Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Sin brings sadness and merit attracts happinessSri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The cause of insecurity is that you think nobody loves you. That is your own misunderstanding. There is so much love in the universe.1. I’m here. When you have that confidence, then fear disappears. At least here (at the ashram), there are so many people who love you.
2. Usually you feel that if someone loves you, you think they except something from you. I want nothing from you, other than your smile and happiness. When you know this, all your fears will vanish.
3. Practice pranayama, asanas, kriya, meditation regularly,
4. Your entanglement can cause fear. More the entanglement, more the fear. Only knowledge can bring freedom from entanglement.
Craving brings lack of peace.
Attachment brings fear and insecurity.
Greed brings ‘lack consciousness’, poverty.
Freedom from craving, will give you peace.
Through non-attachment, you are free from fear.
Generosity will help you to get over ‘lack consciousness.’
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just look into the mirror. You are beautiful. Become a little more hollow and empty. We don’t have to do something to develop virtues. All virtues are present in everybody. Virtues are already present, only vices need to be dropped. Vices are the outer crust. With sadhana, seva and satsang, they get dropped. You already have the formula.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, yes! What difference does it make? Do you want to become an animal again? You have gone through all that. A human DNA chain contains the DNA of all the species. From a human DNA, you can make a mosquito or an elephant. But from an elephant’s DNA, you cannot make a human being. Nature is mysterious, that’s why it is so interesting.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you object to everything, then there are no words to express anything. You can go on negating every pleasantry and gesture of the other person. Asking for blessings is to remind God to wake up.In India, we have suprabatams – prayers which are sung to God in the morning. It’s to say: ‘God, morning has come. Come on, wake up, and do your duty – bless everybody!’
A devotee has many ways to express his feelings. You can adore the divine in different forms.
That is the speciality of this country. There are nine types of devotion - Navadha bhakti. You can fight with God, play with him. Poets have written many devotional songs.
In all these human modes of emotions, people have related with God. Not out of fear or guilt but out of playfulness, out of vatsalya (affection). Devotees have even sung songs that address God as a naughty child: ‘Come on, listen to me!’ It is an interesting way of relating to the divine. You don’t keep God somewhere up in heaven. It is in and around you – from a child to an elderly person, from a dog, cat to a crow and a tree. The Divinity is present in the whole of creation.
Devotional songs have also been sung on trees! The roots are attributed to being Shiva: strong, silent and unseen. The trunk is strong and attributed to being Vishnu and shoots are attributed to Brahma. The entire trinity in a tree! A tree is guru tatva.
Even all the devtas (Divine beings) are said to be present in a cow. In crows, birds….The whole of nature is seen as a manifestation, as a dance of Divinity. There is no bifurcation between life and Divinity. Life is an amalgamation of Divinity and material life.
It’s very interesting! A prayer is simply wanting to relate. Everyone has the freedom to relate to Divinity in whatever form they want to.
Remember three things: World, Life, Divinity.
These are Anadhi (beginingless) and Ananta (endless). Creation goes on everywhere, there is dissolution too. Everyday there is creation. Everyday cells are being created in your body and cells die too. Your body is a funeral home and a maternity home too! They are not even in different parts of the body.
It’s mind boggling.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That’s only in the beginning stages. When you move into knowledge and wisdom, then nothing can hurt you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Both happen simultaneously. There is no choice for you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is no way. You already are one!Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Spirituality makes your intellect sharp. They are not contradictory, they complement each other. Don’t think spiritual people shut down their intellect. They have a spirit of enquiry. Your questions assume a higher dimension. If your intellect is mature, then you have no choice but to be spiritual.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you know how to ride a bicycle? If you steer to the right, then it goes there. If you steer to the left, the cycle goes there. You have to balance life.