Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
If I am you and you are me, then when will my mind become your mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
All the difference is only on the gross. The subtler we go, we see there is only one consciousness.Q:
Guruji, you said tear is ego. In front of you- uncontrollable tears come up. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No, No, this is different tears. There are many types of tears- like crocodile, then salty, sweet ones are of gratitude, love. Angels long for it. It is very good- the mind is healed and purified.Q There are dilemmas in life and I lack decision making power. What should be done?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Wherever there is duality(Dvet), there will be a dilemma . Whenever you are in daily activities(vyavahar), there will be dilemma. There is no choice, accept it.
Q:
Why do some people love others so much, knowing that they have nothing to get from them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are two types of joys – one joy is that from getting, another joy is giving. That’s a more mature joy. When grandfathers and grandmothers come to meet their grandchildren, they are not waiting for some gifts. They just want to be with them.With children, it’s the other way around – children wait for their uncles and aunts to get gifts.
So the joy in giving is more mature than the joy in getting.
(A child from the audience shouts out - Happy b’day, Guruji! {It was Sri Sri’s birthday on May 13}.)
Q:
Yesterday, you said there is no significant purpose for the universe but it is also said that every individual is born for some purpose. Isn’t it contradictory?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Truth is contradictory. Every little thing has a purpose, at the same time, it has no purpose because this whole thing is a game. If you consider the world as a game, then there is no purpose. A game has no purpose, it is an expression of joy. Dance doesn’t have a goal because dance in itself is an expression of happiness.What is the purpose of you laughing? Does laughter have any purpose? You are happy, so you laugh. You don’t have to wait for a joke to laugh. You know, children don’tunderstand jokes but they laugh, babies do laugh. If you think jokes are the only reason for one to laugh then babies would never laugh till they understand your jokes. You have an illusion that you have to listen to a joke to laugh. Laughter has nopurpose because it is an expression of being, an expression of joy.Love has nopurpose because it is your very nature. The sun has no purpose to send its rays. If you ask me, why does sun shine, what does it achieve? I’ll say, ‘Oh my God, you are such a businessman, you need a purpose for everything!’ The sun shines because it is its nature. It can’t but shine. So, in this context, I said, ‘Whenever you think, ‘what is the purpose?’ you are caught up in the cause and effect phenomenon. No doubt, the cause and effect phenomenon is there, it is a law of nature but truth is beyond the cause and effect phenomenon. Divinity is much bigger, more vaster, Divinity is beyond that. It is much bigger and vaster, so in this sense I said, there is no purpose.Sun shines because it is its nature, wind blows because it is its nature. What is the purpose of the tsunami? Was it just to kill people? If it’s purpose was to kill people only then it must have hit only those areas in which people lived. But it hit those areas also where there were no people. Nature is beyond cause and effect or conclusion, theory, understanding or misunderstanding. It is the existence which is total, beyond purpose. So you can say, virtually there is no purpose. If at all you have to pin down to a purpose then the purpose of nature is to take you to the Source, is to remind you of the Source, connect you to your Source.
Q:
When a mother denies love, and tells her child that he is an unwanted one, what should the child do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You should know that the mother is saying this out of too much love. If the mother says ‘Get lost!’, and you really get lost, then she would be more worried than you. If a mother is saying this– know that she is just very stressed, and that she needs your care and help.Q:
If we are all God, then why do we have so many Gods and Goddesses?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The sun’s light is one, yet when it goes through a prism, seven colors come up. All gods and goddesses are part of one truth. One Supreme Self is referred to as Devi, Shiva, Ganesh, Kartikaya. Lord Krishna says rudranam shankaraschasmi, of rudras, I am Shankara. I am the moon, the sun, I am Shiva, I am the Ganges river, I am everything.Q:
God is all-abundant, totally full, and we are all connected to God. Then why are we in debt, except for some? Why do they have, and we don’t have?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Is it only money you lack? When you say you are indebted, that means you have received something! Otherwise how can you be indebted? Those who have received should feel indebted. Be thankful for having received. The more abundance you have, the more indebted you will feel. And when you feel indebted and grateful, more abundance comes to you.Feel indebted. Feel grateful.
Then abundance grows.
Abundance and indebtedness coexist.
Someone in the group: An abundance of indebtedness!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You think you are indebted, but you really are not.
Yet it is better to feel totally indebted, because every bit of what you have doesn’t belong to you anyway, including your own body. When you are infinitely indebted for your body, for Knowledge, for things you have received, and for your own life, then you bask in the abundance of the Creator.
Someone in the group: I feel very indebted. Thank you!
(February 8, 1996 - Miami Beach, Florida)
Yet it is better to feel totally indebted, because every bit of what you have doesn’t belong to you anyway, including your own body. When you are infinitely indebted for your body, for Knowledge, for things you have received, and for your own life, then you bask in the abundance of the Creator.
Someone in the group: I feel very indebted. Thank you!
(February 8, 1996 - Miami Beach, Florida)
Q:
Guruji what do we tell people that have been through a calamity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Tell them to give all their worries to me. Disasters and calamities also have a positive side to them. They bring people together.There is a new creation after every calamity. Nothing is permanent. In every crisis there is an opportunity. The Chinese word for crisis contains the word opportunity in it. Every crisis reminds you to smile, makes you aware of the impermanence of everything, even ourselves. So instead of sitting and blaming, lets see how we can move forward, rebuild and help others.Q:
There are some schools of thoughts that say that you must always be aware of what your competitors are doing. Because if you don’t see your competitors, you will be like a bridled horse. You will end up making the best calculator of the world when the world has moved to computers. So how do you reconcile the two schools of thoughts?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The challenge is to manage the two contradictions - that is the job of the youth.One should be aware of the competitors. At the same time, one should have an eye of Arjuna. Be aware of what’s happening around you and one-pointedness towards the goal.
Over ambitiousness will not lead to anything.
Improve your intuitive ability, enthusiasm, relaxation.
It will give you everything that you need to.
Q:
Should one follow the heart or the head?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
A combination of both.