January 02, 2012
Q: Are our emotions linked with age?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. They are linked with hormones in the body and they are also linked with time, age and so many other factors.
Q: Guruji, when are you going to come to my city?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, don’t ask me when I will come. I have everything in abundance, except time. I want to go to many places but time is very short. I have not gone to many places in a long time. I have not visited Africa in a long time. I have not been to England in the last five years. I have to go to Gaza; never been to Portugal, never been to Ukraine. I have invitations from so many places. From South America, they are asking me every day. What to do?!
Q: (A member of the audience spontaneously asked a question without speaking into the mike. The question was inaudible in the recording.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Okay, sometimes at least the pendulum can stop. And when it stops it is so nice. That is why you are here, isn’t it?
The mind swings between cravings and aversions and then aversions and cravings. It needs some rest sometimes. So doing all this will bring that calmness to the mind. And with wisdom, gradually, first you get rid of all the aversions and then you get rid of the cravings too.
Q: (A member of the audience spontaneously asked a question without speaking into the mike. The question was inaudible in the recording.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Sensations are already there in our body. Every pleasant thought has a sensation and an unpleasant thought also creates a sensation. So when you observe the sensations, the unpleasant ones disappear and the pleasant ones increase, that is what happens.
Q: How to handle my negative emotions?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Sudarshan Kriya is the best way to handle negative emotions. Ujjayi breathing, pranayama, meditation, all this works. Isn’t it working?!
Q: Guruji, why do I feel so lazy all the time?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You cannot feel lazy all the time. If there is some charm, then all laziness disappears. If there is a vision, then also laziness disappears. Otherwise if your sugar is low or vitamin D is low then laziness comes.
So there are many factors for laziness. Food is one of the basic reasons for laziness.
Q: Guruji, where do souls come from?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Where do all these planets come from? Where do these flowers come from? Where do animals come from? Where do you come from? It is amazing how in the universe there are so many types of people, so many flowers, so many fruits, so many animals, so many mosquitoes, so many viruses; my goodness! It is such an amazing world, right?!
Q: How can I have more confidence?You are in the right place. Keep doing these things, asanas, pranayama, meditation will bring up the confidence.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are in the right place. Keep doing these things; asanas, pranayama, meditation will bring up the confidence.
Q: Dear Guruji, God created this world but who created God?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I will answer this question but first you should tell me, where is the beginning point of a tennis ball?
We have linear thinking, which means everything has to begin somewhere and end somewhere. Something begins and something ends. So the creation happened and one day everything is going to end. This is linear thinking.
But in the East, there is no linear thinking, it is spherical thinking.
They say three things are uncreated and they will never die or never end. What are they?
One is the Divine Energy which you may call God. It is not created and it is never going to end, like space. Can you tell me which is the beginning point of the space and where does it end? No!
Similarly, matter or this whole universe. The universe is ‘Anadi’, means without a beginning and ‘Ananta’, means without an end. So also the souls, the life has no beginning and no end. It appears to end but it is going to begin again. It is like the waves in the ocean. One wave comes and it appears to end, but it is coming back again. The same water goes and comes back again. So, souls have no beginning and no end, the Divine or God has no beginning or no end and the universe has no beginning or no end. In fact all three are one.
So if you want to see God you should stop seeing the world.
You know in what sense? Like a quantum scientist. If a quantum scientist had to see this flower, he would say there is no difference between the leaf, the flower and the stem because everything is made up of atoms. There is no difference, it is all one. Any one point anywhere on the flower will work. Similarly, a quantum physicist says, to find out your DNA just a drop of your saliva is good enough, or just one pinch of skin. It is all the same, this is what a scientist would say.
This is quantum science.
But on other hand, the petals are not stem and the stem is not the leaf, they are all different. So if you want to see God, just see the whole Universe as energy and that is it.
Q: How to love people even if you don’t like them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, I don’t have an experience of this but I can still try to give you an answer.
Don’t try to love them. First stop disliking them.
Why you dislike them? Because of some qualities.
Now imagine why they have those qualities; because of lack of education.
They also came to this world like a baby, so happy like you. But why they have these negative qualities is because of no proper background, no education, a lot of insecurity, right.
If someone is nasty or arrogant, it is because they are insecure. They have not had love in their lives.
If one is greedy, it is because they are insecure and fearful. Why is there fear? Because there is no love.
So when you see all the negative qualities in them, it is because of lack of education. They had no spirituality, they have had no love in their lives and the mind is too small.
So you will stop disliking them first, right.
This is a fact! Why somebody is like that or why someone is cruel? Why someone is violent? It is because they are so stressed and the mind is small. It can’t think big. And why is it so? Because of lack of education and lack of spirituality. This opportunity was not given to them. They were never given education where love, non-violence, happiness were all taught, correct! So their mind and heart is closed.
So when you find this, you will stop disliking them. And the next step is you will have compassion, ‘oh, poor thing!’
They don’t have the vision to see life and see others. They make wrong judgments all the time and think bad about others and behave badly and hurt themselves. So when you understand that these are the factors that lead them to that type of behavior, you get compassion.
So, don’t try to love them. Stop disliking them and then have compassion. Then the third step automatically is you can’t but love everybody.
And no need to force yourself to love somebody whom you dislike. You should not do that.
Q: When you go through a phase where there is a circle of worry and fear, what is the best way to handle it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just your own experience. ‘I have gone through this many a times, okay, another one more time.’ That makes you numb to it. You become sort of immune to it, if it is happening over and over again.
It is our greed, our possessiveness and the aggression in us that brings us all this. If you are content, happy and centered, everything will flow to you. You don’t have to go and grab something; things will come your way. Do you see what I am saying? This is why this world is called ‘Maya’. Do you know what Maya means? When you try to go and grab it, it runs away from you. If you try to possess or if you try to grab something, it just runs away from you.
If you are stable, still and content within yourself then everything runs towards you. That is why I have said from the very beginning, if you follow joy, misery follows you and if you follow knowledge, fun follows you.
Q: What are the basics of team work?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Basics for team work is accepting people as they are and not holding on to your position too strongly. Sometimes be considerate, otherwise you can’t work in a team. Being more open and considerate.
Q: If you don’t feel attached to the fruit of action, how can you leave people? This is a puzzle for me.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, if you are attached to the fruit of action it can cause feverishness.
Like a farmer; you know what the farmer does? He ploughs the soil and throws the seeds. He is not anxious to pick up each seed every day to see has it sprouted or not. Then it will not sprout.
So when you have confidence, you have no attachment to the fruit of action.
That does not mean indifference. Do you understand what I am saying?
A farmer throws the seeds and he comes home and sleeps well. He does not worry that all the seeds may disappear or it may not sprout. Then he will not even go home, he will sit there and wait for it to sprout. He will dig the soil every day to see if it has sprouted. No, nothing is going to happen.
So a farmer is the best example. He throws the seeds on the fields and he goes back and has a good nap. Next day he comes and sees all the tulips have come, all the sunflowers have blossomed. It takes a while; it doesn’t come the next day. But in the next month when he comes and sees, all the seeds have sprouted. Some of them have not sprouted, so what! If he throws one kilogram of seeds, not every seed will sprout, correct. And he doesn’t cry, ‘oh, some didn’t sprout.’ Those which blossomed into flowers, he just enjoys them.
Q: Guruji, what is the difference between Dharma and Karma?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Dharma is your nature and Karma is your duty.
Suppose your nature is to cook food, or your nature is to teach, or your nature is to help people, or do business, that is your Dharma. And the action that follows, what you do in your life, that is your Karma.
Q: Guruji, when I think about you, I dream of you. When I dream of you, are you thinking of me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, it could be!
Tomorrow or the day after, we will talk about the five different types of dreams.
Q: When I close my eyes, often visions come.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Let them come, no problem.
Q: How to tell someone to do basic course when you know it is very good for them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, I also don’t know.
You think of ways of how you can convince someone to do it. Best is not to explain too much, simply tell them that it is very good, just do it. Two sentences are good, ‘it is something which is very good and I did it and you also do it. I am not going to tell you what it is.’
That does more wonder than trying to explain to them how breathing is good and only by breathing you can be alive, etc., because when people know what is good for them, they still don’t do it. But when you say that this is so nice and something surprising, then the surprises people like to do and they catch it. So that’s what you should say, ‘there is something surprising, I don’t want to tell you, you just do it.’ Then the mind is curious and they want to find out what it is.
So all of you do the same, don’t explain anything about the basic course or what you have done. You should simply create surprise, ‘you know I did something very surprising and it was fantastic. You just do it.’
They will ask, 'what is it? tell me!' But you say, ‘I can’t tell you, you just do it.’
Again they will ask, 'please tell us', say, ‘no way, I cannot tell you. It is difficult to explain, you just do it. It is so superb.’
Q: Physical pain, is it linked to the mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Physical pain and mind is connected, definitely. You know why, because when you sleep or when you are under anesthesia you don’t feel it.
So when you sleep you don’t feel it. In sleep what happens is the mind shuts off. In anesthesia they put some blocks in the nervous system so that the mind cannot feel that, correct! So the mind definitely has a role to play in pain management. The doctors who specialize in pain management they say how mind, breath, meditation are all very important in pain management.
Q: What to do with the disbelief and so many concerns when you feel the heart is closed to knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See when you said that you always seek to analyze then you are already out of it. Whenever you say that I am too judgmental that means you are already out of it, got it. With age and experience and with meditation you grow bigger than that, yes. You grow out of it.
Already look back and see, five years ago how judgmental you were and how you are now. There is so much difference, right?!
Q: When you meditate, is the aim not to think of anything?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Correct, you just be with the instructions and you will get that deeper experience. You are not trying to think or focus on anything; just be.
Q: What is compassion?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, if you don’t know it, you have no chance to know it.
You already know it, you simply wanted a definition and compassion is much beyond definitions so I cannot define it.
Q: I read your book in which you said, ‘if you think you have to make a decision you are confused.’ I still feel confused. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, when you think you have to make a decision that means you are confused and you have not decided. If you have decided you won’t say you need to decide.
If you say, ‘I am hungry’, that means you have not eaten. If you have eaten then you are not hungry, correct. And my job is to confuse you and not to convince anybody.
Every time you are confused you grow one step higher, so it is good.
Q: You said earlier tonight, that you have everything in abundance but time. How do I deal with it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, I don’t know, I want you to tell me how do I deal with it? I don’t have time, I have been asked to come everywhere. Already my calendar for 2012 is finished, the whole calendar is over and dates are over. Not only me, but for some of our teachers 2013 is over. They are a step ahead of me. Some of our Swamis and Rishis, their 2013 calendar is also full, what to do?!
Q: If I try to decide, which one is intuition and which is the mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That which happens correct is intuition. You have to wait and see.
Q: What does silence mean?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: (Guruji kept silent for a couple of seconds)… got it?!
Q: Are our emotions linked with age?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. They are linked with hormones in the body and they are also linked with time, age and so many other factors.
Q: Guruji, when are you going to come to my city?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, don’t ask me when I will come. I have everything in abundance, except time. I want to go to many places but time is very short. I have not gone to many places in a long time. I have not visited Africa in a long time. I have not been to England in the last five years. I have to go to Gaza; never been to Portugal, never been to Ukraine. I have invitations from so many places. From South America, they are asking me every day. What to do?!
Q: (A member of the audience spontaneously asked a question without speaking into the mike. The question was inaudible in the recording.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Okay, sometimes at least the pendulum can stop. And when it stops it is so nice. That is why you are here, isn’t it?
The mind swings between cravings and aversions and then aversions and cravings. It needs some rest sometimes. So doing all this will bring that calmness to the mind. And with wisdom, gradually, first you get rid of all the aversions and then you get rid of the cravings too.
Q: (A member of the audience spontaneously asked a question without speaking into the mike. The question was inaudible in the recording.)
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Sensations are already there in our body. Every pleasant thought has a sensation and an unpleasant thought also creates a sensation. So when you observe the sensations, the unpleasant ones disappear and the pleasant ones increase, that is what happens.
Q: How to handle my negative emotions?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Sudarshan Kriya is the best way to handle negative emotions. Ujjayi breathing, pranayama, meditation, all this works. Isn’t it working?!
Q: Guruji, why do I feel so lazy all the time?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You cannot feel lazy all the time. If there is some charm, then all laziness disappears. If there is a vision, then also laziness disappears. Otherwise if your sugar is low or vitamin D is low then laziness comes.
So there are many factors for laziness. Food is one of the basic reasons for laziness.
Q: Guruji, where do souls come from?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Where do all these planets come from? Where do these flowers come from? Where do animals come from? Where do you come from? It is amazing how in the universe there are so many types of people, so many flowers, so many fruits, so many animals, so many mosquitoes, so many viruses; my goodness! It is such an amazing world, right?!
Q: How can I have more confidence?You are in the right place. Keep doing these things, asanas, pranayama, meditation will bring up the confidence.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are in the right place. Keep doing these things; asanas, pranayama, meditation will bring up the confidence.
Q: Dear Guruji, God created this world but who created God?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I will answer this question but first you should tell me, where is the beginning point of a tennis ball?
We have linear thinking, which means everything has to begin somewhere and end somewhere. Something begins and something ends. So the creation happened and one day everything is going to end. This is linear thinking.
But in the East, there is no linear thinking, it is spherical thinking.
They say three things are uncreated and they will never die or never end. What are they?
One is the Divine Energy which you may call God. It is not created and it is never going to end, like space. Can you tell me which is the beginning point of the space and where does it end? No!
Similarly, matter or this whole universe. The universe is ‘Anadi’, means without a beginning and ‘Ananta’, means without an end. So also the souls, the life has no beginning and no end. It appears to end but it is going to begin again. It is like the waves in the ocean. One wave comes and it appears to end, but it is coming back again. The same water goes and comes back again. So, souls have no beginning and no end, the Divine or God has no beginning or no end and the universe has no beginning or no end. In fact all three are one.
So if you want to see God you should stop seeing the world.
You know in what sense? Like a quantum scientist. If a quantum scientist had to see this flower, he would say there is no difference between the leaf, the flower and the stem because everything is made up of atoms. There is no difference, it is all one. Any one point anywhere on the flower will work. Similarly, a quantum physicist says, to find out your DNA just a drop of your saliva is good enough, or just one pinch of skin. It is all the same, this is what a scientist would say.
This is quantum science.
But on other hand, the petals are not stem and the stem is not the leaf, they are all different. So if you want to see God, just see the whole Universe as energy and that is it.
Q: How to love people even if you don’t like them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, I don’t have an experience of this but I can still try to give you an answer.
Don’t try to love them. First stop disliking them.
Why you dislike them? Because of some qualities.
Now imagine why they have those qualities; because of lack of education.
They also came to this world like a baby, so happy like you. But why they have these negative qualities is because of no proper background, no education, a lot of insecurity, right.
If someone is nasty or arrogant, it is because they are insecure. They have not had love in their lives.
If one is greedy, it is because they are insecure and fearful. Why is there fear? Because there is no love.
So when you see all the negative qualities in them, it is because of lack of education. They had no spirituality, they have had no love in their lives and the mind is too small.
So you will stop disliking them first, right.
This is a fact! Why somebody is like that or why someone is cruel? Why someone is violent? It is because they are so stressed and the mind is small. It can’t think big. And why is it so? Because of lack of education and lack of spirituality. This opportunity was not given to them. They were never given education where love, non-violence, happiness were all taught, correct! So their mind and heart is closed.
So when you find this, you will stop disliking them. And the next step is you will have compassion, ‘oh, poor thing!’
They don’t have the vision to see life and see others. They make wrong judgments all the time and think bad about others and behave badly and hurt themselves. So when you understand that these are the factors that lead them to that type of behavior, you get compassion.
So, don’t try to love them. Stop disliking them and then have compassion. Then the third step automatically is you can’t but love everybody.
And no need to force yourself to love somebody whom you dislike. You should not do that.
Q: When you go through a phase where there is a circle of worry and fear, what is the best way to handle it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just your own experience. ‘I have gone through this many a times, okay, another one more time.’ That makes you numb to it. You become sort of immune to it, if it is happening over and over again.
It is our greed, our possessiveness and the aggression in us that brings us all this. If you are content, happy and centered, everything will flow to you. You don’t have to go and grab something; things will come your way. Do you see what I am saying? This is why this world is called ‘Maya’. Do you know what Maya means? When you try to go and grab it, it runs away from you. If you try to possess or if you try to grab something, it just runs away from you.
If you are stable, still and content within yourself then everything runs towards you. That is why I have said from the very beginning, if you follow joy, misery follows you and if you follow knowledge, fun follows you.
Q: What are the basics of team work?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Basics for team work is accepting people as they are and not holding on to your position too strongly. Sometimes be considerate, otherwise you can’t work in a team. Being more open and considerate.
Q: If you don’t feel attached to the fruit of action, how can you leave people? This is a puzzle for me.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, if you are attached to the fruit of action it can cause feverishness.
Like a farmer; you know what the farmer does? He ploughs the soil and throws the seeds. He is not anxious to pick up each seed every day to see has it sprouted or not. Then it will not sprout.
So when you have confidence, you have no attachment to the fruit of action.
That does not mean indifference. Do you understand what I am saying?
A farmer throws the seeds and he comes home and sleeps well. He does not worry that all the seeds may disappear or it may not sprout. Then he will not even go home, he will sit there and wait for it to sprout. He will dig the soil every day to see if it has sprouted. No, nothing is going to happen.
So a farmer is the best example. He throws the seeds on the fields and he goes back and has a good nap. Next day he comes and sees all the tulips have come, all the sunflowers have blossomed. It takes a while; it doesn’t come the next day. But in the next month when he comes and sees, all the seeds have sprouted. Some of them have not sprouted, so what! If he throws one kilogram of seeds, not every seed will sprout, correct. And he doesn’t cry, ‘oh, some didn’t sprout.’ Those which blossomed into flowers, he just enjoys them.
Q: Guruji, what is the difference between Dharma and Karma?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Dharma is your nature and Karma is your duty.
Suppose your nature is to cook food, or your nature is to teach, or your nature is to help people, or do business, that is your Dharma. And the action that follows, what you do in your life, that is your Karma.
Q: Guruji, when I think about you, I dream of you. When I dream of you, are you thinking of me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, it could be!
Tomorrow or the day after, we will talk about the five different types of dreams.
Q: When I close my eyes, often visions come.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Let them come, no problem.
Q: How to tell someone to do basic course when you know it is very good for them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, I also don’t know.
You think of ways of how you can convince someone to do it. Best is not to explain too much, simply tell them that it is very good, just do it. Two sentences are good, ‘it is something which is very good and I did it and you also do it. I am not going to tell you what it is.’
That does more wonder than trying to explain to them how breathing is good and only by breathing you can be alive, etc., because when people know what is good for them, they still don’t do it. But when you say that this is so nice and something surprising, then the surprises people like to do and they catch it. So that’s what you should say, ‘there is something surprising, I don’t want to tell you, you just do it.’ Then the mind is curious and they want to find out what it is.
So all of you do the same, don’t explain anything about the basic course or what you have done. You should simply create surprise, ‘you know I did something very surprising and it was fantastic. You just do it.’
They will ask, 'what is it? tell me!' But you say, ‘I can’t tell you, you just do it.’
Again they will ask, 'please tell us', say, ‘no way, I cannot tell you. It is difficult to explain, you just do it. It is so superb.’
Q: Physical pain, is it linked to the mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Physical pain and mind is connected, definitely. You know why, because when you sleep or when you are under anesthesia you don’t feel it.
So when you sleep you don’t feel it. In sleep what happens is the mind shuts off. In anesthesia they put some blocks in the nervous system so that the mind cannot feel that, correct! So the mind definitely has a role to play in pain management. The doctors who specialize in pain management they say how mind, breath, meditation are all very important in pain management.
Q: What to do with the disbelief and so many concerns when you feel the heart is closed to knowledge?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See when you said that you always seek to analyze then you are already out of it. Whenever you say that I am too judgmental that means you are already out of it, got it. With age and experience and with meditation you grow bigger than that, yes. You grow out of it.
Already look back and see, five years ago how judgmental you were and how you are now. There is so much difference, right?!
Q: When you meditate, is the aim not to think of anything?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Correct, you just be with the instructions and you will get that deeper experience. You are not trying to think or focus on anything; just be.
Q: What is compassion?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, if you don’t know it, you have no chance to know it.
You already know it, you simply wanted a definition and compassion is much beyond definitions so I cannot define it.
Q: I read your book in which you said, ‘if you think you have to make a decision you are confused.’ I still feel confused. What to do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, when you think you have to make a decision that means you are confused and you have not decided. If you have decided you won’t say you need to decide.
If you say, ‘I am hungry’, that means you have not eaten. If you have eaten then you are not hungry, correct. And my job is to confuse you and not to convince anybody.
Every time you are confused you grow one step higher, so it is good.
Q: You said earlier tonight, that you have everything in abundance but time. How do I deal with it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Oh, I don’t know, I want you to tell me how do I deal with it? I don’t have time, I have been asked to come everywhere. Already my calendar for 2012 is finished, the whole calendar is over and dates are over. Not only me, but for some of our teachers 2013 is over. They are a step ahead of me. Some of our Swamis and Rishis, their 2013 calendar is also full, what to do?!
Q: If I try to decide, which one is intuition and which is the mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That which happens correct is intuition. You have to wait and see.
Q: What does silence mean?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: (Guruji kept silent for a couple of seconds)… got it?!
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