Thoughts of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Depression
This is the elaborated reply from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar when a devotee asked him to pull him out of depression that he is facing.
There is no way you are in satsang and you are depressed.
See sometimes this is what happens when you go to psychologists. They give you an idea that you are depressed. And then you put this idea into your mind, ‘oh! I am depressed!’
So you are reaffirming something which is not a permanent thing. No mental state is a permanent state. So you are trying to reinforce and reaffirm, ‘I am depressed’ even when you are not. You start saying ‘yes, I am depressed’.
This is the danger when people who do not know anything about the mind, about the psyche and about meditation or consciousness, give advice in the name of psychology.
It is such a miserable thing.
I have seen relationships between parents and children get spoiled by psychologists and psychiatrists. A child had such a good relationship with his parents but after some consultation or counseling with the psychologists, something happened, and he started hating his own parents.
There was a businessman here at the ashram for the past one and a half months. He came all the way from Paris.
This person had a sleeping disorder. He was given so many medications.
Usually for sleep doctors give a dose of ten milligrams; this man was taking a hundred and fifty milligrams. Ten times the normal dose of the medicine. He looked like a zombie and kept having panic attacks and his whole system was bad.
I told him, ‘now, I want to take away all your medications.’
We took away his medications and he said, ‘but, I don’t sleep’. Our doctors attended to him, all our teachers attended to him. He was snoring loudly and when you snore loudly, it means you are sleeping. After snoring for four hours he wakes up and says, ‘I did not sleep. I have a sleeping problem.’
The doctors who attended to him said, ‘Guruji, he snored so loud!’
But this gentleman had this idea, I have sleeping disorder so I have to take this medication. Without this medication I cannot sleep.
Sometimes, you have this idea, whatever doctors say is absolute truth. Like the placebo effect. Doctor says, ‘take this tablet and you’ll be fine’, and you take a sugar pill and say, ‘ah! This is very effective’.
A sugar pill can take away your headache.
If the doctor tells you, ‘you suffer from deep depression’, you take it in your mind and in your heart. You say, ‘I suffer from depression’.
Your mind is like a river, it is changing all the time. That is what Lord Buddha said, ‘your mind is like a river’.
All the ancient people who studied consciousness have said, ‘you can’t take a dip in the same river twice’. So, don’t believe you are the same person. Your mind is changing all the time.
Be in the present moment, now! Now! Now!
Burry the past and move on. Where is the depression? Your depression is because you are hanging onto the past or you are over-ambitious. You have the capability to manage a school but you want to become the Prime Minister of the country. Then depression comes when you feel you cannot achieve it.
Don’t hang on to the past or don’t be too feverish or over-ambitious about the future.
This is the elaborated reply from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar when a devotee asked him to pull him out of depression that he is facing.
There is no way you are in satsang and you are depressed.
See sometimes this is what happens when you go to psychologists. They give you an idea that you are depressed. And then you put this idea into your mind, ‘oh! I am depressed!’
So you are reaffirming something which is not a permanent thing. No mental state is a permanent state. So you are trying to reinforce and reaffirm, ‘I am depressed’ even when you are not. You start saying ‘yes, I am depressed’.
This is the danger when people who do not know anything about the mind, about the psyche and about meditation or consciousness, give advice in the name of psychology.
It is such a miserable thing.
I have seen relationships between parents and children get spoiled by psychologists and psychiatrists. A child had such a good relationship with his parents but after some consultation or counseling with the psychologists, something happened, and he started hating his own parents.
There was a businessman here at the ashram for the past one and a half months. He came all the way from Paris.
This person had a sleeping disorder. He was given so many medications.
Usually for sleep doctors give a dose of ten milligrams; this man was taking a hundred and fifty milligrams. Ten times the normal dose of the medicine. He looked like a zombie and kept having panic attacks and his whole system was bad.
I told him, ‘now, I want to take away all your medications.’
We took away his medications and he said, ‘but, I don’t sleep’. Our doctors attended to him, all our teachers attended to him. He was snoring loudly and when you snore loudly, it means you are sleeping. After snoring for four hours he wakes up and says, ‘I did not sleep. I have a sleeping problem.’
The doctors who attended to him said, ‘Guruji, he snored so loud!’
But this gentleman had this idea, I have sleeping disorder so I have to take this medication. Without this medication I cannot sleep.
Sometimes, you have this idea, whatever doctors say is absolute truth. Like the placebo effect. Doctor says, ‘take this tablet and you’ll be fine’, and you take a sugar pill and say, ‘ah! This is very effective’.
A sugar pill can take away your headache.
If the doctor tells you, ‘you suffer from deep depression’, you take it in your mind and in your heart. You say, ‘I suffer from depression’.
Your mind is like a river, it is changing all the time. That is what Lord Buddha said, ‘your mind is like a river’.
All the ancient people who studied consciousness have said, ‘you can’t take a dip in the same river twice’. So, don’t believe you are the same person. Your mind is changing all the time.
Be in the present moment, now! Now! Now!
Burry the past and move on. Where is the depression? Your depression is because you are hanging onto the past or you are over-ambitious. You have the capability to manage a school but you want to become the Prime Minister of the country. Then depression comes when you feel you cannot achieve it.
Don’t hang on to the past or don’t be too feverish or over-ambitious about the future.
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