Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Can principals of spirituality be spread only by organizations that have money and volunteers?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, every organization can spread spiritual values like Dharma (right conduct), Niti (principals), Niyam (rules), Karuna (compassion), Manaviyta (humanity). Spirituality is humanism, any organization that does not have humanity is not worth being called an organization. There is no need of money or people. For instance, a crowd does not eat, people in the crowd eat. Similarly spirituality is for each one.Q:
How to do mantra jaap (mantra recitation) with bhav (feelings) and with what intention one must chant Om Namah Shivaya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is best to do jaap with bhav. Otherwise keep on doing it, the bhav will arise. Do it for sometime and not the whole day, just like we take a bath once or twice a day. We don’t remain in water like fishes. When you feel tired, recite mantra, gain tranquility and energy.Mantra means that which wins over the mind. Once you cross the bridge, you have to let go of it. Once you are happy, then let go of the mantra.
Q:
Where is that point?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Are you breathing? You are aware of that? Find out then…Q:
Can you speak about the significance of the solar eclipse?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, everything affects everything else in the world. A small homeopathic tablet affects a human body of 80 or 90kg. Even a few seconds of exposure to x-rays on your body is enough to make a picture. Unseen rays can make an impact on your life and breath, on the body.When the sun, moon and earth come in one line, then it has an impact on the cosmic energy, the gravitation and fluids especially. The moon has an impact on water. More than 70 percent of our body is made up of water. A cosmic phenomenon has an impact on the body as well.
Our ancient seers have studied this phenomenon very deeply. They describe how rays of a particular planet are connected to particular grains on the earth. Bengal gram (chickpea) and Mars have similar vibrations. Moong dal (split bean) and Mercury have similar vibrations. Sesame seeds and Saturn have similar vibrations.
Every planet has an influence on the grains, animals and particular parts of the human body. One cell multiplies into hair, nails, liver, kidneys, tissues…all are different parts of the body. One of the Rishis (saints) have said the body has 330 million types of gene patterns. In the system, it is inbuilt.
You are connected with nature.
In the Artic region, the sun doesn’t rise for six months! People get depressed with no sunrise. Similarly, people go crazy when there is no sunset for months on end. At 1’o’ clock in the night, the sun shines brightly like it is the afternoon. In Sweden, when I asked them, “What time the sun rise?”, they said, “January 20th” .
No sun for 2 months! It definitely has an impact on the mind and the body.
Where there is more sun, rice grows, where there is little sun, rice doesn’t grow. Rice is always connected to the sun. Objects in the universe appear to be different but they all are linked.
In our body, the eyes are connected to the sun. The nose is represented by Jupiter, forehead to Mercury, cheeks to Venus, and teeth to Saturn. Emotions are also similarly connected. Every part of the body is a part of the cosmos as well. It is an amazing science, there is amazing knowledge. The deeper you go into it, the more it unfolds.
Q:
How do deal with someone who hurts me and makes the same mistake again and again?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
To forgive does not mean that you allow yourself to be made a fool again and again. Deal with the situation with compassion.Q:
Why do you want to help everybody?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Will you ask the sun, why do you shine? If you ask a tree why do you flower, what will it say? It is simply its nature. I only do what is in my nature. Helping others, manushyatva(humanity) is our swabhav (nature). We have to move from a lack consciousness (abhav) and the influences of external factors (prabhav) to our swabhav (nature).Q:
I am full of doubts and inhibitions right from the beginning. How can I be free from this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Somewhere in the middle sankocha (inhibition) has come. It will go. Don’t think that it is there from the beginning. Doubts have arisen perhaps when you were eight or nine years old. Continue your practice and you will see that your inhibitions will drop.Q:
Shanti(peace), sukha(joy), santosh(satisfaction), priti(love), vishwas(faith) - I have everything. What should I do now?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Then what is it that you want! Go work now! Go to the villages, become teachers and start spreading this knowledge.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:hen says: I want to share something interesting with you all.
Our ancestors have deeply studied our environment. They have included all the animals - dog , donkey, elephant etc - in Divinity. Each animal is associated with a devta (angel). Each animal has a certain vibration – a specific energy field. This field of energy corresponds to the angel who rides the animal. For example, the Devi (Divine Mother) is depicted as riding a tiger. The energy field of the Devi is felt in the vibrations emanating from the tiger.
Human beings have a specific energy field too. The field of energy is called bio – energy. The cosmic energy is absorbed by the various species and transformed into this bio- energy field. The ecological balance is lost when any one species and its corresponding energy field is affected or depleted.
When the frog population is affected, rains are less. The chanting of the Vedic mantras creates the vibrations that are necessary to create harmony and restore the balance.
A girl shares her experience of a miraculous change in her.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is no dearth for miracles, it is there in abundance. Only you have to have the confidence and the faith.
The teacher’s training participants from the Middle Eastern countries including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Morroco, Pakistan and Palestine gathered on stage to sing a song. All those gathered for the satsang clapped along keeping time with the rhythm of the Arabic song.
One man, introducing himself to be a Muslim Indian, asks Sri Sri, “It is so beautiful to see an Arabic song being sung amidst so many Hindus and everyone clapping together. How can we make this happen everywhere?”
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You all have to work for it. We are a one world family – spread this message to every corner. The sense of belongingness should develop.
Narrow-mindedness or a limited perception is what creates terrorism. We have to broaden our vision. We have to take meditation and wisdom everywhere. Terrorism is in the mind. Through meditation, the mind can be transformed. Only meditation can bring this change.
Q:
My friends expect me to drive them with my car, but then they drink. They look at me differently. I don’t understand why.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It’s very difficult to understand people’s minds. So, you better give up. They themselves don’t understand their mind, so how can you understand their mind? Do you understand your own mind?The most unreliable thing in your life is your own mind. One minute, it likes something, another minute it likes something else. So, your mind goes all over the place. So, you cannot rely on your own mind. Once you know this, you will laugh, you will smile. Never mind: why should I control someone else’s mind when my mind itself is not under my control? Isn’t it?
Our mind is a multi-channeled television. You know, there are so many channels: the horror channel, history channel, discovery channel, news channel and then there is a cartoon channel. All is happening!
A poet from Karnataka (a state in South India) wrote a very nice couplet about the mind. He said: The mind is like a forest, with so many animals in it. There are nightingales that sing very sweetly and there are crows, and there are tigers, lions and there are mosquitoes. The same way, your mind is a forest.
It’s amazing, just to watch what our mind says. Nobody’s mind is in their control, we shouldn’t expect everyone to behave like an enlightened person. Unfortunately, that is what we do. We want everyone to be perfect.
The world always considers you, sees you, much better than what you are. And even the people don’t see you the way you are, or the way you are not. Never mind, why do you have to bother about it?
Q:
What is the most important gift you are blessing me and the world with?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you go to the pharmacist and ask him: ‘Give me the best medicine’, what will he say? ‘I have the best medicine, but for what disease?’ Isn’t it?Similarly, this knowledge gives you everything that you need. You have a headache, you have the best medicine. You have a leg ache, you have the best medicine. You have an ear ache, a heart ache, the best medicine is available to you.
When you are determined to be useful to people, useful in anyway, you don’t have to ask: just be useful. Do whatever is needed whenever, and you will be useful for that purpose.
I would always say that this knowledge in the Art of Living is like an ocean. If someone wants to just walk by it, take fresh air, they are welcome. Someone wants to swim in the ocean, they are welcome. Some others will take salt out of the ocean, yes. Some others want to dig deep and take oil, you are most welcome. Someone goes for fishing; take a few fishes, fine. Some others go and find all that precious stones, gems, it’s your choice.
All is available here and what you make out of it, how you use it, is entirely up to you.