Forgiveness is not a sign of weakness

30
2012
Jun
Boone, North Carolina
Q: Guruji, sometimes, dealing with kids gets so tricky that I tend to lose my patience. Everyday I decide to be calm, but when the situation arises I am not able to control myself. What should I do?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You can’t do anything about it now, you have to live life spontaneously. Do you see what I am saying? It is okay to sometimes lose your temper, never mind. You should leave a little room for imperfection in life, and start accepting.
What did you learn in the Part 1 Course? Accept people and situations as they are. It is a lifetime process. Every day you get reminded of this. When these situations come to you, you get reminded, ’Yes, I have to do this, this and this.’ So this is the direction in which we go. Sometimes you slip here and there, never mind, keep moving. Definitely one day, you will achieve perfection.
The other day, one teacher who has been in The Art of Living for around 20 years said to me, ‘Guruji, sometimes it feels so strange that I am happy all the time. Come what may I am happy’.
And I said, ‘Finally!’
20 years is not too much time, it is okay. But you don’t need to take 20 years. Turn back and see the growth in you; this is why these celebrations are done. What is the purpose of Guru Purnima? Once in a year, you turn back and see where you were and how much you have progressed. How you respond differently to situations now and how your reactions have reduced and responses have increased.
So, life is a continuous process. Isn’t it so?


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Silence

29
2012
Jun
Boone, North Carolina
Keeping silence is very useful. At least twice a year we must do this. Once a year is a must and twice a year is very good.
Silence purifies our speech. Often when we speak what happens, have you observed? You must observe. When you speak what impact your speech is making on others – we must observe that. Many times, we do not bother to notice this, we go on blabbering. We just want to say all that we want to say and become free. No, you must see what impact your speech has on others.

There is a beautiful couplet in the Bhagavad Gita which says, ‘Anudvega-karam vakyam satyam priya-hitam ca yat. ’ The words that do not rattle the minds of people and which is truth. Truth which is benevolent and which is pleasant, those type of words are to be spoken. That is called the penance of speech.


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No Explanations and No Complaints

17
2012
Jun
Holland, Netherlands
We need to create waves of happiness in Holland. Don’t you think so?
Do you know, if we think only about ourselves then our life shrinks. But when we think for the whole society, for everybody then there is more joy. Yes, there are challenges in it.
Everyone wants to be happy, right? Is there anyone who doesn’t want to be happy here? Every human being, every animal, every creature wants to be happy. Now, what is the way to be happy? It is by sharing happiness. When you spread happiness, it grows. When you don’t spread it and keep it to yourself, it starts to dwindle and then finishes. This is what people don’t know. They want to be happy, but they don’t know how to share it with everybody and to expand their family. And that is what The Art of Living is. It is the education to expand one’s happiness and to expand one’s family. So, are we all committed to do this?

There is an old Sanskrit proverb, which says, ‘The real worship, the real prayer to God is to create happiness in others.’ It has challenges, no doubt about it. All individuals have challenges. One may have challenges about their job, husband, wife, children, brother, sister, mother, father, family, health, etc. All these challenges surround us, right? There has never been a time in anybody’s life that challenges don’t come. If not yours, you are bothered about your friend’s challenges. If not your friend’s, you are bothered about your relatives’ challenges. If nothing, you have the world to bother about!


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Life is worth nothing if there is no love

17
2012
Jun
Haarlem, Holland
Now tell me, how do you want to spend this evening? What do you want to discuss this evening?

(Audience: Talk about healing; Let us do meditation; Tell us about Ayurveda; Speak on crisis.)

See how the word crisis is bringing laughter and smiles on your faces; this is something very unique, isn’t it?! Usually when people talk about crisis they are crying, but here it is different and this is what The Art of Living is – Turning every crisis to one’s advantage. Taking every crisis as a challenge, as an opportunity is what we need to promote in the world. Don’t you think so?
Do you know, in Chinese language, there is only one word for both opportunity and crisis! If you say crisis, it also means opportunity.
Then what else would you like to discuss?

(Audience: Freedom; Love; How to make decisions; Chaos; How to educate children internationally; Football)

Now tell me, what if I know nothing about any of these topics. I have no idea about football. In India football is not very popular, what is popular is Cricket. Even that I am not familiar with.
So I know nothing about any of these topics.


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Happiness has nothing to do with the prosperity

15
2012
Jun
Breukelen, Netherlands
(At an impressive ceremony at the prestigious Nyenrode University, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was conferred with an honorary doctorate today.
Addressing the gathering , the Rector of Nyenrode, Dr. Maurits van Rooijen FRSA, said that it was a great privilege for the university that Sri Sri has accepted this doctorate. In its 65 years since inception, the university has conferred this doctorate on very few individuals, some of whom include Mr Nelson Mandela, Mr A P J Abdul Kalam and Mr Bill Gates. He added that the work and life of Sri Sri is a true representation of Leadership, Entreprenuership and Stewardship, the three core values of the University.
Sri Sri then address the gathering with the following words)

Honorable Rector, Honorable Dean, Honorable Board of Trustees, and all the dignitaries present here. I am so honored to receive this doctorate degree from Nyenrode University. I really appreciate and feel grateful to you for choosing me to be part of this university. Even without studying in this university I have become an Alumnus of the University today.

I feel there are three important aspects to education; first is information, second is observation and third is intuition. I am so happy to hear that this university has all these aspects.
Often when we think of education, we think it is only gathering of information; that is not sufficient. You need keenness of mind, a mind which is alert and sharp enough to absorb what is happening around, and what is happening within. Ethics is listening to the consciousness that is deep within, and acting according to it when it comes to social interactions.


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Diversity is not a threat instead it should be celebrated

15
2012
Jun
World Forum for Ethics in Business at Amstelveen, Netherlands
Let’s see, are we all here now? 100%?
Do you know, our present includes the past and the future? The anxiety about the future and regret about the past are all in the present moment.
Now the challenge is how to sail through these opposing currents with the light of hope in our hand. And now this light of hope that we are holding is under a big storm. Somehow we have to save this light of hope.

I want to tell you about an incident that happened in 1999.
At the end of the last millennium, there were rumors that on the 31st December 1999, the world was going to crash. Now this was because the computers were not programmed to take up any more programs and so everything would collapse. And so, there was this fear-psychosis spread all over the world, and more so in North America.
People even started storing food in their cellars. They were buying groceries and milk powder. There was a scarcity of milk powder in Canada, can you imagine? This was because everyone went on a shopping spree, buying food and storing it in their cellars expecting a big disaster to happen.
At that time, I took a whirlwind tour of nearly 100 cities in a matter of two and a half months. In the morning I was in one place and by evening I was at another place, and my only message was to say that ‘Everything will be okay, don’t worry. Business will be as usual, please don’t worry and please do not store things in your cellars. It is not needed. ’ Everywhere the same question kept coming.
Once again, this year in the past month I toured about 20 cities in 14 countries and everywhere people have been asking, ‘What is the fate of this world on 20-12-2012. We hear there is going to be a disaster.’
I said, ‘This will only be in the American movies. The world will not come to an end. If it comes to an end, it will only be in the movies. Things will be as usual and you just carry on.’
A sense of relief comes into us when we hear that there is no longer a doomsday anywhere near. We are able to sit back and relax, and enjoy our cup of tea and watch television.


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Meditation makes you lucky

10
2012
Jun
Bangalore, India
Our country is a land of Rishi (Saints) and Krishi (Agriculture). Irrespective of the pooja (worship), we first perform ‘Beeja Vaapana’ (sowing seeds in small clay pots) and ‘Ankurarpana’ (spraying water and milk over the seedlings). Life and pooja are not different. Our life is a pooja. Wherever we walk, it becomes a Pradakshina (circumambulation). We should have this attitude towards life. There should be purity in life.
When there is purity, the mind will be strong, the intellect will be sharp and there will be enthusiasm in life. So, even to sow a seed into the earth, they used to look for the right time. They used to sow the seed with devotion.

Also, our elders used to fold their hands and pray ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ before eating food. This means - Let the one who has provided me food be happy. We must all do this. Will you all do this daily? The first person responsible for providing us food is the farmer. The merchants come next. The third are the women of the house.
Farmers grow the grains. The merchants ensure that these grains are supplied to us and the women of the house, the mothers, cook the food and serve it to us. We pray that all these three should be happy. Even if one of them is sad, our lives will also be affected.
The farmers produce a good crop, but if the merchants and distributors do not give the right price to the farmers or plan the distribution well, they are doing a big mistake. The farmers should ensure that they do not poison the land and water with chemicals. We must never go for Genetically Modified (G.M) crops. We must do organic farming. A lot of people are now doing Zero Budget farming.
Farmers pay money to buy the seeds and then poison them with pesticides. If we stop doing that, and instead follow the ancient methods of agriculture, the farmers will be happy. If the merchants do their business without being greedy, they will also be happy. And, if the women in the house are happy and serve us food, our digestion will be good. If they shed tears and cook the food, we will have to shed tears to digest it. We will get body aches, headaches, stomach pains and various diseases.
So, to ensure that all the three are happy, we have to pray ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’. Chant this daily before eating food.


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Great strength comes to you when you sacrifice

05
2012
Jun
Bangalore, India
What do we get upset with? We don’t get upset with the birds, or the clouds, or with Nature. We don’t get upset with the environment. So, what do we get upset with? We get upset with the people around us. Our enemies upset us and our friends upset us as well. Our mind gets stuck either in our friends or in our enemies. We either think about our friends or we think about our enemies the entire day.

People become our enemies even when we have not done any wrong to them. Many people have had this experience. We don’t do any wrong to them; neither do we misbehave with them and still they become our enemies. This is very surprising! We think, ‘Oh! Why has he become my enemy? Until yesterday he was my friend.’
In the same way, we do not do any special favours for some people, yet they become our close friends. That is why I tell you, this is some astonishing and mysterious Karma – how some people become our enemies and some our friends.
So what should we do? We should place both our friends and enemies in one basket, and just become empty from within; be joyful. All these happenings (people becoming friends and enemies) run by some law and we don’t know how and where it comes from. We just can’t say when someone’s feelings towards us will change and whether it will be in our favour or not in our favour. We just can’t say. That is why we should place absolute faith on our Self, on God, and not on friendship and enmity. We should not waste our time thinking about friends and enemies.

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Very strange are the ways of Karma

04
2012
Jun
Bangalore, India
How many of you have had this experience that without doing any harm to anybody, or anything wrong still people became your enemies. (Many raise their hands) So many! And now tell me, you have not done any big favors and still some people have become your friends. How many of you have this experience too? (Many raise their hands)Look at this!

You have not done any harm to anybody still people became your enemies, and you have not done any good to somebody but even then they have become very good friends. Very strange are the ways of Karma.

That is why it is said that the ways of karma are unfathomable. ‘Hone wala karm aur karne wala karma mai bahut farak hai’
Apart from our actions the events that have to happen keep happening. That is why the ways of Karma are very strange. And that is why I tell you, keep all your friends and enemies on one side and relax; respose in yourself, and keep your attention on the Divine.
This is what Lord Krishna told Arjuna, ‘Samah satrau ca mitre ca tatha manapamanayohsitoshna-sukha-duhkheshu samah sanga-vivarjitah’ Do not lose the equanimity of your mind. You do not know when and where, what will happen. When a friend will become an enemy and when an enemy will become friend.

One does not know anything in this world. So keep your attention on the truth and perform all your duties sincerely and meditate sincerely.

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Three kinds of Devotees

01
2012
Jun
Bangalore, India
There are three kinds of devotees. The first kind is a devotee who keeps asking, ‘God give me this’, ‘God give me that.’ The second kind is a devotee who is always grateful, ‘Thank you God, you gave me this and you gave me that’, one who is emotional, prayerful and keeps crying out of gratitude. The third kind is a devotee who always remains joyful, keeps smiling, dancing and singing – joyful devotee. All three are different kinds of devotees, and yet all three are supreme. It is not that one is greater than another – that is not so. A crying devotee, a laughing devotee, and a devotee who keeps asking – so which category are you in, you can see that for yourself. It is possible that a little of all three may be there in you. That also is okay. Then that would be the fourth kind of devotee – one who has a little bit of all the three present.


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