Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

We need to wake up and see that planet is our home and when you go higher, you don’t see borders. Borders are our understanding, our illusions. There really is no border. Sky knows no border, clouds know no border, and wind also knows no border. The elements of this earth have no borders. The planet is one home for everyone. We are all one family. So, we need to think from a broader perspective. Which is the correct perspective? That the whole planet belongs to us. We cannot dump our nuclear waste into some other place. The effect of dumping any waste anywhere in Earth will again come back to us! We cannot keep one place clean and pure in isolation. It is not possible because the air will carry! We have to care for the whole planet. We have to make the entire planet organic. We have created so many types of viruses on this planet. Because we meddled with nature. We have destroyed many species on this planet because we have not taken good care of it, and our food production has gone so low. That it’s going to be a very heavy thing on the coming generation, you know! I think every individual, every human being on the planet will have to take responsibility of not polluting the planet, of continuing sustainable development by planting more trees, preserving our lakes, preserving water. It is so important! Water scarcity is another big issue in the world. Millions of people are into starvation! So, we need to have a global picture and care for the whole planet. Of course, we need This is most important! But at the same time, we should have the idea about the whole planet and the entire humanity being a family.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

As such there is no conflict. You have to balance your life. You know some spiritual practice every day, some breathing exercise and yoga would help you long way, and then some social service activity what we call seva in India. All that we earn, we spend on our self. Isn’t it good that we should keep at least 3 or 4% of our earning to give to those who are in need of it. There are around 300 million children in the world which need education. You can be part of it. You can help in Africal Even here you can help children to get educated. One day in a month, take a time off in a group, go and help clean the environment, and help environmental programs and social service activity you can take on. If we sit and think what about me all the time, then we will get depressed. You should see what you can do and how you can contribute to the world which is in need. That question and feeling should be within us. We all have to work towards having a violence-free society; drug and alcohol free healthy society. Violence free society, disease free body, confusion free mind, inhibition free intellect, trauma free memory and sorrow free soul is the birth right of every individual and that’s what I have been telling around the world. We are all one family, we all belong to one family. This knowledge is not the wealth of one community, or one religion or one nation – it belongs to the whole world, the technology to be happy and content. Technology to have the sense of belongingness with the world belongs to everybody, and not just to India or Hindus or Buddhist like that…Don’t you think so?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, Spirituality is asking ‘who am I?’ and Science is asking ‘What is this? Objective analysis is science and subjective understanding is spirituality. And they go hand in hand. They were never in conflict in the east, because the paradigm was same. Science says understanding follows the experience and then the concept arises. But occidental philosophy says first you believe and then you can get experience in the future, which science wasn’t comfortable with. That’s why science and spirituality was always in conflict in the west, where as it never was in the east because science was always encouraged. It is said in Bhagvat geeta ‘Gyan Vigyana triptatma’, subjective knowledge and the scientific knowledge both should go together, and then only you will find fulfillment.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

One who knows won’t tell you and anybody who tells you, they don’t know. It’s very important question; keep it with yourself, ‘what is the purpose of life’? You should ask yourself again at times. The question will clear all the cobwebs around you and will keep you on track of what you want and where do you want to go.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There are 6.5 billion people on this planet. Don’t forgive the 6.5 billon but just forgive this one person. You know, inside every culprit there is a victim crying for help. You must know they are victim of situation and circumstances. They might have done something wrong, but this is because they don’t have that knowledge. They were never exposed to higher knowledge, so they make mistake. See what is happening today, all the church scandals are coming out. It is so painful, so pity of a condition because just reading books and understanding doesn’t help violent tendencies or any kind of tendencies to be fixed. These can only be fixed through meditation, through breathing exercise and yoga. Only through that the violent aggressive energy doesn’t surround. Prisoners say, “AOL is responsible for our being in the prison, because if you had given us this knowledge earlier, we wouldn’t have landed in the prison. You are responsible and you should have given the knowledge much earlier. So, our life would have been much different”, and I agree with them.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I am for preserving the natives around the world, and I always encourage them to preserve it. I have seen similarities between aborigine in Australia, Maori in NZ, Arunachal Pradesh in India and British Columbia in Canada. The way they welcome a guest is so loving. They all have similar traditions and cultures. In the past, there was some connection or similar culture all over the world. You know, we need to celebrate the diversity and not think that everybody should be like us. We should take good things from every culture and I feel that is the way we can overcome the terrorism in the world. If every child knows a little bit about all the wisdom in the world then they grow up much wiser. They don’t become fanatics or fundamentalist or terrorist. You know, terrorists think that only they know the truth, only they will go to heaven and everybody else will go to hell but they create hell for everybody else. No sense of global wisdom and we have to take responsibility because we haven’t globalised wisdom. We have globalised everything else on the planet from Potato Chips to Coco cola but we haven’t given a comprehensive wisdom for youth of the world, don’t you think so? Every child should know a little about all cultures and religions in the world and they will start to feel connecting with all the cultures. Every child should know little bit about Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, little bit about Hinduism, Shantoism... They will grow up with a broad mindset with the sense of belongingness to the whole world. I feel at home wherever I go in the world. I feel connected and everyone can do that because we all have that need of connection. In fact you don’t have to make an effort we are connected. Once a child asked me a question, Guruji dogs can communicate with any other dog in the world, but why not human beings? I still remember, this is some 25 years ago, in Manchester, UK. A small girl came to me and asked me, “Guruji, Why not human beings connect with everyone else in the world”. This is because we are so stuck in our identities, we have to grow beyond that, it’s good to have identity but we have to grow beyond that. Don’t you think

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

wealth is the means but if it becomes a means in itself then it becomes insecurity. If it is used as means then it definitely will help people more.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

This same question was asked 10000 years ago by a little boy to his dad. He asked his father, “Dad, what is God, how is God, how does God Look like?” Dad takes him by hand, brings him out of his house and asks him, “What was here before this house was built?” The boy says Space. Dad: Where the house is built? He says in the space. Dad: When this house will demolish what will exist, what will remain? He says space. Dad says that is God. God is not a person sitting somewhere and showing little finger and as you try to catch him he runs away. It’s only so in some paintings. God is love, God is the space in which everything exists. God is from which everything has come and into which everything dissolves. And that is what is said in Upanishads, it says God is Brahman. God is like a space, joy and love that is all pervading. The space around you is not dead space, it is filled with energy, intelligence and that energy, that intelligence is divinity and it is inside you, outside you, and everywhere. If you see the native cultures of all parts of the world, most of the countries in the world have this concept; they say God is in the mountain, in the river, in the flowers, in the trees, in the animals, in the human beings, God is everywhere all pervading. Love is god, you can feel it and not see it, but you can experience this enormous energy when you go deep in meditation.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Ask yourself if you have given 100 percent? If the mind says no, and you have given your 80 percent or even 95 percent, then wait till you give your 100 percent. Even better, give your 101 percent for the sake of the children. A little sacrifice for the children will take you a long way Even after that if it does not work, then in a friendly manner tell your partner that your paths are different and it is better to part.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If you go into the native cultures all over the world, you will find that they are all similar - in British Columbia, Australia, New Zealand, India etc. They all are similar to one another. They all honor the directions, the moon, the earth, the sun, the water, the mountains. They all honor creation. India and Bali are in Southeast Asia, and are of course connected. It’s good to find similarities, and celebrate differences.