Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Jai Gurudev. Recently I visited Kolkata after 8 years and when I visited the State house (Purabhawana) according to the statement by the government, there are 32 lakhs of Bangladeshis’ in the city itself. In Kashmir, in our own country we are refugees. In the south in several districts the so called majority have become the minority. And then only one community the governments rules are applied. Until now according to my knowledge the so called majority communities have neither troubled nor thrown a stone at any other community. Despite this only one community has to follow all the rules of the Government. We are reducing in populations. What is the cure for this? How to change this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
To cure this you need unity. We are not united. If everyone come together and engages in constructive work, then it is possible. Then we must take pride in our culture. We do not show respect, we do not meditate. There is nobody to study our scriptures. You just go to the temple and break a coconut as a blind ritual and get back home. One should go and sit and meditate in the temple and listen to the spiritual talks there. Ask yourselves how many children have been taught this. How many children have learnt Gita? No child knows about Bhagavad-Gita. So people like you should come in the front and start the work. To induce people to acquire knowledge and meditation should be done. This will unite people. You will see what a great energy it will bring about. Did you all see the Berlin festival? How many of you saw this festival of our 30 years celebration in Berlin. How many of you saw it? If you have not seen it see it in the Youtube . Yes I will tell them to show once again in the Kannada channel after translating the talks in Kannada. Crops are failing. The direction in which the country is going is not alright. For all this there will be a big revolution, be brave.Q:
Can you have wonder without faith?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes you can have wonder without faith. But faith will come into your mind by itself.Q:
That means wonder will increase faith?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, it must be happening to you. So it is happening to you already. In devotion to God there are three things: Stuti (praise), upasana (being connected) and prathana (prayer).Praising the qualities of God, meaning viewing the wonderful creation of God and being wonderstruck by it. To realize the presence of a creator and say, ‘what a wonderful creation you have created oh Lord!’, and then praising the qualities of the creator that is stuti (praise). Just because you praise don’t think you are persuading God to grant you some favors. It is to hope that by praising, those qualities would come to you. Now see the boys who love cricket, they will also be cheering. Later on they will also become players, is it not? Will they be sitting simply in front of a cricket bat? They will be smart, is it not? They will also play. Similarly whatever qualities of God we praise it will come to us. Suppose we praise God as mother, then motherly qualities will come to us; suppose we praise valor and strength, then that will come to us. Do you understand? This way, whatever qualities of God we praise, at least a little bit of them we will acquire. Whoever praises someone as being generous can never be a miser? Then praise him for being patient, and then you will also acquire patience. You say, ‘see what a patient person he is’, then that patience we will also acquire; a little bit of that patience, is it not! When you say my grandmother and grandfather were very patient people, won’t you also get that quality of being patient? That is why when we are praising the qualities; those qualities will come to us. This is Stuti (praise) Upasana means to create a near or a close relationship. To think God is mine. See if you think it is public property, do you develop love if God belongs to everyone. See, the bus stand belongs to everyone; do you ever feel that the bus stand belongs to you? No. But if you think that this is our house, inside my house, this is my room then your attachment to that will be more, is it not? Assume that in your house there are 5 rooms and all the rooms have been painted well except your room. How will you feel then? You will feel dejected, is it not? If you are painting the house, you will insist on doing your room first. Why? Because you feel that room belongs to you. The same way, a close relationship is to be developed with God. To develop a close connection with God, through mother, through father, through Guru, through your favorite Godhead (idol, name, and symbol) is called upasana. Now prathana (prayer); what is prayer? It is a request to God to help you out in something in which you are deficient in. Make up the things in which I am deficient in. Then yes I am thankful to whatever you have given me so far, this is prayer.Q:
Guruji, when will inflation cease?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When corruption ends. Inflation is related to corruption. You would be surprised to know that we sell our sugar to the world for Rs.12 per kilo and in the domestic market for Rs.35 per kilo. Some employees of Air India came up to me in Frankfurt and shared that Air India used to operate a highly successful sector between Birmingham and New Delhi which was usually fully booked. This sector was responsible for bringing in considerable profits for Air India. But one day a minister came and terminated the flight services, why? So that he can allot this sector to another airline. The airline that was allotted this sector was unsuccessful in making this route profitable and went into a loss and now our national airline is also going into a loss. It is very unfortunate. Other countries are operating their flights within our country and turning in profits. Then why is our national airline incurring losses? We need to ask this question, don’t we? Our voices should be heard. This country has been ruined not because of bad people but because good people like us keep quiet.Q:
Should animals be sacrificed in the name of God?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Definitely not! Animals should never be sacrificed in the name of God. This must be stopped immediately. None of the scriptures say that animals should be sacrificed. This is superstition. The human being wants to eat chicken so he thinks of killing an animal in the name of God to eat it as Prasad. He will call it as Prasad and eat it. In none of our scriptures torture of life has been prescribed. There is not a speck of evidence to indicate torture to life and killing. Have you understood? No one has the right to torture life. People torture the chicken and think, what does it matter it is only a chicken. One who cannot give life has no right to take life.Q:
Guruji, should we have some criteria or minimum qualifications set as a prerequisite in order to become an MP or an MLA? What are the qualities we should look for to elect our politicians?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What are the qualifications to be a politician - this is the question. The ideal situation is when they don’t want anything for themselves but want to serve the people. The ideal situation is what – I am content, I have everything I need, now I want to serve the population, serve the people. This intention indicates that you are now capable or qualified to care for the society. This is the most ideal. The second is I will do my best in my capacity to represent people, take their voice and bring back what they want for themselves. Two things: you have to take their voice to the assembly and bring back to them what is needed by them.Q:
Why are there so many Gods with us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
God is one but the names are many, forms are many. Shiva –Shakti both are one. Ardhanarishwara, Both are one. Hari hara is not two it is just one. Half is Hara and the other half is Hari. Half woman and half man: ardhanaarishwara. Everything is one, God is one but names are many. There is only one God ‘Bhagavanta’.Q:
Guruji, on the spiritual path I feel I am very satisfied. Does my satisfaction mean that I have stopped growing, or is this not satisfaction?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, that is good. Satisfaction is needed but satisfaction should not make you sleepy, dull or take away your motivation. The best combination is having the dynamism and motivation to do, along with the inner satisfaction.Q:
How to deal with religious fanaticism in our families and communities?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This question does not have one answer. You have to ask this question repeatedly, and each time you will get a different answer for it which you must apply at that time. See, the answer to a question can be given correctly only once. This is not such a question, it is a journey. On the way, we can go forward and backward any number of times. How we can get rid of fanaticism, terrorism – we have to keep asking this question with an open mind and with a willingness to embrace every one, a sense of belongingness. Once there is a spiritual experience, no one can remain fanatical. The blind and ignorant are the only ones who can be fanatical. Conscious and wise men and women cannot be fanatical. Their minds are open, hearts melted, hands energized, with an enthusiasm to do seva.Q:
Guruji, so many people from around the world love you very much. What is the secret?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The secret is we are all humans. Won’t humans love humans? And when I go anywhere, I do not feel I am in a foreign land. All countries appear to be my very own and I feel a sense of belongingness with everyone.