Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Q: Dear Guruji, my son is now two years old, he feels insecure with other people. Do kids at that age feel that? How do I handle this?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It may not be insecurity in the child. A 2-year old child would not be so insecure, it may be your own projection. Sometimes you project yourself too much on what the child is feeling or saying. Especially grand parents have a lot of projection on the children. Grandpa will say my 6-month old baby looked at me and said, “Grandpa you don’t go for walking today, you stay with me,” and all that he was saying with his own eyes. The baby doesn’t even speak but grandpa feels that he says everything. A lot of it will be your own projection.

If you feel your child is a little jealous, sibling jealousy will be there, if you feel that, then you pat them and give them a little more attention.

Q: Please comment on animal sacrifices and tongue piercing in Hinduism.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Hinduism is a way of life, and it has been around for millions of years. So many practices are just interpolations or add-ons. Imagine that in the winter you have a coat. You come into the house and hang up the coat before entering the house. This then becomes a practice and a rule comes that you can enter the house even in the summer only if you have a coat to hang up. The same applies here. Animal sacrifices have no scriptural sanction. The same thing is true for tongue piercing. Even Lord Krishna says that only a fool would torture his own body.

Q: Dearest Guruji, is it true that every chapter of the Bhagavad Gita has influence on a particular plane? Kindly explain.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Planets are far away, they have an influence on your mind, on your Self. Every chapter has an influence on you.

Q: Are there different types of nirvana?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes! Just as there are different flavors of ice-cream, there are various schools of thought. But the material is the same.

Q: What is man’s highest duty?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If you think something is your duty, there is no love in it. Sometimes you even get headaches because you feel burdened by the duty. When you do something with love, that is the best. When you take responsibility with love, then it is not a burden to you. It becomes like a puja and that is the best. If you think that doing puja itself is a duty, then there is no benefit in doing it at all.

If a father thinks, ‘I have to get my daughter married somehow and get rid of my responsibilities’ then it becomes a burden. But if he thinks of her marriage with love, then the whole event is a celebration and there is joy for everybody. So, take responsibility with love and take responsibility for the whole world. Start with small steps. First your family, then neighbors, society, village - nobody should be sad in your village! This attitude will make your heart blossom. When the heart blossoms, there is happiness. Divinity resides in a blossomed heart. You don’t have to go anywhere and search for the Divine. His home will be in your heart.

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: A baby is born in USA and the baby’s grandmother thinks that her husband has reincarnated as her grandson. My question is, is it possible for a soul to travel from Bombay to USA?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, yes! Definitely! In no time, without ticket and visa, and no immigration issues.

Q: Dear Guruji, what is the meaning of being natural? Is it doing whatever comes to the mind and doing whatever one feels like.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

No it is not doing whatever that comes to your mind. Doing whatever comes to your mind without any attention, awareness or thought would be foolish. Whatever comes to your mind should pass through the test of intellect or wisdom. Being natural is feeling at home; feeling at home even in adverse situations. You know when everything is good you feel at home but when things do not go your way you don’t feel at home and you want to run away. So feeling at home in every situation, yeah!

Q: How can one transform moha into love?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Moha means I want something back. Love is only how I can be useful.

Q: When I do something good, even then my parents sometimes don’t let me do that. How to go ahead in such a situation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Take this as an opportunity to bring out that skillfulness in you. It is like if cloth has been tangled in a bush, you need certain skill to gradually remove it from there. You don’t run, but patiently deal with them with your skill. Have such a skillful conversation that they get agree to whatever right you say.