Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
I have become aware of people who want to take control of our food and water supply, putting a great burden on it. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The ’Art of Living’ is putting a lot of attention on this. In India some people wanted to produce genetically modified plants. This has been banned in France and other countries. The ’Art of Living’ stood firmly together and opposed it, and the government had to stop it. You cannot do it alone, you have to stand against it as a mass movement, and bring justice to the human planet. The greed of a few people gets into their heads. We are not against scientific experiments, but without proper testing and making sure that it does not have any side effects, and producing it on a mass scale for commercial purpose is not acceptable. For example, genetically modified cotton yielded three times more crops in the first year, andalso good cropin the 2nd year. However, it completely wiped out the crop in the third year and many farmers committed suicide. The ’Art of Living’ worked to give farmers hope and helped them see the value of their lives. The cattle ,which ate the genetically modified cotton, died, and the virus emitted by these crops attacked the trees. The whole area became a desert. The company earned huge profits. This is called economic violence. There are many forms of terrorism. Economic terrorism is that where greed of a few people make other people suffer, they make a mess of the economic system, and devastate so many families.Q:
Why is it so difficult to let go and surrender the past, what should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t do anything. Just live in the past. It’s not easy to live in the past. Accept it. Encounter it. You are in the right place. Surrendering the past is not trying to run away from it. Alright, move on. Embrace the past with both arms. It is ok to have had the experiences. Don’t be afraid of it. You can handle it. It won’t go if you are tying to avoid it or being averse to it. Somebody is making a book that describes the five levels of surrender. How do you define surrender? Surrender has been misused so many times. First type of surrender comes into play when there is failure. When you are defeated, or you are miserable, you let go. Letting go, when life is a burden or mainly associated with defeat, is one type of surrender. Another type of surrender, which happens out of love, like a mother’s love for a child. Nothing else is important to her. If it is a choice between her own pleasure and that of the child, she will choose the child’s pleasure. In a love relationship between husband and wife, they feel completely at ease, fearless, with no concerns. A mother is so attached to the child; She willingly gives up small inconveniences or pleasures because she loves the child so dearly. Third type of surender mostly happens with knowledge. There is nothing anyways. It happens when you surrender to God. Fourth type is knowing that it is an illusion. Thinking that you have to give up something which you do not have is an illusion. This is the surrender of wisdom, it is just a sense of ease, knowing it all belongs to the one. This very state of surrender leads to the same place - the small mind opening to the big Self.Q:
How do you balance confidence with humility?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Confidence and arrogance do not go together. With true confidence, you are relaxed, you feel at home and you make others feel at home. When you are arrogant, you try to show people that you are better than them. There are two types of teachers. The first type makes you feel small or inadequate so that you learn to feel large or adequate. The second type of teachers will tell you that you are great, you wake up; you can do a lot. Both are essential in different circumstances.Q:
Praying for peace does not seem to work. Is there a more practical way to achieve peace?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Praying for peace does work! In 2004, there was a war between India and Pakistan. The chief of the Indian army called me and asked me to pray for the soldiers. We prayed for both the sides. The war did not happen at all. Action, education and prayer are all necessary for peace.Q:
It seems people are more sad than happy. How is there a God?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Read “Celebrating Silence” and “Celebrating Love.” God is the Generator, Operator and Destroyer. Some people have a wrong understanding of God. Our understanding of God is that he is omnipotent, waits for you to make a mistake and then gets angry. But no, God has given you intelligence and the discriminative power. This is established in the laws of nature. Animals do not violate the laws of nature, they do not have indigestion. Forests do not make mistakes unless man meddles with it. In which everything has come up, exists and dissolves – That is God. God is space. That space which you experience in meditation.Q:
We hear a lot about corruption these days in governments and other situations around the world. How can we do something to reduce corruption?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Corruption starts when the sense of belongingness ends. When we have a sense of belongingness, we can’t be corrupt. When we expand our sense of belongingness, corruption will disappear. Does this make sense? Corruption begins outside the boundary of belongingness.Q:
Can you comment on the shifts happening in the coming years, around the year 2012. What will it be afterwards?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I want to assure you that we will be able to see 2013. Just remember all the chaos that happened in 1999. Some people started storing food for six months in their basements. Even then I said things would be as usual. Things will be as usual in 2012 also. Actually spirituality will become more fashionable in the coming years; people will become more spiritual. Everyone will understand more about the consciousness. Right here, there are so many layers of the universe and existence. More and more of it will come to light. People will understand; science will also discover.Q:
Sometimes I don’t know whether I am doing the right thing. I lose courage. How do I handle such a situation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
At those moments, just relax. The right thing will happen to you.Q:
Is it necessary to be religious in order to be spiritual?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Spirituality is the way you live, feel and relate. It is the essence of all religions. Religion with spirituality is wonderful. Religion without spirituality is disastrous!Q:
What should be the place of money in the quest for a spiritual life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The problem arises when you carry money not only in your pocket but in your head also! Also what is the use of thinking about it all the time if your pockets are empty? Money is the means and not an end in itself. Have faith that you will get whatever money you need. Put in your effort and move forward with this conviction. Also out of the money you earn, 2-3% should be spent for others. We call it dhana-shuddhi (purification of wealth).In Sanskrit there is a word anna-shuddhi (purification of grains). It prescribes adding ghee (clarified butter) to rice. If you eat rice alone, it is not as good for your body as the sugar level in your blood suddenly increases. By adding just a little bit of clarified butter or ghee, the process of converting the starch into sugar is slowed down. So the digestion process becomes slower and you are less prone to diabetes. So we say rice gets purified when we add ghee to it. Similarly money gets purified when we contribute to those in need.
’The Art of Living’ does service in schools in villages. We have the ’Dollar a Day’ program under which we feed, provide clothing and educate a child. We have 100 such free schools for people in need. This helps release a child from forced child labor. The burden is taken away from them. These children get to be the first generation learners and the change that is brought about is really powerful. It is like teaching someone to fish rather than giving them the fish. Also if women are enrolled into empowerment programs, there are wonderful experiences. This is what is necessary - Education that is technical, scientific and spiritual at the same time.