Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
How do you run The Art of living in 155 countries at such a pace and with such peace?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I simply don’t run them at all. (laughs). That is the secret - it all happens with some divine law. See, knowledge has organizing power. If you are in knowledge, then everything happens. When you are in a center, the circumference is already there. When you are centered, you are equi-distant from every point in the circumference. So when you are centered, it has tremendous organizing power because the centeredness itself will bring it to you, and that is knowledge. Self knowledge has organizing power because the higher self has organized this entire universe in its perfection.
Why don’t you ask me - why are these hibiscus flowers all so perfect in their color and in their texture. There are millions of hibiscus trees, and millions of hibiscus flowers blossoming. The jasmine is blossoming and are so perfect. The fragrance of the little flowers are the same way throughout. Why don't you ask me how is that this coconut is so nice and tender with such sweet water! There are a million things and zillion things to be amazed about in this creation. And you see that power, that consciousness which is the basis of whole creation, has tremendous organizing power and infinite knowledge. When we are with it, it manifests within us also. A little bit here and there.
You have often said, "Good people should enter politics". Could you tell us when this will happen?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Whenever you decide. I am just waiting for you to jump into it. I think young people should participate.
1. Exercising your franchise. Everyone should go and vote whenever there is an election. You must take it as your sacred duty.
2. Be in touch with the elected members and make them accountable for what they need to do. If things are not working or not happening well in your area, don't shy away from contacting the particular representative, member of assembly, or parliament, or village panchayats. Connect with the politician, make them accountable. If things are not happening, ask them.
If 10-15 of you go together and approach the concerned person who is supposed to make the roads, make water available, or make electricity available, then they will definitely do it. You must take the lead in social transformation.
3. When you yourself feel that you can contribute better to the society by getting into an elected membership, just jump into it and do that.
4. You can just be an inspirational leader. Go and inspire people, youth and women. Go across the cross-sections of society, approach them, inspire them, and express your care for them. In these many ways you can be active.
When you are with me, then why do I always suffer? Why is there misery in my life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I think you don't realize that you have help.
Let me ask you, how can there be suffering all the time? If it is always, you can't feel it. You can feel suffering only in contrast. And just remember, whenever you had some pain or suffering, you came out of it. You had the strength to endure it, and you came out of it. You have always found that you have had some help. Hasn't this been happening?
Look back in life. What you must take care of is not generalizing or eternalizing our problems. If you encounter a few cheats around you, you will generalize, "Oh, everyone is a cheat". If you have come across a few people who are sick, you will say, "Oh, the entire city is sick". Everybody is sick these days. This is impossible, everyone cannot be sick. We have this tendency to generalise and eternalize: I am always lazy, I am always suffering. I am always angry. Even a few moments of discomfort makes you feel like you have always had this. This is eternalizing a problem.
If you stop generalizing and eternalizing your problems, you will see that problems are just the tail of a dog. God give an animal a tail it can wag it easily. Just imagine if a dog has an elephant's tail which it can't even lift because it is so big. Everyone has a tail that they can easily wag. Similarly, everyone gets a problem that they can easily endure and get over it.
How to move from attraction to true love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
In the beginning, you don't find it as just an attraction, you feel it is true love. But time tells you that it was just an attraction, it was not true love. Time makes you realize. At that time, any number of advice anyone gives you, it doesn't really get into your head because you are in a starry world. But when dawn appears, the stars disappear.
I am from Malaysia. I am unable to chant some of the mantras with proper intonation. Will I still get the benefit of chanting the mantra if my tongue does not cooperate?"
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, don't worry. Even listening is good enough. You don't need to chant. Even in India, not everybody chants in the same way. You go to Bengal, the pronunciation is very different. You go to the South, the pronunciation is different. You go to Orissa, even English sounds very different. In the world, it is like that. Even in one language, people speak different dialects in different parts of the world. That's how nature has made this planet.
I heard that the Chinese they speak in North China is different from what they speak in Taiwan and what they speak in Malaysia. So, dialects are there, but the main thing is the feeling.
It is said that there are many instances of changing the body structure in Ayurveda. Could you please speak about this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, this is a whole science. By taking many types of anti-oxidants and some herbs, doing some exercises and some massages, people rejuvenate their bodies. This is an ancient technique which people in this part of the world have been using to make their body very strong.
You saw the other day, on 13th May, a 70-year-old man came and demonstrated all the different things that he could do -- bend an iron rod by just holding the breath. Through some pranayama, enormous strength can be developed in the body. With little sleep and less food you can do a lot of work.
Many times, I say, though there are many young people, I feel much younger than the young people. These days, the stamina of young people has gone down so much. A few extra minutes of work tires them so much! They keep saying, "Oh, I am so tired. I am so tired". I think we need to really look into this. How we can improve the stamina through Naturopathy, Yoga, Ayurveda and all that. There are numerous possibilities in this field.
What is the plan for the yoga day? Do you think everyday should be a yoga day?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Of course! Everyday should be a yoga day. But there is an occasion for everyone to collectively come together and do yoga. United Nations has declared 21st June as a Yoga Day on all our requests. So, people can celebrate and remind those who have forgotten to do yoga. At least, one day you all come together and see if you can touch the floor and be grounded.
We all make plans and execute them. Do you have a master plan for all of us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes. It is the master's plan that is working to make you all smile unconditionally.
I have a doubt about Lord Krishna's saying, 'Samshayatma Vinashyati'. Is Samshaya a reference to doubting or indecisiveness?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Both. Doubting is indecisiveness. When doubting gets rooted in you and you keep doubting everything all the time, then you cannot move ahead in life because life moves with trust.
Why do we keep seeking love, even though we know we are love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is my question to you. You only know it intellectually. Perhaps, you don't know it existentially. Many times, we know it here in the head but we don't know it in the heart. And that's the reason we are unable to put it into practice because it is not part of our life.
There is something called Nidhidhyaasa. It means -- that which you thought, which you understood, which you meditated upon became part of you. Then, there is no looking back.