Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Guide me the way to shake hands with you, please!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(shaking his hands), you can shake (laughter and applause). Shake up and wake up!Q:
You spoke about competition and that it brings out the best in you. However in business we find that dichotomy between compassion and competition and that at times can be confusing. Would you be able to guide us on an issue like this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See, competition is very good. But if you are competitive and you are not caring for any of the rules then you are in trouble. But competition within the framework of rules is very good. So ethical competition is what we need to aspire for. You don’t need to put compassion there. Business and compassion should be kept separate, but business and ethics cannot be separate. (Applause)Q:
What is the key to knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The key to knowledge is asking questions and listening to the answers. See unless you open the computer you don’t get the information right? You have to press the key, put your password and then go into whatever you want to know.Q:
Guruji, please tell us about the significance of the nine nights of Navaratri. What can we do to get a better spiritual experience during Navaratri?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
‘Ratri’ word means that which gives you deep rest. Deep rest or relief from three things or three tapas. ‘Tapas’ means three types of fire, three botheration, the physical, the subtle and the causal. The three type of botheration are aadi bhautik, the worldly botheration. Aadi daivi, the divine one and then botheration of the soul. All these three botherations are relieved by a deep rest. So it is a time of prayer and rejuvenation. You know, a child is born in nine months. It takes nine month for a child to get formed and be born. So these nine days are like coming out of mother’s womb once again, having a new birth. First three days are dedicated to tamo guna, inertia. The second three days to rajo guna and the last three days, sato guna. The three gunas that we all possess, sattva, rajas and tamas and gaining victory over all the gunas and being centred and celebrating life. The final day is called the victory day, Vijayadashmi. So for all nine days, ten days we virtually do meditation which is the best way to celebrate. People usually fast and pray, and then feast in the end. Fasting always goes with the feasting. I won’t recommend all of you to fast without any food at all. You can have limited or eat less. Suppose if you are eating one whole meal you can cut down to half or quarter, like that, and don’t keep munching all day. Usually people have the habit of popping munchies the whole day, now and then, here and there. So don’t do that and don’t indulge in any other sensory activities of any other senses; giving deep rest to all the five senses. No touching, no watching movies, not going for fragrances and all that. Not listening to music all the time with the, what is that, ipod?! As soon as we wake up we turn the radio on or put on the ipod and put the ear phones. Even when we are jogging we are listening to sound. So the mind is constantly bombarded; bombarded by sound, by music. These are the days when you don’t bombard your system with so much music. There will be chanting here for some time. You know the last couple of days when there will be ‘yagyas’, of course you can just sit and bask in the chanting. Take bath in the, what is called ‘mantra-snaana’; means bathing in the mantras. The mantras are being chanted; you just sit in meditation and bathe in that vibration, that is good. Everyday there will be little bit time, an hour or so of mantra chanting. Other than that it is good to refrain from over-eating, over-listening to music, or watching television or any type of activity which stimulates your system. It’s a time to calm them down. Yes, and on the last day, of course, you end up in celebrations. You get emotionally charged, spiritually charged, intellectually uplifted. It’s time for getting all these things done.Q:
Guruji, please explain the significance of Ganesh Visarjan.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See divinity is all over the place, in every particle of creation. But sometime a devotee wants to play with the divine. So from the mud he makes a form. Ganesh is formless, but we would like to play with him in a form. So we make a form and invoke him telling ‘Ganapati, though you are everywhere I would like to offer my gratitude to you by offering sweets, by offering all that you offer to me; flowers, fruits. You take sun and moon around me and I take a little camphor around you. So all that you gave me, I offer back to you.’ With this intense feeling pooja is done. Thanksgiving is done expressing one’s gratitude to Ganapati. And in the end say, ‘you have come from my heart and you will get back into my heart.’ Like that, saying that, Ganapati, the idol you leave it in the ocean or in the water, from where you took it. The Visarjan is for you to understand that Ganapati is not just in the idol. He has come from your heart into the idol. The prana has come there and then the prana gets back into you after fulfilling your desires. Putting forth your desires in front of Ganapati you then say, ‘Ganapati you are back in my heart.’ Then you leave that idol in the water.Q:
Guruji, most of the time I am fickle-minded and find it difficult to stick to any decision that I make. I’m aware of this weakness. Kindly guide me in how to overcome this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First of all remove that label from your head, ‘I am all the time fickle-minded.’ Who said that? If you are over-ambitious then you become fickle-minded. Just relax! Whatever is yours will come to you. When you are over ambitiousness and want to do a hundred things it makes you uncomfortable.Q:
(A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Give it here. You come and give it to me. Why do you want to handle it? We will handle it with care for you. If you want we will return it back to you also. You just leave it here, dump it here. After all, why does an ashram exist, why is there a guru? So that you may dump all your pain, suffering and anxiety; so that you may leave it all behind, isn’t that so?Q:
(A member of the audience asked a question and it was inaudible)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Did you like seeing the Guru in your dream? You liked it very much, right! Good! See I find it easier to hug in a dream, so I hug everyone in dreams! Are you happy? So much change has come about in you since then, so much has been erased. All unwanted things have been erased.Q:
Guruji, today is Dashehra. Although we celebrate this festival of victory of good over evil every year, what should we do so that this victory is truly feasible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First one has to have confidence that this victory is possible. If we think that this is kaliyuga, and it is not possible for good to gain victory over evil and only the reverse happens, evil wins over good here then this kind of mind-set is most dangerous. That is why first conquer your mind. Observe what your mind-set is. If your mind has pessimistic tendencies, they have to be removed first and enthusiasm has to be awakened. This is the first victory. After nine days of battle, Vijayadashmi is not for only one day. What was there in nine days? Tamo guna, rajo guna, and at the end sato guna also had to be conquered. What was first? Madhu Kaitab, ‘Madhu’ means raag (attachment), ‘Kaitab’ means dvesh (aversion). Victory over attachment and aversion is the first victory of the mind. Next is ‘Dhoomra Lochan’ and then ‘Mahishasura’. Mahishasura is tamo guna, laziness, inertia. In that we say, ‘oh, everything goes, everything happens, everything is okay, corruption is okay, without that life will not go on. Things will not work, one has to be corrupt.’ This kind of attitude, and mind-set is wrong, this is Mahishasura. This Mahishasura has to be conquered. Next is Sumbha Nishumbha and then Raktabeeja. Raktabeeja means in our lives we have certain habits, some sanskaars (impressions). As they say, it is in our blood, meaning it is so deeply ingrained, the impression is so deeply imprinted that is called Raktabeejasura. Wherever a drop of blood falls, it appears. You try to destroy one, and a hundred others are born. So this thing that we have in our genes, in our DNA, we need to get rid of it. How? Through meditation, prayer, devotion and divine grace. The sanskaras that are embedded deep within need to be uprooted and thrown out. All this is victory and it will not work if we say, ‘first I need to gain victory over the self and then I will go out and serve society.’ They both have to be done together. Your sight should be directed inward as well as outwards. Promote cleanliness, hygiene, and resist dirt and filth. Maintain a clean environment inside as well as outside. The leaders of society should also be such. Sometimes people do something wrong and all the good people stand back with their hands tied. Society has not been ruined on account of bad people, but due to the indifference of those who are good. This earth is being destroyed due to the carelessness and inaction of good individuals. So be dynamic. This is what is implied by the destruction of Mahishasura, getting rid of tamo guna. So victory will happen, believe in it first then work for it. And even if we experience failure a hundred times, we have to keep fighting. It is through devotion that the task gets done easily without any obstruction.Q:
Guruji, it is said that Ravana had ten heads. I am so troubled by just one! How did Ravana manage ten? What do ten heads signify?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is why he got into so much trouble and that is why Raama had to come to take care of it. ‘Dashmukh’ (ten-faced) has a meaning to it. ‘Mukh’ means sight or communication; seeing, listening, smelling, speaking; to receive and to project. Ten-faced (dashmukh) does not mean his heads were dangling on both sides, it means projecting/receiving in all ten directions simultaneously. One with incomparable grace and intelligence is called as ‘Dashanan’, same as ‘Dasharatha.’ Or one whose brilliance radiates in all ten directions is called as ‘Dashanan.’ But if one gets caught up in the ego then suffering will come and he will fall.