Germany, 29 December 2011
Q: Dear Guruji, can you please explain this sentence, ‘Only when you see that nothing has a purpose, the real purpose begins.’
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You say a sentence and you want me to comment on that? Why don’t you yourself comment? I would say we shouldn’t cling on to words, we give meaning to words. The essence is important. The essence is what? You feeling free and feeling the connectivity to the cosmos.
Q: Dear Guruji, you said at the Satsang yesterday that we need to soak the knowledge and wisdom into our soul. But in everyday life it can sometimes be confusing which knowledge point to apply to which situation. Please help me with this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just relax, they will all just pop up automatically on their own. Like how once you program the computer, the latest news from CNN pops up like a television channel on your i-pad. You open your i-pad and suddenly the latest news just pops up. In the same way, the knowledge will simply pop up in your consciousness, you simply have to relax.
There is no way to try and remember, and then apply at that moment. At that moment whatever comes to your memory that is what will be there. You can’t plan to get some memory at that particular time, memory is spontaneous.
Q: Intellectually I understand, conceptually I can visualize that all is one and one is all. But experientially I have had no luck yet. How can I improve my chances of experiencing all is one?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Meditation, meditation and meditation.
Q: Guruji, when there is a lot of knowledge existing around us, then why are the five points of the basic course chosen as the main principles of The Art of Living? What is their specialty?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The main basic five principles are essential. They are like the foundation stone.
The first is to see that opposite values are complimentary, then the mind becomes settled and equanimity is established.
The second is to accept other people as they are because our mind is disturbed by not accepting others, or the situation.
So these principles bring the basic needed calmness and stability to the mind. Once the mind is stable, it is able to absorb more knowledge, and is able to rise high.
When the foundation is strong, you can build a hundred storey building on top of it. So for the higher knowledge you need the basics, and these basics relieve your mind from being stuck in the outer world and to come back to itself.
Our consciousness and our mind is stuck in these different avenues, small little thing, insignificant little things. So you have to retrieve all that back. Collect back the scattered mind into its own identity, to its own source. And to that effect, these points are very meaningful.
Q: Dear Guruji, is it possible for a soul to work through two or more bodies at the same time, by incarnating in more than one body simultaneously?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Usually not, but the possibility cannot be ruled out. The possibility is there in an enlightened being, or a very powerful soul can have a portion of its act in another body. But normally it is not possible.
Read more at What Sri Sri Said Today
© The Art of Living Foundation
Q: Dear Guruji, can you please explain this sentence, ‘Only when you see that nothing has a purpose, the real purpose begins.’
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You say a sentence and you want me to comment on that? Why don’t you yourself comment? I would say we shouldn’t cling on to words, we give meaning to words. The essence is important. The essence is what? You feeling free and feeling the connectivity to the cosmos.
Q: Dear Guruji, you said at the Satsang yesterday that we need to soak the knowledge and wisdom into our soul. But in everyday life it can sometimes be confusing which knowledge point to apply to which situation. Please help me with this.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just relax, they will all just pop up automatically on their own. Like how once you program the computer, the latest news from CNN pops up like a television channel on your i-pad. You open your i-pad and suddenly the latest news just pops up. In the same way, the knowledge will simply pop up in your consciousness, you simply have to relax.
There is no way to try and remember, and then apply at that moment. At that moment whatever comes to your memory that is what will be there. You can’t plan to get some memory at that particular time, memory is spontaneous.
Q: Intellectually I understand, conceptually I can visualize that all is one and one is all. But experientially I have had no luck yet. How can I improve my chances of experiencing all is one?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Meditation, meditation and meditation.
Q: Guruji, when there is a lot of knowledge existing around us, then why are the five points of the basic course chosen as the main principles of The Art of Living? What is their specialty?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The main basic five principles are essential. They are like the foundation stone.
The first is to see that opposite values are complimentary, then the mind becomes settled and equanimity is established.
The second is to accept other people as they are because our mind is disturbed by not accepting others, or the situation.
So these principles bring the basic needed calmness and stability to the mind. Once the mind is stable, it is able to absorb more knowledge, and is able to rise high.
When the foundation is strong, you can build a hundred storey building on top of it. So for the higher knowledge you need the basics, and these basics relieve your mind from being stuck in the outer world and to come back to itself.
Our consciousness and our mind is stuck in these different avenues, small little thing, insignificant little things. So you have to retrieve all that back. Collect back the scattered mind into its own identity, to its own source. And to that effect, these points are very meaningful.
Q: Dear Guruji, is it possible for a soul to work through two or more bodies at the same time, by incarnating in more than one body simultaneously?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Usually not, but the possibility cannot be ruled out. The possibility is there in an enlightened being, or a very powerful soul can have a portion of its act in another body. But normally it is not possible.
Read more at What Sri Sri Said Today
© The Art of Living Foundation
