Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Satsang today
"When you do these Pujas and Yagnas, the unseen starts coming forth. The unseen is the energy in the subtle world and when it comes up then it is useful in our lives. Like when we water the plants, the water goes down below the earth, which then gets absorbed by the roots, bearing fruits, flowers and leaves above. You don’t give water to the plants directly, you give it to the roots. You pour water somewhere else and the fruits are borne somewhere else. In the same way, when we get success in life, the root cause is some good deed that we have done some time in the past. Whether it is in this lifetime or some past lifetime. So when we do any good deed, it gives us benefit some time in the future. This is the law of nature. And there are different types of happiness and the happiness that emerges from deep within that is achieved from this. And that is what is called Satsang. Just see how everyone is so joyful since the past 10 days. This is because of the emergence of the unseen. It erases all worries and brings success at every step. This is a special science since ancient times, in India. We have been following the tradition of 16 Samskaras (purifying ceremonies marking major events in life). With every Samskara you establish a relationship with the subtle, unseen world. Be it marriage or getting a new house, in all these you establish a relation with the subtle world."
Ques: After meditation I don’t remember anything. What do I do?
#Sri Sri : But you feel good after that right? Then it’s ok. It’s good to forget things for a while. People try different things to forget everything! You know what they do? To everything people take the refuge of a bottle or take the refuge of God. Well, I don’t know about the other.. (laughter). But it’s good to forget everything for a little while.
#Sri Sri : But you feel good after that right? Then it’s ok. It’s good to forget things for a while. People try different things to forget everything! You know what they do? To everything people take the refuge of a bottle or take the refuge of God. Well, I don’t know about the other.. (laughter). But it’s good to forget everything for a little while.
Ques: How do you evaluate yourself on this path?
#Sri Sri: Are you confident? Are you happy more and more? Is your intuition working better than before? Do worries come and immediately vanish? Worries do come, but they come and they go very quickly, right? That’s good progress.
#Sri Sri: Are you confident? Are you happy more and more? Is your intuition working better than before? Do worries come and immediately vanish? Worries do come, but they come and they go very quickly, right? That’s good progress.
Ques: I am not able to be centered all the time. What do I do?
#Sri Sri: Forget about being centered all the time. So what if you get shaky, come back to your center again. Even Shri Rama, even after receiving the knowledge of the Yoga Vasishtha, lost His centeredness when Sita got kidnapped. He went around asking the trees if they had seen Sita! But then He regained His centeredness. Even Lord Krishna lost His cool, when Bhishma refused to listen to Him. He had sworn that He would not lift any weapons, but He did and broke His promise. It is ok to be like that for moment, but if you then come back to your center after that, then it is enough.
#Sri Sri: Forget about being centered all the time. So what if you get shaky, come back to your center again. Even Shri Rama, even after receiving the knowledge of the Yoga Vasishtha, lost His centeredness when Sita got kidnapped. He went around asking the trees if they had seen Sita! But then He regained His centeredness. Even Lord Krishna lost His cool, when Bhishma refused to listen to Him. He had sworn that He would not lift any weapons, but He did and broke His promise. It is ok to be like that for moment, but if you then come back to your center after that, then it is enough.
Ques: I feel like I have come very close to God and I have stopped. I don’t know what is happening to me.
#Sri Sri: That is alright. At least you didn’t stop when you were far away, you stopped when you were close to God! And you have to stop. If you are still running when you come close to God, then what is the point? This is a good sign.
#Sri Sri: That is alright. At least you didn’t stop when you were far away, you stopped when you were close to God! And you have to stop. If you are still running when you come close to God, then what is the point? This is a good sign.
Ques: Why do my parents have to suffer for my karmas?
#Sri Sri: Well, all who are connected to you will be affected. Imagine you are driving a car, and it overturns, then won’t every person who is in the car with you, get hurt? Every person’s karma is not limited to that person alone. If a mother who is cooking food at home, puts extra salt in the food, then will not everyone at home suffer the consequences? Her karma will affect all. Of course, if she cooks well, then everyone will enjoy the fruits of that too!
#Sri Sri: Well, all who are connected to you will be affected. Imagine you are driving a car, and it overturns, then won’t every person who is in the car with you, get hurt? Every person’s karma is not limited to that person alone. If a mother who is cooking food at home, puts extra salt in the food, then will not everyone at home suffer the consequences? Her karma will affect all. Of course, if she cooks well, then everyone will enjoy the fruits of that too!
Ques: My mother is suffering from cancer, please make her better.
#Sri Sri: OK, don’t worry. You take her to the doctor at our Ayurveda hospital. Here we have some very good new packages. A lot of people have benefited a lot from it.. Since so many people benefited, we had to open a new department for Cancer in our hospital here. And we have packages here to control the disease. We have very good treatments for varicose vein and other diseases.
#Sri Sri: OK, don’t worry. You take her to the doctor at our Ayurveda hospital. Here we have some very good new packages. A lot of people have benefited a lot from it.. Since so many people benefited, we had to open a new department for Cancer in our hospital here. And we have packages here to control the disease. We have very good treatments for varicose vein and other diseases.
Ques: How do stop the slaughtering of cows without politicizing it too much?
#Sri Sri: The world is turning towards vegetarianism. And in this country unhealthy food habits are still at large. So we need to create more awareness on this, that’s all.
#Sri Sri: The world is turning towards vegetarianism. And in this country unhealthy food habits are still at large. So we need to create more awareness on this, that’s all.
Ques: I get attracted to things very easily and get confused in the process. What do I do?
#Sri Sri: Listen to your elders then, your parents. Another name for teenage is confusion. It has to be there! And from that confusion comes chaos and from chaos comes bliss later on.
#Sri Sri: Listen to your elders then, your parents. Another name for teenage is confusion. It has to be there! And from that confusion comes chaos and from chaos comes bliss later on.
Ques: Many times people force their ways on others. How do you sensitize people not to do that?
#Sri Sri: Correct, that is civilized behavior. We need to teach civilized behavior to people in many ways. Forcing will not help. Nobody should force anything on anybody. Persuasion must be there. It should be persuasion not force. Forcing doesn’t work usually. But you know sometimes.. like in Singapore. Singapore has very strict laws against drugs. When they put such strict laws against drugs, you hardly find people using it there. In this country, in the name of not forcing it on young people, I’m giving drug as an example, what has happened in Punjab is that 70% of youth are suffering today. So if the ban, either for corruption or for drugs, had taken place in a very strict manner, like in Singapore, Punjab would never be in the state that it is in today. So, you cannot be too strict or too loose. You always need to go on the middle path. The middle path is the most difficult thing and that awareness one needs to create. What is good for people is the middle path. Not giving too much freedom, at the same time not suffocating or restricting you. That people don’t know. Either they go to two extremes, in this country or anywhere else in the world.. Either liberalism to it’s extreme is hopeless and in the same way freedom is curtailed.. like women not being allowed to drive, or exercise their way of living. This is wrong. In the world we find people in extremes very easily. It’s very easy to swing to extremes. So you can go to this extreme and try to ban everything or you go to the other extreme and say everybody can do everything. And then what happens is there is chaos and there is injustice. This country had 120 crores of cattle when it became free, and there were 30 crore human beings. Today the proportion is reversed. We are 120 crore human beings and we have only 20 crore animals. Only 20 crore animals! Somewhere if you don’t put a ban, milk will only be there in the newspapers and books! You know, when I went to Cuba what I discovered? In Cuba, if you slaughter a cow you are fined USD1000 which is too big an amount for them.. there is a ban because they know it is a small island, they need to protect that animal.. You would find all the endangered animals on the planet disappear if a certain ban is not brought. So it is very necessary at times, to identify the species which are endangered, and protect them, and a ban is needed there, legal ban is essential… One gentleman came to me in Paris. This man lives in a ship. He was a billionaire. What he did is, he put all his money to save the whales in the ocean. Whales was a very big business.. So he would park his ship in the ocean and fought with big governments of the world to save whales. His life was under threat, people were threatening his life.. and he has made it his life’s mission to save whales. He himself was a whaler, he used to catch them. And one day, he said, he looked into the eyes of a whale and he got a message from the whale saying, ‘ Why are you killing me to fill your little belly?’. He said that, that one incident before he shot the whale, he looked at the whale, he wrote a book too and making a documentary on this, how the Dolphins and the whales, the whales especially, they are like human beings. They are being killed! And he is struggling with the international community to bring a ban on it. So we need a ban on endangered species, it is necessary. Animal rights have to be protected. At the same time a I would say, if somebody killed an animal, people cannot go and lynch somebody or kill somebody. That is absolutely wrong. We should never allow such things to happen in this country or anywhere else in this world.
#Sri Sri: Correct, that is civilized behavior. We need to teach civilized behavior to people in many ways. Forcing will not help. Nobody should force anything on anybody. Persuasion must be there. It should be persuasion not force. Forcing doesn’t work usually. But you know sometimes.. like in Singapore. Singapore has very strict laws against drugs. When they put such strict laws against drugs, you hardly find people using it there. In this country, in the name of not forcing it on young people, I’m giving drug as an example, what has happened in Punjab is that 70% of youth are suffering today. So if the ban, either for corruption or for drugs, had taken place in a very strict manner, like in Singapore, Punjab would never be in the state that it is in today. So, you cannot be too strict or too loose. You always need to go on the middle path. The middle path is the most difficult thing and that awareness one needs to create. What is good for people is the middle path. Not giving too much freedom, at the same time not suffocating or restricting you. That people don’t know. Either they go to two extremes, in this country or anywhere else in the world.. Either liberalism to it’s extreme is hopeless and in the same way freedom is curtailed.. like women not being allowed to drive, or exercise their way of living. This is wrong. In the world we find people in extremes very easily. It’s very easy to swing to extremes. So you can go to this extreme and try to ban everything or you go to the other extreme and say everybody can do everything. And then what happens is there is chaos and there is injustice. This country had 120 crores of cattle when it became free, and there were 30 crore human beings. Today the proportion is reversed. We are 120 crore human beings and we have only 20 crore animals. Only 20 crore animals! Somewhere if you don’t put a ban, milk will only be there in the newspapers and books! You know, when I went to Cuba what I discovered? In Cuba, if you slaughter a cow you are fined USD1000 which is too big an amount for them.. there is a ban because they know it is a small island, they need to protect that animal.. You would find all the endangered animals on the planet disappear if a certain ban is not brought. So it is very necessary at times, to identify the species which are endangered, and protect them, and a ban is needed there, legal ban is essential… One gentleman came to me in Paris. This man lives in a ship. He was a billionaire. What he did is, he put all his money to save the whales in the ocean. Whales was a very big business.. So he would park his ship in the ocean and fought with big governments of the world to save whales. His life was under threat, people were threatening his life.. and he has made it his life’s mission to save whales. He himself was a whaler, he used to catch them. And one day, he said, he looked into the eyes of a whale and he got a message from the whale saying, ‘ Why are you killing me to fill your little belly?’. He said that, that one incident before he shot the whale, he looked at the whale, he wrote a book too and making a documentary on this, how the Dolphins and the whales, the whales especially, they are like human beings. They are being killed! And he is struggling with the international community to bring a ban on it. So we need a ban on endangered species, it is necessary. Animal rights have to be protected. At the same time a I would say, if somebody killed an animal, people cannot go and lynch somebody or kill somebody. That is absolutely wrong. We should never allow such things to happen in this country or anywhere else in this world.
Thank you
Love
Alan
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