Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
What is the meaning of karma?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is my karma to listen to your question, and asking the question is your karma, and whether you get an answer or not is your karma.Every impression, thought and action is karma.
Q:
How would you describe the Art of Living organization? Is it philanthropic, spiritual or humanitarian?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
All in one. It is everything - philanthropy, social, and spiritual. We discuss knowledge, do service activities, sing together and do interfaith dialogue and feel that we are one world family.Q:
Do our prayers reach the Divine? Many times they don’t get fulfilled. Why?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
ometimes, aren’t you happy that all your desires don’t get fulfilled? Your wants keep changing. When your mind is not steady, your desires keep changing. You want something today, and tomorrow you desire something else. See how many desires come up in your mind. If all of them are fulfilled, you would be miserable.Q:
If being vegetarian is prescribed in Spirituality, according to the Bible, Jesus was not vegetarian! How do I reconcile the two?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I can’t really comment on that. There is one complete book in Christianity, The Gospel of Thomas, in favor of vegetarianism. The Gospel of Thomas also talks about Pranayama. The bible was written decades after Jesus, so what should be taken as authentic is itself in question. Take good things from the scriptures. There is no mention of TV or aeroplanes in the Bible. One doesn’t ask why I should use these. There are certain things not mentioned in Bible but if it is good for you, you take it. Knowledge is both ancient & modern. Respect ancient knowledge and accept modern knowledge. Modern Science says vegetarianism is the best food practice. So turn vegetarian. In more than one way it is good- both for you & the planet. So accept & acknowledge this wisdom.Q:
I know you are talking about desires in the Part 2 course but still I don’t understand how one can move away from thoughts about something that you really want. If you force yourself to forget it, it comes strongly. If you allow the desire sometimes, it wins you. And what comes instead of the desire, if it flows away? Thank you.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just by thinking a lot, you are not going to achieve what you want. Suppose, you want something - you want to go to Munich and the whole night you are repeating: I want to go to Munich; I want to go to Munich… You will lose your sleep. Or when you are driving to Munich from Frankfurt and saying: Oh, I want to go to Munich…You will end up somewhere else, you will lose the way. Just by repeating, the desire is not going to be fulfilled. You need to let it go. Letting going is the art. And that is very, very important. That is what the meditation is about.Q:
How do we ensure that a good soul is born? Do we need to follow some rules?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just be happy and keep your heart clean and soft. When you doubt, when you are angry or frustrated, your heart and feelings get hardened. With the knowledge and wisdom, your heart remains soft and supple. Otherwise you say everybody else is wrong and only you are right. You don’t see how wrong you are. You do so many mistakes you don’t look at that but when somebody else does mistakes, your heart gets hard. Isn’t it so? There is a saying in India of saint Kabir which says‘Bura dekhan main chala, bura na milya koi’ which means ‘I wanted to search a bad man but I couldn’t find one but when I looked at myself I couldn’t find anybody worse than me.’This is coming from a saint. So seeing mistakes in others hardens your feelings. I don’t agree so much with the other line. If you keep on looking at your own mistakes, that will also not make your feelings soft and brings guilt. So I only use the first line of this.Q:
Where is the mind and where is it in the body?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Who or what is asking this question and what is going to listen to the answer. Intellect is that which registers the answer yet it is the mind which is looking for the answer.Q:
What can be done for peace between Israel and Palestine?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We all have to work for it. When all of us work together to bring people together, to forget the past and make people live in the present, we will have the bond tied very soon. The Art of Living has already started quite a few programs in Palestine. But if only the government spends one percent of the military budget on educating people, in inter-faith and inter-cultural celebrations and attend to building this gap, all these conflicts will be resolved. NGOs can do limited work.Perhaps the narrow vision of politicians is making them thrive on conflicts. Unless our politicians become spiritual like Mahatama Gandhi, our world doesn’t have a bright future.
Q:
Why am I so crazy to be here!!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Because I am also like that. Only a rich can make others also rich. Only a liberated one can bring freedom to others. Only a devotee can evoke devotion in others. A person in love with the Divine makes others also like that. Whatever is there within you that is what others receive and that is what you perceive in others.Q:
Guruji, why are people moving away from religion and culture?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
See, the enthusiastic crowd here. I am not feeling the same after looking at this crowd. If we walk on the path of religion, others will also do the same. The youth is moving away from religion because of the way religion is presented to them. The people who present religion have no smile on their faces, no joy flows out of them.At the same time any religion should be practical which can be integrated into our lives.