Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I am love, and so are you! love is not an act. In that sense, you are not separate from me, neither are you different from me. What is this silly question: do you love me? Neither I have any choice nor you have any choice. Drop all these silly doubts that get into your head, and wake up. Get a little matured.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Kaal means ‘time’ and mahakaal means ‘grand time’. Grand time is that which is beyond all human explanation or comprehension. It is that which creates a want in you and also makes you lose your ground. And when you are losing ground, you will definitely feel shaky, and fear also comes up. Fearsome, grandeur, awesome, existence, is what is called Mahakaal.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Well, you know, whenever people die they say, "Swargvaas ho gaya", means he has gone to heaven. This is one way to tell that someone has departed from this world. Not that they are all gone to heaven, but it is a term used.
'May their soul rest in peace' or 'Rest in heaven', is a general word. It is not that Kauravas were better than Pandavas, nothing of that sort. When they wrote this, it was written in a poetical form, so you should not take it so seriously. Otherwise, you will feel that Kauravas also went to heaven, then we might also go to heaven after doing wrong things.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Kaal means ‘time’ and mahakaal means ‘grand time’. Grand time is that which is beyond all human explanation or comprehension. It is that which creates a want in you and also makes you lose your ground. And when you are losing ground, you will definitely feel shaky, and fear also comes up. Fearsome, grandeur, awesome, existence, is what is called Mahakaal.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

See, the Native people had this. The king was also the judge, but there was also a guru in every community who would give them the judgment.
In India, there is also the Panchayats system, where five people who are administrators of the village resolve disputes.
Why five people? If you take a society, there are 5 type of people there,

1. Those who are fun-loving and full of enthusiasm. They don’t mind any obstacles. They dare obstacles and they get things done. This is the first type.

2. People who just maintain things. They’re not go getters, they’re not innovators, they’re not risk takers, but they just maintain the thing as they are. They take measured steps and move very carefully. They are usually conventional and traditional.

3. People who want to bring transformation, who are drastic, rebellious and want to completely change things. They’re good at demolishing things.

4. People who are very brilliant. They are sharp, they have brilliant ideas and they are very creative.

5. People who brings everyone together. They have a lot of compassion. Wherever there is problem they go and cement the gaps, solve the problems and bring people together creating a sense of belongingness. They are sort of peacemakers.

These are the five different types of people are there in the world in every society. The last type who would bring everyone together are usually women; who are compassionate and who have deeper understanding. Whenever something erupts she goes and calms them down and brings them together. Working towards prosperity and education in a woman’s role.

Among the Devas also, these are the five devas called panchayatam. Panchayat is what we have in the villages and panchayatam refers to the five different forms of Gods. There is only one God, but in that one God, it refers to the five different forms (or attributes).

1. Ganesha (first deva or attribute) - fun loving, remover of obstacles and full of enthusiasm. So there are people who have these attributes. Everywhere in every society you’ll find at least one such person.

2. Vishnu (second deva or attribute) - just maintaining things, not very creative.

3. Shiva (third deva or attribute) - one who just like a bull in a China shop, they just charge in and do drastic things. Bringing transformation is their job. Whatever state of affairs are there, demolish that and leave space for new things.

4. Surya (forth deva or attribute) - very sharp, intelligent, creative type off people.

5. Devi (fifth deva or attribute)- the feminine energy. Women create, they come up and solve things and bring everyone together.

In an individual's life also, you can see these five different tendencies come at different times of life. Usually when you’re young you’re very enthusiastic, and then as you grow a little older you have rebellious tendencies. You want to change things and all that. When you get older, you just want to lie down and rest. You come into the Vishnu mode. So these three modes people anyways have.

The ancient people knew this, so they put the village administration as panchayats. They chose 5 people, together all of them should be impartial. All of them have to hear any case of injustice or any grievances, and give the judgment.

A Master (Guru) has all these five qualities at once, that’s why we say, "Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara...".

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Observe what happens when you have a financial loss, or a big sense of loss. Something happens in your stomach. You feel, ‘I earned something with so much effort, and it is gone!’ Sometimes, it is not in your control. The stock market comes crashing down, real estate prices go down, and you lose. At such times, when you have this contraction within you, all you need to do is wake up and see, life is temporary and life is changing. One day we are going to lose this body also. This reminder that one day we are going to lose the whole world and the body wakes you up from within. Then you see life as much larger than gains and losses.
Losses pinch you when life is smaller than your gain or loss. When you lose a tennis game that you are playing for fun in the evening, it doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t touch you. If you miss a plane, a train or a bus, it doesn’t bother you so much, why? Because you know you are bigger than the loss. So, when you have confidence in yourself that you can make up for the finances you have lost, then nothing can put you down.

Let me share an incident with you. About 25 years ago when I went to England, I met with this Gujarati family. They were at one point of time, the richest families in Uganda. They were in the electronic industry, they had four Rolls Royce cars, and wealth enough for the next four generations to survive. The children didn’t have to do anything because their parents had created a large bank balance and a lot of wealth for them. Suddenly, during Idi Amin’s time, they had to leave the country with just one suitcase in hand. Idi Amin threw all the Asians out from his country. So they had a choice to either go to India or Britain, and since they were British citizens they settled down in England.
They told me, from that day they started believing in God, that God can make someone a pauper or a prince, overnight. When the couple reached England, they had no idea what they would do there. They had to start from scratch. They started selling hot dogs on the street. In two to three years, they started a business and started flourishing again. Thus, from being somebody to nobody, and then again rising up. This shows that there is some higher power. They said this experience made their life very rich, as they had otherwise taken life for granted. Now they are truly happy.

There are many such events -- this happens with all the politicians. As long as they are in power, everyone looks up to them. The moment they retire, there is terrible insecurity. Suddenly, they start feeling that even the butler in their home does not listen to them. It is just in their mind. They say, "Earlier, my driver would be on time but now, if I call him three times, he comes later!"
Small things prick you because you have a sense of loss, you feel you have lost something. But if you believe in yourself, if you believe in your ability, if you believe there is a higher power guiding you, I tell you, there is nothing that can shake you! No loss, no defame, nothing, because you are self-reliant!
For a person who is self-reliant, losses appear very small. If you are self-reliant or have faith in the higher self (whatever you call it) when you are centered, you can always take the loss knowing that it is just a passing phase. Don’t do business emotionally; business must be done intellectually. Often people mix up these two things.

A loss should be dealt in context of one’s confidence and one’s expanded awareness.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Well, if you have not known it, there is no way you can know it! There is not a single being on this planet which or who does not know what love is. On one hand this is true, on the other hand, nobody has known love.
Love is not something that you know, it is something that you feel. Why do you want to analyze and put a tag to it?

You can go on describing the shades of love, or the types of love that are there, but what are its repercussions? In fact, all the negative emotions are just distortions of love. Your anger is because of love. You love perfection, so you get angry at imperfections. You love people too much, and so it becomes jealousy or possessiveness. You love yourself too much, and that becomes arrogance. When you love objects more than people or more than anything else, then it is greed. Love plus knowledge or wisdom leads you to bliss. Love minus knowledge or wisdom, leads you to misery. We can go on analyzing it, but what is the use?

If you have a puppy at home, it will tell you what love is. If you have a dog at home, when you return home, it will show you what love is. It will not say, "Yesterday I greeted you, I don’t have to do it now". Every day when you come home, a dog or a baby can tell you what love is. Hours of lecture cannot convey what a baby can convey in a fraction of a second.

As far as love is concerned, a thousand words cannot equal one glance, and a million glances cannot equal a moment of silence, one moment of that inner connection. That is love! You are made up of a substance called love and everything in the world is made up of that one thing called love.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If the intentions are correct but actions are flawed, they must have come under compulsion from someone else. You always act on your intention. If you are unable to act on your intention, it means you are under some pressure from some corner.

And yes, small steps and small actions that you take will help. When your intentions are good, you keep moving in that direction. I usually say intention and attention brings manifestation.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Thank you! I am so glad! Around 35 years ago, when we started yoga, it was taboo, not a mainstream thing at all. People would think that to do yoga, you have to stand on one leg, or put ashes all over your body. That was the sort of impression about yoga. Today, I am so glad that the United Nations has recognized its value, and 178 countries came forward to approve of the International Yoga Day! Although we have a long way to go, at least yoga has taken the center stage now to combat stress, violence and social ills.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Sure, we can do something about it. Do you know, depression is the biggest challenge for The World Health Organization (WHO) and possibly the world, in the next 5 years.

Nearly 40% of the school teachers in Europe are depressed, and if teachers are depressed what are they passing on to the kids? It is scary, right; they can only pass on what they have! When we were children, our teachers were so enthusiastic; they pumped enthusiasm in to the kids. They gave us ideas, ideals, more values, and they showed us how to excel in our field. Today when you see teachers who are supposed to be the guiding light of society being depressed, it is very depressing. We cannot feed half the population with prosaic. After a while even that stops working. Here is where you have to teach them life skills, the skill to handle their mind and their negative emotions. And the secret is right under their nose! Using their own breath, they can calm the mind and change how they feel.

You do not have to be a victim of your feelings; you can be the master of your feelings. It is just a matter of education. Yoga is one way; of course, many think yoga is just doing a few exercises, standing on the shoulders or standing on the head, it is not so! Yoga is the rhythm of the breath, and the sensation in the body, and how you feel about yourself. All this comes under the purview of yoga, meditation, life skills and living well programs, and this can help people.

A few centuries ago, not everyone used toothpaste. Dental hygiene was not a common thing. Today, in every corner of the world, people brush their teeth first thing in the morning and the last thing in the night. Similarly, I would say mental hygiene is essential. Learning how to be in the present, keeping your mind fresh and free of all the impressions of the past, anger, jealousy, greed, and seeing life from a broader perspective.

Turn back and see, all the events - pleasant and unpleasant are all gone; there are only traces of memories left in our brain, that’s all. If youth to have an awakened mind or the wakefulness in the mind, it will make a lot of difference.