Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
You had mentioned the secret to success is in thought, and then intention or will, and then action, leading to success. When you say Europe is depressed due to the lack of will, we feel that in a lot of Indian cities as well. How do you overcome that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Meditation. Meditation will generate your thought power, your intention. So if you do few minutes of meditation, pranayama, your thoughts will become powerful. So with little effort the task will be accomplished.Q:
When state and government organizations say that they are secular then it makes sense, but is secularism for common man a virtue worth pursuing?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Secularism means to treat everyone with equality. Secularism does not mean religiosity or irreligiousness. Secularism means what? To view everyone as equal and that is there in our country, in our dharma. Does that answer your question?Q:
Guruji, how to handle parents? Even after becoming a YES+ teacher, I still find it difficult. I have taken them to Seva and Rudra Pooja, but my dad tends to oppose everything. Please help!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Thank him because he is increasing your patience.Q:
Guruji tell us about Navratri and why we do all the yagyas and everything?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Navratri is special time where you invoke all the divine impulses. They’re all blessings. It’s an ancient way, in the yagyas all the five elements are used to bring the positive energy.Q:
(A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You mean I’m not normal? (Laughter) One is being straight forward and righteous, another is asserting I am righteous. You know when you say, ‘I am righteous’ that makes you angry, that makes you unhappy. Be natural towards everyone, but don’t be obsessed. You don’t have to beat a drum to announce to everyone that you are the most honest person; ‘I am very straight forward.’ Straight-forward does not mean you have to be blunt. You can be truthful. Four things are essential in life, shakti (strength), yukti (skill), mukti (freedom) and bhakti (devotion). Strength is needed and so is skill; strength alone will not work, so shakti and yukti. To be successful in life you need shakti and yukti. Be straight forward but with skill.Q:
Guruji, why, in this new age have relationships changed so much that to find love, people have to believe in Romeo and Juliet? Has love changed or have we changed so that we cannot understand love anymore?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Listen, one thing is constant in this planet that is change! Change keeps happening in every field. So, accept the changes and know that there is something that is not changing deep inside you. Everything changes, but inside us there is an element that does not change. Just know this and accept all the changes. Okay!Q:
Guruji, which do we attend to first, the mind or the body?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Okay between ears and eyes, which should be used first? When watching television, do you use both simultaneously or one after the other? It is not as though we decide, ‘I will watch first, then I will listen.’ Similarly, we will need to attend to both body and mind.Q:
Guruji can you talk about space and what is inside the space?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is in the space? Everything is in the space; there is nothing outside the space.Q:
(A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This influence of karma affects body and mind. But, what was said in the Ashtavakra, in reality these are all external things. The effect of karma does not touch you at all. This matter is one step ahead; so both are true. See, do you ever feel that, ‘I never grew old, or aged, I am the same?’ Isn’t that true? Ask any elderly person, no matter how old, he will tell you that he doesn’t feel he is going to die and poor fellow dies. And he looks at someone else and says, ‘Poor fellow died, I am not going to die’. Doesn’t it feel that way? It does! There is something within us which never dies. That is why we feel that we are permanent. All others will come and go. And then there is another thing that is true, that according to our karma and time, old age creeps into the body. Hairs fall off. In the past it used to take me one hour to comb my hair, then half an hour, and now, not even one minute! Maharajji doesn’t have to do anything! So some changes occur with time, we should observe that. On one level, if we observe, everything is changing, our thoughts are changing, and we are no longer the person we were yesterday. Isn’t that so? The person you were five years ago, and the person standing here today, are they different or not? Is that true or not? Yes! Yet it is not the same person who used to be; this is on one level. On another level, the same person is standing here who was here ten, twenty or twenty-five years ago. Isn’t it? So both are true, this is true and that is also true. Everything changes, this is true, and some things never change, that is also true. Ashtavakra emphasises on that which never changes. Gita also emphasises on that which is changing, such as karma, how to manage it etc.Q:
Guruji do you recommend that we do singing during satsang when we’re in silence or should we be in complete silence?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You can sing during satsang, definitely.