14 March 2011, Bangalore
Q: Dearest Guruji, in the Part 1 course one of the knowledge points is living in the present moment but my present is so painful that I rather live in the past that was beautiful. Now how do I apply this sutra?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See even if the present is painful it is better to just be with it and finish it otherwise you are just sweeping it under the carpet. Living in an imaginary world and not realizing the current reality, yeah. So it is better to live it and go through it.
Q: Dear Guruji even while I am watching the webcast I feel your presence. I get a feeling that you are looking at me. How do you manage a real presence in this virtual world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is a trade secret!! Join the club.
Q: I did the Art of Living course to become sharp and focused but Guruji now you have become my biggest distraction but I love this distraction. I hope it is okay?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For sometime it is okay. It is said when you put alum in water it removes all the impurities. Purifies all the water and then dissolves itself, yeah!
Q: Guruji love should be fearless yet why does one experience fear in love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yeah because fear is love upside down. If you do the advanced course you will get all these answers. What are these three emotions, love, fear and hatred and how they are all formed by one energy and how you can turn fear and hatred into love.
Q: Dearest Guruji, Jai Gurudev! Once I am on this path is my spiritual progress your responsibility or my responsibility? If it is yours then why is my progress full of obstacles and slow, and if it is mine then why is my effort so poor. Please help me!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Now that you are asking this question it is both of our responsibility. Yes, do your 100% and relax and when you feel that you can do a little better or a little more that indicates that you have been responsible. When you feel you are doing everything that you can then the responsibility shifts away from you.
Q: Something binds the body to the soul. What is this binding factor and what prompts it to part ways after sometime?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Impressions in the soul binds it to the body. That is what is called Karma.
Q: Guruji, I think I am suffering from chronic boredom problem. I get bored of everything very easily. I get bored of situations, of people, of places. Is there a cure to my problem?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Boredom! What do you do when you get bored of everything?! Let me think what you can do!
This is because you are thinking only about yourself. When we don’t know what pleasure you will get you get bored because this world cannot really give you satisfaction, it can only bore you but if you come from a place of giving and not getting then you won’t be bored. You will think what can I do, how can I be of great use. If you think on those lines and dedicate your life for a cause then boredom does not arise but if you are seeking joy in action then you will get bored. Boredom is simply what?!
You are seeking joy in action which you didn’t get. You are seeking for some joy in the world which you didn’t get and then you got bored. In the beginning it gave you some happiness, a particular object or situation but when you kept repeating it you got bored. So stop seeking joy in activity know that you are joy and then you won’t look for joy and get disappointed or get bored, yeah!
Q: Dear Guruji, what is the meaning of being natural? Is it doing whatever comes to the mind and doing whatever one feels like.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No it is not doing whatever that comes to your mind. Doing whatever comes to your mind without any attention, awareness or thought would be foolish. Whatever comes to your mind should pass through the test of intellect or wisdom. Being natural is feeling at home; feeling at home even in adverse situations. You know when everything is good you feel at home but when things do not go your way you don’t feel at home and you want to run away. So feeling at home in every situation, yeah!
Q: Guruji, how to maintain the purity of teaching Yoga in today’s commercial world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all we shouldn’t blame the world and we should not blame the cause. Purity of Yoga is there when your intention is clear, you are here to serve. If you count that there are twenty people and I will get this much money, if you think that then it can spoil the purity. That is why we have kept our courses in such a way that the teacher gets a very little amount to cover whatever expenses are there. You know you are doing it as a service and you are keeping a charge because without any charges people don’t value it and of course you need some finances to make arrangements like the durries and the microphone and all this stuff. So if your intention is pure, if you are financially and otherwise okay and this is only an added support or income to you then it is okay but if you are thinking only on these lines that I want to make money out of teaching yoga then your whole attitude is changed.
Just imagine a school teacher is teaching the children only to get money and not to see that the students are passing or they should get better. A teacher comes for tuition for an hour and he keeps looking at the watch then within fifteen minutes he runs away, what is the quality of such a teacher. So there is no individual, personal attention that is given, so if the commercial thing doesn’t enter your mind then you are there for the cause, you are there for others.
Q: Dearest Guruji, you are my favorite in the whole world and my world revolves around you. How do I become your favorite?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Walk the path!
Q: Dearest Guruji, looking at the events in Japan I have started to feel like mother earth and nature is very angry with us. You approach is very effective Guruji, please use some of your approach and calm it down.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, mother earth is in distress.
Q: Dearest Gurudev, just to handle one person I lose all my energy, how do you handle so many people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why I am sitting here!
Q: Even after being born as a human being who is the highest among all the species on this planet why do we desire freedom? Is there more beautiful than this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See wanting happiness is natural, everyone wants happiness but happiness does not come alone. Happiness brings along his twin sorrow also with him but no one likes sorrow and everyone wants freedom from sorrow. Freedom one wants from what? Sorrow and to want freedom from sorrow also is natural. Just as much as wanting happiness is natural the same way wanting freedom from sorrow is also natural. Okay, now the faster one realizes that happiness is there but sorrow is also there then the desire for freedom becomes stronger.
The one who does not wish for happiness receives freedom and the one who does not even wish for freedom is the one who receives devotion.
One who does not crave for happiness is already free but if one craves for happiness then one will also crave for freedom. When happiness does not please you then you have achieved freedom but when freedom also does not please you then you receive DEVOTION!
Devotion brings so much happiness and pleasure to you.
Q: Guruji, you say the love is great and fearless. Then why is it that the person I am in love with is so fearful?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The one you are in love with is fearful? Okay! That we don’t know how much you have scared him that he has become so fearful. First see whether the person you are in love with is also in love with you.
See, sometimes we think we love someone but we don’t even know how to properly express our love to another. It is very hard to express how much love you are feeling in your heart to someone else. How are you going the express? With words you will not be able to express. Something as deep as love does not come in the realm of expression. It is very difficult to express and sometimes when you try very hard and with a lot of effort to express this love people get scared. The other person should also know how to accept and receive your love isn’t it? That’s why it is important to know to how to express and how much of our love to express to each person, yeah!
Just imagine you have someone day and night calling you again and again and telling you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’, then what you will say, okay, yes, you love me, fine what next, right?!
So until we do not turn towards wisdom we are not able to properly express or receive love, for that also there is some eligibility. With wisdom one is so full of love that love exudes from every action. In life when we embrace the divinity then all our relationships blossom by themselves but if you try to fix your relationships one by one it does not work. From one side things will get better and from the other side it will get worse, so you be centered in yourself, be in devotion and everything else will be taken care of.
Q: Guruji, one of my aunty is suffering from cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Now because of chemotherapy her heart muscles have become very weak. In this state can she do long kriya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, it is better she do pranayam and short kriya and see how she feels.
Q: Guruji, the concept of death is bothering me a lot. If death is inevitable then what is the point in living. Please kindly enlighten me on this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: if a bud feels anywhere I have to wither away why should I blossom what will you think. A bud has to blossom and bring joy and fragrance in this world and then it withers away, right. If a tree thinks anyways a fruit has to become a seed so why should I bear fruit? So nature is such; as long as you are here in the planet see how much guidance you can give.
© The Art of Living Foundation
Q: Dearest Guruji, in the Part 1 course one of the knowledge points is living in the present moment but my present is so painful that I rather live in the past that was beautiful. Now how do I apply this sutra?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See even if the present is painful it is better to just be with it and finish it otherwise you are just sweeping it under the carpet. Living in an imaginary world and not realizing the current reality, yeah. So it is better to live it and go through it.
Q: Dear Guruji even while I am watching the webcast I feel your presence. I get a feeling that you are looking at me. How do you manage a real presence in this virtual world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is a trade secret!! Join the club.
Q: I did the Art of Living course to become sharp and focused but Guruji now you have become my biggest distraction but I love this distraction. I hope it is okay?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For sometime it is okay. It is said when you put alum in water it removes all the impurities. Purifies all the water and then dissolves itself, yeah!
Q: Guruji love should be fearless yet why does one experience fear in love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yeah because fear is love upside down. If you do the advanced course you will get all these answers. What are these three emotions, love, fear and hatred and how they are all formed by one energy and how you can turn fear and hatred into love.
Q: Dearest Guruji, Jai Gurudev! Once I am on this path is my spiritual progress your responsibility or my responsibility? If it is yours then why is my progress full of obstacles and slow, and if it is mine then why is my effort so poor. Please help me!
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Now that you are asking this question it is both of our responsibility. Yes, do your 100% and relax and when you feel that you can do a little better or a little more that indicates that you have been responsible. When you feel you are doing everything that you can then the responsibility shifts away from you.
Q: Something binds the body to the soul. What is this binding factor and what prompts it to part ways after sometime?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Impressions in the soul binds it to the body. That is what is called Karma.
Q: Guruji, I think I am suffering from chronic boredom problem. I get bored of everything very easily. I get bored of situations, of people, of places. Is there a cure to my problem?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Boredom! What do you do when you get bored of everything?! Let me think what you can do!
This is because you are thinking only about yourself. When we don’t know what pleasure you will get you get bored because this world cannot really give you satisfaction, it can only bore you but if you come from a place of giving and not getting then you won’t be bored. You will think what can I do, how can I be of great use. If you think on those lines and dedicate your life for a cause then boredom does not arise but if you are seeking joy in action then you will get bored. Boredom is simply what?!
You are seeking joy in action which you didn’t get. You are seeking for some joy in the world which you didn’t get and then you got bored. In the beginning it gave you some happiness, a particular object or situation but when you kept repeating it you got bored. So stop seeking joy in activity know that you are joy and then you won’t look for joy and get disappointed or get bored, yeah!
Q: Dear Guruji, what is the meaning of being natural? Is it doing whatever comes to the mind and doing whatever one feels like.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No it is not doing whatever that comes to your mind. Doing whatever comes to your mind without any attention, awareness or thought would be foolish. Whatever comes to your mind should pass through the test of intellect or wisdom. Being natural is feeling at home; feeling at home even in adverse situations. You know when everything is good you feel at home but when things do not go your way you don’t feel at home and you want to run away. So feeling at home in every situation, yeah!
Q: Guruji, how to maintain the purity of teaching Yoga in today’s commercial world?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all we shouldn’t blame the world and we should not blame the cause. Purity of Yoga is there when your intention is clear, you are here to serve. If you count that there are twenty people and I will get this much money, if you think that then it can spoil the purity. That is why we have kept our courses in such a way that the teacher gets a very little amount to cover whatever expenses are there. You know you are doing it as a service and you are keeping a charge because without any charges people don’t value it and of course you need some finances to make arrangements like the durries and the microphone and all this stuff. So if your intention is pure, if you are financially and otherwise okay and this is only an added support or income to you then it is okay but if you are thinking only on these lines that I want to make money out of teaching yoga then your whole attitude is changed.
Just imagine a school teacher is teaching the children only to get money and not to see that the students are passing or they should get better. A teacher comes for tuition for an hour and he keeps looking at the watch then within fifteen minutes he runs away, what is the quality of such a teacher. So there is no individual, personal attention that is given, so if the commercial thing doesn’t enter your mind then you are there for the cause, you are there for others.
Q: Dearest Guruji, you are my favorite in the whole world and my world revolves around you. How do I become your favorite?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Walk the path!
Q: Dearest Guruji, looking at the events in Japan I have started to feel like mother earth and nature is very angry with us. You approach is very effective Guruji, please use some of your approach and calm it down.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, mother earth is in distress.
Q: Dearest Gurudev, just to handle one person I lose all my energy, how do you handle so many people?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is why I am sitting here!
Q: Even after being born as a human being who is the highest among all the species on this planet why do we desire freedom? Is there more beautiful than this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See wanting happiness is natural, everyone wants happiness but happiness does not come alone. Happiness brings along his twin sorrow also with him but no one likes sorrow and everyone wants freedom from sorrow. Freedom one wants from what? Sorrow and to want freedom from sorrow also is natural. Just as much as wanting happiness is natural the same way wanting freedom from sorrow is also natural. Okay, now the faster one realizes that happiness is there but sorrow is also there then the desire for freedom becomes stronger.
The one who does not wish for happiness receives freedom and the one who does not even wish for freedom is the one who receives devotion.
One who does not crave for happiness is already free but if one craves for happiness then one will also crave for freedom. When happiness does not please you then you have achieved freedom but when freedom also does not please you then you receive DEVOTION!
Devotion brings so much happiness and pleasure to you.
Q: Guruji, you say the love is great and fearless. Then why is it that the person I am in love with is so fearful?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The one you are in love with is fearful? Okay! That we don’t know how much you have scared him that he has become so fearful. First see whether the person you are in love with is also in love with you.
See, sometimes we think we love someone but we don’t even know how to properly express our love to another. It is very hard to express how much love you are feeling in your heart to someone else. How are you going the express? With words you will not be able to express. Something as deep as love does not come in the realm of expression. It is very difficult to express and sometimes when you try very hard and with a lot of effort to express this love people get scared. The other person should also know how to accept and receive your love isn’t it? That’s why it is important to know to how to express and how much of our love to express to each person, yeah!
Just imagine you have someone day and night calling you again and again and telling you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’, then what you will say, okay, yes, you love me, fine what next, right?!
So until we do not turn towards wisdom we are not able to properly express or receive love, for that also there is some eligibility. With wisdom one is so full of love that love exudes from every action. In life when we embrace the divinity then all our relationships blossom by themselves but if you try to fix your relationships one by one it does not work. From one side things will get better and from the other side it will get worse, so you be centered in yourself, be in devotion and everything else will be taken care of.
Q: Guruji, one of my aunty is suffering from cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Now because of chemotherapy her heart muscles have become very weak. In this state can she do long kriya?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, it is better she do pranayam and short kriya and see how she feels.
Q: Guruji, the concept of death is bothering me a lot. If death is inevitable then what is the point in living. Please kindly enlighten me on this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: if a bud feels anywhere I have to wither away why should I blossom what will you think. A bud has to blossom and bring joy and fragrance in this world and then it withers away, right. If a tree thinks anyways a fruit has to become a seed so why should I bear fruit? So nature is such; as long as you are here in the planet see how much guidance you can give.
© The Art of Living Foundation
