Karma

Q. Could you please tell us what we could do to make you proud of us?

Sri Sri: I have already said it. All the five points that you learn in the Art of Living course. Know them from an existential level, from your heart and being, not just the head. Opposite values are complementary. Accept people and situations as they are. Do not be a foot ball of other people’s opinions. Give your hundred percent. Forgive and forget the past. (You can make me proud) by being useful to the society, by not wasting your time. Keep yourself busy.
Q. What is the way to let go off lokeshna (desire for praise of people), putreshna (desire for children) and vitteshna (greed and influence of money)?

Sri Sri: Bhakti (devotion) is an easy way to get rid of all these desires. In devotion, we are ready to die and nothing seems like a botheration. There is no question of lokeshna in a devotee as devotees are always crazy (in love). To a devotee, everyone will seem like his own child, so there is no putreshna.

Vitteshna also will be dropped as a devotee will have all the siddhis (powers) and will get whatever he wants as the Master of the world belongs to him.

There is no need to try and make an effort to get rid of these. It will happen naturally. Once you know that you have this eshna (desire), half of it drops there and the rest will go away when you surrender to the Divine.

Yet, if putreshna takes over you, just fulfill your duty for your children and be at peace. Don’t try to fight it.

Q. How to strengthen dispassion?

Sri Sri: Without dispassion, sadhana (spiritual practices) won’t work. When mind is caught up in entanglements then sadhana is not possible. Once dispassion is there, sadhana becomes very simple. Also with sadhana the mind is cleansed and dispassion arises.
Q. How to bring naturalness with skillfulness. Isn’t a skillful person being unnatural?

Sri Sri: There is no clash between skillfulness and naturalness. You are worrying unnecessarily. Lord Krishna was sahaj (natural) and kushal (skillful). Do not confuse kuyukti (manipulation) with kushalta (skillfulness). Skillfulness goes with naturalness and not manipulation or betrayal.

Naturalness and simplicity do not imply being foolish or unskillful.

Believe that you are intelligent, skilful and natural.

Q. How to recognize and let go of the doership we are holding on to?

Sri Sri: Doership leads to suffocation, misery and guilt. Know that when you are natural and in surrender, doership dissolves automatically. You surrender only that which has happened, which is past. Future is anyways out of your control.

We burden the mind with the memories of the past. Let go of the event which has gone and left its shadow, impression in the consciousness. What else can you surrender? Money, leaves, etc already belong to the Divine. Surrendering doership, ‘mine’, ‘me’ is surrender.
Q. What is atma (soul) and paramatma(Supreme Self) ?

Sri Sri: First, understand atma. Beyond it, is paramatma. These are the two sides of the same coin. Atma means ‘I’. There are two kinds of ‘I’. One is the ego, which says I am something.

And the other I, the maipan (‘i’ness- awareness of existence) in us, is that from which we listen, understand and do nothing. That is atma. Once we experience it, we go beyond the first ‘I’.

We can see that my soul is in everyone. Then we say sohum- I am that. There is no difference between Him and me.
(From the Office of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)