Be Awake To Be Dynamic

7.

How Do I Tame The Ego?

 

*Q: How do I tame the ego?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:* For God’s sake, don’t tame it. Don’t meddle with it.
Don’t do anything with it. If you find you have one, just keep it in the
pocket. If you try to tame the ego then that must be the biggest ego. What
the ego cannot tolerate is being ignored. The antidote for ego is to be
natural. Be simple like a child. And if you find it is still bothering you,
just let it be.

*Q: Please elaborate on the concept of letting go. How does one let go
physically, mentally and emotionally?*

*Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: *Just take a deep breath and hold. Don’t let go. You
can’t but let go. It is inevitable at some point in time you will have to
let go. How to let go? Hold your fist and keep it tight. How long can you do
this?

*Q: Why are some people greedy and cruel? Can we change them or must we
learn to accept?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:* Some people don’t know how beautiful they are. Inside
every culprit there is a victim crying for help. If you heal the victim,
that culprit will be healed. No one is born as a violent person. One becomes
violent due to lack of proper education on non-violence.

*Q: What is special about this meditation practice compared to others?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:* It makes you ordinary and it can happen only to
ordinary people. If you think you are special, this meditation cannot
happen. And that is what is so special about it.

*Q: Please speak on love. Also, how is discipline best exercised?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: *Here again you cannot force yourself to love
something or not love something. Just relax and be yourself.
Discipline can only be required in three situations. You don’t need
discipline when there is love. When you love something you don’t need to
discipline yourself to do it, right? The second situation is when there is
fear. If you fear you are going to have nervous breakdown that fear will
make you do what is required. Third is greed. If someone offers you one
million dollars to do something thing for one week, you would not miss one
day of doing that thing. So greed, fear and love keep you in discipline.

*Q: When one achieves higher levels of consciousness, what is the effect on
the body and how does the use of the body change?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: *There’s this proverb. ‘You chop wood and carry water
before enlightenment and you chop wood and carry water after enlightenment.’
Our consciousness impacts our body and our body impacts our consciousness.
It is a very dear relationship.

*Q: What does it take to accomplish ones destiny?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:* Faith, faith that you can accomplish your destiny.

*Q: Do you believe our world leaders can create peaceful and loving
solutions to world problems or are they economically motivated by a select
group of individuals?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:* I think you have given the answer in the question.
Both question and answer together. I find there are many good world leaders
who want to do something for our society but they feel constrained. They
feel helpless. Many times they cannot do what they want to do because they
are trapped in a system. The system doesn’t allow them to do what they want
to do. And there are others for whom their position or party matters more
than the welfare of the people. Their eyes are on the next coming election,
the needs of their political party, their political agenda rather than the
larger interest of the people in the long term. Even if they think of the
bigger issues they are unable to take action as their political agenda
stands in front of them.
A ruler cannot become a reformer. Rulers do not work with reform. And those
who work with reform cannot become rulers. They have different roles.
Reformers and rulers should work together.

*Q: Can you speak on the subject of marriage and our attachment to this
idea?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: *I’m not so qualified to speak about marriage; I have
no experience of it! It is an important institution which teaches you how to
accept and move on in life, how to care for and share with another and to be
shared and cared. I can give you some tips.


* *
*“That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth.”*
*~ Sri Sri Ravishankar*