Wisdom from Sri Sri

‘Good luck comes by good deeds, not by lucky charms’
Bangalore (India), May 21:
Excerpts of the question and answer session with Sri Sri:

Q. In every human being there is some hidden talent. I’m 22 years old, I haven’t realized my talent yet. How do I know what I am good at?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Best is that you acquire all skills. Whatever you excel at becomes your main skill. Other skills are added on. It’s okay to be Jack of all trades to begin with, then you get a taste of things, and whatever clicks, you go with that. Don’t sit and wait for some skill to pop up one day – like a mushroom. In fact, you should excel in every field. That’s what I aimed at. You should be good in cooking, cleaning, art, talking, writing – take interest in all fields, and then something will come out of it.

Q. I always get confused in everything. Please tell me what to do.
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Give a pat on your back. Whenever you get confused, it means an old pattern is breaking, and something new is happening. Listen, you can’t be confused in everything. You know you have to have dinner – are you confused about that? You know when you have to come for satsang.
Confusion is when you want more joy, and are not happy with what you have.
A bird in hand is worth two in a bush – be happy with what you have.
If confusion steps in a short while, it should be welcomed. But if it remains perpetually, take an attitude about it.

Q. What makes a person truly secure?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Faith in one’s abilities, and faith in the righteousness of the laws of nature. Have faith that you are supported by nature. And you will succeed. If you fail ten times, you will get success the eleventh time. You must have this faith. This comes by conviction, not any practice. You should say, ‘I will succeed, I refuse to accept failure.’

Q. I have lost someone very close to me. This troubles me. I want to know where he is?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: He is in a good place, a safe place, a place where all of us will be going. He got advance booking, and so earlier. Know that it’s a place which is everywhere. Our mind is alike electromagnetic waves. When you’re watching a channel, and change the channel, where did the previous one go? It didn’t go anywhere. It’s still there, but you are able to concentrate on only one.

Our body is like the television box, and the spirit is like the wave. When the body is gone, the waves will remain. Our access to a person who is close to you is when you meditate. The vibrations bring some coolness, and solace to the person on the other side also.

Q. Is leadership in the Art of Living based on seniority or spiritual evolvement?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There is chaos and bliss here! Everyone is welcome to contribute to the organization’s growth, and grown himself. The Art of Living has one policy: we don’t reject anybody. We carry everyone along with us. That is a very tough job. There are hundreds of challenges.

The human mind is like the wild elephant – its makes all sorts of concepts, and ideals. People who don’t work have great ideals. When they start work, they realize that many ideals don’t work.
On the other side, there are people who have no ideals, and go with the chaos. Both approaches are wrong. If you drop ideals completely, organizations become hopeless. However if you don’t see practicality, and don’t have a foot on the ground, you cannot perform a dance. If your feet are buried in the ground, can you dance? If your legs are not on the ground, can you dance? You have to have a foot on the ground. Life is about balance.
Life is complex, and the world is full of complexities. Many complexities will arise. What you need to take care is not to get frustrated, and deal with them. We have to. Conflicts, and complexities are everywhere - in bureaucracies, political parties, social organizations, NGOs, schools, colleges, everywhere. Even in a house, there could be so many complex behavioral patterns. Yet, rejection is not the way, frustration won’t lead you anywhere. That is the skill you need to acquire. Skill will help you move through sleeping elephants. A saint from India once said: You have to walk through sleeping elephants. When wild elephants are awake, you can’t walk.
How do you get the skill? Silence is the mother of all skills. When you lack some skill, sit quietly for a moment. Then that part of the brain becomes active, that can give you intuition and ideas.
Silence is the mother of all skills, innovations, and inventions. A few moments of quietness. This is the first step. Take a step away from the situation. When you are in a situation, you cannot be a good judge – you have to step out of the situation for a minute and look at it. Through quietness: you will gain the skill right there!
We need to get out of the blame game. If anything goes wrong, you either blame others or yourself. This tendency is so deep in our psyche. Silence gives the skill to see the distance. This principle and philosophy has been developed in this country. However, it has been kept only with a few select people. That is why spirituality should be kept alive in every part of the world, so that everyone can gain skill with ease, and grace. This is the main advantage of meditation practices: it enables you to handle situations with ease and grace. A few moments of silence will bring up tremendous talents from within us.
However, if someone practices too much silence, then also they lose their skills.
Ati sarvatra varjayet – drop anything that is too much. Avoid extremes.

(A member from the audience says: If the bliss and happiness felt here (in the ashram) could spread all over the world, there would be no violence in the world.)
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Absolutely. That’s why you should come here, and spread the word, like sahasra sesha. Each one should inspire at least 1,000 people. Have the intention of bringing knowledge, joy, love, and happiness to the lives of 1,000 people. This is real merit.
Good luck does not come by lucky charms. It comes from good work. Good deed is to bring happiness into the lives of people. This is the best way. I have seen that. So bring this joy, solace, and happiness in people’s lives. When the hearts and minds of people get healed, their spirit blesses you. That becomes your real merit, good luck.

Q. Where are Shiva and Krishna (Hindu Gods)?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Shiva, Krishna is in everyone of us. Krishna is a tatva – celebration, joy, love, mischief. Everything that is inside you, inside me.
In the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says:

Yo mām paśyati sarvatra sarvam ca mayi paśyati
tasyāham na pranaśyami sa ca me na pranaśyati

Krishna says, “One who sees me in everything and one who sees everyone in me, I will never be out of sight for such a person.”

That what you all are going to do – dive into that inner space.
Shiva and Krishna are different aspects of the One jyoti (flame), one aspect.

Q. What is Art of Living doing in the Islamic world?
H.H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Islamic world is an integral part of the Art of Living family – we have projects in Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey too. The responsibility is much more on all of you who are coming from the Islamic world to educate people in inter-disciplinary, inter-faith knowledge.
We must move from extremism, and fanaticism to the center – change the image of countries like Lebanon, and Afghanistan from being war zones to places of peace.

© The Art of Living Foundation