Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
If there is something that we are not getting from God, will we get it if we make our Sudarshan Kriya and sadhna strong?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Have patience, keep up the hope that it may happen. Know that whatever is good for us will be given.Q:
Doing Sudarshan Kriya, we feel relaxed and happy but after that the mind again wanders in its imaginations.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You turn around and see.(The questioner turns around, and audience laughs)
Sri Sri continued: Not now! You turn around in your life, one year, two years, three years before, and see what were you then and what are you now? Do you see the difference? How much difference? You say a lot of difference in a month since you did Sudarshan Kriya, so there will be more in the future.
Q:
Can I practice Hath yoga?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Whatever yoga you do should be done simply and naturally. You don’t have to give too much trouble to your body and make yourself uncomfortable. Just be normal and simple. To do hath yoga, one has to take a lot of precautions.Q:
Please tell us what we should do for our nation to feel grateful to our nation.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
For showing your love and gratitude for your country, you will have to do a lot of work in the society so that our villages develop and become self helping. To make a society which is void of corruption, violence, all have to put effort whole heartedly, OK.Q:
We have you as Guru in the ‘Art of Living’, but in family there are family Gurus and traditional rituals, different style of worshipping etc. Should these be followed also?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See if there is a family tradition being followed from a long time, then what is the harm in continuing that? One must keep up the family traditions.Q:
After the course, you came thrice in my dream. The second time you came in my dream, the dream was that you are no more in the world.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is ok, does not matter – there is still lot more time for that to happen!Q:
I start to do a lot of things, but I don’t get to complete. Can you tell me a way how can I improve the situation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you want to do, you can do anything. It has to come from within. With the determination, ‘I will do this job, and I will see to it that it gets completed’. This commitment from within will help you, and get you through. Got it? Nobody can do the job other than you.So, take up with small things and follow it through, and then you will get the confidence. That prepares you to take up big tasks. You know, why do you drop things? Because you think they are not important. But there is nothing important or unimportant in life, everything has importance. So, even if something looks unimportant, you say, “I want to finish it, and I will finish it”. Then you will be able to enhance your commitment.
Q:
What does it mean to be superstitious? I am confused whether I behave according to superstitions sometimes. I am not superstitious but I believe in it.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are saying that you are not superstitious but believe in it. Ok, then tell me first what is superstition?See, there may be many beliefs. For what one considers superstition, it may not be for another. But from a broader perspective, things which are illogical, which does not support human evolution and which harm intellectual, mental, spiritual, and physical well being is superstition, and that need to be eradicated. Superstition exists in many parts of the world.
Spirituality and superstition are opposites. They cannot go together. So, we need to bring more and more spirituality, more values in the society, and see that superstition diminishes.
Q:
Of the five elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space, Earth and Water are said to be female; Fire and air are male, then what is space? Why is this differentiation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are various concepts and understanding of this. So, people start attributing male and female genders to everything. But that is how human mind can comprehend things; it cannot comprehend anything which is beyond.Q:
Suppose we want something, or want something to happen, then there are two things one can do–one is to drop the desire and let it happen, and the other is wanting it is so much that it happens. What is it that we should do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Take it as it comes. Sometimes you really pray for something and it comes. Sometimes you just have a gentle thought and it manifests. Right? So, there is no definite criteria for it, all is possible!