Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Q:
Why is someone aggressive towards someone else? What is the reason for that?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Stress. Someone who is relaxed cannot be aggressive. Sleep does not provide you that deep mental rest. Sleep only gives you physical rest. If you are agitated and you go to sleep, then even when you wake up you feel the agitation, but meditation removes that agitation. That is why even a little bit of meditation can uplift the spirit.Q:
How to overcome feelings of guilt?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is simple - listen to some knowledge. Pranayama and meditation are also one of the best ways to get rid of guilt. When you meditate it removes guilt, uplifts the energy and brings a change at a very concrete level. In Christianity, confession is given a lot of importance. You confess to the priest of the wrong that you have done. When you offer all the wrongs that you have done, you leave it to the divine to take care of it. In the Hindu and Buddhist tradition, people do ‘Kshama prardhana’, which means asking God for forgiveness. You say, "Knowingly and unknowingly I have done some wrong, please forgive me". Asking for forgiveness will take you out of guilt.Q:
Why do we have guilt?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It is good to have a little bit of guilt, not too much. That little guilt can prevent you from committing the same mistake again. What is guilt? Intellectually you know an action to be bad, but you have a temptation to do that action because it promises you some pleasure or joy. Your hearts wants something, but the mind says, 'It is wrong'. Between the mind and the heart, the heart wins most of the time and this is when guilt comes up in you. And little bit of that guilt can prevent you from derailing further, but it should not be too much.Q:
How to stop worrying?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Know one thing – one day you are going to go under the ground. You will be finished. Everybody else will also be finished. What are you worried about? You are worried about money? You are worried about somebody’s opinion? You are worried about prestige? You are worried about your health? There are four things that people worry about –Money, Relationship, Prestige and Health! All of them is going to go away one day. Then why worry. See life from a bigger context. Ten years ago, didn’t you worry? You are still alive. Five years ago, didn’t you worry? You are still alive. Three years back you worried. This worrying did not do anything to you. You only created more toxins in your body. Life anyway goes on. Life is a balance between free will and destiny. How many of you have this question about free will and destiny? (Many in the audience raise their hands). Is life all destined or is it all free will? I tell you, life is a combination of both free will and destiny. Your height is your destiny but your weight is your freewill. You can’t say this my destiny is to weigh 100 kilos. I will tell you to get on to the treadmill. And don’t eat those burgers. So, your weight is your free will and your height is your destiny. Similarly, it’s raining is destiny, whether to get wet or not is your free will.Q:
What is fear?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Every seed has a membrane around it. That shell is there to protect the seed, but when you soak the seed in water, at some point the membrane breaks and the sprout come out of it. In the same way, fear is a mechanism around the life to protect it; at the same time, there is a way to go out of it. If you see, very young kids, they don’t have fear when the mother is taking care of them. But when a kid starts walking on its own, then he looks around here and there very carefully. So, fear comes around that time, and it disappears when the mind or the intellect get mature. A mature intellect has no fearQ:
Does meditation help to come out of the grief when a closed one passes away?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Meditation definitely helps you overcome grief when a close one has crossed over to other side. See, death is a very certain thing. Nothing is more certain than death. However you have lived your life, you are going to die. Successful or unsuccessful, famous or infamous, rich or poor, healthy or sick - you are going to die. It is not only sick people who die, healthy people also die. Everyone will die one day, so death is the most certain thing. Meditation definitely helps you to overcome grief as it helps you accept this reality. You gain a broder perspective, and then you can say, "Oh you are gone, bye for now. I will see you again in a short while.’ Not only that, but when you meditate, the vibrations reach across to them and they feel peaceful.Q:
I feel jealous when I see my girlfriend interacting with someone else. I love her but these feeling of mine are bringing a distance between us. How do I handle this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I think this is very common. People feel this way even after getting married. If a new person comes to your house, will you welcome them and talk to them? Yes, you would. Now someone looking at you will think you look very happy. Suppose you are welcoming someone and talking to them happily and your girlfriend sees you and feels jealous about it, how would you feel? Put yourself in her shoes. Many times it could be your own imagination; the way your own mind functions because of possessiveness. When you are possessive then the whole chain of negative thoughts starts coming. So when you love somebody, just take it for granted that they are yours.Q:
I feel jealous when I see people who were at the same level as me earlier but are now much ahead of me. How to deal with it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Be friendly with those who are progressing and who are happy, and have compassion for those who are unhappy. Don't be friendly with people who are complaining and negative in their mindset because if you are friendly with them you also get into that mode. So, for people who are miserable, have compassion. If your friend is progressing why should you be jealous? Would you like your friends being jealous of your progress? Just ask this one question to yourself. I want to tell you an incident: once a boy was very unhappy and his parents brought him to me. This boy always used to get medals in sports but this time he lost to his friend. So I asked him this simple question, “Why are you unhappy?” He said, “I didn't get the prize”. I asked, “Who got it”, to which he said that his friend got it. I said, “That means you are unhappy that your friend got the prize", that suddenly woke him up. I said, “What do you want? You want your friends to be happy when you win or you want your friends to be unhappy when you win?” He said, “I want my friends to be happy if I win the race”. I said, “So, now that your friend has won the race why are you not happy?” There was a sudden shift in the mindset of that boy. This is what is happening in this world - we don't reflect on our self and that little awareness makes it all so different and changes the whole scenario.Q:
After death what happens to the soul?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Well, it gets ready to come back. It goes and stands in the line for another body. Millions are waiting to come back to the planet. That is why I tell people who have suicidal tendencies and want to kill themselves, not to do it. You have waited a long time and in a long queue to get a body, so don’t destroy it. it is very precious!Q:
How to forgive?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you find a person to be a culprit, try to see them from a broader angle. The person is a culprit because he is a victim himself or herself. He or she doesn't have knowledge, they are ignorant and they have pain in their own heart. They are a victim and so they are inflicting pain on you and others. So have compassion for them. When you see that inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help, you will be able to forgive them. You must visit a prison and talk to the prisoners there, you will feel so much compassion for them. You will forgive all the sins that they have done. These poor people had nobody to guide them. No guidance and no love, and so they did all the wrong things that they did.Founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, The Art of Living is an educational and humanitarian movement engaged in stress-management and service initiatives.
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