Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
The history of ancient India is filled with the accounts of enlightenment, yogis taking on supernatural states of awareness and capabilities. Yet, to help me understand, how does one interpret such stories? Are these methodologies with allegorical significance, or they point to the untapped potential hidden in each one of us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you know about the first airplane? Who flew the first airplane? (‘Wright brothers’ came the answer). This is what we hear or read in the books. Absolutely wrong. 50 years before Right brothers, one man from Bangalore, Subray Shastry, he went into meditation, in silence and then he went to meet a yogi. The yogi took him to deeper meditation, and he started recognizing the engines, he downloaded all that! He wrote a book called ‘Vaimanik Shastra’ and then he flew the plane in 1800 with a parsi gentleman. Parsis are the migrants of Iran to India who follow Zoroastrian religion. The parsi gentleman funded him to make the first plane. They flew it on the chaupati beach in Mumbai (or Bombay). This appeared in the ‘London times’ newspaper also. These two were put in jail by Colonial power, and they took and confiscated all the diagrams that he had made. A documentary of this came on television recently, with the newspaper cutting from England and the diagrams that he had cognized. He had made five different diagrams and this is available even today in a book called ‘Bhardawaj Vaimanik Shastra’ – The science of plane by Rishi Bhardawaj. He explained what type of engine that a plane has which takes off straight like a helicopter, and one which goes running and then takes off.You can find all the details in the website http://www.bharathgyan.com/
More from the same conversation in the next post..
Q:
Can you please talk about our connection of our solar plexus and the sun? How to strengthen the connection, strengthen our nervous system and increase our immunity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Pranayama and meditation. Simply know there is a connection. You are connected to the air all around. Whether or not you know, the connection is there. The center of gravity in the body is the solar plexus, and the center of the universe is the sun.Q:
The Bhagavad Gita is very close to my heart. And yet there is a passage in it that confuses me. It is when Arjuna wishes to flee the battle and renounce the world. But Krishna urges him to fulfill his duty by staying put and fighting.How is this advice understood with the principle of non-violence, a concept also central to the Gita? Is it similar to the notion of a just war in Christian and Islamic theology?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The whole essence of the Gita is to act without being attached to the action. It's all about yoga, not about war but your attitude. When you are faced with a situation like war, how do you manage yourself? The worst situation in life is when you have to face a war and when you have to fight not with an enemy, but with some of your own people. When you have to fight with your own brothers and sisters, how do you handle the situation? It's easy to fight a war with an enemy, someone you don’t like. But fighting with someone who is part of your own family is the worst thing.If you can manage your mind in the worst scenario, then you can manage yourself in any situation. Given the extreme example of how you can manage the mind, the consciousness, yourself, that’s the whole essence of the Gita, not the war. Skill in action is yoga.
A similar knowledge was taught by Ashtavakra, in the palace. When your spirit is very high and you want liberation, that was Ashtavakra's state. And when your spirit is so low, totally desperate, completely broken and depressed, that was Arjuna’s state. At that time the same knowledge of the Self was given to him in the Bhagavad Gita.
Q:
I heard you say this and I also strongly believe God is everywhere. How important is it to do Puja, or go to a pilgrimage place like Rishikesh, or take a bath in sacred places?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It's like you have food at home and sometimes you go to a restaurant also. You don’t go to a restaurant because you don’t have food at home. Everything is everywhere and you enjoy the flavors equally.Q:
I have a strong tendency to be future-oriented. Always planning, imagining and having expectations from the future, clearly this doesn’t serve me. Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to free myself of this tendency. Please advice.
Q:
Can you please say something about Sri Aurobindo and what his message and life were about?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, when you are asking about Sri Aurobindo, you already know. He wished more and more people would meditate. So the seed he had sown meant greater access to the collective consciousness. It's happening now. Those days it was very dull, although a few French people really caught on to it.Q:
How to control desire?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Be in the now. Desire is wanting to be happy tomorrow. Be happy and joyful now. Like children, if you ask them what they want, they will say nothing. Because they are happy with 'now'.Q:
How to get rid of fatigue and headache?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yoga and pranayama.Q:
How does one stop the flow of negative thoughts?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Negative thoughts are due to three reasons. If your blood circulation is not good, if the lymphatic system is not ok or if bowel movement is irregular. In all these cases negative thoughts are likely. You can go on a fruit diet and cleanse your intestines. Then, pranayama will help. Take Triphala (an ayurvedic supplement) for a few days. Do yoga, pranayama and meditation. You will definitely find a difference. Group sadhana (practice) will also help.Q:
Please explain the meaning of Sat Chitananda.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Sat is “that exists.” Chit is “that knows.” Ananda is “bliss.”