Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
You travel all around the world. What do you see when you travel? Is there progress, and is there peace of mind?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
More and more people today want peace of mind. They want conflicts to be resolved. There are other people who are just struggling to make their ends meet.
There are two different aspects:
1. The physical requirements of people.
2. The mental requirement. Many people want solace.
People continue to feel lonely, after 40-50 a sense of depression dawns in them, and they feel they're not wanted by their family, people and society. This sort of anxiety has taken over some parts of the world.
We need to work on both levels. We need to give opportunities to people who are struggling to make ends meet. The Art of living is making some efforts in this direction by educating children, bringing education to unskilled people and unemployed people and giving them some hope to live. At the same time, those who have enough, we give them inner solace and make them see what life is all about. And we tell them that there is no point in crying and being worried all the time.
A lot of people still hide and go for meditation and yoga practices in Norway. How do we work around this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
There are different types of prejudices in different places in the world. A progressive society should just do away with prejudice.
In Norway, I am sure many people meditated. The others (who are not for meditation) are either misinformed or not well-informed about meditation. When doctors are telling you that with meditation your BP becomes normal, your blood sugar becomes normal, your heart rate becomes lower, then it must be good for you. Paradigms keep changing in the world and the intelligent people take to it faster than the others.
How do we find balance?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Through Meditation. Today scientists say, if you meditate even for eight weeks at least once a day, the grey matter in the brain increases and the structure of the brain changes. That's what I have been saying for the last 35-40 years. Today scientists have said the same thing, they have authenticated it in some way – that meditation does so much good to your nervous system and it does so much good to your brain. It creates a positive energy around you, it uplifts your spirit and alters your behavior pattern.
World Health Organization says that the biggest challenge that mankind is facing today is depression, and by the year 2020 depression is going to be much more prevalent. If half the population are on anti-depressants, then that is going to be terrible. Even anti-depressants work for some time and then they stop working. So, we need to bring a lifestyle change in people by making them understand how they can handle their own mind, their energy and their vibrations.
We live in era of quantum physics and today quantum physics says this is all about vibration. The whole world is nothing but vibrations, and this is what spirituality also says – it's all vibration. So, we need to teach people how they can shake off all the stress that accumulates on a day-to-day basis.
30 years ago, when I would talk about yoga or meditation, people would say, “Wow, that's not the normal thing to do. Someone who is crazy would go for all this”. That was the paradigm, that was the assumption people had. Today it has changed. Today, big companies like Daimler Chrysler, Benz, etc., show someone in a meditative pose to depict happiness in their advertising. Relaxation and happiness has become synonymous to meditation. I feel there's a big change in the mindset of the people.
With the culture and education system of today, how do we nature that childlike quality in us?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
They are not contradictory, in fact they are complimentary. If you talk to any accomplished scientist, you'll find in them this quality of innocence, like a child. Any genius in any field for that matter, if you sit and talk to them, you will feel that there's a genuineness and a childlike simplicity in them.
Somewhere people think that childlike simplicity is contrary to being intelligent. I usually say that intelligence which is accompanied with cunningness is good for nothing, and child-likeness which is full of ignorance is good for nothing. We need that perfect combination of innocence and intelligence. A pure heart and a clear mind is a part of intelligence.
Do you represent religion?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I represent spirituality which is the essence of all religions. I represent humanism which is the essence of all religions. I represent love and wisdom which is the goal of all religions, and I represent multi-religious dialogue and multi-cultural festivals.
I feel at home wherever I go. Not once I have felt homesick or I felt I belong to only this place or this culture. I always feel the whole world is my family and everyone is part of me.
What is the way of life of Art of Living?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Art of Living is to live life with wisdom and with a broad vision. The Art of living is to create a violence-free society, disease-free body, confusion-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory and sorrow-free soul.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you sleep, you go beyond the body and beyond pain. But if you meditate, you can consciously go beyond pain.
Love or reason?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Both are part of life. You should not choose between them. It is like asking someone ‘Should I watch or listen to television?’ You have to do both.
When you do business, do it with reason. When you relate to people don’t do it as business, do it with love. If you do business with your heart and live your life with your head, it will be a disaster.
Gurudev, what is fear and what is fantasy? Many of my fears in day to day life are baseless; things that will never happen. Why do I picture the worst scenario?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Fear is love upside down. If you have fear, then know that you have the ability to love. So, when you fall in love or raise in love, your fear will simply dissipate. Fear is nothing but another way of love.
Gurudev, is there an intelligent life outside the planet earth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You can’t say no, there isn’t. To say no, you have to explore everything. If you can’t say no, it means yes.