Give me your troubles, live with a smile and engage yourself in seva, sadhana and satsang

Patna, 22 January 2012


The only purpose of my coming here is to tell you that the Divine exists and loves you very dearly. There is a couplet in Hindi: “Jo ichcha kariho manu maahi, prabhu prataap kachhu durlabh naahin”, which means that “With God’s grace, whatever you wish for will not be difficult to obtain”. This is a proven fact. However, you must first have the faith that the Divine exists. The Divine is omnipresent, which means that the Divine is within each one of us. The Divine is eternal, which means that it exists now, right this moment. We just need to have this faith and relax. There is no need to put any effort. Vivek (Discrimination), Vishwas (Faith) and Vishraam (Relaxation) - these three are important.
Whenever there is chaos, start a kirtan (devotional song) and the chaos will settle down. This is what happened when the country was trapped in turmoil. What did Mahatma Gandhi ji do then? He went to many places and started organising satsangs. Everyone started singing, “Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de Bhagwaan”, and the country was woven into one thread. The chaos and the turmoil were transformed into a revolution. Even today we require this. There is a need for a peaceful revolution in this country. Where there is ignorance, injustice, scarcity and lack of hygiene, that place requires a peaceful revolution so that the ignorance is wiped out, people stand against injustice, scarcity will end and cleanliness would reign over the place. Only kirtan can bring this revolution. Whenever this country was overcome by a problem, the sages, the intellectuals and the mahatmas (great souls) of this country came forward and gave the country a new hope.
Today, we are again standing at that crossroad, where the country essentially requires a wave of spirituality. What does spirituality mean? Sitting somewhere for a while and doing kirtan? No, my dear! Spirituality (Adhyatma) means the feeling of oneness. “Atmavat Sarva Bhuteshu Yah Pashyati Sa Panditah”. One who sees everyone in himself and himself in everyone will be called a spiritual person, a devotee. So, what does spirituality mean? It is a blossoming of this feeling of oneness. “Nobody is a stranger, all are my own”; if this feeling awakens in us, then it is spirituality.
Belongingness should increase. Where belongingness ends, corruption begins. Till this date, not a single person has been corrupt with his own people. He can’t do it. If corruption has increased so much, it means belongingness has ended. Misconduct, malpractice and corruption are not something one does with one’s own people. It is done with people who are not one’s own. Yes, we need a strict law for this, but I don’t think that law alone will remove it. I believe that law should be there, but the citizens should wake up. If we all wake up, we can remove corruption. Violence can be eradicated.
I read this morning that naxalites killed around thirteen to fourteen people. I had called out to them just yesterday. We had gone to the naxal-hit region yesterday, to the Aurangabad district. I was told that around four to five people will be surrendering today, but due to some unavoidable circumstances, they couldn’t. I congratulate those youth who, out of ignorance, had joined the naxalite movement and now understand that violence will not solve the problem. I want to tell you that these are brave boys, who are putting their lives at stake to perform penance in the forests. Their eyes are filled with tears and their hearts are pained only for the reason that they want poverty and caste discrimination to be wiped out from India and all enjoy equality. However, the path they have adopted is not right. That is why I keep telling them and also told them yesterday that they should forsake the path of violence and come forward; for we are with them. Even I want to see India at the top, the number one country. I want to see it as the mightiest and the best nation of this world.

Read more at What Sri Sri Said Today

© The Art of Living Foundation

God resides in hearts that are full of devotion

Madanpur, 21 January 2012


You (referring to Naxalites) are not having a party there in the forest. You empathize with the poor and feel for them. We are all with you but don’t resort to violence. Leave the gun, come forward. We will vote for you and bring you forward in this country. You assume leadership because when honest and selfless people take responsibility and serve the country, they do it honestly. They don’t want anything for themselves but for everybody. This society needs such youth today. You shun the path of violence. Whatever Karl Marx and other communist leaders have said about equality, removal of ignorance, etc., Lord Krishna had already spoken about all this thousands of years ago.

We first need to remove ignorance, illiteracy, and stop child marriages. All the women here take a pledge that girls will not be married before eighteen years of age and boys before twenty one years. Here, children are forced to get married at the age of ten or twelve years. This practice must be stopped. Boys and girls should only be married after 18 years of age. Until then, they should be allowed to study.

Eradicating ignorance is our primary duty. In the state which was home to the Nalanda University and great scholars such as Chanakya, it is a crime if its people remain uneducated. About fifteen to twenty years back, schools here used to be empty – they were not ready to teach anyone and even the people were scared of sending their children to school. But now, the situation has changed. So let’s take a pledge today that we will provide hundred percent education and send our children to school.
Where there are no other schools except government schools, we are ready to open schools in those regions. We already have a school running here.

These days in Bihar, we don’t find people to perform pooja or to teach yoga and pranayama. So, we will train all those who are interested in learning these. I don’t want any man or woman here to be unemployed. The Art of Living runs a project for the unemployed youth. There are so many jobs available in our country. There is a need for business. I meet so many industrialists who tell me that they don’t find people to work. There is a shortage of drivers, cooks, plumbers, electricians, masons in our country – in every field, we can involve people. The statues of our gods and goddesses are made in our neighbouring country, China. Can’t we make these statues here in India? You take this project in one of your villages. You will make all the Ganesha statues required in Maharashtra. This way, the money which is going to another country will be used here.
Women can make papads (a snack) and other Bihari delicacies here. So much work can be done. Bihar has water and sunlight. However, there seems to be some problem in planning.


We should plan in a way that everyone gets justice, especially the farmers. Everyone should live happily. We should all work towards that. We have to first remove ignorance and then work towards creating justice. Caste discrimination should be removed. Our Vedas and Puranas talk about more than a thousand Rishis. Only a few of them were Brahmins. The rest of them were from different castes and communities.
In those times, there was no casteism like what exists today. Everyone is a shudra by birth. Who is a shudra? The one who runs around crying. Doesn’t a child do that? So every child is a shudra, but when he comes into knowledge and stops crying, then he becomes a ‘Dwija’. This is what is written in our scriptures. Therefore, all saints have got equal respect here, irrespective of their caste. It is a crime to discriminate on the basis of caste. This should not be done. All the youth present here take this pledge not to discriminate on the basis of caste and to consider everyone equal. Live in harmony and respect all.

Read more at What Sri Sri Said Today

© The Art of Living Foundation