Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Satsang today There is a beautiful story in the Upanishads. A child asks his father what God is. The father takes the son out of their home and asks him,”What was here before the building was here?” He said “space”. “Where is the building standing now?”, he said “in the space”. Then he asked, “when the building is erased, what will remain?”. He said that is what is God. God is like the space in which everything is there. You can never go out of God, even if you want to. Can anything go out of space? Impossible! Srimad Bhagavatam starts with the words, from which the birth, sustenance and dissolution happens, in which awareness dawns, from the ancient times, great men found the music, the songs, the feeling of love. The sun of love shone in the hearts of many poets of the ancient times... into that ocean of wisdom, into that ocean of love, into that ocean of abundance and brilliance, may my mind, my intellect blossom. Usually people say faith means keep aside your intellect, don’t ask questions. No, that is not the ancient way, that is not the vedic way. Ask questions, keep your rationale alive. Doubt as much as you can. But the truth withstands all your doubt and your questions. That which takes you beyond that limited horizon of thinking, “Satyam Param Dhimahi”, let my intellect be soaked in the transcendental truth. So Bhagavatam begins with “Satyam Param Dhimahi” and ends also with “Satyam Param Dhimahi”.. So glorifying intellect at the same time glorifying emotions, enriching them is what it is. And if children are exposed to such a vast reservoir of knowledge, there is very little chance that they will become fanatics and take guns and start shooting people. And think that if they shoot and rape people and think that they will go to heaven. This stupidity will end in the world. Ques: Do I have to be enlightened? Can’t I just be? #SriSri: Just being is enlightenment. Getting rid of all the worry, tension, extra load, cravings and aversions that you carry, is what enlightenment is. It is freedom, total freedom, total fulfilment, total satisfaction, absolute comfort. That is what s enlightenment. Ques: Goddess Lakshmi’s cohort is an ‘Ullu’ (Owl). Can wealth be found only with ‘ullus’? #SriSri: Yes She sometimes comes on an ‘ullu’ but doesn’t keep sitting on it. She actually sits on a lutos and sometimes arrives on an ‘ullu’. We understand ‘ullu’ as a fool, one without intelligence but in many countries ‘ullu’ is used for a wise person - as wise as an owl. So there are different interpretations. Ques: In the Gita it is said when worldly person sleeps, the knowledgeable one is awake and when the knowledgeable person sleeps the worldly person awakens. Do they live in different time zones? #SriSri: They live in different dimensions, in different state of mind. Ques: Is devotion incomplete without knowledge? #SriSri: That is true. Devotion transforms into bliss with knowledge. Else without knowledge, there is a lot of pain in devotion. Ques: Evil is increasing in society. Is the law the only answer? #SriSri: Only the law is not enough. You have to work with awareness. Till the time the society does not embrace knowledge and meditation, and there is a wave of spirituality, till then the transformation will not happen. Ques: If we want a certain impact on our chakras, should we listen to particular music? #SriSri: Looks like you have a lot of time on your hands, to see what is happening in your chakras! Get out and do some work. ‘Chakron ke chakkaron ko chhodo’(get out of the trap of chakras)! You just keep moving ahead, they will take care of themselves. Everything changes every moment. You can’t change it with effort. Surrender and relax! Ques: At the end of meditation you say the shloka “sham no astu dvipade sham chatuspade”. What does it mean? #SriSri: Let good happen to all, to humans or two-legged animals as well as four-legged animals and birds. Let there be peace for all. Ques: Lord Subramanyam’s cohort is a peacock. Being a warrior it doesn’t seem logical. What does it mean? #SriSri: If you want to understand the symbols of the Puranas, you should dig deeper. When you do that, you will find only one essence that, that opposites are complementary. That is the essence. You will see it in the symbols. A snake and a peacock are enemies, but understanding the oneness at their core, is the power of spirituality. Taking opposites together and moving forward is a Divine quality. Shiva’s cohort is a bull and Parvati’s is a tiger. Bulls and tigers are enemies. Yet Shiva and Parvati co-exist.. So you should go into the depth of the symbols and understand it’s essence that the whole creation is made of One thing and belongs to the One. Ques: If God resides in everyone’s heart then why is it necessary to spend money and build temples? Is it necessary to visit temples to worship God? #SriSri: Not necessary. Temples are not just a place of worship, they are cultural centers. You don’t need to dismiss them, but you don’t need to go to a temple in order to feel grateful or prayerful in your life. See you can eat food anywhere, but you still have a dining table where you sit and eat.. you can meditate anywhere but when you sit in a meditation hall, it has it’s value. You don’t need more temples. There are enough temples. In fact your body is a temple. Keep your body, clean and healthy. And sit and meditate. Knowledge is the lamp that you have to light in this temple. But in the same breath I would say, take children to temples. It is good for them. Otherwise if you don’t have any symbolism etc then that orientation doesn’t come in them. For young people’s sake who have not yet understood the high philosophy, these are essential. Ques: There are many very scary looking images outside temples. Does God reside in them? #SriSri: Yes, yes, God resides in everything. You should look into the rooms of children these days. There are such scary posters put up! Ques: There are talks to make Gita the national book. What are your views on it? #SriSri: What is the need to make it when it is already an international book. It is not just limited to India, it is a universal book. It talks about Yoga, way of life. It should be an international book not necessarily a national book. Ques: How can I come closer to you? You should simple know that I am close to you and you are close to me. Everybody is close to me. Keep spreading smiles, keep spreading happiness, don’t hate anybody. Then you are close to me. And you do it. Every one of us has all the beautiful qualities. You don’t have to borrow the qualities from anywhere. You have it. You simply have to come and relax. Distortions are removed in relaxation. And how to you get relaxation? Through inaction and dropping desires. If you have desires in the mind then you can’t relax.. you get relaxation through knowledge. And how do you get knowledge? Through dispassion. Ques: Could you please talk a little bit on the Gayatri mantra? #SriSri: Gayatri mantra is the collective mantra, that says “Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat”, may the Divinity purify me and inspire my intellect. Because my life is run by my thoughts, my thoughts come in my intellect and let the Divinity inspired by my intellect. Let my intellect be soaked in the purity and Divinity and be able to perceive the Divine way. This is the whole essence of Gayatri mantra. It is one of the best prayers. Instead of asking God, God give me bread, butter and do this and that.. it is simply saying, may my mind be soaked in the light, the Divinity and all our thoughts, not just mine, ALL our thoughts be inspired. Isn’t it beautiful? If all our thoughts are inspired to do good in society, what more do you want? Ques: You spoke about five types of sleep. Do you also see dreams in your sleep? #SriSri: My dream for the world is One World Family. A world free from violence, a world free from stress, a world which has no corruption. And I would like everyone one of you to share my dream of a very spiritual and divine society. Where there is peace, where there is joy, there is love, compassion and where there is service.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:08:35 +0000