Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We want to achieve success in professional life. Isn't it? That's why we take up an enterprise or profession. That provides you means to have comforts for the body. Yoga, meditation and spirituality are about giving comfort to your soul. When the room is very hot, you switch on the air conditioner to give some comfort to the body. AC (Air conditioner) for the mind is meditation – Absolute Comfort to your mind.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are important. You are the one who prays. It's you who does the Sudarshan Kriya. All this is for you, so that you can become centered and so solid that no one can take away your smile. This capability is only within you. If you don’t want, then nothing is possible. Everything depends on you.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Not just at the end. He can come at any time. Jab guru aate hai tab naya yug shuru hota hai. Shuru mein bhi aate hai, beech me bhi, ant mein bhi. (When the Master comes, a new epoch begins.)(The Kumbh Mela is one of the most sacred pilgrimages in Hinduism. The word Kumbh has been derived from the Sanskrit word Kumbh meaning 'pot' or 'pitcher' and Mela means 'festival' that is why it is known as "the pitcher festival". It is a fair that energizes your mind and soul)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ganga is a symbol of knowledge and Yamuna symbolizes love. Prayag (where Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati meet) is the unity of love and wisdom. When love and wisdom meets, celebration happens.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It’s perfectly ok to bathe in Rishikesh. You can take a dip wherever the Ganges flow.When such parva comes, Ganga comes to every home. In South India, during Diwali the Ganga snan (bath) is done. The usual greeting is, “Have you done Ganga snan?” If you take a cold water bath in the morning, it means you have done Ganga snan.
On the banks of the Ganges, many sadhus do penance and they transfer all the merit in the waters of the Ganga. Teerth ko Sant Puneet banate hai – Teerthani pounaynti sataha!
Jaise teerth sabko puneet karte hai, sadhu ganga ko puneet karte hai. (Just as the Ganges purifies all, the saints purify the Ganges.)
The Ganges is chaitanyamayi (enlivened) hai, brahma roop hai.
As soon as you bathe you feel fresh and new. All the impurities of the mind are washed away. The mind becomes healthy.
I wouldn’t say the same for the Ganges at Kanpur and beyond. The Ganges water should be kept pure. If the Ganges is polluted then its benefit won’t be to the extent of its fame.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Use yukti (skill). It’s a test of how good a sadhak you are. You stay put, she will gradually come around and she will also become happy. If you drop your practices and go behind her even you won’t be happy.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Sharir ko aaram, man ko vishram to ban gaye tum atmaram. (When the body is at rest, mind relaxed, then you are one with Consciousness).With the rise in tamoguna, laziness develops in the body. When there is no tamoguna, then you get vishram.
In laziness, you don’t gain energy and strength.
If you rest well, you get energy and strength. If you sleep for seven-eight hours, you feel fresh.
If you are simply lying around, there is no enthusiasm, no strength, no freshness. The body is tired, the mind struggles with desires. When body gets rest, and the mind has no feverishness, that is happiness. It brings you strength. Sankalp siddh hone lagta hai. (Intentions start getting fulfilled).
When the mind is ridden with thoughts, then sankalpas don’t come true. When you are happy, sankalpas come true.
When you have desires, you become unhappy and it becomes a vicious cycle.
Try giving your desires to someone at least for sometime. Desires exhibit your tendency to want more. Keep it aside for sometime. See, everything fills up.
At least for sometime, akinchan aur achaha hokar vishram karke dekho. (Become nothing and desireless and experience the relaxed state.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See, there are two things: we think I haven’t changed. Ask any old man whether he is old. He will get angry. He says, “I am only 70, I am not old.” Within himself, he doesn’t think he has become old. There is something inside us that doesn’t change, it remains the same.That's why we think we haven’t changed. Think about it.
From another angle, there are so many changes in you, you are not the same as you were two months ago. Wherever your eye falls, you see I am not the same. I don’t think as before, feel as before. Then you think you are progressing in life. Some walk slowly, some take a big leap.
He, who takes a leap feels it’s a big change. Even if one does not experience a dramatic change, gradually the change happens.
When you look back in life see how much you have changed.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ram is the strength for the weak.But is it possible not to have bad thoughts at all?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is the skill. How you manage bad thoughts. Lots of thoughts come if there are impurities in the body, if there is aavaran (artificiality) in the mind.Having too many thoughts indicates some weakness in the body. Consult an ayurveda physician and take herbs to cleanse the body. Through pranayam, the mind is purified. Through meditation, the consciousness gets purified. Sometimes the thoughts come because of the surroundings or company. Do not be afraid of bad thoughts. These thoughts are similar to the dark clouds that come and pass away.