Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Dear Guruji, I am stuck in-between wordly things and the Divine. The longing does not let me focus on my work but I have to work to fill my family’s stomach. Please guide.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Look, don’t think they are in contradiction. You have to work. At the same time, you can spend some time for yourself. Twenty minutes to yourself. When you are driving, listen to some knowledge. There are so many knowledge sheets, CDs. Listen to some bhajans and when you come back home after work, sit and meditate for a little while. You leading a normal worldly life in no way contradicts your spiritual progress. You can do both together. See here. So many people drive all the way from the city with all the traffic. How much time it takes? 2 hours. They drive all the way, one and a half hours after their work and sit and then they go back another one and a half hours. So when you want to do, you don’t have to do it every day. Some of you do it every day. You come once, two or three times a week for satsang because satsang is also an addiction, just addicts you. You feel so good, isn’t it? How many of you feel so good? How many of you feel when you enter the ashram you energy level changes? They all have that experience.Q:
Guruji I get panic attacks and my mind chatters while I meditate even though I observe my breath, how to get over this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ujjayi breath and relax.Q:
Dearest Guruji, despite God telling Adam and Eve not to have the forbidden fruit, they ate it. Is it because of that the world is suffering, please explain.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That too, it was the fruit of knowledge or wisdom, something like that. That was the wisdom fruit that they did not listen to. You know, suffering is because we don’t honor wisdom. Suffering in the world is because of lack of wisdom. If there is wisdom, there is no suffering. Life is bliss. Don’t put this sankalp, this intention in your mind that life is all suffering. As you sow, so shall you reap. If you sow, you think life is all suffering, then that’s what you are going to get back. We should understand the science of our consciousness, of our mind. Unfortunately, many people did not know this and they started putting this sort of principle into the mind that everything is suffering and I need suffering.You have to suffer in order to get salvation but this is not the correct understanding of reality. That is why there are so many different opinions. Though there is one Jesus Christ, today there are 72 different sects of Christianity - each claiming they are the real one. You know why? Because of wrong interpretation, nothing matched. We say God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and then you say Satan. If God is everywhere, omnipotent, all powerful, how could Satan be there? Do you see what I am saying? The theologians are struggling to find an answer for this. They want to put Satan somewhere but they can’t, and if you put him, then you have to denounce the omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience of God. If god knew everything before, why wouldn’t he prevent it? These are the questions for which theologians have been hunting answers for a long time and the answers can be found in the Vedanta. That is why the Catholic Priest who came to India, he studied the Vedanta and he said, ‘Now I can understand the whole thing better.’ He was struggling and struggling to put together the pieces of the puzzles, it didn’t make any sense. So many scholars came and they practiced yoga, meditation, learned Vedanta and then understood that this is a different understanding, different insight into truth and reality.Q:
Change is permanent in life. Does the knowledge in the Bhagavad Gita change as per the changing times?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Bhagavad Gita has all the topics. We have to understand that. It has knowledge as per the time.Q:
Despite having Sri Krishna, why did Pandavas have to go to hell?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, some other time we will discuss Mahabharath. Right now the Mahabharath is against corruption. So all of us, everyone should join the fight against corruption. To eliminate corruption and set things right, all should take effort. You have done well in Tamil Nadu. You did good work to eliminate corruption. The work is not over with that. More work is there.Q:
In my life, I have not loved anyone other than you. Whose fan are you?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I am your fan; when it is very hot, (I am) a fan that gives a cool breeze - that is what I think. When you come tired, (I am) a fan that gives comfort.Q:
What is Divine love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That love which is free from expectations. We show love and based on that we carry out a business. How? 'When you were young, I brought you up, right? What have you done for me?' This is business. Do you understand that? A love that is free from all expectations is Divine love.Q:
In the (Mahabharata) war field, Krishna showed Arjuna his Vishwa roopa. When will you show your vishwa roopa?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The conch has not yet been blown for start of war! Krishna showed the Vishwa roopa only to Arjuna. First you become Arjuna. How to become like Arjun? What is Arjuna? To prayerfully request for knowledge and to progress is Arjun.Q:
Jai Gurudev! Bringing us here saying you will show Guruji, you are only showing yourself?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
To see Guruji means, when you sit and close your eyes, you can see Guruji. Guruji is within you. When the heart blossoms, that is Guru tatva. The heart that continues to remain in the blossomed state is Guru. That is why Guru tatva is that tatva (state) which has both love and peace in it. How can you get that? Not by looking outward, but by turning inward. That is what you are doing now (in the Art of Meditation course) with your eyes closed from morning till evening. ‘See your breath, nose, tongue,’ ... being said in different ways. You may feel, ‘Oh have I come for this, they have made me sit with closed eyes.’ In the olden days, when people would take the dead body for cremation, they would tell the children, a swami with eyes closed is going by. You may think, ‘these people are making us sit with our eyes closed and making us closed-eye swamis. Without any work they are making us sit with our eyes closed’, and the mind runs and thinks, ‘let's open the eyes and see these people and see those people. What are they doing?’ When you open your eyes and see, everyone else will be sitting happily and peacefully. Then, the thought comes to the mind, ‘they have all got peace, and only I didn't get it’. You might think, ‘my mind (manas) is constantly running.’ Many such thoughts that you like and dislike will arise, and it will go away on its own too. Sit peacefully and follow what you are asked to do in the guided meditations. As you continue to do all that you are told, after some time your mind will become peaceful. Is that happening? There must be difference between yesterday and today. If you compare morning and evening, then you will notice that your mind was more peaceful in the evening.Q:
Avatars (incarnations) waged wars. When is your war and with whom?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Our war is ongoing. To remove ignorance is a big war; it is going on. All of you join. You are all soldiers. To remove ignorance, and to eliminate corruption, our war is going on. (corruption is oozhal in Tamil, azhimathi in Malayalam)