Good Can Always Come Out Of Bad

Sun, 08/24/2014 Bangalore, India

Gurudev, how to come out of attachment? And if people deceive us, how to come out of that?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

If someone deceives you, they are going to face the music. They will face the consequences. That is the law of karma. You got deceived because you were not careful. You should have been careful, isn't it? So you learnt a lesson when somebody deceived you. Now move on!

I have seen you saying that we need more help from people and the Government. I know we need to do seva but how exactly do we go about it? Please guide.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, bringing change in society is a collective effort. So I said that everybody should participate. Don’t say, 'Gurudev, you do it. You take care of terrorists, you change them'. No! It is a collective effort. Each one of us has to work to reduce crime, stress and violence in society. So you all think. Give one hour a day to become volunteers for a better India, and see what volunteer work we can do.

Do you know, one plastic cover, like the milk packet that we have, if burnt can cause cancer to a thousand people. That much of dioxin comes out of plastic, if anyone burns it. So don't we have to inform everyone about this? We have to let people know? Instead all that we do is worry about small little things here and there in our life. We worry about things, people, comments, opinions and all these small things. Is it okay to sit like that worry about these insignificant things?
I tell you, be simplicity, natural, and adjusting with everyone. This is what we have to do. Otherwise, if something small happens, we get ready to fight. We should not do that. Leave all kinds of prejudice, and whatever you can do, you do it with love and a sense of service.

Gurudev, I don’t understand the relationship between the prana (life-force), body and soul. When an accident happens, the prana gets into problem. As soon as the Prana leaves the body the soul also leaves. So the soul is bound to the body and body to prana?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, you have said it. Prana connects the soul with the body. Prana leaves with the soul. Now, when there is smoke, there is fire. When there is fire, there is smoke. The relationship between soul and prana is like that of fire and smoke.

Gurudev, how do we stay self-motivated?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Why do you have to motivate yourself? Just relax and be happy. When you are happy, you are already motivated. If others get happy because of you, do you become happy or not? You become happy right away! What more motivation do you need?

Now, if you have to be happy, it happens only if your family members are happy, right? If everyone around you is happy, you can be happy. If everyone is sad and suffering, you alone will not be happy. If someone has got fever at home, you will not say, 'I will go to a movie and be happy'. Even if you go to a movie, your mind will be at home. Why? It is because our happiness is dependent on the happiness of all around us.

Now, is it enough that our friends and family alone are happy? If your neighbours are lamenting, can you be happy? No! If there are thieves, alcoholics and such type of people in your street, can you be happy? You don’t know what will happen when you get out of the house. If the person in the neighbouring house is a thief or an alcoholic, or if this type of bad people are there around you, can you do anything? No. Is it possible for you to be happy? If anxiety, hatred, crime, all these are not there, we can be happy, isn't it? So, if all are well in our society, we can be well.
So that is why we all need to work towards a better society. If we are well, then we must work towards giving everybody a chance to be well, and so we must spread this knowledge to everyone.

You say that we have to be thankful for all that we have, but I feel that whenever I feel thankful, whatever is done gets undone. So what do I do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Nothing like that. Don’t feel such things, it is only in your mind. The more thankful we are, the more things will happen.
You are thirsty, somebody brings you water, you thank them and what happens after that? Thirst comes back. Thirst does not disappear .

Gurudev, after death can we donate our organs?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Yes, after death we can donate the organs of our body. There is nothing wrong in it. People say, 'Oh, if you give your eye, you soul won't go to heaven', all this is not true. Didn’t Bedara Kannappa (a hunter who proves his extreme devotion to Lord Shiva by plucking out both of his eyes and donating them to Lord Shiva) donate his eyes? He donated them to Shiva when he was still alive. Dadhichi gave his spine to Indra. Similarly there is nothing wrong in donating the organs of our body for good cause. You don’t need to be concerned about it.

Why is the percentage of autistic kids growing?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

The stress of the parents. Parents are very stressed and that affects the children. Stress is one of the main cause. The second is food, that can also have an effect.

Gurudev, there are reservations based on class or race for many courses. Should Art of Living followers utilize these reservations or not?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That is up to you. If you want to utilize it, do so. If you don’t want to, it is fine. All I want is that you be happy and make everyone around you happy. The best scenario is if there is no reservations, as everyone is equal. They do these for political reasons.
Reservations were initially set up for a ten year period and we should have discontinued it after that. But instead we have reservation after reservation nowadays, and we are dividing the country because of this. But now people are waking up. We should all unite and move ahead.