09/03/2009 Turkey
What H.H Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said today
'Don't fight with the negative emotions and don't befriend them either'
India (Art of Living International Center, Bangalore), September 2:
I hold a high position of authority in my state and am well respected and known. When I go to another place, I sometimes find myself less important. I tend to question my identity. How to get over this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You should know how to wear a suit – and take it off too! Everyone is a king in their place. Know how to remain in a state of Akinchan - I am nobody. The whole life journey is from ‘I am somebody’ to ‘I am nobody’ and then to ‘I am everybody’. Usually the journey is from ‘I am something’ to ‘I am nothing’ to ‘I am something’ again! Sit in satsang and let your identity dissolve. Dissolving and losing the identity is Samadhi, is fun. You will realize that you are immortal.
What is your vision for the Art of Living as an organization?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Spirituality is the language of the New Age. You make your own vision. I would ask you to be a drishta (the one with the vision), you may make your own drishya (view). The Divine will give you sleep, you create your own dream.
On a count of one to 100, if the stone is rated as zero and human beings as hundred, what is the level of the remaining beings?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is the need to give a rating? Everything belongs to One, is part of One. One has taken these infinite forms. Even in the zero and the hundred, there is everything. Even a stone will have jadta (low prana) and chaitanya (consciousness). Jad and chaitanya, both, are merged in Brahma (creation). They are one part of the Brahma. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagwad Geeta, “This maya is also from Me, the whole world is in Me, yet I am in none.” The philosophy in the Bhagwad Geeta may seem confusing. Without a true experience, the philosophy will seem like just principles. Go deep within yourself for the true experience of the Self.
How can I remove negative emotions through knowledge? If I try to persist them, they will resist and if I don't, then they still remain.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Don’t fight with the negative emotions and don’t befriend them either. With yukti (skill), breath and the correct perspective, all negativity can be removed. It is said in the Ashtavakra Geeta, through the right solution, overcome the mind with the right solution.
In the family of Shiva, each vahaan (vehicle – usually an animal associated with a form of God) is the enemy of the other in the animal kingdom. There is a bull, a mouse, a peacock etc yet they live together in peace. How is it so?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The peaceful, non dual self element that is Shiva brings together everyone and harmonize everything.
What is the spirit of enquiry?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This question that you have asked is the example of the spirit of enquiry. What you are asking, itself is the answer. It is similar to someone asking what is sound.
