We live in a world that challenges us at every moment of every day.

The otherwise impossible task of constantly making decisions is made possible by the power of our mind – a most incredible device with a talent for solving problems.

But there are times in many of our lives when the sea of challenges surrounds us and the horizon of hope becomes too small, and we find ourselves feeling hopeless, anxious and depressed. Our minds seem to be powerless to pull us out of these troubled waters.

However, we are very much capable of pulling ourselves out of this state. To do that, we must understand our minds and learn how to master it – and this is what people from around the world sought to learn from Sri Sri Dadaji Maharaj.

Let us see how he answered their questions.

Can our feelings and mind affect our personality?

Our feelings and our mind can certainly affect our personality. An individual’s personality develops from the mind, which develops from their feelings.

How can we overcome primitive emotional responses and become more rational?

Emotion is an action of the mind, or characteristic of the mind. If a human being wants, he can easily overcome the characteristics of the mind. Emotions, many a time, lead a human being towards the path of destruction. If the outer part of the mind can be overcome through Sadhana, then we can save ourselves from these characteristics of the mind.

If we can overcome the outer reflection of the mind, then we stop traveling on the downward path, and for that reason, the mind of the human being becomes peaceful and calm and then only his Sukshma (pure) intellect gets portrayed.

With the help of this, you can overcome your primitive emotional responses and move towards rational thinking.

How can an unhappy person meditate?

The actual definition of God are peace and joyfulness, so meditation means “to be in search of God with a peaceful mind”. As such, the person who is unhappy can never meditate. The word unhappy means “the mind of a person which is out of peace and joyfulness”.

Is money enough to make a person happy?

No, money is not enough to make a person happy. Happiness comes from the soul and money cannot buy the soul.

What is the most self-destructive emotion? Why?

The feeling that I know everything, that I understand everything, that there is nobody as wise as me, is the most self-destructive emotion. When the mind is captured by pride and arrogance, only then such thoughts and emotions comes to mind and that is the most self-destructive emotion.

Which emotion do people hide most?

The emotion that people hide the most is the love from the core of the heart, the deepest a person can love another person, is the emotion that is hidden the most because it can be exploited.

How can we improve our emotional intelligence?

First of all we have to know the difference between Emotion and Emotional Intelligence. Both of them are different things. Where there is Emotion, there is no Intelligence; and where there is Intelligence, there is no Emotion.

Emotion means the accidental sentiment of the mind. Intelligence is a calculative mathematics of mind.

What are some examples of enlightened self-interests?

Humans are social beings. To stay in society, all human beings must help each other. If someone is facing difficulty and we help them, it is like helping our own selves – since first of all, every Atma (Soul) is Brahmatma; meaning that we have come from one and only soul which is the ultimate soul. Based on this relation, to help another soul is to help one’s own self. This is the concept of “sarvabhute eki atma”.

Secondly, when you help someone, that person will one day be there to take your hand and help you move forward.

These are two examples of enlightened self-interest.

Why is my conscience bothering me?

Your conscience is bothering you because you are working against it. Conscience is the finest stage of the mind. The mind disturbs you a lot and tries to make you do bad deeds but the conscience always makes you do good work and helps you to rectify the bad deeds. As long as you are not listening to your conscience, it will keep on bothering you.

What does “sold my soul to the devil” actually mean? Who is the devil they are talking about?

In the human life like there is a bright side there is also a darker side.

In the brighter side there is love, kindness, compassion, love towards god and love towards oneself; likewise, the darker side of the human life bears cruelty, jealousy, malice, violence, contempt, to exploit people and a tendency to perform bad deeds.

The human being who has shifted his thoughts to the darker aspects of life or to the darker side of oneself is the answer to your question.