Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
One is nothing and the other is complete. Truth has two aspects - we keep saying it’s nothing and then experience the completeness. Therefore in Yoga Vashishta, Maharishi Vashishta says in beginning, that the consciousness is empty like the sky and full like an ocean. We start with saying, “I am nothing” and move to “I am in everything”.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Stop the struggle to strengthen the faith. Assume you have faith, if it shakes, pray to God to make it strong.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Is the sun, during daytime, not visible to you? Don’t you see the moon in the evening?It’s only in the absence of the sun and the moon that the stars are visible. Then you run behind the stars. Only those who haven’t seen the sun and moon of their own Self run behind the stars.
Opposite values are complementary. If there is a question, there is an answer.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have realized that you have weaknesses. That’s the first step. Now, do you want to remove the weakness or not? The very pinch of having the weaknesses will help you to come out of them. If you simply accept them and say I am an ordinary person only etc…. you will continue to have them.Someone is there to take away your weaknesses. Have this faith. Ok, you slipped once, twice, thrice, doesn’t matter, keep moving ahead. People say take vows never to commit them again. Breaking the vows makes it worse. Surrendering is better.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No no, keep asking, if you don’t ask the Divine where else will you ask? But remember, you will only get when the time comes.Q: When will matter be united with the spirit? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:When were they separate? Who is listening to my answer? Is it matter or spirit? Matter listens or the spirit?
Reply from audience - don’t know
A dead body also has ears, the sound hits it. But does it hear? Who is listening?
When this small ‘I’ relaxes, it gets in touch with the Universal Spirit, and that is meditation.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Speak the truth and speak sweetly as well. When you speak harshly then people get angry, not because of the truth. When it is very necessary to tell a bitter truth, speak it with sweetness. You don’t have to cut vegetables with an axe.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is not possible that a person does not know about love. It’s love that gets distorted into anger and anxiety. It is almost impossible to talk of love. Sage Narad said a little and after that he said it is inexpressible - Anirvachniyam.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The God is inside you. Let Him come out.It’s been so many years since you came on the planet and still you haven’t given birth to the one inside you.
Log Kahte Hai Ishwar Nazar Nahi Aata
In Bando Se Poojho Ishwar Ke Siwa Kuch Najar Nahi Aata
People say that we can’t see God, Ask people here – They can’t see anything else other than God.
God is not an object to be seen. He is the seer. That’s why in yoga it is said that “become established in the seer.”
Shareer ko aram, man ko vishram, to ban gaye atmaram.
Give rest to the body, relaxation to the mind, and you will become established in the Self.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is called janam rahasya (secret of birth). Many souls compete to get a body and only one can win. It’s like a running race. Like millions of people compete and only one wins, in the same way there is a rush and only one gets a body. That’s why it is said that the human birth and life are very precious. Don’t waste it on insignificant things. We eat to live and not live to eat. Many people start living just to eat. There are many possibilities – what soul can come and what not? The possibilities are infinite. Nobody knows.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
In ancient India there was a system. The man of the house used to give some money to his wife. This money was not to be touched. The lady’s money was always built up. The man would give a portion of his earnings, five – ten percent of his income to the lady at home and the man had no right to touch it. She would build that money up.This used to be our system. All this is gone. All the good traditions have been ignored and we have adopted all the bad habits.