Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri: No, I never said you shouldn’t have doubts, you should have doubts, have as many doubts as you can, for truth can never be concealed by doubts . Yes, doubt can’t defeat the truth, so you doubt as much as you want, but finish it quickly otherwise you will be wasting so much of time. Have as much of doubt as you want and then get over it. I remember one incidence which happened in Sweden. There was a public meeting/ gathering and a journalist was sitting right behind. He came forward to me and said- “I want to ask you a question”. I said- “yes, go ahead.” He asked, “Are you enlightened?” I said, “No”. But he insisted, “No, please tell the truth. I know, you are always making fun, always kidding, please tell me the truth”. I again said, “No”. You see, my answer of NO should have finished the conversation there, but he won’t listen and kept insisting, “No, no, you are not telling the truth, tell me the truth, are you enlightened? I want to know the answer right away”. See when you say , ‘no’ –it finishes , there is no need for further proof or explanation, chapter over, but this person won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. I said, “So what takes you not to take a ‘no’ for answer? You should be happy with the answer now”. But he said, “No, I don’t believe it! I said, “You see, there is something inside you which is telling you something, some deeper inner feeling saying –this is not correct, right? So you have the answer then!” So often, you listen to your own inner voice but doubt it from the surface mind but deep inside your heart and mind are saying something, you feel something different- a gut feeling and that is what you always rely on and not on what someone else says, isn’t it so? If someone says, “I love you”, do you take them on face value? No, you look at their face, you look at them and even without looking at them, you feel something deep inside. So, what I am telling you is generally true. And every one has this faculty of intuition and what can overshadow this faculty is your greed. Greed can overshadow the faculty of your intuition, being over ambitious can overshadow your intuition. Do you understand what I am saying? Wisdom gets covered with greed, feverishness or with over ambition. So, doubt as much as you can!

Sri Sri: It is alright to make a mistake. Making a mistake is a part of life. Sometimes a mistake happens; it happens. Fine! Accept it and move ahead. The pain of making the same mistake again and again itself is good enough to take you out of the same mistake. The pain and pinch of suffering will make you come out of that. But never justify your mistake.

Sri Sri: The fact that you have realized this itself means you have come out of that. This is where Karma philsophy comes into picture. Something happened in the past, it was to happen and so it happened. Accept past and don’t brood over it, move on. Suppose you have committed some mistake, you have insulted somebody and that person holds on to it for so long even after you asking forgiveness from them – million times, what do you do if that person still doesn’t forgive you? Somebody has been wrong to you and you also have been wrong to someone. Don’t you seek forgiveness and move on. Similarly, worst crime you have done, and you don’t want someone to hold on till whole life. If the person forgives you, moves on, understands your position, how do you feel? See the other person the same way.

Sri Sri: It is not difficult. It is challenging!

Sri Sri: The word destiny means Vidhi, this is how it is. The word Karma has several different connotations. It can mean action or latent action. The impression of an action that might give rise to another action can also be called karma.

Sri Sri: Even I wonder about it! There are 10 major religions in the world: four from the Middle East and six from the Far East. The six religions from the Far East never had any conflicts. There was no war between these six religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Shintoism and Taoism – they all coexisted. When President Nixon went to Japan, he had a Shinto priest on one side and a Buddhist priest on the other side. He asked the Shinto priest: What is the percentage of Shintos in Japan? The priest said: 80 percent. Then he turned to the Buddhist priest and asked him: What is the percentage of Buddhists in Japan? He said: 80 percent. Nixon was perplexed as to how this was possible. Shintos go to Buddhist temples and Buddhists go to Shinto temples. Similarly, Hindus go to Sikh Gurudwaras and Sikhs go to Hindu temples. The same may be said of Hindus and Buddhists in India. Similarly in China, there is no war between Taoists and Buddhists. The four religions in the Middle East were always at war. I think more human values are required to be nourished in the region.

Sri Sri: Karma is nothing but impressions in the mind and brings about similar thoughts. Ya, it is very much possible.

Sri Sri: Yes, yes! Definitely! In no time, without ticket and visa, and no immigration issues.

Sri Sri: The problem in religions is when the diehards say, “Oh! I can’t say ‘Allah’ or ‘Shiva’ or ‘Jesus’.” Is your religion so weak that you will lose it just by saying “Om”? If you say “Allah”, it won’t take your religion away. I guarantee you no God will get angry with you. You accept technology and food from everywhere, isn’t it? But when it comes to wisdom and singing, people seem to cringe. We have to break those barriers.