Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It is impossible to have world peace without individual peace. Individual happiness brings collective happiness. Society devoid of the individual is impossible.
Peace is within the individual, in one’s mind and in one’s heart. It is impossible to have peace in the family if the individual is not peaceful, and it is impossible to have peace in society if families are not harmonious or peaceful. If there is no peace in each family it is impossible to have peace in society, and societies make the world. So the basic unit of world peace is individual peace. That which brings peace to the individual is wisdom. Devoid of wisdom there is no peace in an individual. Despite having all amenities, equipment, food, entertainment, comforts. None of these really bring peace. It is the wisdom of a broad vision and seeing life in context with the vast universe that brings peace.
The funny thing is, even if a small percentage of people on the planet are really peaceful they become peacemakers. Peace is as contagious as any contagious disease like cold or cough. Peace is viral! I tell you, genuine peace and wisdom is contagious.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You can never generalize these things. There are all types of situations, all types of people, all types of cultures in the world. People cannot live without culture. Culture may change but you cannot live in a society without a culture. If some society claims 'We are a society without culture', I tell you, that is a culture in itself. And it is our duty to protect all the different cultures in the world because they are the world’s heritage.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

It is quite natural that the one who does not serve, is the one who is stressed, insecure, self-centred, or without wisdom. If there is a little bit of wisdom, service is spontaneous. If you are well cultured and civilised then service is spontaneous. Nobody has to teach you to do service. No one has to tell you to engage in some service activities.

See what happened during the Chennai floods? No one invited people, "Hey! All of you come and help out". The entire youth of Chennai, not just the youth, all the people of Chennai got together and helped each other. These disasters in some strange manner unite people, unite enemies. Disasters compel people to realize their innate human values. If you are intelligent you don’t wait for a disaster to bring out the best side of you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I think you should forget about this. Wanting to have humour is itself an obstruction for having humour. It is like someone saying, “I want to sleep, I want to sleep, I want to sleep”. The feverishness of wanting to sleep itself becomes an obstacle. If you are in a hurry to take a nap, it is not going to work. Same way, thinking 'I want to be humorous', is not going to work! Just be relaxed and don’t care about others opinion of you. The formula is don’t worry about what others think of you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

'Brahma' means infinity. 'Charya' means moving in infinity. That means the state of mind that is focused on the whole (infinity) -- in such a mind there is no possessiveness, there is no lust, there is no greed; none of these negative impressions cloud the mind. That is what it exactly means. Abstinence is a result of this; it is a part of it.

See, when you have an examination or something very important to do, when your mind is in that, then the mind is not going to any part of the body, or focusing on some fascination, or sex. You are busy. Your mind is moving towards something bigger. Isn’t that one’s experience? Then you experience moments of Brahmacharya. If you are engaged in something, or when you are in deep love, then also this happens automatically. So Brahmacharya is a happening, it is not a practice per se. It is what happens when your consciousness expands.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Only with a scientific approach can you see that there are different wave lengths and vibrations on this planet.
Who are you? You are only a frequency analyzer. Your brain is a frequency analyzer. It is able to capture only certain frequencies, isn’t it? Your perception is limited to a definite bandwidth. It cannot go beyond that. Suppose you get the ability to perceive beyond your perceptual ability, you can see many things which you don’t see otherwise.
See, what is darkness for you is not darkness for a cat or an owl. An owl’s bandwidth is bigger than yours. An owl can see more than you. Devatas are not some people wearing crowns and sitting up there in heaven, they are a manifestation of consciousness -- just like the seven colours present in sunlight. In sunrays there is only one colour, but when you disperse the sunrays, you get seven different colours. Similarly, your consciousness has many abilities, many forms and many intricacies. These intricate mechanisms of consciousness are called different Devatas.

It is mind boggling when you go deep into spiritual science. You have to have a scientific temperament, only then you can go into it. Just belief system will not work. There was a scientist who came here from Colorado. He had a titanium radar with which he could measure the energy level. So during Navratri, he measured the energy levels at the time of when different chantings and different invocations were happening. He showed us with colourful pictures that when different chantings were being done, energy was dawning in the space. Very distinctive patterns were seen from one chanting to another. It was really fascinating. Kirlian photographers took some pictures. So when different Devata’s were invoked, the whole colour in the hall changed. So in a scientific way, you can really explore and understand much more than by just believing.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Agni mean that consciousness, that energy that envelopes the whole universe -- that consciousness of which you are made up of, of which everything is made of. Many times people say 'The fire in the spirit'. This fire is not a mortal fire, your life itself is fire. Consciousness is the fire.
Flame exists on oxygen, so does your life exists on oxygen. Suppose you are covered in a glass, you will be alive only as long as there is oxygen in it. So your life force is akin to fire.

The mantra is a beautiful prayer that says, " Lead me into a new path. Let me do good things to people in the world. Let all the divine energies in the universe help me, take me along". It is such a beautiful prayer.
Ancient people had such deep wisdom. Even in prayers they included everyone. Even the Gayatri Mantra which is considered the mother of all mantras says, "May the divine inspire my intellect and inspire my life", because your life is based on thought. If the thought process is inspired by the Divinity then there can be no mistakes, there can be no regrets. There is no suffering.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Music is harmonious sound. If there is harmony inside then music is a burden, but when there is no harmony on the inside then definitely the outer harmony of the music can create inner peace and harmony.
For a meditator, for a yogi, music feels a little jarring because he or she has tasted something more finer than the harmony of the music -- that is the rhythm of silence. That is what the ancient yogis called the one hand clapping. The cosmic resonance, the primordial sound, all these names are given to that harmony deep within which is essentially silence.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

I don't care. Why should I know if someone is true or untrue? If they are truthful, they will move up. If they are untruthful, they will fall down because nobody's intellect is in their control.
Why should anyone doubt anybody, whether they are true or false? In my eyes, everybody is good, and if they do something wrong, they are definitely going to go down, but they will come back up again. It's very simple mathematics.

I don't need anything from any disciple. If they move up, very good, if they don't, let them face the music. See, even facing the music makes them good and stronger. You know, I never go to console anyone, "Oh, I am so sorry, you poor thing". You have a problem? Okay, good, deal with it!
This is intimate knowledge, not to be spoken out to the masses. This is to make one understand how to move in the knowledge, and how to move in the path. So there are very many ways.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That's your karma, nobody can help you. Just understand this (indicating the way the ancient masters dealt with their disciples, as he responds in a similar manner) nobody can help, finished. You are trying to find an escape, but there is no way. I will not tell you. Why should I tell you? You said already it is a dead end, so be dead and suffer!
When a master responds in such a way, see what happens: suddenly freedom arises and you get into a 'Wow' space. A space of total freedom where there is nothing to be done. There is no doer ship, there is no ego, there is no desire and the intellect which is trying to find a way out is also frozen.
I don't know whether they (Masters in the previous generation) consciously did it or not, but they always did it this way. You would have to lock your intellect up. He used to also say this in Hindi many times, "Lock your intellect and sit. Don't let your intellect wag out". I tell you, you people would not survive in such an atmosphere. Survival for even one day is really difficult. We don't have anybody of that generation now. They were all from the older generation, and one could not even understand them. That is what Deepak Chopra was telling me, "Oh, I can't understand this man, he has no compassion. Not a drop of compassion?"
I said, "Don't see it as though this person does not have compassion, otherwise your mind will go crazy. At least you save your mind".

Deepak Chopra was telling me about one incident. He was sitting with Maharishi, and there was this other person also sitting with them. After some time this person got up and left. Just a few minutes after he left, someone came and told Maharishi that the man while crossing the road was hit by a truck and died on the spot. When that news came to Maharishi, he just kept quiet for five seconds and then started doing his own work. He didn't go out and see, or ask what happened, nothing. He started continuing with his own work. Deepak said that he was so shocked with this incident.
I told him, "Look, you need not judge a person as having no compassion Why should there be compassion? When you cut your nails you don’t say, "Oh I am cutting my nails". Like that many people are being born here every day and many are dying every day. And we have come here thousands of times and we have done so many things. Seen life from a bigger angle, then you see a completely different picture".

Just before coming here, I spoke to one teacher who just lost her husband who was also an Art of Living teacher. I just waited one day before speaking to her and people said, "Gurudev, talk to her, talk to her".
I said, "No, let her be in grief for a day, let her do the funeral and then I'll talk to her". So, today, I spoke to her. You know, she is so solid with no wailing, "Why did this happen to me", and blah, blah, blah. She was talking very normally and she said, "I want to come and see you Gurudev".
I said, "Yes, come". That is the beauty in the path. The path gives so much inner strength to you, that you are able to manage. It's not that misery will come to everybody (and so you need inner strength), no! It's not like that.. Here, in The Art of Living all your desires get fulfilled, isn't it? Whatever you wish for gets fulfilled. Whatever you think happens almost immediately. In some places, that is not the case. Sometimes I wonder whether we are making our own people weaker and greedier in this sense.