Germany, 5 January 2012
Q: Guruji, do you believe that prisons are right?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I consider prisons to be like hospitals. Like when someone’s body is sick, you take them to the hospital; like that, when someone’s actions are sick, they go to prison, only to get better and come back.
But, unfortunately, today prisons have become a Criminal Idea Exchange Bureau. People get in there and they come out as bigger criminals, because it becomes a bank for them to understand crime.
Originally, putting someone into a room was meant to give them deep rest. When someone is active all the time, working and working, he gets so stressed that it is natural to commit mistakes.
What is Crime? Mistake of action.
So to correct that, they go to correctional homes. Nowadays in America, they no longer call it prison; they call it The Correctional Homes. You are supposed to go there, meditate, become hollow and empty and come back happily.
This doesn’t happen. So we need to do that, teach people meditation in all the prisons. Then you will see, better people come out of there. And this is what is happening. Lots of prison courses are happening in Art of Living, all over. Anyone who wants to get involved in it are most welcome, go ahead!
Q: When can a householder walk away from his wife to take up Sanyas?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With her permission only!
If your wife says, ‘you can go, do whatever you want to’, then you do whatever you want to. But if you have responsibility, better fulfil that, isn’t it!
Q: Have you been in a casino before, just for fun?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I think I create one every evening, where everyone sings and dances and are happy. No, I have never been in a casino, where people gamble, isn’t it?
Q: Why do you allow singing during silence?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Singing in some strange way brings certain calmness to the mind. There are courses where we don’t sing and we go into deeper silence. That is in an advanced stage.
This is the beginning, where you are just keeping silence for three to four days. In the evening, it is good to have some music, so that it soothes the system. And if the music is there, the right brain activity is also stimulated. That is why we need both, some intellectual discussion, understanding and music, so that right and left side of the brain gets balanced.
Read more at What Sri Sri Said Today
© The Art of Living Foundation
Q: Guruji, do you believe that prisons are right?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I consider prisons to be like hospitals. Like when someone’s body is sick, you take them to the hospital; like that, when someone’s actions are sick, they go to prison, only to get better and come back.
But, unfortunately, today prisons have become a Criminal Idea Exchange Bureau. People get in there and they come out as bigger criminals, because it becomes a bank for them to understand crime.
Originally, putting someone into a room was meant to give them deep rest. When someone is active all the time, working and working, he gets so stressed that it is natural to commit mistakes.
What is Crime? Mistake of action.
So to correct that, they go to correctional homes. Nowadays in America, they no longer call it prison; they call it The Correctional Homes. You are supposed to go there, meditate, become hollow and empty and come back happily.
This doesn’t happen. So we need to do that, teach people meditation in all the prisons. Then you will see, better people come out of there. And this is what is happening. Lots of prison courses are happening in Art of Living, all over. Anyone who wants to get involved in it are most welcome, go ahead!
Q: When can a householder walk away from his wife to take up Sanyas?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: With her permission only!
If your wife says, ‘you can go, do whatever you want to’, then you do whatever you want to. But if you have responsibility, better fulfil that, isn’t it!
Q: Have you been in a casino before, just for fun?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I think I create one every evening, where everyone sings and dances and are happy. No, I have never been in a casino, where people gamble, isn’t it?
Q: Why do you allow singing during silence?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Singing in some strange way brings certain calmness to the mind. There are courses where we don’t sing and we go into deeper silence. That is in an advanced stage.
This is the beginning, where you are just keeping silence for three to four days. In the evening, it is good to have some music, so that it soothes the system. And if the music is there, the right brain activity is also stimulated. That is why we need both, some intellectual discussion, understanding and music, so that right and left side of the brain gets balanced.
Read more at What Sri Sri Said Today
© The Art of Living Foundation
