QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV

POSTED ON: MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2022

Q: The terrorist organizations kill people with full awareness. So can we still say that the present moment is joyful?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Look, they are doing something with a wrong understanding. They think that if they kill somebody here then they are going to go to heaven. They think that they are doing God’s work here. This is their conviction. How can you say it is joyful moment? It is especially not so for those getting executed.

Do not misinterpret or stretch knowledge into avenues which do not make any sense. This is a strange question. There are many things you can do, or also not do, to be in the present moment.

These are all Vikrutis (distortions) of the mind. When you get into this, then the mind wrongly thinks that “Oh, this is also joyful! (Killing innocent people) Why do I not do this then?” This is why we speak about the Six wealths (Shatt Sampatti) one should have – Shama (equanimity of the mind), Dama (restraint or say over one’s senses), Uparati (ability to enjoy what one has), Titiksha (endurance or fortitude in both good and bad), Samadhana (being established in the Self, in the Divine) and Shraddha (deep unshakeable faith).

Until and unless a person is well-founded in this Sheela (a system of virtues), until one is established in the four pillars of knowledge, one cannot speak about Vedanta. Without being well-established in these, you may argue that “Oh, everything is God. So If everything is the Brahman, then those people who are killing others are also Brahman. If everything has come from that Ananda (blissful One Consciousness) then they too have come from the same Ananda”. This is misuse of the highest knowledge. The highest knowledge is not given to anyone until and unless they are well founded in Viveka, Vairagya, the Shatt Sampatti, and Mumukshatva (intense desire for liberation). All these four principles have to be well established within us. Only then can you talk about Vedanta. Then you can say that “Everything is One, all are One”.

In the ethics of teaching it is said, “Do not give this knowledge that ‘Everything is God, everything is Brahman’ to people who have not come up to that level of discrimination. Otherwise a thief also can misuse this knowledge. A thief may also think “Oh, never mind, anyway everything is the Brahman. So how does it matter whether this money comes from my pocket or someone else’s pocket? My pocket or his pocket – it is all the same. So why not steal and take it?” (Laughter) If this were the case then all the pick-pockets can also talk and justify their actions using Vedanta. So that is why this knowledge is not given in such a way.

If without proper understanding you just think, “Everything is Brahman”, then you would not make any distinction between mud and a banana. Then you should be able to eat mud also. People many times use knowledge for their convenience. This is misuse of knowledge. Knowledge gives your comfort, but using knowledge for your convenience is unethical. If you live the knowledge, then it surely gives you absolute comfort, absolute joy.

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar