Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, one of the four gatekeepers to enlightenment is satsang, which means having the right company because it is a good company that uplifts you.

How do you realize what is a good company? Just sit with someone and talk to them for over 30 minutes. When you get up, observe your state of mind. Do you feel happy? Do you feel depressed? Do you feel angry, agitated or sad? That says it all!

If you sit and discuss your problem with someone, and they appear to be insignificant, then that is good company. But when you discuss your problems with someone and you come out feeling, "Oh, I thought it's a small issue. It feels to be much bigger!" When the problems appear to be much bigger, then that is bad company. It's not satsang.

Satsang is one in which even the big problems appear to be much smaller. Your enthusiasm is high, you feel confident, you feel happy and you want to serve people. You don't become greedy - that is satsang. Satsang creates positive energy in you, uplifts your spirit, gives you insight and gives you courage.

Sometimes you live inside a bubble, satsang will bring you to ground reality. Suppose if you are imagining something or hallucinating, satsang will make you realize the ground reality. It will bring you to a point where you realize that you are imagining, or whatever you were doing is not correct.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Pitru Dosha comes out of torturing the parents or ancestors. If children torture the parents and do not understand them, then that is called Pitru Dosha. The parents have brought you up with so much love, taking pain they have given you a good life, they have been by your side and helped you grow, and then you don't give them love and inflict pain on them, that is called Pitru Dosha.
But I tell you, your meditation, your being on the spiritual path, keeping a clean heart and doing a selfless service, to some degree will eliminate the Dosha from your life. See, sometimes people are miserable not because you did something to them, but they are miserable because of their own ignorance. They expect things from you which you may not be able to deliver. Then you don't get Pitru Dosha. It happens when they are really pained by something you could do, but you did not do. When you intentionally inflict pain on the parents due to your selfish reasons then that is Pitru Dosha.
Then what happens? The progeny will have problems. Your children will give you problems. The impact of it is -- children are born with some special needs; some deformities. This is all the sign of Pitru Dosha. Somewhere in the ancestral line, parents were very unhappy with their kids, now you have to become unhappy with your own kids. This is the law of karma. But there is a remedy for it, and the remedy is meditation. 'Om Namah Shivaya' chanting also helps. This is why it's called Maha Mantra. It can rectify any of these Doshas. 'Om Namah Shivaya' does not belong to only one religion. It is universal and it is for everybody.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Well, prayer is not something that you impose on yourself or anyone else. Prayer is a natural call for help, or a natural expression of gratefulness. Prayer can happen only on two occasions:
1. When you are desperately in need of something then you pray. When you realize that you are weak and you cannot handle something, that is when you ask for help and that is a prayer.
2. When you realize that you have received more than what you really deserve, and it has all come to you as a blessing and as a gift, then the gratefulness that you express becomes a prayer. And if you extend this a little further, another occasion when prayer rises from within you is when you are in deep love with the maker of the universe or the divinity, in whatever form or formless way you perceive it to be. That is devotion.

So prayer it is something which happens spontaneously. And it's good to have a few rituals associated with prayer as it adds some colors to life. When you pray in a particular manner by lighting a candle or something that brings up to the surface those emotions that are sleeping in you.
The benefits of prayer are:
1. It invokes those emotions that are sleeping within you.
2. It takes away the worry and burden in your head.
3. It builds confidence in you and you feel the connection from your side. You are already connected to the divine, but from your side you start realizing your connection to the higher power.
4. It puts you into routine. Suppose you make it a habit of praying every day, maybe the first four days go without any experience, but on the fifth day, you experience something. It's almost like any other sadhana. So make prayer a practice in your life so that you know you have something to do that is it ethereal.

Prayer is the way to connect to the something that is not so tangible but is existing. So, prayer could be one such link to the unknown and unseen. Falling in love with the unknown is faith.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I want you to take a look at your own emotion and the time scales. See how you felt last year at the same time? What were your feelings and thoughts during Christmas time or Diwali time? Just analyze, you will see that the pattern is happening year after year. This is what I call rhythm.
The objects differ but the pattern remains the same. Last year your were upset about something at the same time. The previous year too you were upset but for something else. So the object of your disturbance and happiness may vary, but your experience remains the same. This is what is called as a pattern.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The moment you recognize that there is craving and aversion, I am getting disturbed by it and I don't want to be disturbed by it, you are already on track. See, when a person wakes up from sleep, only then he realizes, "Oh, I was sleeping!" In the same way, when you remember something, then you realize that you had forgotten. If you don't remember, then you can't say that you forgot. And when you remember, your memory is already back.
In the same way, this very intention that I don't want to be caught up in craving and aversion, you have woken up. Have patience, and don't be too hard on yourself.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

All the days are for you and me only (laughter). All the times are for us only.

It is a belief that days are associated with planets (Graha), and planets belong to one or the other God (Devta). But you should not worry about these things too much.
'Shivaratri' does not come only on Mondays, it can fall on any other day of the week. The day on which 'Shivaratri' falls, that day is of Lord Shiva only. It is not that only Monday is for Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva has control over some stars and planets, hence a rule is made like this. Not only days, but even Nakshatras have respective ruling deity. If you want to pray then pray to Paramatma (God), all the Gods are inside Him.

That is why there are ‘Ishta-devta’ (Deity of entire family). We have Kul-devta and Ishta-devta for families, then Gram-devta for an entire village, Kshetra-paal for a particular area. All these rules are fascinating.

We have prayers for three levels
1. Adhyatmik: where we have knowledge of self. We also have Adhyatmik traditions, etc.
2. Adhibhautik
3. Adhidaivik
That is why we say, ‘Shanti(Peace)' three times, for Adhidaivik, Adhibhautik, Adhyatmik.

We should also keep in mind that we are not keeping fast for God. If you fast on a Friday, then Goddess will become happy. If you fast on a Monday, Lord Shiva will get pleased, nothing like that! You are not fasting on Monday to please Lord Shiva. You are fasting just for your own sake, for your health, for body cleanliness and purification.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Here in Satsang (where all of you are sitting) it's a good period! See, it's up to you, how you define it. If it is a phase in which whatever you do is not giving any results and things are falling apart, it is an opportunity for you to show your brilliance and your ideas. The bad period can bring out all talents and good qualities in you. It can show how patient you are, how balanced and strong you are.
If you have good intentions, and you are doing good work, every period is a good period. Yes, some periods are more challenging than the others. That period will show you who your real friends are.

Actually in a bad period, even your very good friends behave like enemies. And if the time is good, even your enemies behave with you like your friends. This is what you must understand. In Kannada there is a poem, "The one who has 'Hari' (the Lord) in his heart, for him, every time is a good time. Today is the best day if you think of the divine. This moment is the great time to remember the divine'.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Definitely it has an impact. Meditate and have an intention to bring peace there. If a butterfly can flutter its wings in South America and have an impact on the weather in China, you think your thoughts and prayers have no impact? C'mon, wake up! You are much more powerful than the butterflies (laughter).

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Why only the refugees? Even the slum dwellers are in the same position. See, you cannot go on supplying everybody with everything they need. You do whatever is within your capacity. Along with that, if the refugees are in the violent mode they can create disturbances; here meditation helps.
These are two different things. One is giving them food and the other is giving them the ability to become calm. They are not contradictory at all. In fact, they are complementary.

Making someone self dependent isn't making them weak. By making them self dependent, you are bringing out their inner strength. To bring that strength, meditation is required. It's not a case that only the rich can meditate, spirituality is need even for the poor people so that they can stand on their feet. In fact, it's needed all the more for poor people because then they can manage themselves better with it. They can manage their feeling, emotions and they also get enough energy to act. It's needed as much for them as its needed for the wealthy people.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Look, forget about doer ship, just do what you have to do. Be a doer and do it, never mind. Don’t keep any split in the mind, just do good work. Even if you say, "I have done this", it’s okay, but first do. The rest we will see later.