Love cannot ascertain authority

Love cannot ascertain authority

November 18, 2011

Q: Dear Guruji, for the sake of love are we to sacrifice everything including our identity, morals, etc?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Vivek (discrimination) is essential here. Love is not an emotional thing. 
Sometimes people think I am so devoted I should get this privilege; I should get to sit right in front. I should get the privilege to do this my way. That is no good. 
Love cannot ascertain authority that way. 

Q: Gurudev, can a person have two Gurus?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Honor all the masters and walk one path. Because you served them they have sent you to this knowledge.

Q: Respected Guruji, if somebody is being hypnotized and manipulated in various ways then how can one get out of it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Meditation is the antidote for hypnosis. People who meditate and who do pranayama cannot be hypnotized easily. It is very difficult to hypnotize them.

Q: Guruji, what is the meaning of Om Namah Shivaya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Om Namah Shivaya is one who lives in all the five elements.

Q: Guruji, many times people appear to be something inside and outside they appear to be something else. How do you make out what is authentic?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is something called your internal feeling. Someone says you are most welcome but inside you feel that this person is simply saying you are most welcome but he is not really welcoming me. That is your internal feeling that can identify others’ internal feelings. So you should not get fooled by their outside appearance.

Q: Dear Guruji, I did the advanced course for the first time. During the advanced course I would compare myself with others. Is it necessary to compare myself with others?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, you don’t need to compare. 
One thing I want to tell you. You have to repeat the advanced course several times to have a deeper experience. Don’t think you have done it once and that is it. 
When you do it the second time you go a little deeper and third time your understanding is much better.

Q: I often get angry with my son and hit him quite a bit. Just explaining things to him does not always work. Now I have noticed that he always seems alert in case he gets a beating from me. Is this bad?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should not beat your children so often. Once in a year or once in a couple of years is okay. It should not become a routine thing, otherwise they get used to it and they harden their whole attitude. You have to scold them but again not all the time.

Q: Guruji, people say chanting ‘Om’ is not good for women. Is that true?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No. Men are afraid if women chant ‘Om’ they will become very powerful. 
Again only ‘Om’ is not advisable. You should chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ or ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’; something along with Om. 
There is a school of thought which says if you keep chanting ‘Om’ it may bring you more reclusiveness. That is why it is always good to take a Sahaj Samadhi meditation mantra.

Q: Guruji, it seems like a challenge to get this knowledge to the people in our area. Is it our mind that is causing the hindrance or is it that the time has not come for them to receive the knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, just don’t recognize it as difficult or challenging. Just keep doing it and it will happen.

Q: Nature is giving us everything but why is it so furious against everything in this world. Why natural calamities, earthquakes, floods?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Natural calamities occur because it is part of its nature. Secondly we have not been utilizing nature properly. We have been too greedy. We put dynamites on earth and blast it every day. One day the earth will shake; the earth is a living organism.

Q: Guruji, it is said that behind every suffering there is something good. How far is this true?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t sit and keep analyzing. Whatever happened in the past is all dead and gone, move on to the future. See the whole past like a dream. Till now whatever has happened is more or less like a dream. Look into the future, in the next 30 to 40 years what do you want to do. Focus on that with full energy and enthusiasm.

Q: Dear Guruji, whenever I see you my tears keep flowing. Why does that happen?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: These are tears of love. When you see me you cry out of love.