Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
One is nothing and the other is complete. Truth has two aspects - we keep saying it’s nothing and then experience the completeness. Therefore in Yoga Vashishta, Maharishi Vashishta says in beginning, that the consciousness is empty like the sky and full like an ocean. We start with saying, “I am nothing” and move to “I am in everything”.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Stop the struggle to strengthen the faith. Assume you have faith, if it shakes, pray to God to make it strong.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Is the sun, during daytime, not visible to you? Don’t you see the moon in the evening?It’s only in the absence of the sun and the moon that the stars are visible. Then you run behind the stars. Only those who haven’t seen the sun and moon of their own Self run behind the stars.
Opposite values are complementary. If there is a question, there is an answer.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have realized that you have weaknesses. That’s the first step. Now, do you want to remove the weakness or not? The very pinch of having the weaknesses will help you to come out of them. If you simply accept them and say I am an ordinary person only etc…. you will continue to have them.Someone is there to take away your weaknesses. Have this faith. Ok, you slipped once, twice, thrice, doesn’t matter, keep moving ahead. People say take vows never to commit them again. Breaking the vows makes it worse. Surrendering is better.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No no, keep asking, if you don’t ask the Divine where else will you ask? But remember, you will only get when the time comes.Q: When will matter be united with the spirit? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:When were they separate? Who is listening to my answer? Is it matter or spirit? Matter listens or the spirit?
Reply from audience - don’t know
A dead body also has ears, the sound hits it. But does it hear? Who is listening?
When this small ‘I’ relaxes, it gets in touch with the Universal Spirit, and that is meditation.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Speak the truth and speak sweetly as well. When you speak harshly then people get angry, not because of the truth. When it is very necessary to tell a bitter truth, speak it with sweetness. You don’t have to cut vegetables with an axe.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is not possible that a person does not know about love. It’s love that gets distorted into anger and anxiety. It is almost impossible to talk of love. Sage Narad said a little and after that he said it is inexpressible - Anirvachniyam.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The God is inside you. Let Him come out.It’s been so many years since you came on the planet and still you haven’t given birth to the one inside you.
Log Kahte Hai Ishwar Nazar Nahi Aata
In Bando Se Poojho Ishwar Ke Siwa Kuch Najar Nahi Aata
People say that we can’t see God, Ask people here – They can’t see anything else other than God.
God is not an object to be seen. He is the seer. That’s why in yoga it is said that “become established in the seer.”
Shareer ko aram, man ko vishram, to ban gaye atmaram.
Give rest to the body, relaxation to the mind, and you will become established in the Self.