Foolish people are there to make you skillful

March 05, 2012

Q: Dear Guruji, in the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says, ‘Bow down to me, I will free you. Follow Me!’ and a common man is also caught up in the ‘me’ and ‘mine’! So how is Krishna different from us? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: One is the person who is capable of taking the sins saying, ‘You give it to me.’
Another is someone who is incapable of taking anything and saying ‘Me.’
There is a difference.
When a doctor comes and says, ‘You have fever? I will take care of you’. It is a different issue.
But someone who has no knowledge of medicine, if they say, ‘I will take care of you,’ has no meaning.
So the space from which Krishna says, ‘Me’, that me is not the body.
That is why Krishna himself has said, ‘Avajananti Mam Mudha Manusim Tanum Asritam; Param Bhavam Ajananto Mama Bhuta-Maheshvaram’.
The ‘Me’ in me is a very different me, and not knowing that transcendental nature of mine, people think I am just a human body and mind.
So that is the difference.
Even when Arjuna asked Krishna to repeat Bhagvad Gita again after the war was over, he said, ‘No, I cannot. That moment I was in a Samadhi; in a different state of consciousness and so I said it. Now I cannot repeat it.’

Q: Guruji, what is the difference between a thought and intention? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Intention is also a thought, a stronger thought or a resolved thought. So many thoughts come and float around but some thoughts are resolved. Those resolute thoughts we call intentions.

Q: How to utilize this life properly? I feel like I have wasted twenty seven years of my life. I want to be useful now.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, it is a very good realization. You want to be useful, that is a very good intention.
So first the realization comes, ‘I have wasted’, and then the resolution comes, ‘I want to be useful’, and then nothing stops you. Go ahead, it is very good.
But there is no point in regretting the past. You should not sit and keep regretting. Move on in the future because you have learnt something very valuable to life in the past through all the mistakes.

Q: In Kena Upanishad, it is said that those who worship ignorance, they go to hell. And those who worship knowledge, they go to a darker hell. Please elaborate on this. 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There are two types of knowledge, Vidya and Avidya.
Avidya does not mean ignorance; it means the knowledge of the relative.
Vidya means the knowledge of the absolute.
If one catches only the knowledge of the absolute, he will go to hell. If one catches only the knowledge of the relative, he will also go to hell.
That is what it says, ‘They will go to deeper darkness.’
It is like body and mind. If you are thinking only about the mind and ignore the body, then you will be in trouble. Similarly, if you are thinking only of the body and not attending to the mind, then also you will not be complete. Body and mind is a complex and they go together. That is life.
So it is perfect what has been said.

Q: Guruji, how can we maintain our innocence and yet be skilful. This seems very difficult these days. 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is the whole secret, to be skilful and be innocent as well.
You know, devotion will help. When you have the devotion and the faith that there is a power which is in control then your innocence remains intact.
Even for a few moments if this awareness comes that the whole universe is ruled by some orderliness, something is governing this universe then you don’t think that you are too smart and you will come back to your innocence.
And when you are focused on work, as a by-product of it, naturally you will be skilful.
You can’t say all the time, ‘There is some power that will take care of me.’
When you have to take a proper train or bus, then you have to buy a proper ticket. If you don’t buy the right ticket and just sit thinking, ‘Oh! Someone will take care’, then the police will come and take care of you. They will find out why are you traveling without a ticket!
So that is where life is a combination of skillfulness and universal awareness.

Q: How is laziness different from the yoga of non-action? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, laziness just makes you dull. It makes you heavy. Laziness doesn’t bring you energy, happiness or dynamism.
Yoga of non-action brings lot of energy and enthusiasm. Even before you intend to do something, things are already happening and that is called Naishkarmya Siddhi.
Before you even act, you just intend and it is already done. That is a higher state. When you get into that state you won’t even get this question, whether this is laziness or not. This question even does not arise.

Q: Dear Guruji, please tell me how can I maintain individuality in a group without it being seen as ego? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just be natural. Be considerate, be compassionate and learn team work.

Q: Dear Guruji, does the jeevatma experience anything after death? Can the jeevatma communicate with us? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes!
Jeevatma or the individual soul after death remains in a plane with all its deepest impressions till it finds another suitable body to come back and to get rid of all those impressions. And in the process of getting rid of all those impressions, it collects more impressions and then goes back, and the cycle continues. That is why to break this cycle – yoga, meditation, devotion, all these are the ways.
Contentment is essential, deep contentment brings liberation.

Q: Guruji, you tell us to seek mukti (liberation) in life. How can I seek something without tasting it? Isn’t it just blind faith? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See, don’t you want freedom? A sort of inner freedom where you feel so content and happy. That is mukti.
You know it somewhere deep inside, but what clouds it is one desire after another and so on. One desire gets fulfilled and another desire comes. So your spirit gets covered by requirements and desires and you will keep going round and round in circles, and you don’t realize that there is something much deeper inside.

Q: Guruji, I did my advance course last week and I am feeling energetic right now. But as soon as I join my office back again, I lose my temper due to my boss. Either tell me how to get rid of my temper or please get rid of my boss. 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Both are there for a reason.
Observe how the irritation begins when your boss behaves the way he behaves.
What happens? If inside something starts boiling up then take a deep breath in, and instead of focusing on your boss, focus on the sensations in your body.
Work on yourself, you can become more skilful.
All foolish and stupid people are there in the world to make you skilful. They bring out the skills within you. How to handle them, how to behave, all these skills come out of you.

Q: Dear Guruji, how can I know if it is the right time to separate from someone? I have been struggling with one relationship for almost five years now. It has become one of the biggest struggles of my life. 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, I can’t advice you on this because I have no experience of separation from anybody.
I would say, ask yourself, have you given 100% to your relationship. If you feel that you haven’t, then give it and try. If it doesn’t work and if it has only been a struggle in hope of getting some pleasure or some joy, it is better you move your way. Don’t waste your life, move on.
There are so many things to do in life besides a relationship, so don’t get stuck.

Q: Guruji, we in this life or some other lifetimes have done some bad karma either by thoughts, words or deeds. Which karma can be erased and which ones do we have to suffer for? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t sit and analyse these things, just move on in life. You never know.
Even in the Bhagavad Gita it is said, ’Gahana Karmano Gatih’, even the greatest man on earth is confused on which karma does what. So, best is to surrender all the karma.
Drop thinking about all the karmas and do your dharma and move on.
If you do your dharma, automatically those karmas which can be erased will get erased.
Of course sadhana definitely erases some bad karma and for some karma we will have to go through it. There is no choice or option; you have to go through it.

Q: Guruji, amongst the politicians of this time, some are good but they are very few in number. Can you open some good schools and colleges where they can be trained to become better politicians? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, in our university in Orissa, we are opening a college of ’Good Governance’.
This college of Good Governance that we are starting is to train people for all the different leadership positions in society, like the Gram Panchayat, Bloc Presidents, District President, Zila Adhyaksha.
All those who stand in the elections for Nagar Nigam and Nagar Palika will qualify from the university we are opening up. The work has already started.
These days anybody becomes part of the Gram Panchayat, regardless of whether they know what their responsibilities are or not. Many of them don’t know their responsibilities, or what the work involves or how to conduct themselves.
I am thinking on similar lines for journalists and lawyers. Training them on how to conduct themselves is very important.
See what is happening in Bangalore these days. Lawyers behave in one way, the media in another way and the journalists in completely different way and everything combined are making simple problems all the more complex. To solve this complex problem, attention needs to be drawn to individual behaviour.
That is why it is said in the Gita, 'Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt’, even a little bit of dharma, a little bit of knowledge is good enough. If one takes a single step towards this direction it is assured that he will be rid of all his fears. He will not fear even the greatest terror. This is what Lord Krishna has said in the Bhagvad Gita.

Q: Guruji, I am a student and I feel that I should study more. Yesterday, you asked us to drop our desire to want more and more. What to drop and for what should I put in more effort? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For a student I will say you should study more.
This I said for the adults, to drop their desire to have more of happiness in life. But when it comes to knowledge, sadhana and seva, for that you can desire for more, that is no problem.

Q: Guruji, my elder brother got married a few years back. Now, he says just like how the TV is controlled by a remote, similarly a wife is controlled by currency notes. These days, to maintain a wife has become a costly affair. What is the remedy for this? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, you will have to do it. There is no way out. If the maintenance cost is high then put in more effort.

Q: Guruji, I love you a lot. But whenever I come in front of you, tears start rolling down my eyes. Is there something wrong with me? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, it is absolutely fine. There is nothing wrong with tears rolling down your eyes. It is very natural and good. There is no problem with it.
When the heart blossoms then tears come, this is very natural.
What happens when you come close to one who is dear to you, close to the Guru?
There is a shloka in the Upanishads which says, 'Bhidhyathe hridaya granthi, Chidhyanthe sarva samshayaah, Ksheeyanthe cha asya karmaani, Tasmin drista paraavare’
The knots in the hearts are undone, questions and doubts in the mind vanish, karmas are washed away, by being the presence of a loved one or a Guru or a Gyaani.
This has been said. This means what is written in the Upanishad is true!

Q: Guruji, we have heard that there are some enlightened beings present in this world to help people, just like you help us. But they prefer to stay away from people. Are such people present today as well? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There could be some people like that, some sadhaks who keep doing sadhana. And some feel, ‘why should I get caught up, what is the need ’, they think like that.
There are all kinds of people in the world. There aren’t just one or two great people in the world, but plenty in number.
But that does not mean that those who live in the jungles are superior to those who live in cities.

Q: Guruji, you always say, ‘choice is yours and blessing is mine’. But all troubles lie in making a choice. How to make the right choice? Is there any formula or does it come with the blessings? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Time will tell you what the right choice is. A little while after choosing you will get to know whether you made the right choice or not.
Why do you leave everything for me do? You also do something.

Q: Guruji, when I see certain men I get very fearful. Sometimes the fear I experience is intolerable. What do I do? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is quite natural for a lady to feel this way, and especially if you are alone and you find some really not right intended men around, you should feel afraid, naturally.
Good, that keeps you safe as you would not go there alone.
The society is not yet that refined and that sattvik that everybody is good. One should be scared of people who are not very good and without good intentions, that’s fine!
Crime against women is so much today, all over the world. This has to go.
Only through a wave of spirituality can we change this situation.

Q: Parmahansa Yoganadaji initiated people into something called Kriya Yoga. I always wanted to know if Sudarshan Kriya is different from Kriya Yoga and how? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, Kriya Yoga is meditating on different chakras. Similar to what we do in ‘Hari Om’ meditation. But Sudarshan Kriya is completely different. In Sudarshan Kriya, the breath, rhythm of the soul, rhythm of the mind and rhythm of the spirit, all this is involved. So that gives you a deeper experience, and it helps one to go deep in meditation.
Only when you do it, you will understand.

Q: The policies that the government is making these days is taking away the values from the society at a very fast pace. To work to understand these policies and fight for the right of the people takes a lot of time and can get one very involved. If I work towards this will it take me away from you? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Not at all.
You can really be a reformer in the society but you will have to balance your life. Do this work and also take time out for yourself. Do your practices, do your pranayama, do your meditation and then be involved in the activity and in reforming the society.

Q: Guruji, in the 7 layers of existence, mind and ego have been classified as different entities, but isn’t ego a thought or an emotion? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, ego is an awareness of ‘I’. All the four (mind, intellect, memory, ego) have different functions. However, they belong to the same consciousness.
Mind is thoughts.
Memory is that which appears to record them.
Intellect does the decision-making, to decide between right and wrong.
Ego is the one that experiences everything. It is the awareness that ‘I exist’.
During sleep, the intellect rests, the ego exists, there are thoughts in the mind and memory is present too. Since the intellect is not present during sleep there is no reasoning and so the thoughts are not coherent.
The mind is calm during sleep and the memory just knows that, ‘I am sleeping’.
During meditation all of them dissolve.
As you meditate you will know more about this.

The right thing will come at the right time

July 01, 2012

Boone, North Carolina

Q: What to do with unfulfilled desires? The lifelong desire of prosperity in relationships goes unfulfilled. As time passes I feel frustrated, regretful, and my energy sapped. How do I manifest these desires and let them go?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You say it is a lifelong desire. Is it really a lifelong desire? Did you have the same desire when you were a kid, or when you were a teenager?

Just take a look at it. Is the desire worth all the effort and time you are putting into it? Or can your life be very useful in some other way? These are a few things that you need to ponder upon. As your energy builds up, let go and you will find that desires just happen. The more you hang onto them, the more you hold on and crave for it, the longer it takes. That is a fact.

We are both, a combination of dependency and independence – body and spirit. While the spirit is independent the body is always dependent. Instead of focusing on the relative and changing aspect of life which is always dependent, put a little more focus on that aspect inside you which is independent, which is eternal and which is the same throughout.

Q: Dear Guruji, I know that you love me, but I don't love myself. I wish I was more comfortable within myself and with others around me. What to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are doing the right thing; Advanced Meditation Course. That is the first thing we do in the course, praise yourself and praise your partner. Didn’t you do that? Do that sincerely. Don't think that this is just another exercise and they are just asking me to praise, no! Do it seriously. Some of these exercises may appear silly to you on some level, but on another level they really have some impact on our consciousness and our subconscious mind.

Stop blaming yourself - this is the first law of spirituality. The more you blame, the more you will be away from you own spirit. So you should stop blaming yourself and recognize the good qualities that you have. Continue doing this and it will happen.

Sometimes these patterns, these old habits take a longer time to ease out. As you become aware, ‘I have to stop blaming myself’, then suddenly your energy goes up. And do pranayama, it definitely helps. When energy is higher, there is no way that you will continue to blame yourself, that is not possible.

Q: How do I get rid of my fear? I have fear for everything. Everything is scary. Fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of death, fear of flying. Everything! Please help.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Fear is simply an emotion or a sensation in the body. There is no need to associate or attach it to different things.

When you start observing those patterns, those energies that happen in you, you will see that fear, love and hatred all happen in one region, and it is the same energy which manifests love, hatred or fear.

When you have some passion; if you are passionate about something, fear disappears. Fear appears when you don't have any specific passion in life. Isn't this the experience? Only when you have passion, or strongly hate something, then fear will disappear. Fear will disappear when you either have a strong hatred or strong love towards something. In the absence of either, a little lingering fear comes up. But, again, more hollow and empty meditations, pranayama, engaging in some seva activities; all this will help in eliminating that.

Q: If you have a child by mistake, and you are not married; growing and accepting the child and the mother, even though you do not love the mother and letting go of the love of your life because of a mistake; what does one do? Is this it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, move on. Move on! That is all I can say. Don't sit and brood over it, okay. Just move on. Life is much more. You have many roles to play.

First of all you are a beautiful citizen of this beautiful planet. Recognize that. You are part of a universal light, recognize that; and then you have all of the roles to play, as a mother, or a son, or a daughter or whatever.

You make a determination, ‘Nothing is going to put me down. I am going to play whatever role I am supposed to play 100%’. That is it; it will start happening that way.

Q: My mother passed away a year ago from cancer. I am doing my best, but how do I allow myself to feel free fully from this?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Time heals. Broaden your vision.

Q: How can I get purer? Even though I am doing Sadhana, Satsang and Seva, I do not feel very pure. When I see people who are arrogant, rude and proud, especially Art of Living people, I feel very sad. How do I get rid of this?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You are saying two things. One you are saying that others are arrogant, others are not okay; and the other thing you are saying is you are not okay. This is just mirroring; you are mirroring in both sides.

I would say if you feel that you are impure, pranayama and proper food will help. If you still feel that you are not okay then just go on a fruit and vegetable diet for a couple of days and just sing and chant. When you are sitting in satsang and singing how can you say that you are impure? There is no way. Don't you feel when you are sitting in satsang that how much ever impurity you might have felt in the mind, it all got lifted up?

How many of you feel that way? (Many raise their hands).

See!

‘Nahi Jnanena sadrusham pavitram iha vidyate. Tat swayam yoga samsiddhaha kalen atmani vindathi.’ – (Srimad Bhagavad Gita chapter 4, verse number 38) The old saying is – there is nothing better than knowledge which can purify your mind, your soul and your spirit. Knowledge purifies.

Sit and listen to Ashtavakra Gita for half an hour or 20 minutes; you will feel uplifted.

About your feeling that others are arrogant – it is good that these people have come to me, here, in The Art of Living. I feel happy about it and I have patience, you also keep patience. I patiently keep waiting. Out there in the world they would've created problems and so much trouble to so many. At least here they are in less difficulty, and they are giving you an exercise to practice the first principle - accept people as they are.

Also, I would like you to know that The Art of Living people are not a special species from somewhere, they are normal people in the world and they have all the traits of the people in the world. They are not different.

Yes, your expectations from The Art of Living people is more because you think they are soaked in knowledge, they are in love, they serve people. So your expectations are much higher because you see that they are very privileged. That is correct! But you start from yourself first, you are so privileged, you have the patience to accept everybody.

People ask me questions, ‘Why have you made such people teachers who are so arrogant, who are so angry’, and so on.

I tell them that I need all specimens and all species; all types of people. I carry them along and everybody is comfortable with me, and I am comfortable with everybody. I have patience to see them grow. That is how The Art of Living has grown.

If I was looking for perfection, I tell you, we won't be here today. We would not be sitting here today. I would be somewhere else and you would be somewhere else. We need to have patience.

It is like, in a school, you cannot expect all the kids to be in one class. And it is not that one class is superior to other class. It is not as if the nursery kids are superior to the primary kids. There is no superiority, it is just the way they are. It is just the time and pace they take to grow from one class to another, from one level to another. People keep growing, and we need to have patience. And I tell you, it tests your patience, and it is good.

If you are going around thinking about somebody feeling hateful, angry, revengeful and all that, it is your strong craving for some-thing, or aversion to something which is making you do this. You better get on to doing some seva.

Q: If I pray to you sincerely with utmost longing and all my heart, are you able to listen and answer my prayer even though I am miles and miles away from you physically.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, cell phones don't have miles.

When you can connect with people around the world with a little plastic box called cell phone by just pressing some buttons, why do you underestimate your brain, your heart and your feelings, which are many times more powerful than a plastic toy?

I tell you it happens, doesn't it?

A close friend somewhere, maybe in Japan or the West Coast has some feeling and you also feel that. They are happy and you are happy, they are upset and you are also upset, hasn't this happened to you?

How many of you here feel that it does happen to you, without any verbal communication? (Many raise their hands)

That is a level of communication that happens. It is a very subtle and ethereal level of communication. Yes, it is there. It is not as obvious as a cell phone, for some, but if you observe and look back you'll see.

Q: What exactly is meant by forgiveness? I am trying to forgive someone but I feel like I am not able to do it a 100%. I am wasting lots of time and energy on it, but I can't stop thinking about it. What should I do to truly forgive and move on?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just forget the whole business of forgiving. I think you have too much free time. Come to the kitchen and wash the dishes there. If that is too light a seva, go up and down the stairs about ten times. When you are physically exhausted, your mind will stop thinking about that person also. If you are going around thinking about somebody feeling hateful, angry, revengeful and all that, it is your strong craving for something, or aversion to something which is making you do this. You better get on to doing some seva. I tell you, it will definitely help you.

Don't forgive, never mind. Go to the kitchen and take especially that vessel which has to be scrubbed very well; take a brush and keep scrubbing with all your force. If the floor is dirty somewhere, put some soap and think of that person, and put all your strength and wash the floor. That may be a very good way to let out your anger towards that person.

I don't think there are enough coconuts here, or I would tell you to take some coconuts and one by one break them. Break the coconuts and may be some relief might come to you. I’ll ask if there are any vessels in which the food got burnt, for you. Scrubbing the burnt vessels, that is a very good idea. If there are many people then cooks will have to allocate the vessels that way.

Q: I have been with my husband for seven years. For the last two years I have been having problems with his family. I hate his father. I try to avoid his family so that we have no problems, but his father has the ability to push my buttons. Sometimes I wish I can kill him. How to deal with the situation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I would like you to take two days off and go and do some service in a mental hospital. Just stay with mentally deranged persons for two days and do some work there. When you volunteer in a mental hospital, then you will know how to deal with crazy people. If they are crazy what will you do? You will handle them with patience. You don't go and slap them or strangle them, isn’t it?

I tell you this is a very good exercise, going to a mental asylum and doing seva for one or two days and if that is less then go for a whole week. It is good. Then you will know that there are similar people at home and everywhere. The world is full of mental people, some are in the asylums and some are outside, only they don't have the label. Then you will get enormous patience to deal with all of them.

For your own sake don’t do anything that would put you behind bars, okay! Sometimes when your own father or mother makes a harsh comment, you don't mind it. You have taken many harsh comments from your parents and it stays with you for one day and then it just blows away. But when the in-laws say even half of what your parents would've said that goes right inside and makes you very upset, isn't it? Now you have to reverse the role and think, suppose they were your own parents, how would you handle it? It would make a big difference.

Usually I say in the ashram to everyone that they should leave all of their botherations here and go home happily. One lady said, ‘Can I leave my mother-in-law here and go home happily?’ I said, ‘If your mother-in-law also says the same thing, I will have to have two cells, one for mothers-in-law and one for daughters-in-law.’

I asked her, ‘Hasn't your mother criticized you more than your mother-in-law?’ The lady thought and said, ‘You are correct. My mother is always on me. For every little thing she is finding fault with me.’

I said, ‘Why do you take it differently? When your mother is criticizing you, you don't take it so deep, but with your mother-in-law your attitude is different.’

Just when we throw some light on these facts, our attitude changes and then our circumstances also change.

Q: How can one be enthusiastic but dispassionate at the same time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is the real skill.

When self-interest is not there then it is much easier. Like when you do seva, you are passionate as well as dispassionate, isn't it? So many of you are doing seva in kitchen, are you not doing it passionately?

(Response: Yes!)

At the same time it doesn't matter to you as well, right! There is passion and there is dispassion. The best thing is the seva here, the transport seva, the housing seva, the van running up and down, and putting the mattress till 12 o’clock at night.

I took a round nearly at midnight and I saw these boys and ladies taking the mattresses and making the beds, making sure everybody is comfortable. They were not doing it for recognition. They didn't do it because they were getting something out of it. They were not even thinking that they would get some big merit by doing it. It needed to be done and they just did it. There was passion and at the same time dispassion.

I said, ‘All of you go now and sleep. It will be done tomorrow.’

They went and slept happily and comfortably. This was with everybody. I am just giving you one example; it is the same with all the sevaks. There is passion and there is dispassion. Seva is the best example of having both together.

I need all types of people. I carry them along and everybody is comfortable with me, and I am comfortable with everybody. I have patience to see them grow. That is how The Art of Living has grown. People keep growing, and we need to have patience.

Q: Can a person have more than one Guru?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: One itself is very difficult to handle.

If you have been on some other path with some Guru, know that it is their blessings only that has brought you here today. So thank them. It is because of them only that you took one step and you came here.

Now if you ask me about technique, I would say we should not mix techniques. Like you are doing Kriya and then you start doing something else also, then it will all become a mess. So, you were doing one thing, you have finished that and now you are doing this. Now you should put your 100% and just do this.

Q: Guruji, I have everything but still I feel such emptiness in my life. Please guide, what should I be doing?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is good, it is the first step. First you empty everything and then you become full. Satsang and knowledge is the best filler to the emptiness.

Q: Dear Guruji, how do I know what is my purpose in life, what is my Dharma?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Seva, seva, seva. Our Dharma is to do whatever we can for all those around us. If you sit and think, ‘What about me, what about me’, all the time then this is the technique to get depressed.

If you come from the space of, ‘What can I do? How can I contribute? How can I be more useful?’ Then that opens many avenues and brings so much fulfillment in life.

Q: How to choose the right career?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should see what your tendency is and what you want.

There is nothing called Job-Satisfaction. This word should be removed from the dictionary. Satisfaction comes only through service. Do you get it? Service is a different thing. But for your livelihood you should do some profession. Take any profession that suits you, that fits you, and in addition to that, do your social activities, spiritual activities, literary activities and your hobbies.

Often people try to make their hobbies as their profession, and their profession a hobby. That is when neither the profession sticks nor the hobby sticks. Music is your hobby; keep it as a hobby, yes!

What you are doing here is the perfect thing, i.e., becoming more hollow and empty, and the right thing will fall at the right time. Isn’t this happening? For how many is it happening? The right thing just comes at the right time, and everything goes smooth.

Q: There are few questions in the question basket about people who are emotionally dependent on other people. What to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Life is dependent on many factors. When we were born we were dependent. When we grow old we will be dependent, not independent. In between, in these few years, we think that we are very independent. That is an illusion. Even at that time we are dependent on so many people for so many things. So, if you see from this angle the whole life is a continuum of dependency.

On the other side, if you take a look at the spirit, not the body, just the spirit, the consciousness, it has been independent throughout. This is very subtle and may go above your head now. But just listen, and sometime later when you think about it again, you will see that we are both, a combination of dependency and independence – body and spirit.

While the spirit is independent the body is always dependent. Body is dependent on the environment for everything – clothing, water, electricity, education, you name it.

If you didn't have a proper school teacher you would never be where you are, isn’t it? So I would say, look at life from a very different and new angle.

Some people are emotionally dependent, some people are intellectually dependent, and some people are physically dependent. There are many different levels of dependency. Instead of focusing on the relative and changing aspect of life which is always dependent, put a little more focus on that aspect inside you which is independent, which is eternal and which is the same throughout. Are you getting what I am saying?

There is something within you which is continuous; the same all through. Put more attention there and you will find that life is becoming more powerful, more independent, more fulfilling and more satisfying. All these aspects, all that you aspire will continuously blossom. It will blossom without effort.

Q: I had an experience of oneness about five years ago. It lasted for about one full day.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Forget about experiences. Don't worry about it; you might have had it, so what? It has gone and what has gone is not real. What is real will never leave you and it has never left you, it is there even now.

We should not hanker for experiences. Experiences are also fleeting. They come and they go. Pleasant or unpleasant, good or bad, all experiences are fleeting, and the relative are always fleeting, they come and they go. You are not that! Focus on the person who has the experience. Who is experiencing now? And who experienced it then? Who is that who wants an experience now? That person is there even now, right now, and that is real!

The person who is craving for the experience is more important than the experience. One day experience of yours is worth nothing. Good it went off in one day. That which is not true comes for one day and it leaves. That which is the truth, is inside you and stays forever; and that is the experiencer. Got it?

Q: I get doubts in almost every aspect of life. My confidence gets low due to it. Please suggest what I can do to fix this problem.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is not my job. My job is to create more doubts. Doubts are like baking soda, it bakes you well, so get baked!

Once, I was in Sweden, I was in a Satsang and there was this journalist who came and stood in front of me and said, ‘Guruji, you always beat around the bush, you never answer questions directly. I am asking you a straight question now. You should answer me otherwise I am not going to leave you’.

I said, ‘Okay.’

‘Are you enlightened?’ He asked.

I looked at him, smiled, and said, ‘No.’ Why to take the headache of proving? When you say no, matter is finished. The conversation ends. Full stop! Nobody in the past could ever convince anybody, or even tried to convince anybody that they are enlightened. If somebody had said that, then they would run into problems, they might be crucified and put somewhere. So I simply said no, but he would not move.

He said, ‘You are simply kidding, tell me the truth.’

I said, ‘No’.

He said, ‘No, no. I don't agree, tell me the truth.’

I said, ‘It would make sense if I had said yes and you did not agree; but when I said no, how can you say that you don’t agree with me. That means something in your heart is telling you that there is something more. Listen to your own mind then, why are you asking me?’

So, one is the intellectual level, and the other is something else; the sixth sense tells you, ‘Oh yeah, this is the correct answer, this is the truth.’

We should not mix techniques. Like you are doing Kriya and then you start doing something else also, then it will all become a mess. Now you are doing Kriya, put your 100% and just do this.

Q: How do I bang on the door with such a force? I have been out and in and without a raincoat and shivering. Is TTC the next natural step?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, do it. You know Pre-TTC is good; it brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Everybody should first do Pre-TTC. Whether you want to do Teachers Training or not, is the next step. But these two weekends of Pre-TTC is good, you learn a lot. Your potential, your skills, many things can come out.

After Pre-TTC you can decide whether you want to do TTC or not. The teacher will also tell you.

Q: Where do we come from? What is the purpose of life, and where do we go?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Great! My job is done. My job is to invoke these questions inside of you, not to give the answers. You have got these questions, now my job is done. Now your car can move. You have gas in the car.

Keep asking these questions; keep coming back and sit in these hollow and empty meditations, and to advance courses, it is great.

If you are at ease with yourself everyone will be at ease with you

Celebrating Silence Blog: April 06, 2012 -Bali, Indonesia 

Contentment and happiness are very important. Other things come and go. We have come on this planet so many times, we will come again. Life is continuous; it is coming and going, coming and going.

Q: How do I keep my spirit high all the time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just remember why you are disturbed, it is because of small things and know that it will all be alright.

So when you see all these things come and go and everything will be alright, then you say, ‘I am not going to be disturbed by this. I am bigger than this.’ Yes!

Just that thought in the mind – I am bigger than this. Then the spirit is uplifted higher.

So I am not the body; body is undergoing so many changes all the time. Sometimes I feel tired, sometimes I feel strong. I am much bigger than the body.

People think mind is inside the body, this is wrong, body is inside the mind.

The mind is like a candle, there is a wick and there is flame above the wick. If you close the candle with a lid, it will burn only as long as there is oxygen. In the same way, if you put somebody in the room and close it, they will be alive only till oxygen is there in the room. So the mind is like the glow that lives on oxygen, on consciousness. So first there is the body and then there is the mind, so the mind is much bigger. When you remember this, that the mind is like a flame, it is much bigger then there is peace. Still if something bothers you then breathe (referring to Sudarshan Kriya). With fast breathing and Bhastrika, it becomes better.

Q: Guruji, why do relationships take away our freedom?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If there is wisdom in relationships, it does not take away freedom. If there is no wisdom, then there is no freedom. It is not the relationship that gives you or takes away freedom. It is lack of wisdom.

Q: Dear Guruji, what is my duty?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen to your heart. You heart will tell you what your duty is.

Q: Jai Gurudev, are the bad things in our life also grace?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you look from a broader perspective, you will see, those incidences which were painful has given you some depth and made you more mature. So the painful incidences give you depth and maturity. Whenever you are unhappy you should surrender. Usually when you are angry you say, ‘I give up!’

So you should have the power to drop things when you are unhappy, and power to do service when you are happy. Service in happiness and renunciation in unhappiness.

Q: Guruji, I want to make a difference in the world in a massive way. How do I discover the way to make that difference?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I want people like you who have this spirit to make a big difference in the world. Come and I will send you to different places where you can go and do a lot of work. You already have a ready-made platform. You don’t have to do it from scratch which would take another thirty years to do. You have a ready-made platform, take a jump from here and take it to another level.

See, I want to do something, is one thing, but another is, what is needed in the world we need to do that. I want to make a difference is different from we need to make a difference in the world. What is needed for the world let us all do that. This is the spirit that we should have.

Q: Dear Guruji, fear bothers me a lot, what to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Why fear, when I am here. You belong to me and I belong to you. When you feel that you are alone and you have nobody, only then you fear. Fear is when you feel loneliness, when you feel that you are not connected. Fear is love standing upside down. Never mind, just do some ujjayi breathing and attend satsangs, and it will change.

Q: Guruji, I think I am addicted to sex. I have no self control when it comes to sex. I try very hard, but I can’t control myself.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I think you have too much free time. If you are busy and you work hard and then you get so tired that you are waiting to hit the pillow, the moment you hit the pillow you will fall asleep.

Either you have too much free time or you are eating too much, then obsessions and addictions come up. It is always related to too much food and too much sex.

Q: On the spiritual path is it bad to marry and have children?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, you can marry and you can have children.

That is why I have started the department Sri Sri Matrimony, so that all the single girls and bachelors can put their names in it, and then one day we will have a swayamvar. Then you can choose whom you want to marry.

We have that already, it just needs to be developed a little. Someone needs to put a little attention into it; someone who is good at match making.

Q: Guruji, after all these years, I am still struggling, why? Love you Guruji!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You love me and then you are struggling. Struggling for what?

You are struggling for money, then don’t sit and day dream, do hard work. If one business does not work, choose another business and do it.

You can only struggle with two things, a job or relationship.

If you are not getting married, you have been too choosy and so things are not working. And if you are already in a relationship and then you are struggling, then of course the knowledge point comes here, accept people as they are. So you try to accept them more and more, but your mind says no. Know that it is because of the knowledge that you are able to sustain and survive. Do you see what I am saying? Somehow you are making things work.

So don’t think nothing works for you. I don’t think that is a fact.

The third issue could be health. There is no fourth issue. And being in The Art of Living always helps you to somehow manage all the three.

Don’t sit and day dream and only think about miracles to happen. Miracles do happen, but if you crave for miracles then they will take a back seat. Nature wants you to be dynamic.

There are people who have asked me, ‘Guruji, please give me some numbers for my lottery ticket. I just want to win a lottery so that I don’t have to do anything. Just do sadhana all the time and some seva.’ No ways!

First of all, decide what it is that you want from life.

Struggling with what? With money?!

You know money is something that you will always find people short of money. Always!

You can see for example, the richest country, the only super power on this planet is USA and it is under heavy debt; trillions of dollars of debt. You take big companies; many of them are in debt. The richer a person gets, the more expenses he has to do. At the same time, there are poor people who are contributing towards charity, poor people who take time to do service, which is amazing. They feel so much abundance.

The other day in India, a gentleman comes to me. He has a small shop; a small little kiosk for himself, and he had inherited two plots of land. So he comes to me and offers me one plot of land. He says, ‘I want to give this plot to you’, he insisted. He came with his whole family, his wife, his mother and said, ‘I have two, I want to donate one and keep the other one.’

The plot is in a very expensive location of the city and he could make a big fortune from it. But look at the heart in that guy.

I said, ‘Okay, I will take it, but it will be in your name only. You should keep it for me and you build your shop here. Sell the other plot and with the money that you get, do business.’

I could not say I won’t take this to him because he will feel hurt, so I said, ‘Yes this is mine, but it will be in your name and you should have it.’

Look at the broad mind of that person.

Another day, a very poor lady comes, and she had just one gold chain that she inherited. I was going in the car and she comes running and gives me an envelope in my hand.

Usually people give me envelopes with letters in it of some problems. So I took the envelope, and in it I found a gold chain. Then I told some people to go and find this lady and give the chain back to her saying, Guruji sent you blessings.

Do you know, during our silver jubilee, there is a beautiful story that happened! I came down from the steps on the last day and a small boy comes running to me with tears in his eyes and he gives me an envelope. I take the envelope and it had Rs. 5000 in it. I looked at that boy and I said, ‘What do you do?’

He said he is a laborer.

The money in the envelope that he had given me had two months of his earnings, and he said, ‘Please take this.’

He said, ‘I can’t tell you how much my life has transformed. Please accept this.’

I took just Rs.100 from that and returned back Rs. 4900. I told him, you know this Rs.100 is so precious for me, this is enough. I will take this.

2 months of his salary; someone who is a laborer who does manual work, he comes and offers. Such a big heart is there in people.

What I am saying is you too should feel abundance. You don’t have to be very rich to feel the abundance. In fact many rich people don’t feel abundance at all, they feel lack. They are not generous. But poor people are very generous; they have that feeling, that art.

Don’t imagine a situation where you will become super rich one day and then you will start doing some seva, no, nothing like that. You can feel abundance at any point of time. And the moment you start feeling abundance, you will see things will get better, got it!

Similarly, don’t be feverish about a relationship, just relax and you will find your relationship with people will improve and become better. If you are like a leech, clinging on to somebody in a relationship and bugging them, even though you say all nice words, that person will run away from you because they can’t handle it.

One aspect is to give love, and another is to know how to handle love, receive love as well. It needs only a centered, enlightened person. Now don’t expect that type of behavior from everybody.

You have to be very much at ease with yourself. If you are at ease with yourself, everyone will be at ease with you.

Q: Guruji, I want to fully surrender myself to you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, don’t do it at all. Why do you want to surrender? Why do you have to surrender? No need. Just relax!

Your wanting to surrender becomes such a big work for you and for me; headache! You don’t need to surrender, just relax. What do you need to surrender? Your heart, mind and soul? No way, it already belongs to me. Everything belongs to me.

Someone was singing, ‘Oh, you stole my heart.’ Why should I steal something which is already mine? Why would I steal your heart? I feel everybody on the planet belongs to me already, got it! I don’t need to steal and you don’t need to surrender. You already belong to me. So just relax!

You know this word surrender helps when you have a load of negativity on your head. If you have negativity or hatred then you surrender that. You don’t need to surrender any good qualities or anything that is nice because it is already mine. What is not mine is all the negativity, and if you seem to have it, just give it up.

Can a devotee get angry with the Guru?

AOL Fan Blog: Can a devotee get angry with the Guru?

Intuition means that which simply comes up beyond reason

January 09, 2012

Q: Dear Guruji, I find it difficult to be natural with everyone. You have said we are closer to the Divine when we are natural. How can I be natural?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What makes you unnatural is the fear that somebody may criticize you. 
Someone may think you are a fool. Why don’t you act like a fool for half a day? Then you will see that all the fear will disappear. Fear of committing mistakes makes you unnatural. Just see, it is okay to commit mistakes. If they are not big blunders, mistakes are okay. You should be afraid of committing blunders, but not small mistakes.

Q: Guruji, many times I promise you that I will never repeat the same mistake. I repeat it again, and I get very upset and I feel very bad after that.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is good. It is good to feel that pinch.
Once, twice, thrice or four times it happens, then the tenth time at least you will be aware of it and you will move away from it. Don’t worry, it is good to have that pinch, and keep promising me. 

Q: Can going deep in sadhana and making people meditate take care of the problems of today’s world, of corruption and terrorism? Or do we need to make an effort on the physical level as well?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Both! We need to make effort on the physical level and with the inner and spiritual strength. Both are essential. 
They are like the eyes and ears when you are watching television. You need to see and you need to hear as well.

Q: Guruji, you said accept everybody and don’t leave them, just because they are not like you. But you have also said, if the company is affecting you, you can take yourself away from that company. Please throw some light as it seems like a contradiction.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, life is full of contradictions, and all the instructions will be contradictory. That is why it is the truth. That is where vivek (discrimination) is essential. You have to balance, see when, where, what!

Q: Dear Guruji, how to honor the Gunas and not indulge in them? Sometimes one is unable to resist the grip of indulgence. How to overcome this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The mind having an intention not to commit a mistake is like having a brake in the car. You are going somewhere and if there is a hand brake and it works well, then you put the brake anytime you want! And if there is no brake at all, you will be prone to accidents. 
Similarly, when the mind says, I don’t want to do this or I shouldn’t do this, that is because it just promises joy but it doesn’t really deliver and gives pain. 
Why something is bad? Because it gives pain to oneself and pain to someone else. That is the reason something is said as bad. It gives short term pleasure but long term pain to both you and to others.

Q: Guruji, when Krishna was there, the Gopas and Gopis were also there with Krishna. My heart knows who Krishna is now, but are we the same Gopas and Gopis?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What if you are someone new. Why do you have to be the same ones? Could be! You could be the same ones!
See, the knowledge is eternal and feelings are eternal too. Now don’t tell me, ‘Guruji, you said feelings are temporary, they come and go!’ 
It is temporary too and it is eternal too! 
Are you confused? Then my job is done. 
Who said my job is to convince people? No! My job is to confuse you! And every time you get confused, you go one step higher. 

Q: There is a lot of confusion and lack of decision making even with small things. Confusion is between the good as you said, but how do I make a choice between the good.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If I tell you something more, you will get even more confused. You think your confusion is not enough? I don’t want to add more. Too much confusion becomes a problem too. 
Be with your confusion and see where it leads you. 
Check the greed in you. If you are too greedy, check the greed and the right thing will fall on your lap. 

Q: I read in one of the knowledge books that ‘Fear is love standing upside down.’ Is love also fear standing upside down? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you look at it from the other side, if you are upside down, then you will see it is upside down. Got it? 

Q: Many festivals are celebrated in Nepal by animal sacrifices. Do we have such practices mentioned in our sacred texts as well? How do we bring about a shift?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Education! You have to educate people. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that you should kill an animal to please Gods and Goddesses. No! 
‘Ahimsa paramo dharma’. You should not sacrifice any animal.
You know what has happened in the world amongst all the religions and cultures? It has become like a mixture of sand and sugar. There are good things, but there are other things which are not in the scriptures but have been interpolated, or have come as a practice. And people think this is the religion and this is the tradition. This is unfortunate. Such practices need to be shunned and stopped. 
You should educate people not to kill animals!
The scriptures have said, let go of your animalistic tendencies. Let go of the inertia in you. 
You know in Sanskrit many words have two different meanings. Like ‘mahisha’ means inertia. It is not just buffalo. 
A buffalo is also called buffalo because it is inert. If you honk the car, it won’t move. You have to get down from the car and push it. If you show a stick, it doesn’t move. 
Cows are very sensitive, but buffalos are not that sensitive. So a buffalo is also called mahisha. 
So mahisha means the inertia should be killed inside you. Similarly, ’Aja’ does not just mean goat. It also means that which is neither born yesterday or tomorrow. ‘Ja’ means born. So, there are deeper meanings in all this. 
Usually ’Gau’ means cow. The word cow comes from the Sanskrit root ‘Gau’. And ’Gau’ also means knowledge, movement, attainment. 
There are four meaning for ‘Gau’: 
- Gyan (knowledge) 
- Gaman (assimilation)
- Prapthi (attainment)
- Moksh (liberation) 
Unfortunately the meanings have been distorted.

Q: Jai Gurudev, I don’t understand the knowledge point which says, ‘the best work comes out when you work without any motive’.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, this is intuitive work or a sudden sprout of thought. In intuition, you do not sit and calculate. Intuition means that which simply comes up beyond reason.
Did you get it? You have seen when Archimedes was thinking and thinking, it didn’t work. But, when he relaxed, suddenly he got the Archimedes principle. 
Like that, many scientists got something out of the sixth sense. That is intuition and that needs to be developed. So don’t’ depend only on your five senses or the intellect. Intuitive sense is also important. That is a deeper, closer to the truth, reality. Otherwise you see your judgments are often wrong. 
How many of you find your judgments were wrong? You judged people and a little later on you felt that is not the way it was. I thought something else, there was something else. Isn’t it? So, your intuition will not fail you because it is coming from a deeper space. 
If it is intuition and if it really comes!

Q: Guruji, for how long should a man make an effort to succeed. If after ten years of effort, one has not achieved success, then what should one do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, then you should change your strategy. If you have strength, then try a little longer, for as long as possible. Use your entire strength, and if it doesn't work out even then, then 'Haare ko Hari naam'; accept that it is not working out and move on. Relax! 
For a sankalpa or an intention to manifest, effort will definitely be needed, energy will be expended. However, the satisfaction that you get after accomplishing the task was there even before the desire to do the task; just remember this! 
This sankalpa arose ten years back - were you happy before that or not? And you will be happy afterwards also - this is what we need to keep in mind. 
We should not think that we will be happy only after fulfillment of our desires or sankalpa. Then the feverishness within us will subside. Once the feverishness is at rest, whatever is to happen will happen. This does not mean you should not work. One should apply effort, work, and relax.

I don't need to catch you because you all belong to me

January 10, 2012

The very meaning of Kailash is where there is only celebration, only joy, nothing else besides it. In the same way, Vaikunth is where Narayana resides, means a place where there is no lack of anything. Everything is in abundance, and there is all prosperity and all joy. That is Vaikunth. Are Kailash and Vaikunth somewhere far? Where are they? Right here!

And you sang a song Vishalakshi, meaning what? One with big eyes, who has a broad vision

Q: Dearest Guruji, it is said in Shiv Sutras - Gyanam Banda’. How can knowledge be a bondage?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You study that; I have spoken very well on that. Read the whole Shiv Sutra.

Q: Guruji, what should be the ratio of simplicity and ego in our life? How can I balance between these two? Because sometimes when I present myself simply, people take me lightly.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is your vivek, sense of discrimination. You know where to do, what to do. Best thing is to be spontaneous.

Q: Dear Guruji, my family is from Kashmir and we were forced to migrate to other places due to terrorism. When Kashmir had so much spiritual and religious knowledge and produced so many Saints and Sufis, why is there so much violence over there?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well times keeps changing. Fanaticism had entered Kashmir, but now the next generation of people are realizing it. So, keep your hold there. Go back to Kashmir valley. Still there are some people in the valley. 
Now people are realizing that we have lost our Pandits here. It was such a nice atmosphere before, but now that is not there. So they are welcoming; you go back to Kashmir, buy land and be there or at least keep on visiting. Many people who have come back from Kashmir do not want to go back, that is the problem. Now the situations are different and you should go back and claim your rights there.

Q: Guruji, I want to be 100% both at my job and Art of Living. If I give 100% at one, then the other gets compromised. What do I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Need not be! 
You know most of our trustees in Art of Living and Apex Body members all over the country, they have many other things. They do their business, their job and they are still very busy engaged. And there are thousands of teachers who do their business. Their businesses are doing very well and they are also teaching Art of Living courses. They are doing both. You should hear their experiences. 
We had a Teachers Refresher Meet, and we had teachers from all over the country who came. There were 315 industrialists in one TRM alone and they are teaching courses. They said, ‘Guruji, before our business was dull and we were not doing anything. But now we are teaching the Art of Living course and we don't pay much attention to business, but it is also running very well.’ Some of them have made 4 to 5 times more turn over in their business. They were all sharing their experiences. 
So, don't think they are contrary. Don't think either or. You can do both, this and that. Unless you see that you are ready to take a bigger responsibility for the nation and for the world. And you have very little requirement for yourself or no requirement, then you come and become full time and we will send you all over the place. But when you have some responsibilities and when you have some needs, you should do both.

Q: Guruji, today I felt very sad for some reason, but after seeing and listening to you over the web, I feel so happy. Your magic is casting a world wide web. Did you catch my thoughts today?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I can catch you; I don't need to catch your thoughts. Thoughts come and go, don’t own them. You don't own them and I don't own it. But I don't need to catch you because you all belong to me. If you are different from me only then I need to catch you. You are part of me.

Q: Guruji, You have told us to love everyone. In the bargain what has happened is everyone has started loving me. Now it has become very difficult to choose one partner. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, I leave that challenge to you. Let me watch what you are going to do and whom you are going to choose. You choose somebody or somebody chooses you, let’s see. 
But don't delay for too long, okay! 
A gentleman was 62 years old and came to me and said, 'Guruji, I want to get married. I was looking for the perfect lady and I could not find one in all these 60 years.' 
I told him, ‘okay, you look for another 15 years. Maybe later on both of you can find each other in heaven or hell.’ 
If you could not find a good match for 62 years on this planet, what is the guarantee that you will find in the next few years?!

Q: Guruji, when I am in the Ashram I am very happy and energetic. But when I go back home, it immediately drops. Please help me to have at least half of that at home.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Has everyone at home done the program? If not, make them do.
Keep listening to knowledge, keep singing. And you be determined, come what may, I take the challenge; I will not let my enthusiasm go down. 
Do you know how it goes down? Because you start arguing or you start expecting others to be like you, and to be understanding like what you have experienced here. Those things cannot happen. You have to implement the first principle of Art of Living, ‘accept people and situations as they are.’
Don't get involved in every situation with the intention that, through the experience of this situation, I will derive pleasure and fun. When you go after fun and pleasure, you will experience misery somewhere or the other. Fun and pleasure are not the only goals in life. 
Accept people as they are and go deep in knowledge. It will make a tremendous difference.

Q: Dear Guruji, in today's engineering institutions we have to study almost 54 subjects to complete our degree. In the ancient time like in Nalanda University, did students have to study so many subjects? Please do something about it.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, people were very studious. Those days, students never got time to do any entertainment. There is a proverb that says, 'if you are a student then there is no happiness, joy for you and if you are in the pursuit of pleasure then you cannot be a student.' You have to work hard. In those days people used to work hard. Now there are computers, you have calculators. The previous generations never had any computers or calculators. We had to memorize all multiplication tables. We had to memorize so many things. 
In fact, in those days the brain was used a lot, now we do not use it as much. 
Do you remember, a few years back when there was no cell phone; you had to remember peoples’ telephone numbers? When we had only landline connections, we all used to remember the telephone numbers of people. Today with the cell phone, nobody remembers the number. Once you feed it in there that is it. The moment you press somebody's name, the number comes itself. Many times you do not remember your own number. 
So we are using less of our memory and more of technology. Sometimes it is scary that we may lose the ability to remember things, and it is fast happening. 
Any youth who watches at least 2 movies a week, after 3 months if you ask them the story of any one particular movie, they will blink. They will mix stories from one movie with other movies. They can't even narrate the whole story. This is why Attention Deficiency Syndrome has become so common today.

Q: Guruji, in the Yoga Sutras Vyadhi (physical illness) has been considered an obstacle. Is Vyadhi not a part of me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Vyadhi is an obstacle.
Vyadhi, Styana, Samsaya, Pramada, Alasya, Avirati, Bhranti Darsana, Alabdha bhumikatva and Anavasthitattva. These are the nine obstacles that have been told and the means of getting rid of them have also been told – take one way and just go deep into it.

Q: Guruji, how to overcome the difference in opinions between parents and children on account of generation gap?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: hat is why, bring them to the YES, YES+ and ART Excel courses and you will see how quickly it makes a difference.

Q: Guruji, in Uttarakhand there is a tradition of Devi and Devatas manifesting in people. Is that true?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it is true, but many times their mind also gets entangled.
That is why, unless that person is a saadhak, who has gone deep within, you cannot say that he is channeling the Devata's voice completely. Devata's voice will be there and also partly his own mind; it will be mix of both. So a lot of what he might say will be true, and some of it may not be correct. 
It is like looking at the sun through a dirty piece of glass covered with dust, so the rays coming through are not as pure. They are somewhat impacted by the dust. 
Or if the glass is blue, then the light coming through also looks blue. 
That is why, if the person channeling the Devi or Devata lacks innocence and purity, then all that he says will not be entirely true. But if they are pure and innocent, then everything will be accurate.

Q: Guruji, what is right, what is wrong, how does one decide? Please share an easy trick for this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is a very simple definition to know what is good and what is bad. 1. That which you do not want others to do to you is bad and that which you want others to do to you and you do to others is good. 2. That which gives you short term joy and long term unhappiness is bad. Anything which gives you long term happiness and short term problem is good. 

Q: Since childhood there was fear of parents, then fear of teachers, and now there is fear of God. Why do we make room for fear in our lives? Is this fear necessary?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Not at all necessary! Why fear? Love doing a head-stand is called fear. Just make it stand the right side up. Fear is on account of love. If there is no love, there will be no fear. 
Tulsidas has said, 'Bhaiy bhi na hote na preet gosai'. Fear and love are two different forms of the same thing. Where there is love, there is no fear; where there is fear, there is no love. This thing manifests in these two forms.

Q: Guruji, often in spite of knowing, I commit mistakes. Is there a way to become aware of knowledge in a timely fashion so that I do not knowingly commit the mistake? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just this thought is sufficient, that I should not repeat this mistake that I have done in the past. This feeling itself will begin to take root.
Okay, go ahead and make how many mistakes you want. Eventually you will get tired. I will wait for you. You keep making mistakes till you become exhausted and fall down. Then, everything will be all right. 
Just look at all those people who are suffering so much on account of making the same mistakes over and over again. 
After committing the same mistake once, twice, three times, ten times, you will finally give up and say, 'No more! I am done with it.'
But this realization should dawn before this life ends! It shouldn't keep happening throughout life. If you are on this path, it cannot happen this way. You will have the awareness fairly soon.
That is why it is said, 'Swalpamapyasya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat' - if you follow this knowledge even to a small extent you will be free of the greatest of fears. No fear will touch you.

Q: Guruji, since olden times there has been a tradition that no new work should be started during Rahu kalam. A lot of importance is attached to it. Is this appropriate? Is there is scientific standpoint behind this? 
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Look, Rahu period is that time which is considered suitable for prayers. It is considered ideal for any spiritual activity. So beginning any wordly project during that period is not considered appropriate because in our body there is a switching of channels (naadis) at that time.
However, we should not attach too much importance to this. If you absolutely have to do your work at that time, just say, 'Om Namah Shivaya' and move forward.