Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Is religion necessary to get deep into spirituality?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Religion is different from communism. Being religious means being compassionate, honest and not treating others as you do not want to be treated as.Q:
What is the difference between rest and laziness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What you get after doing work is rest. Doing nothing and keep lying down in tamogun is not rest. You feel restless in this state.Q:
How to be free from jealousy and ego?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Antidote to jealousy is the knowledge that everybody is going to die. You and the person, whom you are jealous with, are both going to die. There can be a little difference of time but this is going to happen.If ego bothers you then keep it with you thinking that God has given it you. Why are you disturbing yourself thinking it as yours? It is another big problem to get rid of ego. Being natural is an antidote to ego. You can do an experiment. Do some stupidity in front of ten people and accept your mistake. Few people will say something here and there, and gone is your ego. If it still bothers you then just think God has given you ego because of some reason. Don’t get too much stuck with it.
Q:
What is the aim of life? If soul is eternal then what is life all about?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
To know this, you can make a list of what is not aim of your life.Being sad or making anybody sad is not aim of your life. Only eating, drinking and sleeping is not aim of your life. Though we need all this for living but that is not life.
Q:
What to do with negative thoughts?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is ok to have negative thoughts at times. When you think a negative thought should never arise, then you encourage it. Accept even the most negative though that comes to you. Then you find it is not even there. It is just a dim energy.Q:
How do we know what to do in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First know what not to do. It’s easier. Purpose of life is not to bemiserable and make others miserable. It is a gut feeling. Chose which gives youlong term happiness even if it gives short term misery. Choosing that whichgives you long term misery and short term joy is not wise.Q:
What is the significance of asking if all the answerscome from within?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What if I don’t answer? What is thepurpose of all answers? So that the mind says YES! The purpose of all questionsand all answers is to bring our mind to YES consciousness. That is meditation -to be in YES mind!Q:
I have seen people blessing the food. What is thesignificance of blessing food?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The carrots, noodles, salad that youate yesterday are now listening to me. They are sitting here. Everything isalive in this universe in some way or the other. So today, when you have lunch,look at the food and welcome it to satsangtonight, to sing and to dance. Ancient people knew this and that is why theysaid to bless the food. Thought is nothing but a quantum of energy andconsciousness. Food absorbs thought. So, bless the food today for lunch. Don’t thinknegative while eating. That is where the negative cycle begins. It is veryscientific.Q:
Please elaborate on the concept of letting go. How does one let go physically, mentally and emotionally?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just take a deep breath and hold. Don’t let go. You can’t but let go. It is inevitable at some point in time you will have to let go. How to let go? Hold your fist and keep it tight. How long can you do this?Q:
Please speak on love. Also, how is discipline best exercised?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Here again you cannot force yourself to love something or not love something. Just relax and be yourself.Discipline can only be required in three situations. You don’t need discipline when there is love. When you love something you don’t need to discipline yourself to do it, right? The second situation is when there is fear. If you fear you are going to have nervous breakdown that fear will make you do what is required. Third is greed. If someone offers you one million dollars to do something thing for one week, you would not miss one day of doing that thing. So greed, fear and love keep you in discipline.