Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Beloved Guruji, could you say something about the meaning of Punarnava?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
"Nava" means new, "Puna" means again. Making something new again, that is "Punarnava", bringing new life, infusing newness.Could you speak on Yogamaya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yogamaya is intuition clubbed with delusion. From inside as you proceed in the path of yoga, the more meditations you do, sometimes you get these visions and these visions would be 90% correct. Then you start believing in your own visions and then they all go wrong, this is called yogamaya. So you should not be too attached to the visions that you get, the psychic ability. In the psychic ability there could be some delusions that mix up and come, that is called yogmaya. And you are a yogi and suddenly some siddhis come to you and you gallop on using those powers or siddhis. Then suddenly you will go down, everything will vanish and that is again yogamaya. You know the illusion and the ego that comes with yogis then they become fallen yogis. So that is what is called yogamaya.
Guruji, sages have predicted our lives so accurately on palm leaves, Nadi Vidya. Is there really any role that I have in my life when everything already seems so predetermined? How does the path of sadhana change anything?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See life is a mixture of accepting what is and wanting to make what you feel like having. It’s a mixture of both. You have an intention in your mind and that’s how you move on. See, you had an intention to come here and you came. But if you look into the past you say it is all determined, it is all destiny. That’s why I say a simple formula just listen to it. Look at the past as destiny so you will not keep regretting the past and see the future as free will so that you don’t procrastinate or become lethargic and say whatever, ‘god willing it will happen’. So you don’t become lethargic and do nothing if you consider the future as destiny. You should not say let’s leave it to destiny, no! The future is freewill, past is destiny and live in the present. This is wise way of living. Not so wise way is seeing the past as freewill and keep regretting about it, ‘oh I shouldn’t have done that’. Even after you became a medical graduate you say, ‘oh I should have taken engineering, I made a big blunder’. So you keep blaming yourself and keep regretting the past when you think the past was freewill. And you think future is all destiny, you want to leave everything to destiny and you just do nothing about it and you’ll be miserable in the present moment. This is the unwise way of living, got it?
Dear Guruji, does the devotion to a person to a guru get carried on to his next life? And does an enlightened soul also have devotion to his guru? If not then I don’t desire enlightenment.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, devotion is your nature it won’t leave you. Devotion is abiding in your own nature. So like sweetness cannot leave sugar, the coolness cannot leave ice, the nature to flow does not leave water right! You can’t call it water and it does not flow. Similarly devotion is there in your nature; don’t worry about it, okay.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you are tired and so exhausted if someone talks about love you say forget about it and let me sleep. You know sleep is very important but when you are well rested only then a thought of love can be of any significance. So, when you are well rested, body is rested and you are not restless then love dawns in you. And then company; you look at young children, small kids that can kindle the love inside you. In one in whom the energy is high and the love is already kindled, that also is contagious, it catches on to everybody else. In that way also it dawns, so there are many ways. Also when you do pranayam; there are 1,72,000 nadis in the body, in the system and when some of them are blocked then you don’t experience love. When they open up then you experience that, ‘oh wow’, something happens. Suddenly people start talking, ‘oh we are friends from many life times. Oh I know you from forever before and we are made for each other.’ All those talks start when the nadis in the system open up. It’s interesting and so with pranayama also you can get those nadis to open inside you and with meditation. With the company of those in whom the nadis are open, company of saints and prophets and sadhaks, then also something triggers and you feel, ‘oh wow!’ feeling arises. And when we try and catch hold of it, then it just slips away. So just let it be. That’s a good mantra; just let it be, let it be! Very nice.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know you cannot be but do some action, some karma. It’s part of our nature. We have to keep acting. And if you consciously take a decision and act it is different than unconsciously doing something. So you consciously take a decision to go on the treadmill, this is an action. Otherwise you sit and you feel so restless, you keep shaking your hands and your legs the whole day sitting in your office at your table. This only shows restlessness. You are moving you leg so many times. You are compelled to do so because your body wants that circulation. You never gave that circulation time for the body so you feel restless. This is not happening as an exercise, it is not benefitting you but it is an action which you cannot stop. So some actions you consciously choose to do, that also cuts the karma.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yogic flying is nothing, just the body lifts up. But it takes six weeks. Six weeks you meditate, go deep in meditation and your body can just shake, life, hop. But meditation is the main thing; the flying phenomenon is not what is so important. Nobody has suspended and started flying, so far I have not seen someone do that. Someone says then bring them to me, I will find out.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That’s ecstasy, tears of love and joy.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Very connected, they are cousins. Soul, the individual self is space with some impressions. Breath is that which manifests that in the body so breath is definitely connected to the soul (atman). In German language, ‘atman’ means breath. In Sanskrit ‘atman’ means the soul, spirit and ‘Paramatman’ means the Divine, the total space.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
After meditation you feel headache! Do you have a headache now? Were you trying to shove the thoughts away? You should not suddenly come back, you should slowly come back. See from deep meditation suddenly you come back it is like when you are deep in sleep someone wakes you, suddenly you wake up, what happens? Headache comes, right? Like that, so take little longer time to come back. Take a little deeper breath, relax and drink a lot of water.