Question & Answers with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Oh, so this is a request? You are on the right track. Infinity is something which you cannot escape from. If you get away from infinity, then it is no infinity or you have an illusion that you have gotten away from it. Can you ever move away from space? Impossible. You are in space and you don’t need to make a mood about being in space everyday. Just be natural.
You know you are in Bangalore, you don’t need to remind yourself everyday that you are in Bangalore.

There was an incident that happened when I was giving a talk in Switzerland on Patanjali Yoga Sutra. Some of our devotees there were having some herbal tea and they heard this couple discuss about a course they did wherein the husband would wake up every morning at 4.30am and repeat to himself over and over “I love myself” for two hours. This is the sadhana they do. Our people said, "We don’t need to do that. We know we love ourselves".

If you love yourself, you don’t have to go on chanting that. Look, if you are in Switzerland and you go on chanting, "I am in Switzerland, I am in Switzerland", then suddenly you will get a doubt, am I really in Switzerland? The same thing will happen if you go on saying I love myself. You will get a doubt. It is impossible not to love yourself because you ARE LOVE. Love is not an act, it is what you are made up of my dear.

Many of these affirmations can lead you to madness. You can land up in a mental hospital. When you are in infinity, you don’t need to go on saying, "I am in infinity". Just relax.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Just understand, you cooked food in the morning. By afternoon, you had forgotten that you cooked the food and found the food very spicy. Then you can't say, "Oh, I put spice in the morning, why is it spicy now?"

You ask this question only when you are in trouble. If you have invested your money and now it is giving you lot of benefit, you don’t ask, "Why is this happening. Why am I getting my money now?" You invested and the interest is coming now.

You sowed a mango seed and today it is giving you so many mangoes. You planted a coconut tree and it is giving you one coconut everyday now. You don’t ask why is it giving coconuts now? You planted some vegetables, and you will enjoy them when they grow. That time, why don’t you ask, "Why is God not in the present moment, and why is he giving me the beans I sowed three months back?"
Come on, wake up. Children are not born in one day. It takes nine months for a child to be formed. So time is part of this Universal phenomena. In fact, phenomenon cannot happen outside the dimension of time and space, and any phenomenon is karma.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Space is the distance between two objects and time is the distance between two events, and both can change. There are three types of space, Chittakasha, Chidakasha and Bhootkasha.

Bhootakasha is the outer space, space of consciousness, and it changes.

Chittakasha also changes but Chidakasha never changes. There are so many theories but what we know is very little.

Know that we can change the time. Let time change you and you change time, but don’t wait for time to change you.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Thousands of years ago also, there was a new moon and there was a full moon, there was winter and there was spring. So in everyone’s life also, the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita happen.
•The first chapter is where you regret and say, "I am powerless and I give up".

•The second chapter in your life is when someone wakes you up and says, "Hey come on! There’s nothing to regret in life. There is something in you that doesn’t change and you have the power to sail over all this". Then you wake up and you felt good.

•The third chapter tells you to act. Don’t sit and worry, ‘What about me? What about me? 'Go and act, this is Karma Yoga.

•The fourth chapter tells you, now that you are acting you must also listen to knowledge. Don’t become like a machine and only act, listen to knowledge as well. There is something beyond all this.

•The fifth chapter tells you about material and spiritual knowledge. You cannot say, "Everything is being done and there is nothing for me to do", or you cannot think, "I am doing everything. I did this and I did that". This is not going to work for you. Wake up and see, are things happening or are you really doing it?

•Then the sixth chapter is when you learn to meditate.

•The seventh chapter tells you, now that you’re meditating, you should know the author of meditation - the one who is meditating in you. 'Who am I? What is time?' Knowing all about science.

•Like that it goes on! When you meditate miracles happen in your life. Wake up and see the miracles! Many don’t observe miracles, nor believe in it. If you recognize it and believe in it then it happens even more! Give a chance for miracles to happen, don’t be so steeped in the material cause and effect -- 'I did this so this will happen', or 'I did that and only that will happen', no! You did it but something else can also happen out of the blue! Recognizing that ‘something different’ is Vibhuti. Vibhuti means giving a chance for miracles in your life, exploring it.

•Then after that is knowing the universal self and knowing that everything is in me and I am in everything.

•Then comes love and devotion. You know and understand all this, but then what? It is not enough. You should be in deep love! When you know that the divine loves you, you cannot but fall in love with the divine! That’s the 12th chapter.

•Then you understand what are the divine qualities and what are the demonic qualities and you realize that you have all the divine qualities in you.

•Then there are the three qualities or Gunas (Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic) to everything: mind, ego and food. Sattavic ego is, "I am everything and everybody". The Tamasic ego is knowing that you are only this body, and the Rajasic ego is having a limited mindset and falling into craving and aversion.

•The final chapter is knowing that you cannot wash your own sins. Drop them and understand what is being said, "I am here to take care of your sins. Feel that you are mine, be connected to me and I will take care of everything. Just relax!’ This is sanyaasa or liberation.

These are the 18 chapters and these chapters are all a part of everybody’s life. Sometimes we don’t reach up to the 18th chapter. It takes many lifetimes to reach there!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Tyaaga means giving up, and Sanyaasa means being centered and unattached. Nyasa means center, vyasa means circumference and sanyaasa means being centered at all times.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Life has all the moods, only one mood will not help. In India they are called navarasa, which means the nine beautiful emotions. In that, fear is also one of the emotions. If you happen to see the Indian classical dance called Bharatanatyam, it includes all the nine emotions (delight, laughter, sorrow, anger, heroism, fear, disgust, wonder and peace).

Also, we must study how Bharatanatyam and osteopathy are connected. I am sure there is some relation, because the first thing that they teach you in Bharatanatyam is to move your neck. Your neck should move back and forth very nicely. And the second is the movement of the eyes. So eye movement, neck movement, hand movement, finger movement, all these movements are taught in Bharatanatyam, and also in osteopathy. In osteopathy, you are told to move your hands in a certain way, which relate to the spine.

In Bali also, they teach you to move the little finger in the Balinese dance. In this dance, it is very important to keep the index finger and middle finger together and then move the other two fingers, which are difficult to move. Trying to move the little finger and the ring finger independently, it takes some effort. It's a little tough.
You know, there are meridians in the body (a set of pathways in the body along which vital energy is said to flow). In the Balinese dance, this is very important. The dancer moves her fingers continuously for one hour or two hours, through-out the show. If you move your fingers for five minutes, they start aching, but they have to do this for one to two hours, along with eyes movements. With these movements, the different meridians in the body get activated. It happens through the dance. It's all so fascinating.

In your palm, each of your fingers is connected to some planet. The thumb is connected to Mars. Mars stays alone.
Index finger is connected to Jupiter (Jupiter shows the path, it is the teacher). When you want to show something, you show using the index finger, this is Jupiter. The middle finger is connected to Saturn; Saturn is the servant. The ring finger is connected to the Sun; the Sun is the king. And who owns the jewels? The king, and so you put rings only on the ring finger. That's why it's called the ring finger. And the Sun or a king cannot stay alone, you have to have the servant with him. The President of every country has a bodyguard who is taller, fairer and well built because he has to support the President. That's why it's difficult to separate the middle finger and the ring finger.
The little finger is connected to Mercury. So when you do chin mudra, what is happening? The index finger (Jupiter) and the thumb (Mars) are coming together, that is wisdom and power.

Why is the thumb Mars? It is because whenever you win, what do you do? You put your thumbs up. Thumbs up is a sign of victory. When you lose what do you do? You put your thumbs down. So these gestures are so inbuilt in us.

Similarly, different planets affect different parts of your body. Your teeth are connected to Saturn. Your eyes are connected to the Sun, your cheeks are connected to Venus, forehead to Mercury, nose to Jupiter. I mean this as the connection of microcosm with the macrocosm. It is so fascinating!

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

You say you don't have will power, who is saying that? If you don't have will power, you wouldn't even have come here.
Every thought that you act upon indicates you have some will power. A thought comes to your mind, "I want to get up and go to the next room", and you do it, that indicates will power. It is impossible to have no will power. Yes, certain things may not be happening because your mind is used to some habit or some temptation, and then you feel, "I don't have will power". No, as long as you have a will, there is power.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Come on, what concepts? Throw them out. The universe has given you so much to be surprised about, so much to cherish. As I said in the New Year Message, remember that you are sitting on the bank of a river and watching all that is going on in it, passing by. What's passing by? Some garbage is passing by, some dirt is passing by, logs are passing by, ships are passing by, some flowers are passing by. Never mind whatever is passing by, you are just witnessing all that goes by.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Let them do what they want to do. Why are you bothered about it? Let them judge you, so what? Nothing is going to change because they say something. What is due to you will come to you, what is to happen to you will happen to you, and that's it. If others judge you, let them do it. Everybody has a right to ignorance. They can exhibit their ignorance. You should not forget that you are so big and magnanimous, much beyond anybody's judgement. Even beyond your own understanding.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

1. Becoming stress-free: It’s not a one time job, it has to be done again and again and again. It’s like keeping your teeth clean. Like dental hygiene, you need to keep your mind, body and spirit also free from stress again and again.

2.Contribute to society: Be committed in doing something for the society in whatever little way you can.

3.Keep prejudice at bay: Keep the prejudice against another religion, caste, gender away from you. It is very important to drop prejudice from your mind and intellect.

4.Maintain balance: Maintain a work-life balance and a family-society balance. Sometimes you do so much social work that you tend to ignore your family. Other times you are so stuck in family life that there is no world beyond the four walls of your home. Both ways you are not utilizing your full potential. Those who are confined to their homes, get out and make more friends and do some work for society. And those who are out all the time, and who are not very nice to people at home, consider being more kind at home. So keep that work-life balance.

5.Have a broad vision: Be innovative and have one vision for yourself and one for the society, and hold on to it. It may be anything. Envision something for yourself like writing a book, write poems, painting, singing, or write short stories. Be innovative in whatever way you want to be., Just keep that idea and it will come up within you. One for yourself and one for society, and inspire a few people around you. This is what you can do. There are 100 reasons to be miserable, upset and unhappy in life, coming out of it is a challenge. You should take up this challenge, "Come what may, I will move through all the negative clouds that surround me."
Like the planes that take off even in bad weather, you too need that radar within you which enables you to move through any negative cloud and create enthusiasm around you. That’s the vision for society.