Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
How should one pray to god?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
By doing service, pranayama, and meditation.Q:
Will the Sudarshan Kriya*, help to remove substance abuse?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, definitely. It needs some support system, some perseverance. There should be friends, and family to remind the person to stick to the practices. That is why our de-addiction programs are residential. If people who need help stay for 10-15 days and follow the routine, then the recovery is faster.Q:
My husband is very arrogant. How do I reduce his arrogance?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Ok, make your husband’s arrogance very strong. Say, ‘There is nobody like you.’Keep increasing his arrogance.
Wherever there is arrogance, it will be taught a lesson.
Q:
Why do liars, sinful people progress more than honest people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
People who practice unethical ways, cannot come up in life. This is the truth. It will not be sustained.You have patience. Don’t think that all honest people are suffering. Suffering is not because of honesty, but because of foolishness.
You have to have smartness, intelligence, dynamism, and creativity alongwith honesty.
Sudarshan Kriya* - a stress-elimination breath technique that is taught in Art of Living programs
Q:
What is crisis and how to handle anxiety?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Crisis is the mother of many inventions. A crisis makes us very creative. However the crisis should not go on too long, that is not good.What can help anxiety is breathing techniques like pranayama which channelizes the life force energy in our body. We all float in a sea of prana (life-force energy). There is prana even in a stone.
Q:
Is the future free will or destiny?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Wisdom is to see the past as destiny, future as free will and be in the present moment.Seeing the future as destiny is foolishness and can make you lazy. The past is destiny because you can’t change the past.Q:
What is the purpose of life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is a very precious question. One who knows will not give you an answer, and the one who answers, does not know. However, if you want to reach that answer, think about this: When you die, two questions will be asked.· How much knowledge have you gained?
· How much love have you given? How much have you loved Planet Earth and people?
Q:
Why does the Divine love us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is good to ask this question. When we demand love, we destroy love. When we feel that we have been loved by people in abundance, then we will see that we have also grown in abundance.Q:
What is the difference between my will and God’s will?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When every will is His, every mind is His, then where is your existence? Everything is God’s will. The moment you differentiate between mine and His, there are two.When your mind is clear, then sit and think. Only when your mind is free from feverishness, can His will be done.
Q:
Does God exist?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Only God exists. But to realize that takes energy, time and commitment.