Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I tell you, every profession has its ups and downs. Sometimes you will like your profession; later on, you do not like it. Ask a doctor, or an engineer, or a politician about this. At some point or the other in their career they all feel frustrated. They do not like their profession sometimes and feel they should just quit. Why? It is because you experience a burn-out. Why does the burn-out happen? It is because you never went into the other dimension that is deep within you. If you take some time off regularly, at least twice or thrice a year to attend a Silence workshop and the advanced meditation in Silence, you will find that you are recharged. Your enthusiasm comes back, and then any job you do, you will do with the utmost responsibility, keenness and awareness. You need to revive your spirit and that can only happen through meditation.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That is good. That is the contrast in life every day. When you come back home from your job, relax and sit for meditation for a few minutes every day. Nothing stops you from doing that.

Just like we have dental hygiene, meditation is for your mental hygiene. Listen to knowledge regularly. That is why I have made so many talks. For nearly seven years every Wednesday, I used to make some knowledge sheets which are compiled in the book called Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker. Pick up knowledge sheets from that, or play some knowledge talk and listen to that.

Meditation is more relevant when you are very busy, and when you have a lot of responsibilities to attend to. If you have nothing to do, what is the point of you sitting in meditation? Why would you need energy then? You need energy and intelligence when you need to use it. If you have nothing to do, what is the need for a lot of intelligence?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Share it with more and more people. Joy or wisdom if not shared with others starts dwindling. Now this does not mean you go to others and start teaching them Bhastrika Pranayama, or the Sudarshan Kriya. Unless you get properly trained, you should not go about teaching meditation and these practices to others. This is why we had to put a quality control for Yoga in the country today. There is a QCI (Quality Control for India) body and the government has asked it to do something for Yoga also. It is because it is observed that people learn something from somewhere and then go around teaching it to others without proper training. Then when some unwanted or unexpected things happen it becomes a problem. There is a proverb in Sanskrit – “Yasya kasya tarur-mulam yena kenapi churnitam; yasmai kasmai pradaatavyam yatvaa-tatvaa bhavishyati” (From the Subhashita). It means that someone may bring the root of any tree, grind it into a fine powder and give it off as medicine to others. And something or the other may happen to the other person by taking that (untested) medicine. The same is what is happening with Yoga also these days. People practice Yoga for just a week and proclaim themselves to be Yoga instructors and teachers. There needs to be a proper quality system in place for Yoga also, and there should be levels or stages of training and certification. Until then, do not just go and train others. But you should always talk to other people about Yoga and bring more awareness about it. You should definitely inspire and encourage others for this.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

This is a very good question. It is a million dollar question. I want you to keep this question with yourself. I will never take it away from you, because this question is like a vehicle for you to transform your life, make unwanted things drop off from your life and help you reach the Ultimate. So keep this question with you. You are on the right track.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That is alright. See, some of you would feel something or have an experience in some process, some of you may have an experience in another process. Everybody will get something somewhere. It is because your mind is so tricky, it is stuck in so many avenues and areas. In this four day Advanced Meditation Program, we know exactly where to unlock it; where to release it, and which are the areas the mind is stuck in. So that will happen eventually, you just relax and let it happen.

You do not need to judge every process or experience. You need not think, “Oh, is something happening to me or not?”
You just be innocent and relax. There is a saying, “Bhole bhaav miley Raghurai”. It means that when we are in an innocent state of mind, the eternity comes in your grip. It means that innocence can capture that which is eternal.
Do not go on examining all the time, thinking, “Oh, is something happening to me now or not?” Doing that examination every moment will be a hindrance to the experience. Experience will happen by simply following the procedure (meaning without much analysis or examination). After the experience, you can analyse and think about it and ask questions. I am not saying that you should not ask questions about it. You should ask questions, but do not go on examining and poking into the experience by asking questions, before the experience happens.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Well, you need not worry much about this. Experiences keep changing all the time. Every time you meditate, what happens is that the structure of the brain changes. The grey matter in the brain increases when you meditate. A lot of good things happen when you meditate. The toxins in the body come out; many stresses get released. Stress can be in structural or chemical form. That is why after meditation, it is good to do a little Nadi Shodhan Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing Pranayama). You should also drink plenty of water and fluids. That will also help.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First of all, do not go after building a successful and happy relationship. Take it for granted that your relationship is already happy and successful. That is because the moment you want to build something, you start behaving unnaturally. You are not yourself. Got it?
Be aware, and don’t try to build a nice relationship. In thinking or doing so, you think that there is no relationship, or you think that the relationship is not good to begin with. No, first of all, you must simply assume that you have a very good relationship.

You must assume that you have 100% understanding. Whenever you think you lack understanding, or the other person does not understand you, then also you are making the gap wider. Trying to explain this also does not work. How many of you have had this experience? Raise your hands. (Many in the audience raise their hands).

Whenever you think that the relationship is strained and that you need to start all over again to build it into a happy one, it will not work. Be natural, be kind, be loving, be good. Do not step on the ego of your husband, and do not demand from him to express his love. If you keep these few things in mind, your relationship will be fine. Do not go on questioning your spouse, “Do you really love me? You do not love me. These days you do not look at me”.
Even if someone is in love with you, they wonder, “Oh my God! How can I convince this person that I love them?” You are putting a burden on their head to prove their love to you.

Just imagine yourself in their situation. How would you feel if someone doubts your love for them, and you have to make an extra effort to make them believe that you love them? Is it not a burden? How many of you think it is a burden? (Many in the audience raise their hands).
My goodness! When you feel it is a burden to prove your love to others, why do you put others in a position for them to prove their love to you? You should not ask these questions at all. Do not question each other’s love, commitment and integrity. We must never question someone else’s love, commitment and integrity.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

See, people feel some lack or vacuum in their life, as if something is missing. To fill that gap, people try to forget themselves by latching on to intoxicants. You simply have to tell them that you can give them a better intoxicant, a much higher brand of intoxication (here meaning sadhana, satsang and seva).

Tell them to just come here to the Ashram and meditate. Ask them to do the Sudarshan Kriya, and to attend Satsang. The intoxication these practices give you does not come at the cost of your health, rather it improves your health, your state of mind and there are absolutely no side effects because of it. There are no hangovers due to this. Promise them this, and trick them to somehow come and attend the programs and satsang.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First of all get out of this victim consciousness. When you feel you are a victim, you keep looking for a culprit, and you get so upset. You will pity yourself, and one needs to get out of this.

In this world, there are good people and there are bad people as well. I would say, the bad people are also actually good people. Goodness is hidden in the bad people also. It is just veiled and covered by ignorance.

I am not saying not to fight injustice. Take a strong step to fight injustice. Also, you cannot fight injustice alone. You need to gather people and bring them together to fight injustice. If you want to fight injustice then you must. But fight it out with a deep sense of peace and confidence inside. Knowledge will give you that peace and much-needed confidence to fight injustice with an unshakeable smile.
See, if you lose your temper and become angry, you become weak. It drains your energy. Anger drains your energy ten times more. Hatred drains the energy much more than anger does. Anger and hatred make you weak, and then you lose the energy to fight.
To fight, you need strength and strength can only come through centeredness and inner peace. That is the whole message of the Bhagavad Gita.
Lord Krishna says, “You fight, but after finding your inner peace, after getting out of your cravings and aversions. Fight for justice”.

I am not saying that you should bow down to injustice and just take the lies in the world. No, not at all. We should never bow down to injustice, lies (falsehood), and deceit. We definitely should stand up against it, but not with anger, arrogance or with a disturbed mind. We should do so with a firm mind and steady resolution.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I don't see what you are referring to? How could this be confusing with any knowledge, or what parents have said about anything?

Which parent will say no to celebrate life, or to adopt violence as the core value in your life? Which parent would tell their children to go and be violent? Yes, if some people are saying, "My God is the only God, my way is the only way, everyone else is going to hell", or, "Those people who do not subscribe to my God have no right to exist, they are traitors", then I would say do not follow that path. It is only ignorance.
If any parent is saying that you will go to hell if you do meditation, they are ignorant. You don't have to tread the path of ignorance. You educate them, and if you cannot, you walk your path.

The whole world is one family. Uplift yourself beyond race, gender, religions, skin color, and all that. We are all part of one divinity -- which parent will say we are not? Okay, may be your parents want you to follow some rituals, then do it for their sake. Why do you want to resist that? You don't need to behave like a communist. If your parents say that you have to go to church or the temple, go visit it, even if you do not feel much devotion or any such thing. Listen to them and make them happy. If you follow what they want, i.e., to have a certain celebration at home, it can make them happy. But when it comes to your breathing exercises, your food habits and whatever your personal things are, I think you have to take a call, and you cannot say this is all in conflict. Do you see what I am saying?