Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Guruji, I have done YES plus course. I am visiting the ashram after two years and have been here for the last couple of days and do not feel like leaving ever. How do I strike a balance between my responsibilities at home and my desire to remain here?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do both, you have to take care of your domestic responsibilities and your commitment here.Q:
Guruji, I want You to be with me always. What should I do for that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just know I am with you. Do Sadhana, Seva, Satsang - that you don’t leave or forget. Do your duty, meditate, do your duty.Q:
What is the difference between Dharana and Sankalpa?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Dharana is keeping your mind on a specific thought, like what we do in the beginning of meditation. Like what we do in Yoga Nidra, we take our mind to different parts of the body. Similarly, we keep the attention on the breath or the top of the head, somewhere. This is called Dharana.Q:
Dearest Guruji, how to balance personal life and professional life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you know how to ride a bicycle? How do you balance? Exactly! Don’t neglect your profession and don’t neglect taking time for yourself. See, you say the world does not change. Have you noticed if you are changing or you are not changing? You are changing, right? Just imagine the teachers who taught you the basic course. Suppose if they think,' In the world nobody is changing why should I teach?' If they had not taught anything to you, no pranayama, no meditation, no Sudarshan Kriya, what would have happened? Can you look back and see, before you took the basic course what was the state of your mind and where you are today? Do you notice that? How many of you find a change? See, so many of you changed because somebody did something, isn’t it? Someone took the time off for six days, two hours each day sat with you, took all your questions, taught you something, corrected you, so there is a shift. Change is happening in the world constantly. If you become a catalyst to that, that’s your good luck because being a catalyst for change brings happiness within you.Q:
Dear Guruji, to teach the new generation youth awareness about farming what can I do? What is my role?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, there are YLTP programs happening and you join the team and start educating people. Education, educating people about farming, this is seva also.Q:
Dearest Guruji, what is the way to be able to feel, love and revere the Guru in the form as well as in the formless?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, you cannot force love on yourself. Love is spontaneous, it just happens, just relax! You can’t try to love someone or try not to love someone. It is just a spontaneous happening. And remember love is not just an emotion, love is our existence.Q:
When I was in the doubt mode I could ask you any question Guruji. But after I have started having faith in you asking or rather confronting you with my questions have become very difficult. As fear and respect come my way. How to tackle the situation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just be natural, ask any question you want to ask. All questions are anyways foolish. I don’t mind and I know you don’t mind as long as the answers are not foolish. And from here I cannot give you foolish answers for sure. This is just an intellectual stimulation, that’s all. Questions and answers are what? Intellectual stimulation. Music is what? Emotional stimulation and silence is what? Stimulation of the spirit, of the soul. So we need all these in our life. And exercise is physical stimulation. And you do yoga, exercise. Seva is stimulation of activity. You do an action without expecting anything in return is seva. Stimulation of activity is through seva. So you need all that - physical stimulation through exercise; intellectual stimulation by knowledge, discussion; emotional stimulation through music and the stimulation of spirit through silent meditation.Q:
Dearest Guruji, what is the way to be able to feel, love and revere the Guru in the form as well as in the formless?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, you cannot force love on yourself. Love is spontaneous, it just happens, just relax! You can’t try to love someone or try not to love someone. It is just a spontaneous happening. And remember love is not just an emotion, love is our existence.Q:
When I was in the doubt mode I could ask you any question Guruji. But after I have started having faith in you asking or rather confronting you with my questions have become very difficult. As fear and respect come my way. How to tackle the situation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just be natural, ask any question you want to ask. All questions are anyways foolish. I don’t mind and I know you don’t mind as long as the answers are not foolish. And from here I cannot give you foolish answers for sure. This is just an intellectual stimulation, that’s all. Questions and answers are what? Intellectual stimulation. Music is what? Emotional stimulation and silence is what? Stimulation of the spirit, of the soul. So we need all these in our life. And exercise is physical stimulation. And you do yoga, exercise. Seva is stimulation of activity. You do an action without expecting anything in return is seva. Stimulation of activity is through seva. So you need all that - physical stimulation through exercise; intellectual stimulation by knowledge, discussion; emotional stimulation through music and the stimulation of spirit through silent meditation.Q:
Dear Guruji, how can I cultivate more humility and acceptance? I am known for being arrogant, rude and short tempered.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You in the right place. Do the silence program couple of times. Two, three silence courses will melt you down. And don’t judge yourself too much. Sometimes we judge ourselves too much. Either we judge others and get angry at others or you judge yourself and get upset about yourself. It is best not to do this; these two acts appear to be different but are the same. Either we blame others or we blame our self. Self blame is as bad as blaming someone else. That is what this knowledge is all about. It takes you from the blame culture to a joy culture. You are happy, you make others happy. And when you are happy, anyone who comes into contact with you, they are happy too. Have you noticed some people in your office are very enthusiastic? They say, ‘hey, come on, let’s go’, ‘hey come on, let’s do this’, ‘hey, this will happen’. Very positive, enthusiastic and even if there are problems, they say, ‘okay, let’s manage it’, they crack jokes. And there are others who in the best of situations are upset, angry. They say, ‘all has gone well, but what will happen from this? One day it will all be finished, then what?’ At least this one day, whatever you are doing, why don’t you be happy? ‘It’s all a one day show, then what?’ This type of pathetic pessimism is not life supporting. Nor does it support anyone around you. Sign of life is not depression, sign of life is celebration, is upliftment. You should bear this in mind. Whenever you tend to do that, whenever you tend to go in the negative cycle, immediately remember,' oh Guruji has said that, let me switch my mode. Like in your cell phone, you switch modes, from cell phone mode to sms mode or phone mode or email mode. Like that you should be able to switch and you have the ability to do that.