author of this book?” he asked. I said, “Yes.” He shared his experience with me: “Someone gave this book to me six months ago. After reading this book, my life has changed. I carry this book all the time.” He has not even done the Sudarshan Kriya!
Knowledge should be brought to everyone. You don’t know who needs the knowledge when and where.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Manglik dosh -there is always a remedy for that. ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, is a very good chant to get over all the doshas.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

No, no, no, absolutely not. Don’t worry. If you feel like you are getting affected by somebody’s depression or somebody’s negative energy, just say Om NamahShivaya a few times. It’s gone. It can happen. When people are so depressed and are not in proper shape and you meet them you may feel that. How many of you feel that, when you meet very depressed people something happens to your own body, right? Om NamahShivaya, Jai gurudev - it just disappears.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I’d say come to Art of Living and learn true love.

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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Don’t have to go into too much detail. It is said in Vishu Sahasranamam ‘Sohamékena shlokena stuta evana sumshayaha’, in one Soham everything has come. One thousand names of Vishnu are written in one word ‘Ram’ and that is also written in ‘Soham’. Okay sometimes you can put on Vishnu Sahasranamam, listen to it and meditate, that is fine. All mantras have an effect but the most important is meditation. Going beyond the mantras is also necessary, letting go of that as well, your mind remains calm and peaceful.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Why do you do the same mistakes again and again? We think it is giving us some joy, some pleasure. We should not eternalize or generalise problems.
Some people keep saying: ‘I’m always in problems’. If you are always in a problem, then how will you know when you’re in one! Knowledge always comes when you experience a contrast.
People say: ‘Everyone is sick in town.’ Perhaps, it could be only 40-50 percent of the population and not everyone.

Generalising and eternalising problems like ‘Everybody is bad’ will not allow you to rise above challenges. It will pull you down. Just by being aware about the problem, it will drop off.
If someone keeps saying: ‘I have to do this, ‘I have to do this,’ then you feel tired just thinking about it.
Just relax. Silence is the mother of all virtues. Let go. Silence is the mother of all qualities, all abilities.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You know, your fatigue could be due to sugar.

If your blood pressure is is high, you get fatigued.

If your sleep is weak.

If u lack vitamin B in your diet

And if u don’t do pranayama.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Are you feeling feverish about things? Just relax and meditate.

You know, we are a combination of matter and energy: Prakrati (matter) and Purusha (spirit). When you’re talking to somebody, think whom are you talking with? The Prakrati or the Purusha? The body is like the wick of the candle. The spirit (Purusha) is the glow. Recognise the spirit.

Keep this guiding thought: ‘I am the spirit, not just the body’. Even the memory of this, ‘I am the spirit and not the body’, sorrows will vanish like dew drops vanish when the sun rises.

Remember: ‘I am not the wick of the candle, I am the glow.’

The candle will never say, ‘I don’t want the wick’. The wick has its place. The glow is there and so is the wick. This is Jeevan Mukti (liberated while in the body). Have this dharna (guiding thought), when you sit to meditate: ‘I am the glow’ and relax – do nothing.

Whatever discomfort is there, let it be.

This is the other mantra – let it be. If there is any stress, tension or stiffness – don’t try to get rid of it, be with it, it doesn’t matter. You will find that the quality of your meditation will improve.

The moment you say, ‘let it be’, automatically there is expansion. The tension is relieved.

There are some questions seeking guidance on improving of the political situation of India. Some sharing of healing experiences and so on. A member of the audience suggests that let Guruji speak on knowledge instead of answering so many questions on diverse topics. To that, Sri Sri says:

The Bhagvad Gita starts with a question and answer. If there were no question and answers, then there would be no Gita.

Open your mind and listen: the Guru speaks only knowledge. The Guru doesn’t even need to speak – there is knowledge in his presence. If you simply sit in his presence, there will be knowledge.

In this atmosphere, Knowledge dawns.

Through surrender, Knowledge dawns.

Empty your mind here and keep a pleasant state of mind. Simply being here is being in knowledge. Every cell in the body absorbs the knowledge from the vibrations in this atmosphere. These vibrations are knowledge itself. This atmosphere is so sattvic (pure). Knowledge blossoms in a sattvic atmosphere.

Even if the questions seem meaningless, where there is love and where your attention is, there is celebration.

The mother doesn’t try to find meaning in a baby’s talk. She feels good to simply listen to her baby. The vibrations between mother and child are of another level.

When you sit only with your question in the mind, then you become deaf. You don’t listen to anything else. Drop your question in the question basket and listen to what the Guru is saying.

Gyan (knowledge) naturally blossoms through devotion. Drop your worries. Don’t be in a hurry to gain something.

To constantly seek gain is the way of the world. It doesn’t work on spiritual path. When the mind dissolves, much is gained. Just empty yourself and be here. Then you will see progress in every step of your life.

Remember this sutra, Loko Binna Ruchi:

In society, people have different tastes. Even in one house, members of the family have different preferences. We have to deal with this diversity with compassion, understanding and tolerance.

Whether it is politics, homes or spirituality - remember, Loko Binna Ruchi.

These are small sutras. It would be good if people learnt a little Sanskrit, especially women. Then children naturally imbibe these values from the mother – Loko Binna Ruchi.

(Someone from the audience asks a question.)