QUESTION & ANSWER WITH GURUDEV
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
Q: Guruji, I can understand the truth of your knowledge. I can enjoy pooja, bhajans and all the Indian customs as well around you. But, when I am together with my friends, it is very difficult to speak about all this; especially, listening to a Master. In our country, we learn to follow our mind and not any Masters. What can you suggest to make Art of Living more acceptable?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you know, 30 years ago, when we first started The Art of Living then also it was very difficult. Teaching yoga means only someone who is out there, someone who is crazy, would do yoga. But today people like yoga. I want to tell you one thing. You don’t have to talk about pooja, chanting and all that to one who does not know. Just talk about meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, Part 1 course, this is good enough. And I tell you, today people are much more open than before. You don’t need to say, ’I follow a Master’, this and that. I make everybody leaders. I am in the back giving you a push to go forward. A coach is essential everywhere, whether it is sports, or music, or cooking. Unless you have a coach who helps you learn how to be a good cook, you cannot get certified. So, for yoga, for exercise, even soccer you need a good coach, isn’t it? So similarly, for spirituality, which is very abstract, you definitely need a coach, someone who trains you. A Master never tell you, ‘Shut your brain and don’t think’, no! He encourages you to think freely. This is what you need to know. The Art of Living encourages Reasoning and Faith, both. Faith and Reason, they may appear to be conflicting. It has happened in the past like that. That is how the Spanish inquisition happened. In the past if the Church said something you should never question it. So, the entire revolution in Russia about Communism started because reason was shunned. But in the East that never happened. East always said, ‘Honor your reason.’ In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna gives Arjuna the entire knowledge, and then finally he says, ‘You reason, if it appeals to your intellect then you accept it. Whatever I said, if your intellect does not accept it then you need not accept whatever I have said.’ Buddha said the same thing, ‘You must have Reason and Surrender as well. Have faith.’ This is what Lord Buddha said. If you say, ‘Let me first learn swimming then I will get into water’, a real coach will say, ‘Get into the water and I will tell you how to swim.’ So it is not one after another, yes! As you get into water you have to swim immediately. You have to learn simultaneously. That is why Reason and Faith, they both are essential in life. You can’t learn swimming in the air first and then get into the water. Then you will not learn swimming. When you get into the water only then you will learn how to swim, correct! And there is a life jacket around you. The Master is like the life jacket. He teaches you to swim and once you start swimming then you know the value of it, isn’t that so? So, how to answer people? You need not answer every question that anybody asks. Sometimes just smile. You don’t know the value of it, but just taste it and then tell them. Someone might say, ’Oh! Why are you listening to chanting?’ ‘Oh! You don’t know the value of chanting. It is so wonderful. Just do it. Just listen to it once and you will see.’ That is what we want to share. We want to share what is best with everybody; with everyone. Not that in India everything is good or everything better, no! There are many hopeless things also. But we have picked the good things and are sharing it with the world. Similarly, every religion, every culture has something very beautiful. That we should share. Not the fanaticism and not the small mindedness.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
POSTED ON: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022
Q: Guruji, I can understand the truth of your knowledge. I can enjoy pooja, bhajans and all the Indian customs as well around you. But, when I am together with my friends, it is very difficult to speak about all this; especially, listening to a Master. In our country, we learn to follow our mind and not any Masters. What can you suggest to make Art of Living more acceptable?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Do you know, 30 years ago, when we first started The Art of Living then also it was very difficult. Teaching yoga means only someone who is out there, someone who is crazy, would do yoga. But today people like yoga. I want to tell you one thing. You don’t have to talk about pooja, chanting and all that to one who does not know. Just talk about meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, Part 1 course, this is good enough. And I tell you, today people are much more open than before. You don’t need to say, ’I follow a Master’, this and that. I make everybody leaders. I am in the back giving you a push to go forward. A coach is essential everywhere, whether it is sports, or music, or cooking. Unless you have a coach who helps you learn how to be a good cook, you cannot get certified. So, for yoga, for exercise, even soccer you need a good coach, isn’t it? So similarly, for spirituality, which is very abstract, you definitely need a coach, someone who trains you. A Master never tell you, ‘Shut your brain and don’t think’, no! He encourages you to think freely. This is what you need to know. The Art of Living encourages Reasoning and Faith, both. Faith and Reason, they may appear to be conflicting. It has happened in the past like that. That is how the Spanish inquisition happened. In the past if the Church said something you should never question it. So, the entire revolution in Russia about Communism started because reason was shunned. But in the East that never happened. East always said, ‘Honor your reason.’ In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna gives Arjuna the entire knowledge, and then finally he says, ‘You reason, if it appeals to your intellect then you accept it. Whatever I said, if your intellect does not accept it then you need not accept whatever I have said.’ Buddha said the same thing, ‘You must have Reason and Surrender as well. Have faith.’ This is what Lord Buddha said. If you say, ‘Let me first learn swimming then I will get into water’, a real coach will say, ‘Get into the water and I will tell you how to swim.’ So it is not one after another, yes! As you get into water you have to swim immediately. You have to learn simultaneously. That is why Reason and Faith, they both are essential in life. You can’t learn swimming in the air first and then get into the water. Then you will not learn swimming. When you get into the water only then you will learn how to swim, correct! And there is a life jacket around you. The Master is like the life jacket. He teaches you to swim and once you start swimming then you know the value of it, isn’t that so? So, how to answer people? You need not answer every question that anybody asks. Sometimes just smile. You don’t know the value of it, but just taste it and then tell them. Someone might say, ’Oh! Why are you listening to chanting?’ ‘Oh! You don’t know the value of chanting. It is so wonderful. Just do it. Just listen to it once and you will see.’ That is what we want to share. We want to share what is best with everybody; with everyone. Not that in India everything is good or everything better, no! There are many hopeless things also. But we have picked the good things and are sharing it with the world. Similarly, every religion, every culture has something very beautiful. That we should share. Not the fanaticism and not the small mindedness.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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