Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
How did you know you were a Guru? Did you have a Guru? Sometimes I wonder if I’m a Guru, maybe just for myself. What would you say to that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You can’t be a surgeon for yourself. You may be a surgeon but you can’t be your own surgeon, right? So your mother is your first Guru. A mother teaches you. Of course, a Guru is one who is unconditional in his attitude and approach towards you. You should play the role of a Guru unconditionally. You help others or care for someone with wisdom. Then you are playing the role of a Guru to them too.
If you help somebody with an attitude of ‘I want nothing, I just want your progress’ then you’re a Guru to them. Yet don’t demand them to accept you as Guru. No, a real Guru does not demand anything, not even gratitude from somebody.
When a loved one dies, are they reincarnated? Will we know them again? In the case of a parent, are we still connected to them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
All possible...It's possible to know them if they incarnate now and you can feel that? Haven't you felt that you go somewhere and suddenly you feel someone is very close to somebody? Your gut feeling comes. It's all possible. You know, we’re all connected in some time or another. In the past, we've all been connected. Now we are connected. Whether we acknowledge or not!
How did you know you were a Guru? Did you have a Guru? Sometimes I wonder if I’m a Guru, maybe just for myself. What would you say to that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You can’t be a surgeon for yourself. You may be a surgeon but you can’t be your own surgeon, right? So your mother is your first Guru. A mother teaches you. Of course, a Guru is one who is unconditional in his attitude and approach towards you. You should play the role of a Guru unconditionally. You help others or care for someone with wisdom. Then you are playing the role of a Guru to them too.
If you help somebody with an attitude of ‘I want nothing, I just want your progress’ then you’re a Guru to them. Yet don’t demand them to accept you as Guru. No, a real Guru does not demand anything, not even gratitude from somebody.
How can I balance peace while fighting for justice?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
That is the whole essence of The Bhagavat Gita. Be calm from the inside and act whenever required. You should stand up and fight if necessary; but don’t keep the fight inside yourself. Usually we fight inside and keep quiet outside. We should do the opposite. With meditation, it becomes easy to bring about this change. The power of satva and the power of meditation make it easy.
Today is Shri Ramanavami (Lord Rama’s Birthday). Ra means radiance, Ma means myself. Rama means ‘the light inside me’. Rama was born to Dasharath and Kousalya. Dasharath means ‘Ten Chariots’. The ten chariots symbolize the five organs of perception (the five senses) and five organs of knowledge and action (For instance: reproduction, legs, hands and so on). Kousalya means ‘skill’, Ayodhya means ‘a society in which there is no violence’. If you skillfully observe what goes on inside the body, light dawns inside you. That is meditation. You need some skill to relax the tension. Then you start expanding.
You know, you are here now, yet you are not. With this realization, there is a certain lightness that comes spontaneously. Rama is when the inner light shines through. Sita the mind/intellect was robbed by the ego, Ravana. Ravana had ten heads. Ravana (ego) was one who wouldn’t listen to others. He was too much in the head. Hanuman means breath. With the help of Hanuman (the breath), Sita (the mind) was able to go back to Rama (the source).
Ramayana happened around 7,500 years ago. It had an impact on Germany and many other countries in Europe and Far East. Thousands of cities are named after Rama. Cities like Rambaugh in Germany have their roots in the word Ram. Indonesia, Bali and Japan were all influenced by Ramayana. Though Ramayana is history, it is also an eternal phenomenon happening all the time.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
People who are willing to serve will have good times even in the bad times. When there are problems, such as famine or war, Red Cross people are fine as they are serving. The more relief they bring, the happier they feel. And people who are selfish and who just want to enjoy themselves will be miserable even in good times. Often the organizers of a party do not enjoy the party because some little thing is missing, they forgot to invite somebody, somebody did not come or some little thing went wrong.
A wise one is happy even in bad times. And the ignorant one is unhappy even in good times. You make the time good or bad. People usually blame the bad time and just wait for the good time. Even if an astrologer says that you are in a hopeless time, you can still make it good time!
Like Weather, time has its impact on you. Your Satsangs and sadhana are your shields, your protection. So realize that you are more than time and that you cn change the time by your connection to the Divine.
European Ashram, Bad Antagost, Germany
New Years Eve 1997
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Development is imperative, but a short-sighted approach is often the cause of great harm. Sustainable development is that which keeps in mind the long-term effects and benefits of any program.
Short-sighted development is a disaster. Ravaging natural resources without a long-term vision will destroy the ecology, which is the very source of life. The purpose of development should be to support and sustain life. With the bigger picture in mind, all development plans will factor in the ecology, sociology and psychology. Then the very process of development becomes a conscious endeavor to preserve the planet and its resources. The health of our planet is of utmost importance.
Environment consciousness is inbuilt in the human system. Throughout history, Nature (prakriti) has always been adored in India; mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon, the trees have been revered. In fact, ancient cultures all over the world have exhibited a deep reverence for Nature. For them, God was not in temples or churches, but was inherent in Nature. It's only when we start moving away from Nature that we start polluting Nature. Today there is a pressing need to revive the ancient practice of honouring and conserving Nature.
Can you talk about certain rituals performed while doing pooja?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are some rituals which you can fathom with your intellect, yet some others are so intuitively profound that you can only merge in them and enjoy.
On a very gross level, Pooja is imitation of what Divine or Nature is doing to us. Divine offers us all kinds of fruits and flowers, bestows rain, worship us taking millions of stars around us. An imitation of this divine phenomenon, expressing our gratitude, is pooja.
Yet, it is good not to get stuck in too much of rituals. Your feelings are good enough for a pooja to happen. However a little bit of rituals at home, like burning incense sticks, keep the spirit of the place high. – FROM YOUTH DESK
Which is the best and intelligent way to worship?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you do any action with a sense of sacredness, that becomes worship.
Where does Obama get his inspiration from?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Today, the global problem is terrorism through wrong ideology. I feel that we need to emphasize a broad spectrum of education for the future generation. If each child knows about other religions, it won’t think other religions will go to hell. Even in India, madrassas are getting CBSE status because of the vote bank. I’m not saying all madrassas are bad but there is an 80 percent chance of narrowing vision. We need to have a long term goal and long term vision in everything. An education which has science and spirituality - head and heart is the only solution.
Why is there a need for meditation in our modern society?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is the need of meditation in today’s society, in today’s life as such. You know if you look at the benefits that meditation brings into our life, you feel it is all the more relevant, all the more needed. In ancient times, meditation was used for enlightenment, to find the self. Also meditation is a way to get rid of misery, to overcome misery, to overcome problems. Meditation has been the way to improve one’s abilities; three things! Today keeping aside enlightenment you see, with all the social ills of today, the stress, the tension calls for one to meditate. The more responsibility you have in your life the more is the need for meditation. If you have nothing to do, you may not need meditation. The busier you are, the less time you have, the more work you have, more desires and ambitions you have, the more you need to be meditating because meditation not only relieves you of stress and strain, it enhances your abilities to face the challenges. Meditation brings better health to us; meditation is food for the soul; it is an energizer for the mind; it is a life line for the body. It keeps your body in shape, helps your nervous system, helps your mind, your alertness, improves you perception and helps you to express yourself properly, what more do you want, everything has come! So the benefits of meditation are many. Basically you can say if you want to be happy you need to meditate. If you want to be happy and healthy you got to be meditating.