Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Guruji, I have come to the ashram for the very first time, and love it. I feel as though you have brought me here. In our day-to-day life we come across good and bad things and sometimes tend to deviate from the path. I meditate, and perform yogic practices daily. When I am in solitude, I find it easy to stay centered and maintain saatvik (purity) qualities. My question on behalf of everyone is, how do we maintain this purity in the face of the positive and negative influences we are exposed to in the world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The awareness of this will bring it about. Keep meditating, do Sudarshan Kriya, attend satsangs and stay in the company of good people; it will happen.Q:
In The Bhagwad it is written that there are 4 steps in the practice of Dharma: Truth (Satya), Discipline (Tapah), Purity, Compassion. As a supervisor in-charge in the Department of Agriculture I often find myself unable to practice compassion towards my subordinates as I am pressured from above to improve efficiency and productivity.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
One can feel compassion towards one who is miserable, not one who is arrogant, or commits wrong-doings. Such a person is dealt with strictness without compromising one’s integrity. Of the four qualities: friendliness, compassion, mudita (happiness), indifference: all one can do is to practice indifference towards one’s higher-ups.Q:
Guruji, what is the significance of the twelve Jyotirlings of lord Shiva? Is it necessary to visit them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
These pilgrimages are intended to bring people together, and unite the country from Kashmir to Rameshvaram, from Kaamaakhya to Somnath. Shiva does not reside only in temples. He dwells in our hearts. Wherever you are, call out to Him and He will appear.Q:
Guruji, Viveka is the realization that everything has impermanent nature. Then why is it so wrong to let go your commitment?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See, if your commitment is going to create problem and bring sorrow to many, then you should drop the commitment. Like a youth told me once, ' I have promised the commander of Lashkar that I will give my life to this organization, I will bring the word of God to anybody and do anything possible to spread this principle'. But when he became peaceful he realized that this is not the correct commitment he gave or he took. 'I don’t want to be involved in violence anymore. But what to do? I have promised on this holy book. What do you do?' I said,' No, let go of the commitment because you took the commitment in ignorance. So there is no point in honoring that commitment which you took in ignorance to engage in violence. Yes, If there is some other commitment you took being so foolish, which doesn’t create such harm to anybody, then you keep it. You weigh the pros and cons and then you follow. Another person says,' yes, I am committed in a marriage and now I have children, but that is an old commitment, I don’t want to do anything now'. You have two kids and now you say,' I don’t want any commitment, I want to get out of it', then there is no way. Your commitment now is to take care of the children. You can’t run away from that. Many people, after being married, after having kids, then they regret, oh I should have been single. I took a wrong commitment. You have no way now, you have to continue. But if you have taken a commitment I will be single and suddenly you change your mind, you want to get married, it is okay because dropping that commitment of yours, you are not harming anybody. So you have to think on those things. Weigh the pros and cons of a commitment.Q:
Guruji, did Gopis ever meditate when Krishna was there?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Did Gopis meditate? Whether they meditated or they did not meditate, how does it matter? It is an old story. But meditation has to be second to life; walking, talking, sitting, doing, everything you are in a state of meditation. Krishna did meditate, every morning, in his routine, he used to wake up at 4 o’ clock sit for one hour and meditate. And then he would honor the scholars, and then 8’o clock he would take a round of the city, meet the general public and then in the evening he would celebrate in his style (with mischief).Q:
Can dispassion and longing go together?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
They have to go together, that is wisdom. Longing is one side and dispassion is the other side. Where there is no dispassion, longing can turn into bitterness. If there is only dispassion, then there is no juice and we need some juice in life, some thrill, some fun. And spirituality is full of juice; full of thrill, enthusiasm, joy. Unfortunately spirituality is perceived as such a dull, boring, serious thing - it is never like that. The Divine is full of juice. It is juicy, and spirituality is so juicy. So anyone who has gone close to the Divinity, to the source has always become very juicy, not dry.Q:
Guruji … (a member of the audience asked this question. It was inaudible.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Why should we not? Listen, now why should we have so many types of vegetables? You should have had only one egg plant. You should have asked why there are so many types of fruits. There are grapes, oranges, so many types of oranges, so many types of bananas. You should have had only bananas. Nature should have created only bananas. You eat the banana and go bananas. You would have really gone nuts. Nature loves diversity. So nature made so many types of rice. You know, in rice there are 152 types in India alone. World over if you count there are thousands of types of rice. There are types of rice, types of cows; different types of vegetables, fruits. The Divine loves diversity. So the Divine can manifest itself in so many diverse forms. That is what the ancient people said. You should give the freedom for Divine to wear whatever clothes it wants to wear. Don’t say that the should come in the same dress all the time.Q:
In the beginning days when we take the japa mantra it feels special. It doesn’t feel the same later. How to maintain the same feeling, how to make our mantra more effective?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t try to make anything. Whenever you remember just know it’s very sacred, very special, take it that way. You know usually when you get into the cold water, when you go to the Ganga the first time, you take a dip. The water is very cold but once you are in the water it is not that cold, so your body gets used to it. In the same way, in-between, you have to come out and go in and then you feel cold again. So you don’t need to worry about it and again and again whenever you feel grateful you feel it as special. Gratefulness always comes in waves.Q:
Guruji, why are all mantras in Sanskrit? What is so special about Sanskrit?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, Sanskrit was derived later. Mantras were already there. The words of the mantra were already there; later on the languages was created. Not only in Sanskrit, but when you go deeper into all languages, you will find all these mantras.Q:
I have many brilliant ideas for doing seva, but I don’t know how to go about implementing them. Also because I am not good at team work, I don’t know how to ask for help from other people.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Listen, don’t label yourself as,' I am not good at team work'. If you are not good at team work, then they will make you here. This is the opportunity for you. Accept people as they are and get into a team. Get into somebody’s team, whatever they may say, 'oh it is so sunny', when it is so cloudy, you say, 'yes okay!' It doesn’t matter what they think but what they do matters. You say,' okay, if it is sunny for you let it be sunny, come let’s sweep the floor, let’s take care of the plant, let’s keep the place clean. Let’s wash the dishes in the kitchen. How does it matter if it is rainy or it is sunny, you have to go and wash the dishes', you go and wash. So don’t sit and argue with people to see what you see, that they should also agree with you. We should agree to disagree - simple formula. You think God is blue, fine, for you he is blue, for me he is white. It is okay. He can be white, for another he is red, never mind, come, let’s all be together, dance together, eat together, do something together. This is very important. Team work is absolutely essential; we should go into such a team.