Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
I feel jealous when I see my girlfriend interacting with someone else. I love her but these feeling of mine are bringing a distance between us. How do I handle this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I think this is very common. People feel this way even after getting married. If a new person comes to your house, will you welcome them and talk to them? Yes, you would. Now someone looking at you will think you look very happy. Suppose you are welcoming someone and talking to them happily and your girlfriend sees you and feels jealous about it, how would you feel? Put yourself in her shoes. Many times it could be your own imagination; the way your own mind functions because of possessiveness. When you are possessive then the whole chain of negative thoughts starts coming. So when you love somebody, just take it for granted that they are yours.Q:
Is there a way to understand the course of karma?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is no one standard to measure it. Jains had put Krishna in hell because he created many wars. Then they saw his good deeds and put him in heaven. It is best to do karma according to the intellect. An action which inspires you with enthusiasm and energy, even if it has flaws, is worth doing. Leaving your karma by sitting idle is inappropriate. There is some flaw even in the best of the action. For instance, a teacher earns his salary by teaching students. If children were born wise there would be no need for teachers. A doctor’s job depends on someone’s illness. Lawyers would not be required if there were no quarrels. Their well-being depends on the disharmony and fights of others. So, in every interaction, you will see some flaw. If you focus on the flaws, you will not do any work. Put your attention wherever there are positive qualities. There is no big or small work - every work is respectable.Q:
Gurudev, when we chant a mantra continuously, will that mantra effect our body and life ?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Definitely! But we should not keep chanting continuously, this is not correct. Do you keep bathing continuously? When you chant the mantra for some time, your mind will become stronger. That is why it called mantra. We can do it for 20 - 30 min. If you keep doing it continuously, your intellect will become dull. We should not do it too much. If you stay a lot in water, you will become a fish (laughter). That is why it is referred as mantra-snaan (bath). If someone keeps listening to music, his intellect will stop working. Similarly, someone who keeps doing math and never listens to music, his personality will also be unbalanced. These things are there to balance our left brain and right brain. We should look it from a scientific perspective. From a scientific perspective, we should listen to music for some time, we engage in some discussions for some time, and we should think for some time. Afterwards, you will experience an all-round development.Q:
Does meditation help to come out of the grief when a closed one passes away?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Meditation definitely helps you overcome grief when a close one has crossed over to other side. See, death is a very certain thing. Nothing is more certain than death. However you have lived your life, you are going to die. Successful or unsuccessful, famous or infamous, rich or poor, healthy or sick - you are going to die. It is not only sick people who die, healthy people also die. Everyone will die one day, so death is the most certain thing. Meditation definitely helps you to overcome grief as it helps you accept this reality. You gain a broder perspective, and then you can say, "Oh you are gone, bye for now. I will see you again in a short while.’ Not only that, but when you meditate, the vibrations reach across to them and they feel peaceful.Q:
Why some people are rich and some are poor? If this is karma, can this be changed?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes it can be changed. You know, it doesn't take much time for a rich person to become poor, and many times poor also become rich in short period of time. Don't think that it is karma for me to be poor and let me be like that. No! You can make effort to earn more wealth. There are different types of richness. Someone may have lot of money in the bank but they cannot eat proper food because they have diabetes or cholesterol. Some have good homes and good beds but they cannot sleep because they have insomnia. All this is not richness. You think someone is rich but they do not smile at all and there is no confidence in them. I won't call that richness.Q:
When I read the books and listen to knowledge, I really want to implement it. But when the time comes to implement the knowledge, I am unable to do it. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Knowledge gets implemented automatically; it is spontaneous. It is there at the back of the mind. What is it that stops you from implementing knowledge is small temptations. Small temptations go with three things: Love, greed and fear. Suppose you are drinking alcohol or doing something that is not right, then the fear of disease, or fear of losing your reputation, or fear of losing a loved one can stop you. Fear as well as procrastination can stop you. The second thing that can stop you is greed. If someone tells you, “If you drink alcohol, you will lose 10 million”. Or if you are a smoker and someone tells you, “If you don’t smoke for 30 days, you will get a lottery for 1 crore rupees”, I tell you, you will not touch a cigarette. You will say, instead of 30 days, let me make it 33 days just to be on safe side. The third this is love. If you promise a loved one, you will keep it up.Q:
What is fear?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Every seed has a membrane around it. That shell is there to protect the seed, but when you soak the seed in water, at some point the membrane breaks and the sprout come out of it. In the same way, fear is a mechanism around the life to protect it; at the same time, there is a way to go out of it. If you see, very young kids, they don’t have fear when the mother is taking care of them. But when a kid starts walking on its own, then he looks around here and there very carefully. So, fear comes around that time, and it disappears when the mind or the intellect get mature. A mature intellect has no fearQ:
Gurudev, how can I know whether what I am experiencing is because of my Karmas from my past lives, or is it because of my actions in the present life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Whether the action is from a past life, or something done 10 years back, or done just yesterday, or even 10 minutes back – it really does not matter. Ultimately, all Karma is Karma, that’s it. That is why it is said that the ways of Karma are mysterious and unfathomable. One cannot understand it totally. That is why we say that you should not worry much about Karma. Just keep moving ahead.Q:
Gurudev, can wisdom happen instantly? Is it the same with enlightenment?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, it can be gradual also! The other day, someone was telling me, “Gurudev, suddenly, I realized that I am happy all the time now, which I never was before!” A sudden realization comes that gradually you have become more and more happy. One day you find yourself saying, “I am so happy, so centered; nothing can shake me, nothing can take my smile away!” And then you are there! Sometimes, there is a flash of lightning, and suddenly you see things, and then it disappears. Sometimes it is like when the sun rises, dawn comes first, then gradually darkness disappears, and day dawns very gradually, and that stays! So both phenomena are there. For some, it can come as an electrical transformation, for others it could be a gradual change. Sometimes you don’t even notice it, but one day, you say, “Wow! Aho!” Just like what is said in Ashtavakra, “Aho! Yes, I got it!”Q:
How to stop worrying?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Know one thing – one day you are going to go under the ground. You will be finished. Everybody else will also be finished. What are you worried about? You are worried about money? You are worried about somebody’s opinion? You are worried about prestige? You are worried about your health? There are four things that people worry about –Money, Relationship, Prestige and Health! All of them is going to go away one day. Then why worry. See life from a bigger context. Ten years ago, didn’t you worry? You are still alive. Five years ago, didn’t you worry? You are still alive. Three years back you worried. This worrying did not do anything to you. You only created more toxins in your body. Life anyway goes on. Life is a balance between free will and destiny. How many of you have this question about free will and destiny? (Many in the audience raise their hands). Is life all destined or is it all free will? I tell you, life is a combination of both free will and destiny. Your height is your destiny but your weight is your freewill. You can’t say this my destiny is to weigh 100 kilos. I will tell you to get on to the treadmill. And don’t eat those burgers. So, your weight is your free will and your height is your destiny. Similarly, it’s raining is destiny, whether to get wet or not is your free will.Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives.
Read More