SRI SRI AT SATSANG TODAY

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Satsang today

"When you have that deep urge to get rid of any bad habit, deep prayer will make it change."

Ques: What is the criteria for considering anyone as an Avatar?
‪#‎SriSri‬: First you should understand what Avatar means. Avatar means descending of Divinity. Wherever you find knowledge, there Divinity has descended. The formless to be seen in form, this is what is there in Srimad Bhagavatam. It says the Divine as descended even in swans, in the fire, in the trees, in all animals. The entire creation is nothing but the manifestation of Divinity. From wherever you get a message you call that as Avatar. SO the sage Dattatreya has noted twenty different forms of life. He received knowledge from a swan, so swan he said swan is a form of Divinity. You should know that God is present in every particle of the Universe. The cheapest commodity available is Divinity! In earth, water, fire, air, ether. Everything is made up of one vibration, that is Brahman, that is Divinity, that is God. So when that Divinity is shining through knowledge, giving knowledge, kindling love, then that one considers as an Avatar.

Ques: It is said that everything is a dream. In whose dream I am in? In yours or you are in mine, or we both are in a common dream?
#SriSri: Well, what is a dream? It is an impression of memory. You wake up now this very moment, the entire past appears as a dream. It is memory, an impression. So everything is an impression in the mind. What you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, you touch, all this forms an impression in the consciousness. So as long as you are all in each other’s dreams, everything is ok.
I have a habit of living in a fantasy world. I know it is a defence mechanism. How to overcome it?
The moment you realize it is a fantasy, you’ve already overcome it!.. the moment you have labelled it as my fantasy world’, you have already come to the shore. You are no longer drowning in it. Don’t worry about it. It’s good to have dreams sometimes. Think big, have dreams, but at the same time don’t lose the touch of reality. You know dance happens not with both feet stuck to the ground. one is firmly on the ground the other is up in the air. In life also, you should see the practicality, not lose the ground reality, at the same time you should dream something different, something bigger, something higher, whatever appears to be some times impossible. If you’re dreaming something that is totally impossible, then you are not true to yourself. That is that grey area, you don’t think it is totally impossible and you don’t think it is totally possible also. Somewhere in between, you think “I can make it, I can do it”, that is the dream that you should hold on to.

Ques: It is said to be without Sankalpa(intention), then why do we take Sankalpas in Pujas.
#SriSri: Yes, to become Nirsankalpa, Nirvikalpa! Sankalpa, vikalpa, keeps coming our mind all the time.. If you don’t let go all the Sankalpa, you cannot become a Yogi. So in order to get the ability to let go of all the sankalpas, all these pujas, seva, all this is done, to get to that. It is not that you must do it. All the sankalpas in pujas are for focussing our attention in one direction. Life cannot happen without any Sankalpa at all. In life you have to take Sankalpa. You want to even sit here, listen to knowledge is Sankalpa. Or to go and have food is a Sankalpa. Want to do something good is a Sankalpa. Want to do Seva is a Sankalpa. And wanting to get free of Sankalpas is again another Sankalpa! In Upanishads it is said you need both Vidya and Avidya. Paravidya and Apraravidya both.. everyone has to take both in a balanced way and go ahead.

Ques: Can we control time, if so how?
#SriSri: Ya, ya, you can turn the watch back and forth (laughs). You can keep the time. And if you keep the time, that is controlling the time. Got it? Can you keep the time, can you be on time? Fix a time and move with that? Certain events in your life you can control, certain events you cannot. Life is a combination of both free will and destiny. You cannot say I have control over everything. And you can’t say i have no control over anything. Both are not correct. I’ll give you a simple example, after 21 your height cannot be increased. But your weight you can change any time! You can grow horizontally, but you cant grow vertically. You can shrink also. If you weigh 100 kilos, you cannot say I can’t change it. Why not? Get on to a treadmill, walk and eat less. You see in one month you can reduce your weight. Right? So certain things you can change. Similarly you cannot stop the rain from coming, but it is your choice whether to get wet or not get wet. You can put on a raincoat, take an umbrella, you don’t even go out of the home, you won’t get wet. So certain things you can change, certain things you cannot. So life is not all fatalistic.

Ques: Can you please explain Avabodha, Bodha concept?
#SriSri: Some things you understand through intellect, some things are beyond intellect, you feel it. You can give talk about love, but a dog will tell you what love is. So one is understanding through intellect, that is also necessary. Another that comes to you as an experience, through vibrations. In life both are essential.

Ques: Yesterday you had said one should not get too close to a Raja and stay away from the Guru. What should be the attitude of the King with the Guru?
#SriSri: King should not assume himself as a King all the time. When he comes to a Guru, he should become like an ordinary human being. You know from Gurus eyes if you see, everybody is part of himself. So it is all just roles one plays. Everyone should remember, first of all we are all part of one Divine light, one human race. And so we cannot afford to be stuck in a role, we should keep changing our coats. Each role is like a coat. So we have to play all the roles perfectly. So if someone comes to a teacher, they have to come as a student, only student. Similarly for a teacher, for a Guru, everybody is same, whether they are rich, poor or stupid or very intelligent, everyone is same.

Ques: In Shiva Purana it says anyone who worships Shiva is freed from all sins. Does this mean that corruption begins at the top?
#SriSri: No, no. Corruption is doing what is not right, that is corruption. That you don’t wish to be done to yourself or your kith and kin, someone very close to you. Puja and corruption, you cannot link them. Puja means the feeling that comes out of you with fullness. Like a guest comes to your home, you come to the door and receive them. Someone very dear to you are coming, don’t you rush to the train station or airport to receive them? This is coming out of a compulsion or a feeling?.. what is the feeling there? That cannot be called a corruption. So puja means that which comes out of fullness. In puranas, many things are written. I’m not an advocate of all the puranas. Don’t take me that way, because many of them are a way of expressing. In fact the word purana means new way of expressing. The Hindi purana and Sanskrit have totally opposite meanings. In Hindi purana means old. In Sanskrit purana means very new, latest, modern. So it’s a different way to express. Don’t call that as a corruption. God is not so stupid, that he waits for you to break a coconut and gives you a boon! He cannot be so stupid. No, no, no. All the pujas you do are to express your fullness, not to please God. I think this is a very wrong concept in the world. We try to do things to please God. That is wrong understanding. People fast for many days to please God. This is a misunderstanding. You fast to purify your body, that is good enough. Don’t have to fast to please some God up in the heaven. There is nothing like that.

Ques:What is the relevance of morality in the real world when Divinity is considered beyond morality.
#SriSri: Morality is what you don’t want someone else to do to you. That is morality. Basic principle of morality is if you don’t want your husband to flirt with someone, you should not flirt with someone else’s husband! That is it.. What you don’t wish to be done to you, or your near and dear ones, you should not do to someone else. You don’t want someone else to misbehave with your daughter or son then how can you do that with someone else’s daughter or son. Basic principle of morality. You don’t want your driver to drink and drive, or someone else coming in front of you to be drunk while driving , then can drive when you are drunk? You don’t want anyone else to rob you of your wealth or cheat you, then you should not cheat someone else.