Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Politics is awareness of the needs of the public, working for the welfare of society, doing seva (service) to society – this is politics. Politics is necessary and it is very important for good, honest individuals to enter politics. If you wish to go you should, my blessings are with you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The cause of insecurity is that you think nobody loves you. That is your own misunderstanding. There is so much love in the universe.1. I’m here. When you have that confidence, then fear disappears. At least here (at the ashram), there are so many people who love you.
2. Usually you feel that if someone loves you, you think they except something from you. I want nothing from you, other than your smile and happiness. When you know this, all your fears will vanish.
3. Practice pranayama, asanas, kriya, meditation regularly,
4. Your entanglement can cause fear. More the entanglement, more the fear. Only knowledge can bring freedom from entanglement.
Craving brings lack of peace.
Attachment brings fear and insecurity.
Greed brings ‘lack consciousness’, poverty.
Freedom from craving, will give you peace.
Through non-attachment, you are free from fear.
Generosity will help you to get over ‘lack consciousness.’
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, do exactly what you are doing, miss here and miss there but don't miss your meditations, don't miss your sadhana, seva and satsang. That will be everywhere.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
They keep getting into a conflict again and again. Like an old couple they get into conflict every day. (laughter)Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, definitely. When you make good business and you pass on to your children, you have passed on your Karma to them. Similarly, if you create a big hell, your children will have to bear it, or your parents will have to bear it. Definitely, Karma is not an isolated Island. It spreads on to the people around, into the family, into the nation. There are different levels in karma.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I have no idea. Perhaps it’s because I always walk my talk and talk my walk.)The satsang ended with a group of volunteers presenting a contribution of Rs 3 lakh for relief work in Sri Lanka. This group taught the Breath-Water-Sound workshop in 12 villages in the last week. They shared their sankalpa (intention) of reaching out to 1,000 villages in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu within a year’s time. From April 15th, a Youth Leadership Training Programme will commence in a village where alcoholism was rampant. “Even the police were unable to reach the residents of the village. Someone went and spoke to them about the YLTP. They agreed to participate in the programme,” shared a member of the group.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Soul is the English word, Atma is Sanskrit. The root word of self is swa, swa means atma. Most of the English words, when you go into the root, you’ll find Sanskrit there.Swa means Self.Swa means Atma. Jeeva is the Self enclosed in the mind. It’s like the air enclosed inside a balloon. Jeeva has sukha –happiness,dukha-sorrow, sanghata- it has associations, chaitanya- it is conscious, dhrti. These are five attributes of the jeeva, the embodied Self. Sanghata- it has impressions of associations, it is conscious and dhrti, it upholds.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No you don’t need to, of course everything little thing has some influence on you but you know you are much more powerful than a piece of stone. So if you like you can do it. Otherwise chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, that is most powerful mantra which takes care of all the bad effects of any planets.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There could be many ways. You think. You all sit and brain storm what we can do, how we can change the education system. Education should have more compassion, not commerce. Of course it has to sustain, anything you make should have a self sustaining model but it should not be like a cash cow. That is what has happened nowSri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When an instruction is given, at first you are unsure whether you are following it correctly. Even to find the tip of your nose can be hard, so when you are told to look within, you’re not sure what exactly to do.You will find that different types of thoughts and emotions come up, but over time you should find that your meditations improve. We have shoved lots of things under the carpet in our minds, and in the first meditations, while we are in silence, they all come out.
It is like the first time you do Kriya. You feel rebellious and think you are wasting your time. In the same way, you may think that why should I be in silence? Let me go out and have fun.
But remember, you are doing this in order to have real fun. When the system is cleansed, real fun happens.