Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
![](/sites/all/themes/aol-zen/images/Q_A.jpg)
Q:
Jai Gurudev, you are so attractive, is this the bondage in my path? If I get stuck in your form what should I do to see beyond the form?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
So that you get detached from everything else - and then this will also automatically dissolve. You will see me more, much different than the form.Q:
What carries the samskaara through different lifetime? The body dies and the consciousness is pure.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The mind carries the samskaaras.Q:
What is the difference between intuition and wishful thinking?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When the thing has already happened then you know whether it was a wishful thinking or an intuition. Time will tell you whether it was wishful thinking or intuition. There is no definite criterion to know, yes! Wishful thinking is motivated by desire where as intuition just happens.Q:
Why are spiritual leaders mostly men?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Spirituality transcends gender. Men and women are equal. There are many vacancies here for women who would like to become swamis also! They should come to the forefront as well.Q:
When someone of our own suddenly passes away and we are not prepared when he leaves. There is so much to talk and to say and when he leaves you want to feel him. You said they are always there so how to do that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Those who have left will understand that this world is just a play, there is nothing really; it’s just a wave so there is no need to tell them or explain anything to them, without saying anything they will understand. When in the body, we understand using words but once we are out of the body, then communication happens through feeling. So don’t worry, you be happy, those who have gone have gone and we are here now.Q:
If somebody is feeling guilty for the wrong done but may be because of ego He is not able to talk, what should one do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You being in victim consciousness and having rage and anger, does it help you any way to carry on your life? Absolutely not! Waste of time, waste of your potential and life. So we must forgive, forget and move on. You hurt someone in the past and somebody hurt you, that account is closed now. Finished! There was some problem that has to come, and that has come and our own foolishness made it happen. Now it is finished and move on. This is the line of thinking that you must adopt and that makes us feel better.Q:
How does it differ from our guided meditation?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
In guided meditation, you don’t have to do anything. Meditation will be done for you. Just feel, "Divinity is doing meditation for me, let me just relax". Someone else is piloting the plane and you simply have to fasten the seat-belt, sit back and relax.Don’t use Om as a mantra for meditation be cause then there is an effort. It is good to enhance the prana as pranayama in the beginning or in the end. But don’t sit and say, om om om. It may shoot up your energy too much and you may not know how to handle it. You may not get sleep.
In the beginning we chant Om three times, five times or seven times, and relax.
Q:
Why is my mind so restless during lunar eclipse?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There is a remedy to all celestial phenomena! You know what? ‘Om Namah Shivaye’. The vibrations of the mantra create an armor around us and protect and energize the whole body – mind complex.Q:
How do we use this time to expedite our spiritualgrowth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just exactly what you are doing now.Q:
I am thinking today that everything is permeated with light and when I look into myself your light is within me. In me, in him and all of them, it is you only that is present. Where ever I see everywhere it is you who are shining. Where have you come from, who are you, tell me that at least today?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
If you want to know who I am then there is a deal you will have to make with me. The deal is that first you have to know who you are. When you find out who you are then you will know who I am and this is also what I want, that you know who you are and then you will know who I am.