Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Highest knowledge comes only after confusion. What is confusion? Confusion is when a belief system breaks down. You’re in a shell and then suddenly things are not the way they are. Then a new horizon is seen. An old concept vanishes, giving room to a new possibility.Before Krishna gave the highest knowledge to Arjuna, he confused him thoroughly. In the fourth chapter of the Bhagvad Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna: ‘Why are you confusing me with so many things? Directly tell me the right thing.’ Confusion always precedes knowledge.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes it is okay. In deep meditation sometimes tandra comes and you fall asleep, never mind. Wake up and do a little more pranayam. Today, did you feel every cell waking up? (Many answer YES). How many of you felt your body became so light?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Self-respect is respecting yourself irrespective of what others call you.A thousand years ago, when India was attacked in the North east, a saint was captured.
The captors tried to humiliate the saint, chained his legs and wanted to sell him as a slave.
The saint kept smiling. He said: ‘A slave is on sale. Who wants to buy him?’
There are many examples of people who were humiliated in the world. Yet they kept on walking with their heads held high.
In self-respect, you keep your composure. Ego needs someone else to be there. When you’re all alone, there is no ego. When someone comes in, then the ego comes up. Your body language changes. If someone pokes you, then your ego gets hurt.
Nobody can take away your self-respect.
Just keep smiling and be happy,
Embrace the ups and downs of life and continue walking.
Do whatever you can do for others.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Chant Om Namo Shivay. It’s the best remedy. A bit of pujas is alright. Don’t spend too much money on them. Do charity with all your heart. Some chanting and meditation will help.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When Lord Krishna sat in Samadhi that is when he recited the Gita. After the war, once Arjuna asks him that I have forgotten the beautiful knowledge that you gave me, at that time there was a lot of crowd and so much commotion on the war field and I didn’t listen to you properly. Please tell me again what you said. Then Krishna replied," No, I can’t tell you now, at that time I was in samadhi , so I made you sit and whatever came to me I told you at that time, now I cannot again tell you again". So whatever Lord Krishna said was not a person saying this knowledge but the universe speaking. These messages came from the Shiva tattva, the atma tattva. He said, ’I am the sun, I am the rain, truth and untruth, everything is me.’ This is very deep knowledge. If you see everything is made from one tattva, from atoms. What is your mother made of, father made of? Everyone’s body is made from the same thing, from food grains. Food grains are consumed and the body is developed, whoever eats, they all grow and the body is made from that. So everyone is made from one substance, one power and one energy. So, he is saying the whole world is made from that one consciousness, one energy, one substance. Now if you see the fan, mike and light are all working with one current, with electricity, isn’t it? But it seems like the mike is different, the light is different and the fan is something else. They all look different but they are all made up of the same thing. In the same way, if the sun was not there then the earth cannot exist. If the earth was not there, how could there be plants or trees or human beings? So what is our source? First from the physical aspect our source is the earth; more subtle than that it is the sun. What is the source of the sun? The universal energy - and so Lord Krishna says that universal energy is ME. That is the atma that is you and that is me and everything is made of this universal energy and this is what today’s scientist also say. Those who study quantum physics this is what they say - that the whole world is made up of one energy. Earlier it was said that there were different protons, electrons functioning and making things work but now they say it is all one energy, everything is a wave functions. What we consider physical things are not there in reality, it is all just energy and this is what Lord Krishna has said many years ago in the Bhagavad Gita. ‘Avajananti mam mudham manusim tanumasritam, Param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta- mahesvaram’, these people do not see my true nature as that one universal energy, consciousness and they are thinking I am a human being. I am in a human body but the consciousness inside me is that supreme consciousness. I am not a human being. I am a power.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Hmm. Have the faith and know the best will happen. And even momentarily if it appears not to be the best thing for you, in the long run, when you see yourself, your life, whatever is best will happen to you. You should have this faith.That will carry you through, okay? It can also make your sankalpa, your intention stronger. If you in doubt, ‘Oh maybe I have this problem, maybe I will not succeed.’ See your own doubt can act like applyinga break and driving the car. Your hand break is on and you’re driving the car. So know that the best will happen to you in your life. That’s it. Relax. Okay?Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Easily. Everyone can do this. Accept people as they are.When you have the remote control in your hands, you can change the channel on the television. The same television can show a horror channel or something nice. The remote control of your life is in your hands.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes interesting! I spent my young days with all elderly people.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You know, you should read the book Celebrating Silence. Read the book and gift it to everyone you know.I was travelling from Canada to the United States of America. A man at the security check came running to me and removed a copy of Celebrating Silence from his bag. ‘You are the author of this book?’ he asked me. I said, ‘I suppose so.’ He then told me that somebody presented the book to him for his birthday. ‘My life has changed after reading the book,’ he said. He hasn’t done the course, doesn’t know anything about the organisation, just reading some pages from the book made a difference. You all have the book Celebrating Silence and Celebrating Love? You should gift it to everyone. It makes a difference. All the knowledge is present there.
I have spoken in detail about karma in the book.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just one drop of blood is enough to test the blood in your body. From just one drop of saliva, doctors can determine your DNA. The functioning of the kidney, pancreas… everything can be detected by one drop of saliva, one drop of blood. You can virtually create every possible creature from one human DNA. Did you know about this?Scientists say a single human DNA has the DNA chains of all the animals on the planet. An elephant, crow, mosquito, even a hippo …. so there is a hippo hiding inside you. But inside a hippo, there is no human being. At least, science hasn’t made any claims on this yet.
Modern science and ancient knowledge are in the same boat. The most ancient Vedic knowledge says the same thing.
There is a doctor from Germany who has scientifically proved that everything is nothing, the whole universe is nothing. What you think as a solid substance is actually nothing. People think he is crazy. But he gives scientific explanations for every fact.
It is startling to hear the same truth as the Vedantic Truth that has been around for thousands of years.
From subjective and objective analysis, they ultimately mean the same thing.
Anyways, enough discussion for today. Remember: Just drop all that is bothering you, if you are not free today, you can never be free anytime. Don’t expect freedom to come to you.
Tonight I am free, everything is going to happen the way it is going to happen.