Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Being right does not mean being harsh and being kind doesn’t mean just letting anything happen. Kindness is not complacence and righteousness is not just aggression. Unfortunately, today, when we are right we get aggressive. It need not be, it should not be. In fact, aggression only shows our weakness; our lack of faith in our own power. Isn’t this strange? You think that the powerful will be aggressive? No! People who feel they have no power, or they have lost power, they become aggressive. Just look a little deep into it. When do you get aggressive? When you can’t do things easily. When things can happen easily, will you get aggressive?

So when you don’t have confidence in your power or the power of your being then you get aggressive. I know it is difficult to get that!
When all these things were happening in Delhi, someone asked me, "How were you so cool Gurudev? We were all tensed!"
I know everything will happen well. And when I know that everything will happen, then what is the point of becoming aggressive, or upset, or sad, or unhappy.

When you know the power within you, you don’t get aggressive. The powerful don’t get aggressive. Who gets aggressive? When you feel that the situation, person, people are beyond your control, or you feel that it is not possible. Or when you feel that you are smaller than the situation, then you become aggressive. I think you should ponder on this. Often you see a person with aggression, you feel that he is powerful. He is really not!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Being right does not mean being harsh and being kind doesn’t mean just letting anything happen. Kindness is not complacence and righteousness is not just aggression. Unfortunately, today, when we are right we get aggressive. It need not be, it should not be. In fact, aggression only shows our weakness; our lack of faith in our own power. Isn’t this strange? You think that the powerful will be aggressive? No! People who feel they have no power, or they have lost power, they become aggressive. Just look a little deep into it. When do you get aggressive? When you can’t do things easily. When things can happen easily, will you get aggressive?

So when you don’t have confidence in your power or the power of your being then you get aggressive. I know it is difficult to get that!
When all these things were happening in Delhi, someone asked me, "How were you so cool Gurudev? We were all tensed!"
I know everything will happen well. And when I know that everything will happen, then what is the point of becoming aggressive, or upset, or sad, or unhappy.

When you know the power within you, you don’t get aggressive. The powerful don’t get aggressive. Who gets aggressive? When you feel that the situation, person, people are beyond your control, or you feel that it is not possible. Or when you feel that you are smaller than the situation, then you become aggressive. I think you should ponder on this. Often you see a person with aggression, you feel that he is powerful. He is really not!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Consciousness is more ancient than the stones, and it has all the impressions (Akashic records) there. In ancient days, teachers used to tell the students, "In 2015 someone is going to be born at this time and at this place -- write about it".
So they will sit and focus, their mind will travel in time and see what’s going to happen, what is the name of a person, etc., and that’s how these Naadis are written by the disciples of Rishis.

People would meditate and travel in time and write. Those days there was no ambition, or craving and life was serene. They could meditate long hours and the sharp mind could travel in time and write. It is mostly (90%) right, but there is also some probability that there is some free will also. This can happen, that’s what they would say.

It’s fascinating! It tells you that the spiritual realm is much wider than the physical realm. If you are stuck in the physical realm, it is a very good idea to seek out. These things were written thousands and thousands of years ago.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Shakti path is where transfer of energy happens, otherwise nothing happens! If there is no transfer of energy, no experience can take place. Your mind cannot calm down. Some do it in a very dramatic manner, but I feel that is no good, it is not safe. It has to be very natural.
In The Art of Living we do it in a very natural manner. You don’t even realize when it happens. In Sudarshan Kriya, that is what happens. Stay away from those people who say 'I am going to give you Shakti path and raise your Kundalini'. Tell them, "Bye", and just do namaste from a distance!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

When you think that you are walking alone on the path, fear will definitely be there. That’s how fear comes. When you know you have a guide and that there is someone who is taking you along the unknown, how can there be any fear? That is the reason you need a Guru; a spiritual guide because walking in the unknown is always tough. And if you think you are walking alone, then that is even more tough. That is why there are all these traditions from thousands of years.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Let’s give it a little break. We had a celebration, now it is time to go within and do more meditation. We will do longer meditation programs for at least two years, then we will think about it. We are not averse to celebration at all, we are all for it.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Let’s give it a little break. We had a celebration, now it is time to go within and do more meditation. We will do longer meditation programs for at least two years, then we will think about it. We are not averse to celebration at all, we are all for it.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The burning of Holika has an effect on the coming monsoon. There is story of Prahlada (from which the festival of Holi originated). Prahlada was a young boy who was very dedicated to God but his father was not. His father was a very egoistic and a cruel king. So the story goes that he wanted to teach his son a lesson because he was very hurt that the boy was preaching the name of God when he being the king was an atheist. He tried in all ways to change him but the boy didn't change. When he couldn’t change him he wanted to kill him. So he approached one of his sisters -- she had a boon that whoever she took on her lap, she could do something whereby the person would get burnt. Her name was Holika. So she took Prahlada on her lap to burn him, but instead she got burnt and Prahlada came out safe because he was chanting 'Hari om’, and was devoted to God, and that protected him from the fire.

In some of the villages, people do fire walking but nothing happens to them, not a blister on their feet! Faith has great power, it contributes to life.

Holi is generally during spring time, but now it’s becoming summer! In 5000 years everything has changed. All romantic stories happened around Holi and Yamuna River, where we had WCF. Literature is full of those romantic stories. We too had our big romantic and challenging program there! We also got wet with the little bit of rain coming.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Vedas are simply downloaded information. The Rishis went into deep meditation and what they saw and heard they started sharing. There is a beautiful story that I would like to share with you -- Vedavyasa went to the creator and asked him to please give him knowledge. The creator pointed to a shining mountain and said, "That is knowledge, whatever you can grab you can take". So what he could grab with his hands, that is what the Vedas are today.

More than one thousand saints went into deep meditation and whatever they cognized are the Vedas. Ayurveda has a similar story. There were 88,000 saints gathered in a place. They wanted to bring health to the society and so they all gathered to meditate. They needed someone to write down what they cognized and so one of the Rishis, Rishi Bharatwaja volunteered to not meditate and write down what the other saints downloaded while meditating. Today, it is a perfect science – which herb will affect what part of the body. It is a material medica of an entire species not just human beings. It is amazing. The more you go into it, the more you will find the knowledge amazing.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yoga Vashishtha is very mystical. You know, some of these latest movies are based on Yoga Vashishtha - like The Matrix and Inception.
Yoga Vashishtha is very deep and has multiple meanings. It takes you to another dimension.