Devotion and liberation are needed to have real success in life

Rishikesh, India
Sri Sri in Utsav

Q: How to take decisions in life?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
With a calm mind. When you take decisions in restlessness, you get into trouble.
 

Q: What should one do if one tries to do good all the time but ends up being bad in others’ eyes?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
It may be troubling others if your expression is not so perfect. Keep yourself in the others’ shoes and see why he does not like you. Sometimes, it so happens that you regret your own words. You said something to someone that you didn’t want to say. Same is true for others also. They say something which they did not want to. Those words are not coming from their heart. Do you like people who hold your mistakes against you every day?  Do you hold onto their mistakes every day?
 

Q:  Is it possible to accept someone’s behavior in the future if you are not able to do it at present. If we don’t show anger then they will keep repeating their behavior, isn’t it?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You show anger but you don’t have to become angry.
 

Q:  People who do wrong, move ahead. People who do right, suffer.  Why is it so?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
You think that the people who do something wrong progress in life. But haven’t you noticed the downfall these people face afterwards? There was a man named Madoff in America. People from all over the whole world were crazy to have a photograph with him. Now he is in jail. His own son revealed his scandal. So whoever attains success with unfair means will definitely fall down. There are many examples like this.
If you are suffering that is not because you are good, but it may be due to a lack in skillfulness. We need four things in life- power, skill, devotion and liberation.(shakti, yukti, bhakti and mukti) You cannot be successful in society without power and skillfulness.  And you cannot be successful in life without devotion and liberation.  So you face problems because of a lack in skill.
Have you ever met the so called successful people? Some of them are so miserable that they cannot even sleep well at night and many of them have suicidal tendencies. People who do wrong may hide but they are very miserable inside. You can smile much better than them. 

Q: Who decides what is wrong and what is right?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
What is right and what is wrong – your own consciousness will tell you. If you do something to get short term joy and long term misery, then that is wrong. If something is benefitting you in the long run, which may seem like it requires effort in the beginning, is right.


“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

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