Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
How do I feel more energetic repeating the same old routine every day?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
First look into the mirror and give a big smile to yourself. Ok? Then do some deep breathing, little bit of yoga and meditation. Give some time to yourself everyday and you will be more energetic and beautiful.
What is the fastest way to feel belongingness and unity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you are free from stress, you have a sense of belongingness and understanding. This is what happens when people undergo The Art of Living program. It happens so naturally.
What is the golden rule of a happy married life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, I am not qualified to say anything, but let me think. Why don’t you sit with those who are happily married? What I have heard is:
Before marriage: a couple is mad for each other!
During marriage: They are made for each other!
And then: They are mad at each other!
After while: They are mad because of each other.
Somebody here has formulated this!
One thing I know, marriage is an institution of patience, sacrifice, caring for each other and sharing. If one is upset, other should keep quiet and wait for his/her turn to get upset. If both together get upset at the same time, then there is a problem! But in front of kids, one should better be civilized.
What shall we do to always be happy, because as I know your concept is to relax and attain happiness by that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What to do to always be happy? First, drop the feverishness to hold onto ALWAYS and you will find yourself happy. And then, if some moments of unpleasantness creep into life, accept that also.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The whole world is like that. It’s all spherical: everything moves in cycles. You have to come back, but you have a choice. If you are born out of compulsion then it's the same old story again and again. But if you get liberated, then you have the choice and the will to be born when you want. When you come back liberated, it is joyful.Is it true that some places have negative and positive vibes? I have experienced that our group working in our suburb doesn’t get the success it does outside. What should we do to increase the sattva of a place?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Keep working, keep doing. Everywhere it is possible to make a change. It’s just a matter of time.
How can I maintain happiness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do not make such an effort. In order to save your happiness, you have to spread it. Share your happiness with everyone. Why worry in this short span of life when there is such beautiful knowledge.
Why is there a need for meditation in our modern society?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is the need of meditation in today’s society, in today’s life as such. You know if you look at the benefits that meditation brings into our life, you feel it is all the more relevant, all the more needed. In ancient times, meditation was used for enlightenment, to find the self. Also meditation is a way to get rid of misery, to overcome misery, to overcome problems. Meditation has been the way to improve one’s abilities; three things! Today keeping aside enlightenment you see, with all the social ills of today, the stress, the tension calls for one to meditate. The more responsibility you have in your life the more is the need for meditation. If you have nothing to do, you may not need meditation. The busier you are, the less time you have, the more work you have, more desires and ambitions you have, the more you need to be meditating because meditation not only relieves you of stress and strain, it enhances your abilities to face the challenges. Meditation brings better health to us; meditation is food for the soul; it is an energizer for the mind; it is a life line for the body. It keeps your body in shape, helps your nervous system, helps your mind, your alertness, improves you perception and helps you to express yourself properly, what more do you want, everything has come! So the benefits of meditation are many. Basically you can say if you want to be happy you need to meditate. If you want to be happy and healthy you got to be meditating.
Please discuss the value of the Vedic tradition of masters who have preserved this meditation for thousands of years in its purity.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yeah, for thousands of years people have passed on the technique of meditation one by one. Usually people would say they would give this technique to someone who qualifies and who is capable, then they will make the best use of it. You know they would wait for a right student to come to impart meditation and they would test the student several times before they would even take them as a disciple. Masters would not take everybody as a disciple, if one doesn’t qualify, they would not even teach them anything. I took a completely different stance. If they qualify, well and good, else just teach them and whatever progress they make, let them make. So I just opened the flood gates and said, “Let’s give it to everyone” and we will see and make those capable if they raise to that level, okay! That is the difference between this age and those in the past. In the past it used to be very tough.
How can I balance peace while fighting for justice?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is the whole essence of The Bhagavat Gita. Be calm from the inside and act whenever required. You should stand up and fight if necessary; but don’t keep the fight inside yourself. Usually we fight inside and keep quiet outside. We should do the opposite. With meditation, it becomes easy to bring about this change. The power of satva and the power of meditation make it easy.
Today is Shri Ramanavami (Lord Rama’s Birthday). Ra means radiance, Ma means myself. Rama means ‘the light inside me’. Rama was born to Dasharath and Kousalya. Dasharath means ‘Ten Chariots’. The ten chariots symbolize the five organs of perception (the five senses) and five organs of knowledge and action (For instance: reproduction, legs, hands and so on). Kousalya means ‘skill’, Ayodhya means ‘a society in which there is no violence’. If you skillfully observe what goes on inside the body, light dawns inside you. That is meditation. You need some skill to relax the tension. Then you start expanding.
You know, you are here now, yet you are not. With this realization, there is a certain lightness that comes spontaneously. Rama is when the inner light shines through. Sita the mind/intellect was robbed by the ego, Ravana. Ravana had ten heads. Ravana (ego) was one who wouldn’t listen to others. He was too much in the head. Hanuman means breath. With the help of Hanuman (the breath), Sita (the mind) was able to go back to Rama (the source). Ramayana happened around 7,500 years ago. It had an impact on Germany and many other countries in Europe and Far East. Thousands of cities are named after Rama. Cities like Rambaugh in Germany have their roots in the word Ram. Indonesia, Bali and Japan were all influenced by Ramayana. Though Ramayana is history, it is also an eternal phenomenon happening all the time.