Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri: Because we don't realize that it is all going to end. Meditate and see life from a bigger context. If you still feel jealous, then just observe the sensations and it will pass.

Sri Sri: If an alien comes to this planet and watches football or cricket match, you know how will he react? Shocked!
One leather ball and 22 people after it!
It won’t make any sense to the Alien, and he would say just give them all one. Thousands of people watch and get crazy. People are wasting so much time and money, there seems to be no purpose.So a rational mind cannot understand a game. A rational mind always wants a purpose, some tangible result. Today, unfortunately, games have become wars and wars are like games! I am not giving you any answer. The answer for this should sprout in your mind. See what is the purpose of everything? If everything appears meaningless then congratulations to you! You have started on the path. This is the first sign of intelligence, of waking up. Otherwise we can keep doing same things all our life. It is very good question. Just feel lucky that this question has sprouted in you.

Sri Sri: Today, it is different. Tell everybody to be friends with animals. Once you are friends, you don’t eat them. Like you don't use your pets as food. Once you cultivate a relationship, you do not eat it. Cultivate the habit of befriending all the species and this is the way of turning the world, vegetarian.

Sri Sri: When mind is outward and is stuck in an outside event or incident, you have to retrieve it back. That's what you have to do. Either something good happens or bad, it stays in mind for some time, produces an impression in your consciousness. But nothing stays for long and it vanishes by time. Sign of waking up is that you don't hold on to it for long. Sadhana, meditation is the greatest tool for that.

Sri Sri: I have never felt, meeting anyone, as if I am meeting a stranger. The way your feelings are, you perceive the same. Any person you meet is only your reflection.


(The lights went off suddenly... And someone commented 'Guruji, please don't run away')
Guruji replied 'maybe it is a signal to meditate'
In this world there is no other. This is the mantra of knowledge. There is no one who doesn't belong to me. This is the mantra of love. All our bodies are like shells floating in the ocean of consciousness. This is the truth. Shell has no life; its life is in the water. Where is the life of the fish? In the fish or the water! The body of the fish is just exhibiting the life, but the life is in the water. This is called karan shareer, causal body.

Sri Sri: To get over habits, there are three options If someone gives you a temptation: Suppose you stop this bad habit for 10 days you will get 10 lakhs of rupees. Then you will do it. Something higher than your habit can create greed in you. Or if someone creates fear in you, eg. A doctor says if you drink, you will spoil your liver. Then you can get over your habit. The third way is through love.

Sri Sri: You don't have to compare yourself with anybody. Your love is unique. Let love remain love, don't give it any name. The love that is defined by a relationship is limited. You start with this but go ahead and dive deep in a love that is beyond relationships. That is the objective, the goal. The love that is beyond relationships, that is true love only.

Sri Sri: The whole life is Sadhana. Doing Pooja, little rituals and Kriya are important but one should also celebrate whole life as sadhana.