Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
How to make someone dear to you understand that something is useful for themand they must go for it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Keep pursuing gently and have patience, they will allunderstand. First you should have the conviction that this is good for them,and they will get it. How to get a thought or a desire manifested is verysimple. First intention and keep attention on it and then manifestation willfollow.Q:
After some ‘Art of Living’ Courses, I have felt so happy. I thought I would explode. After a while, I realized that it was not only happiness, but also feverishness. Then I got depressed. It was like an emotional roller-coaster. How can I handle feverishness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have already become a witness to it. You have observed that you are on a roller-coaster. You observe these emotions are coming and going. Notice, earlier too the emotions were there. But now it is reducing. Before you were not aware, at least now you are aware of it. Just persistence on this path, in this knowledge makes you stronger, hmm!Q:
Guruji, what is Nirvana? Or better, give it to us right now!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Nirvana is bringing the balance and having no feverishness for any desire. Desire means a lack. When you say, I want nothing, I am content, that is nirvana. But that doesn't mean you shun your duties. You perform your duties well but you are with your center. Even craving for enlightenment is an hindrance to enlightenment.All emotions are linked with people, objects and events. Catching on to objects, people or relationships hinders freedom, liberation. When the mind is free from all impressions and concepts, you are liberated. The state of nothingness is called Nirvana, enlightenment, Samadhi. Nirvana is getting back to me from mine. Who am I?
When you go deep inside you, layer after layer, that is nirvana. It is like peeling an onion! What do you find in the center of an onion? Nothing!
When you know that everything is changing - all relationships, people, body, feelings - suddenly the mind which clings on to misery comes back to you. The return from mine to me, gives you contentment and freedom from misery. Reposing in that state of contentment is nirvana.
Q:
How to do samarpan (surrender) in bhakti(devotion)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
In the same way how we have sweetness insugar.
Q:
The global warming issue is so serious now days, disasters happen everywhere. As a resident in this planet what should we do? I feel sad when I see people suffer, what can I do more?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We have to create awareness. Join the ‘Art of Living’ band wagon, we are everyday going and planting more trees, creating awareness about plastics, creating awareness in people. To check global warming, more and more people need to turn vegetarian. You know, what they say is even if 10 percent of the population turns vegetarian, 10 percent more; the issue of global warming will be completely gone.The methane that is produced in the slaughter houses is so much responsible for global warming. With the price and the energy spend to produce one pound of meat, you can feed four hundred people. So more and more people should turn vegetarians, and that will bring change in the environment.
Q:
Dear Guruji, it is easy for me to shut my mouth, but it is difficult for me to shut my thoughts. How can I do it? Please help me.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You don’t need to do anything. Everything is done here for you. Hiren is giving all the courses, he will lead you at different times to different types of meditations and processes, and it’ll happen. That’s why you need to be here. If it’s your first Advanced Meditation Course, you may find it a little difficult but when you continue, you will definitely find it very useful.Q:
How do we know that we are working on our life’s purpose and we are not doing somebody else’s job?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Okay! How do we know we are doing our life’s job? What is that we have come here to do? See whether you are happy and making people happy around you. Are you doing whatever you can do for people around you? Are you sharing your love and gaining knowledge? Whatever knowledge you have, can you share that with people? You have to ask these questions and you know, sometimes we shouldn’t doubt ourselves too much; sometime self doubt arises – ‘Am I doing this right?’ Just be spontaneous. In every action, there is something good and there is something wrong. There is no action that is totally perfect. The field of action has some imperfection, maybe one percent or two percent. So there could be imperfection in every action.Similarly every word that is spoken could be imperfect. But what could be perfect is our intention, our feeling. Do you see what I am saying? You have no ill intention towards anybody, and that is done. You know, I have never uttered any insulting word from my mouth all these years. At the most the word that has come out of my tongue is ‘stupid’. When I get really angry, I raise my voice and say ‘You stupid!’, but I have never cursed anybody and that is how I am made. I can’t take credit for it because I didn’t make any effort. I didn’t go to any course or school and try to make myself not to curse people, or not to blame anybody. To yell, shout or get upset is not in my nature at all. And all these bad words simply don’t come up.
Q:
How can we use our love to transform nature? These days there are lots of natural disasters happening and can we do something to control them or prevent them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This will happen slowly. If you start loving trees and plant more trees, it will definitely have an impact. You know, mining is the biggest disaster that we have created. We put so many explosives under the ground and blast them. Earth is a living organism, it is not a dead object. So, if we put in its tummy and blast it, the earth starts shaking more and more, earth quake happens more and more. Mining is the biggest cause of natural disaster that we are creating. And second is cutting off the trees. There is so much attention about tree plantation or about going green, but, nobody is talking about the explosives that we are using for mining. This we have to see.Q:
Jai Gurudev! How to educate someone about vegetarianism? I have tried educating and have been ignored!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
More and more people are becoming aware of vegetarianism. Here, I heard last week that a major newspaper in Germany carried three full pages on the benefits of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism has many benefits. It helps your body’s digestion; it helps the environment as well. You know, even if ten percent of the people in the world become vegetarians, the green house gas effect problem is gone. We are done with it; we will have no more problems of global warming. That’s what the scientists say. So we need to promote more and more vegetarianism. People change a little slowly and we need to have patience, Okay!Q:
How does one deal with the loss of a loved one?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When a dear one is lost, just bear it. Be with that moment. Let time take you out of it. There is no “dealing” with this. Just be in the knowledge.