Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Is this life only to test my strength, and courage to love people around me, and not to be loved back?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This life is not a test. Nobody is testing you. I do not subscribe to that idea of someone testing your life. No, it is not a test. Just relax. It’s learning, and unlearning. Just learn, and unlearn.Q:
How do we overcome constant aimless feelings even though you’re focused?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Check to see how aimless your life was before knowledge. When you do so, you’ll realize that knowledge has transformed your life. Superfluous interest in knowledge will make your life aimless. With deeper interest in knowledge you’ll find life is so purposeful. If you think “what about me, what about me”, life is useless, you may as well put it in garbage. Knowledge gives life direction – then you find life is so purposeful.Q:
It must have taken Krishna three hours to give the knowledge of The Bhagwad Geeta to Arjuna. What were the others doing all this while?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is said that it took a lot of time to recite The Bhagwad Geeta but what Krishna told Arjuna while giving the knowledge of The Geeta, for that it did not take that long. He gave the knowledge through his vision (drishti) and it started manifesting within Arjuna. Time is unbounded. To recall what you did in the last five years, won't take you five years. It will take you less than half an hour.Similarly, there is no time in consciousness.
The knowledge in our consciousness is beyond time. So to recall and remember that, does not require time.
Q:
People try and hamper my faith by saying that we become what we think of. So, if we worship Krishna, we will become a thief and worshipping Ganesha would make us like an elephant. How do I respond to them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Giving knowledge to an ignorant person is a skill.There are many forms for one Divine. Really, any Divine form is light. Form is a symbol. Lord Krishna is the blissful consciousness. According to this argument, those who worship Jesus would have to die at the cross! This is all kutarka, wrong logic - better not indulge in this.
Q:
You say craving is not good? Is craving for the Divine also not good?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, we need to translate the craving to commitment. Craving is self-centered. Commitment is always for a cause. ‘What do I get,’ this feverishness of getting something has to be transcended. That is immature pleasure. The child always wants to get something. Grandparents want to give.We are born with the tendency to grab. Somewhere we have to make the shift: What can I give?
Q:
What is Guru tatva?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You have a question, you want an answer. Wherever the answer comes from - that is Guru tatva.Q:
What is atma (soul) and paramatma(Supreme Self) ?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First, understand atma. Beyond it, is paramatma. These are the two sides of the same coin. Atma means ‘I’. There are two kinds of ‘I’. One is the ego, which says I am something.And the other I, the maipan (‘i’ness- awareness of existence) in us, is that from which we listen, understand and do nothing. That is atma. Once we experience it, we go beyond the first ‘I’.
We can see that my soul is in everyone. Then we say sohum- I am that. There is no difference between Him and me.
Q:
What is mukti (liberation)?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you take the last breath joyfully that is mukti (liberation). Those who experience some lack and are sad while dying, they return. Be satisfied at the time of your death. The one who is immersed in knowledge, even while dying, will be free.Q:
Can your devotees who are in business, face the challenges of business with truth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, with complete honesty, intelligence, and yukti (tact). A businessman can lie as much as there is salt in food. If one lies too much, then one suffers in equal measure.For instance, you may say that my product is the best in the world when you know it is not. That much is alright. That is why our ancestors in India kept businessman in the third division.
Saints do not have the right to lie. They cannot. The king or administrator has some right and so does the businessman.
Q:
Sages say that only chanting Hari’s (God) name can give salvation. Then, why are yoga, and meditation required?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Even to repeat a name, you need to have a certain presence of mind. Yoga gives that presence of mind. When the body is strong, and mind is focused, only then will repetition of any mantra give the required result.