Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
With today’s news of terrorist attack in Brussels, I am starting to feel that Europe is becoming an unsafe place. How we stay fearless and strong in such circumstances? And how can we as teachers contribute to the betterment of this situation.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
We have to de-radicalize the world. To me, the only way out of this is to make available this spiritual knowledge in schools and colleges; in madrassas (Islamic religious schools). Today, there are seminaries (theological institutions) and madrassas; we need to de-radicalize our youth.
Why would someone do suicide bombing? It is because they have a temptation to get into heaven. These people think that the world is made by Allah, it belongs to Allah and the other people, the infidels have no right to exist on the planet. So they think, "I will obey the command of Allah. Allah says to finish these infidels. If I do this, I will go to heaven, I will be happy and I will be rewarded". This erroneous concept has gotten into the minds of these terrorists.
If you see the situation from their angle, they are justified in what they are doing. God created this planet and people who do not listen to His words have no right to exist on this planet. This is their loyalty. It’s like the loyal soldier or servant of a house saying, "If you don’t listen to the Master of the house, you don’t have any right to be in the house".
Like a security guard of a place, if a person violates the law then he or she should be thrown out. And that is what these people think, I suppose. Otherwise why would someone blow themselves up and kill others? They must be thinking that this is giving them some merits. And it is pleasing God. So unless you set this thinking right, you can’t help these people.
In Brussels airport, 17 people were killed by a suicide bomber. Let’s spread meditation and yoga. People who do yoga and meditation, whatever religion they follow, they will not become a terrorist, I tell you. It is impossible for a kind, happy and peaceful person to harm someone. Don’t you think so?
So what we need to do is keep teaching meditation, meditation, meditation. Okay, you can call your Allah or Ishwar, or whatever you want to call, but remember that you are peace. This is what we must teach everyone. Also, they should know a little bit about all the traditions and religions of the world, then they won’t think that only this book belongs to God.
There was a professor who was here last week. He said something very interesting to me. He said, "Prophet Mohammed said that I am not from Hind but Hind is in my heart. And he also said that I get this cool and sweet breeze from the East." I think what he meant by saying Hind is in my heart, is that the principles of Hind, -- non-violence, truth, spiritual values are dear to him because India was known for spirituality for centuries; for millennia.
Hassan and Ali also said something very beautiful, they said that the first book of wisdom was written in India, referring to the Vedas. We must reach out this spiritual knowledge to people.
In the past there were two barriers:
1. People thought, "Oh because I belong to this religion I don’t want to take anything else from any other religion". This is one barrier that was created by some of the fundamentalists -- don’t take anything from other religions.
2. There was no effort from the spiritual leaders in India to reach out to them.
Both these approaches were very puritarian, on both sides. On one side people were not ready to welcome a new tradition. On the other side people were not ready to share from their side. They said, "You do your thing, I don’t want to share anything, I am happy with what I have".
So people kept what they knew to themselves. In fact they were too rigid.
In Kashmir, the story goes that one man was forcefully converted. He then came to Benares and begged all pundits, "Please let me come back to the knowledge, let me follow this tradition". They all refused, they said that there is no way you can come back. He went back with such rage, he converted everybody in the valley at the point of a sword.
History talks of all these things. So people were not ready to share on one side. That was a very big blunder that they did. And the society is so divided into a caste system. So from this past, we learnt a lesson and we need to move ahead and de-radicalize people. And the only way is giving them an experience of peace and an experience of the spiritual dimension.
If everything is a play of consciousness, then what is the role that I have to play in this existence? What is the purpose?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is the purpose of a stone? What is the purpose of water? What is the purpose of the moon? What is the purpose of the Sun? That is your purpose too. Relax! You just be like anyone of those. Moon does not think, what is my purpose, why do I go around the Earth. The Earth does not think, why do I go around the Sun, what is the purpose of creating all the seasons. Just be like that then you are wise.
Are you more enlightened than what you were when you started The Art of Living?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Unfortunately not! I am the same, I have not changed. Incorrigible! I don’t think there is any scope in the future also! But now, I know how to deal with people better, in that sense, yes! I never knew how to say 'no' before. But now I have learnt how to say 'no'. How to be a little more strict.
I have always stayed in my comfort zone for the past 10 years. I am too afraid and lazy to take risks. I would like to get over it but there is a part of me that prefers to stay weak. Please advice.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
No point in advising. You have seen the situation, you can take whatever steps you want to. You want to remain in your comfort zone, do it. You want to take a step forward, do it. In either case, I am with you! If I give you advice and you cannot do it, and then you will feel even more guilty, that will bring more problems and you will feel more sorry. I’m not going to get into this trap!What you cannot do, don’t do it. What you can do, and what you want to do, do it. And if you cannot do it and someone says you have to do it, then it becomes a huge problem for you, unnecessarily. Already you have this and then on top of it you’ll feel, "Oh, Gurudev wanted me to do this, I didn’t do it". Why do you have to put yourself into that big a problem! I would like to play safe! I tell you, just relax. Things are happening, and if you are lazy, you know it, you want to get out of it, just do it.
How can I know that what I am perceiving is the truth? Sometimes my senses give me information that is not true at all.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Questioning one's own perception is a very good strategy, but not always because knowledge is structured in the consciousness. If you are dull then your perception also becomes dull. See in the morning as soon as you wake up, your perceptual ability is very sharp. When you meditate, after that, your perception becomes very sharp. But if you are worried and tensed, if you have not had good sleep, or you are preoccupied, your perception is completely shrouded.
Is it possible to bring peace to the whole world? And if the whole world is peaceful, doesn't that bring conflict with the law of opposite values?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Yes, peace is possible. First we have to believe that it is possible, and then have to work for it. Tell me, can an individual be peaceful or not? Some people think an individual cannot be at peace, but you know that you can be at peace. So similarly, wherever you see progress in society it has come out of peace. And we can reach out to those areas where it is not so peaceful. It is possible, and it is a need of human life!How can I become a honest yet successful entrepreneurship?.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Just to showcase it is possible we started the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB). Those who don’t know about it, go to the website. This is the eleventh year that the World Forum for Ethics in business is showcasing to our young entrepreneurs that it is possible to rise high following ethics. You don’t have to do unethical things to rise up because it is a way to fall very fast. There are people who have risen in unethical ways, and have come down faster than how they rose. So it is possible to rise up ethically, and to do that believe in your determination.
In Mexico, we have the practice of feeding the Divine. I have seen similar practice here, but I am confused. How as human beings can we feed the Divine?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You are not less divine. Divine is not somewhere outside of you. When you see Divinity everywhere, you see it in you as well. You are part of the divine. Like your own hand feeds your own mouth. Your hand is not separate from your mouth, they are both part of one unit. So even when you are helping somebody, you don’t see them as something outside. See them as a part of you and so you help them. That’s a classic form of service. You are not doing service because they are separate, or they are suffering. You are doing because you can’t but do it because they are part of you.
Why do people not know that the peace is within them?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
When you are stressed and distressed, you only create disturbance around you. Whether it is because of language, religion, or whatever excuse you take to express your frustration.
There is a part of me who is aware of the quality of my meditation, if its deep, if it’s not deep, as it is happening, and even later I tend to gauge the quality of meditation.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Actually you should not gauge your meditation. You should just be. When you are gauging, the gauger and the one who is experiencing are two different things. Meditation is getting into the experiencer and not getting stuck in the experience, that is why it is an act of dissolving.