Q: Order and Chaos

Sri Sri: Sometimes you have to elbow your way and sing during Satsang. Some chaos is required. In India, I tell people that some order is required!

Q: How to deal with arrogant and ignorant people?

Sri Sri: Arrogant people are also ignorant. Arrogant people need to be challenged. If you want to tell them about the course, don’t go like a mouse and explain. You can throw a challenge to them ‘Maybe in 10 years, you’ll be able to do the course. Now you’re not mature enough!’ I smile at everyone. Some smile back, some don’t. When they don’t, I feel a contraction within. Why do you expect them to smile back at you? One who cannot smile is a worm. You may be a worm in the gutter or a worm on a silver plate but a worm you are. Whereas a person who smiles, be he in the slums or in the palace, is a diamond. A diamond is precious no matter where it lies. Mullah Nasruddin’s story - Mullah all injured and lying in the hospital - friend asks ‘how’re you?’ - response - ‘Only when I smile does it hurt’ - friend ‘How can you smile when you are in such a state?’ - Mullah ‘If I can’t smile now, I have never smiled!’


Q: Power of contentment

Sri Sri: There is truly nothing as powerful as contentment. It gives you such royalty. In any case, there is only so much rain that you can catch. Can you imagine, running all around in the rain trying to catch it? In any case, you can only catch as much rain as the surface area of your head. You cannot catch any more.


Q: Longing

Sri Sri: Longing is the sign of love. So don’t shorten the longing!

Q: How to pray? I was raised in a non-religious environment.

Sri Sri: Meditation is the best form of prayer. In meditation you surrender, you say let thy will be done.You may light a candle, chant Om Namah Shivaay.

Q: How come you’re so cute?

Sri Sri: Purely by accident! Not deliberate or pre-planned.

Q: Vacation

Sri Sri: People go on vacation to beautiful places and they come back tired and tanned. But the actual beauty is in your eyes, not the place. All people who live in Europe want to travel to Spain - they dream of going there. But the people in Spain - they want to go to the Alps! The people who live in the Alps - they don’t find them so beautiful! Take the case of the dog who chews on the bone. It feels that the juice flowing in its mouth comes from the bone but actually, it is the blood in its own mouth that it mistakes for juice from the bone. This is mentioned in Ashtavakra. Everyone should listen to the Ashtavakra series.


Q: Whenever I see a woman, I have a lot of lustful thoughts. Even in sacred places, even in your presence.

Sri Sri: It’ll go off. It may happen when you don’t have a lot of work. It might also be because of some impresssions or samskaras you might have gathered in childhood or in your past births. For eg. in a burning house situation, would you run out of the fire or gaze at a woman’s body? Fear and Greed also have good use. You can use them intelligently for getting over bad habits. E.g. if you smoke or drink , you can tell your self if I smoke or drink I will lose a million dollars. Similarly fear is important. If there was no fear then people would do anything they liked, they would have driven on whichever side of the road. It is required to maintain some orderliness.


Q: What is more important - career or family?

Sri Sri: When you watch TV, what is more important - the scenes or the sound? Both! One supports the other. Similarly, when one has no family, what is use of a career? Career is for supporting one’s family. To support oneself, a career is not required. Likewise, when one has no career, how can one support one’s family?

Q: Guruji, is it ok to talk knowledge to others without following or living it ourselves?

Sri Sri: (Laughter) You know it is not correct, yet you want to know it from me. But what do you know about the depth in other person? Depth in his knowledge!??! People who are falling in a pit are actually teaching you something. If someone is giving you knowledge, keep the man away and take the knowledge. I tell you u r lucky if even fools around you are speaking knowledge!! At least be happy they are not talking foolish things to you!! This situation is at least better that that!! In English there is a saying ‘ Fake it till you make it’. For all you know continuing like this one day they may just start living the knowledge by themselves!!! But we should be compassionate towards such people. Such a person is a beggar. One, who is fishing for appreciation by delivering knowledge to people, is nothing but a beggar. Its like he is trading puffed rice for a gold coin. Just for a ‘pat in the back’ by someone he is talking out some knowledge, its foolishness.