8 June 2015 - QA 1

Gurudev, can one’s basic personality or nature change by practicing sadhana and meditation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The answer to this depends on what is your understanding of one’s basic nature or personality. If you tell me that anger is your very nature, then I am not ready to believe that.
A person’s essential behavior is determined by the three Gunas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha, and one's behavior keeps changing due to these Gunas. But the fundamental aspects of one’s nature is the same for everybody, and that is – creativity, enthusiasm, joy, and living in harmony with everyone. These are constant for everybody.
Life is a mixture of things that are constant and things that keep changing dynamically. We can never say, "Everything has changed”, and we also cannot say, "Nothing has changed”. Life is a mix of the two. So some things in us can change and some cannot – and we have to accept them both.

Suppose your height is five feet. Then once you turn 21 years old, your height is not going to change. But your weight can increase or decrease, whatever your age may be. You may weigh 70 kilos or even 100 kilos. Life is a delicate balance between that which is constant and that which is capable of changing. By Sadhana, your basic nature gets strengthened and more established, and that which can be changed undergoes change much faster.