Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
What do I do about the guilt I have of not being able to love some people in my family or even blood relatives?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t force love out of yourself. Take it for granted that certain feelings, connections or love is already there. You don’t examine it every day right? Do I love my mother or my father, or that person? - though you may not like their behavior. If your father and mother are old and cynical you may feel very irritated and may not like their company because they put you down or sing the same old song. Likes and dislikes arise from the head. I’m sure deep in your heart there is love, a certain feeling there. It is because it exists that you are asking this question. So it’s just that you don’t want to recognize your love for them although you love them. There is a deep connection of love but you don’t like their behavior, the way they act or their mindset. It’s just an external thing. It’s perfectly okay. Never doubt your love for people. The love is always there and it will be there. Just take it for granted.Q:
Whatever I did this year professionally did not work. I studied Hindi, Massage, Physiotherapyand Anatomy. I really want to succeed. Please help!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is a lot of work to be done. There area lot of needs. 30% of the Europe is depressed and we have this beautiful knowledge that can help people overcome depression and suicidal thoughts. It would be very nice for us to work together towards a vision of a world with less suffering. I would like to have many youth to do Art of Living work full time. 3 - 4 days to go out and teach everybody. Once you become a teacher youcan teach, create a community for Art of Living here. You can have your own ashram here. Meditate here. Each one can do their job, and still contribute. It’s a common pool where everyone can contribute. You can start up a community kitchen. You don’t have to worry about grocery shopping. One person can go shopping, one person can cook, and everyone can take it in turns. A small community of 60 to 100 people can live like this. There can be celebration, meditation and yoga.The whole atmosphere will become so uplifting! In the Bangalore Ashram, we have 800 people living together. Before we were only 10 to 12 people. Now there are so many people who want to come and live here at the ashram that we don’t have place. It’s because nobody needs to worry about their electricity bills, house, tax, and food. It is all being taken care of and everybody can contribute in whichever way they want to. The same is happening in Germany, Canada, USA and has recently started in Argentina. Our life is too short to spend time on unnecessary and unwanted things. Half of life is anyway spent on sleeping. The Next 40 to 50 years or for however much longer you will live on this planet, do you need people to take care of you, do things for you, or do you want to do something for others and for the society? Helping others and serving society, wouldn’t that be a good idea? There should always be somebody to think about others, to care for them and to help them. I want you all to think about this. I don’t want to call it an old age home. These old age homes are very depressive. Ashram is a place where there are old people, young people, children, everyone lives together. So theyounger generation is enriched by the experiences of the older generation, and the older feel enthusiastic with the young. We can create this type of atmosphere. What do you think?
Q:
I have learnt to accept people as they are. However we have also learnt the concept of responsibility. I have a 13-year-old son. He is mature, breaks rules, leaves school in between, doesn’t learn, doesn’t come home on time, and hangs around with friends. That concerns me. How do I complete my role as a mother, accept him and place limits?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are already doing it. It is very difficult to manage or deal with teenagers. Sometimes you need to be strict, and sometimes loving as well. It’s like riding a horse. Sometimes you can let loose but sometimes you hold on tight. So managing teenagers is like riding a horse.Q:
A lot of our youth in Israel are leaving the country seeking opportunities elsewhere. Wouldn’t this adversely affect our economy? Please comment.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If it is just 25% of the people going outside, I would say it is good. They will create a sense of belongingness to their country, to the place of their origin. It is good that people go and spread this everywhere. At the same time, if it is draining the economy of a university, of a state – like suppose you support a child to get educated, but then the child goes elsewhere and does not contribute to the government or system – that drain has to be addressed. This is a universal problem. It is not just confined to Israel. It is there in Asia, Japan, everywhere. I would say it is the sense of responsibility to the university, to the government, to whosoever has given you education, to pay them back. That has to come into people.Spirituality is uplifting the spirit, the consciousness. Money is for your comfort. It brings you comfort on the material level. We spend half our health gaining wealth and then spend half our wealth gaining our health back, and usually it doesn’t work. So take care of your health because your health is your wealth. It is part of spirituality. Money should be kept in the pocket, not in the mind. If you keep thinking about money all the time, you can’t even enjoy the money that you have produced. So money is needed, but something which is more necessary than money is that humaneness and that happiness that money cannot buy.
The present generation doesn’t worry what others think of them. They are not interested in showing off as much as the previous generation used to. Wealth is a status symbol, a symbol of respect, but that is no longer so in the younger generation. This is something very good. They earn money just for themselves and not to show their status, not to show it to others. And the younger generation, I would say, has become much more intelligent because they see that many people have a lot of money, but no happiness. They are not friendly, not happy, and they are always stuck. The younger generation feels that they need to get the maximum out of their lives. That difference is there. The only thing is that the generation gap needs to be bridged. This can happen with understanding, through education. I would say that youth are very brilliant these days, very thoughtful and useful, if they don’t fall into the trap of alcohol and drug addiction. This is the danger for them – if they are deluded into all sorts of intoxication, which is a sorry state.
Q:
How to materialize one’s dreams?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When the mind is still, it gets the power to fulfill any thought. So, not only can you fulfill your thoughts, but also you get the power to bless others to fulfill their thoughts. It should be a thought that you believe in. It can’t be something like you go to the moon. Any practical, possible thought you put the intention on, it starts manifesting. The basis is no mindness, empty mind.Q:
I would like to know about your views on this wonderful time on the planet when service is accelerated and technology is connecting the world, when we have the opportunity to make this world a one world family, when teachings from the teachers like you are spreading all over the planet and we have a chance to evolve spiritually. At the same time planet is facing dangers that the old ecological and political structures are not sustainable anymore. We are coming to a choice point where we are ending one paradigm and accelerating in a spiritual paradigm. Also so many souls are incarnated at this time. And wonderful events are happening like this to accelerate that. Would you please speak on that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I think I have said it all. All the lines between different disciplines are blurred now. I remember when I was in school there was a thick line of difference between physics and chemistry, and they were thought not to be connected. Today, whether it is astrophysics, physics, knowledge about the spirit or information technology, all have come together. Environment and spirituality are not two different things. Perhaps the ancient people of this country knew this. They worship the trees, mountains, rivers etc in nature. And it is true for all native civilizations in the world. They honored nature. They took care that they care for nature and progress and development was aligned with the sustainable conditions on planet Earth. The most needed thing today is – Globalizing wisdom. There are two types of calamities – one is natural calamities like earthquakes. And second is man - made calamities. Man - made calamities can be overcome by wisdom and a Cultural Revolution, and by spreading this knowledge of a one world family. We are anyway one. There is no two.Natural calamities can be overcome by caring for the planet, planting more trees, preserving water, by spiritual energy and with the thought that you are one with the vishavatma(Universal soul). An intention or thought that you are one with vishatma and a little attention manifests itself.
Q:
How do we differentiate between devotion and blind faith?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Blind faith is that which do not give you any positive result. In blind faith you move on with notions that you have heard from people here and there, and carry similar hopes with you. Either you are deluded or you are there for fulfillment of any strong desire or craving holding on to you.Q:
Guruji, you can do anything. So why don’t you erase all corruption and violence from the world and make it perfect?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
(Jokingly) This is a very clever way that you have adopted to skip! If I do everything, then what would be left for you to do! Why have you come in this world at this time? You also have a role to play. It will be a monologue if only one person plays all the characters in a play. I haven’t come here to do that. I am not here even for dialogue but I am here for multi - logue (Laughter). Everyone should play his/her own role.Have you heard the story of the squirrel? When Sri Rama was building setu with his army of monkeys, a very little squirrel was putting sand in the water. Some members of the team laughed at how much this little squirrel could contribute. But that squirrel was very happy playing his role in Sri Rama’s army. He was happy thinking that he also has his job to do. Sri Rama felt very happy and blessed the squirrel moving his hand at his back. Because of his small size, only three fingers of Sri Rama covered his whole body, and he got mark of three lines on his back. This can be a fictitious tale but the message is - we also have a responsibility even if God is doing everything. Whatever we can do, we do that.
Responsibility is that which we can do.
Q:
Is there any formula to have peace at home?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have asked a very difficult question! But its answer is very simple. You keep on smiling irrespective of what happens around you. If noise is there, accept it. If somebody is shouting, let it be for some time. Try considering the whole atmosphere of your home as if you are watching any television serial. Do you get upset when you watch television? Some people were telling me that same arguments take place on television which happens at their homes also. Think as if some live show is going on at home. And only a camera is missing. When you remember this thing and see yourself as the director and not actor, then at least you will have peace in your heart. And up to what time others will play their role? They will be tired in sometime. All this trouble is in wake state, neither in dream nor in sleep. God has granted you few hours of sleep and some other routine activities like bathing etc. take some more time. So at least for these ten hours, you are at peace. (Jokingly)And enjoy the other 14 hours show. What else can you do? But if you want to enjoy, remember not to be the actor.Q:
Should one believe in the horoscopes?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If your mind says you should do it, then you should. But that shouldn’t be given too much importance. Sometimes the recorded time or place of birth may not be accurate. There are many issues involved. So neither should we totally ignore it nor should we take it to be exactly right.