Without commitment there is no stability, no happiness and no progress in life

December 07, 2011

Q: Guruji, In Shiv Sutras, you have said ‘Gyanam bandhanam’. I am confused; does knowledge make us free or put us in bondage?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See after meditation when you become aware of your body and surrounding, your limited mind comes into understanding of limited things.

At one time you can understand only history, or mathematics, or physics or chemistry. Only one thing at a time you can understand. The knowledge of a particular thing limits your mind from vastness to a limited sphere of knowledge.

That limited knowledge is bondage.

Q: If you are pure in your intention and action and yet you are perceived as just the opposite and blamed, what should we do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Just smile through it. Don’t worry about what others blame. You should not keep quiet also, you should educate and ignore.

Q: Guruji, Part 2 course is a journey from head to heart. What is the place of logic in spirituality?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Logic has a very important place. It is through logic only that you get into spirituality.

Logic makes you see what is life and what is the world and how you are wasting your time!

A logical mind says, ‘no, I should not waste my time. Life is short, everything is ephemeral.’ There is no point in worrying about the past or brooding about the future; this is logic.

So logic gives you a step into spirituality and so logic is important. But it only a step, you can’t sleep on the step. You have to enter the house. So it is the first step to enter the home.

Q: Guruji, you have said to overcome habits one should take a vow. What is a vow?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you have any bad habits, you can take a vow.

If you are habituated towards talking negative, then you say, ‘today I am not going to talk negative. I am not going to complain about anybody.’

So taking such steps makes a big difference.

If you are used to overeating and you take a step, okay I am not going to overeat for one week. I am going to eat only a little. That is a vow.

Q: When things change from I want to do it to I will have to do it, it becomes very difficult to act. What to do in such situations? It happens to me when I do seva?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Commitment is essential. Without commitment there is no stability, no happiness, and no progress in life. So if you take a commitment you have to fulfill that.