We need to wipe out ignorance

March 06, 2012

Mahasatsang at Indore

Whatever I wanted to say Shivraji has already said it all.

Once hearts are connected, there is nothing left to say. Still, I will tell everybody to stay ‘In door’.

There is only a slight difference in English between ‘In door’ – going inward and ‘Indore’.

‘Antarmukhi sada sukhi’ (the one who goes inward is always happy).

When the mind goes inward even for a little while, we get such strength.

The respected Chief Minister, Shivraji, just talked about ‘save the girl child movement’. You might have heard me speak about this many times before also. I keep saying this.

Killing a cow is said to be the highest sin. In our scriptures it is said that killing 100 cows is equal to killing one scholar. Killing 100 scholars is equal to killing one saint. And Killing 1000 saints is equal to killing one girl child.

The sin of killing a girl child is equivalent to the killing of 100,000 cows or 1000 saints. Killing that girl child inside the womb itself is not right. We are all educated people, so today take a vow not to kill the girl child. Good!

Just before coming here, while I was giving a talk at the University, I got to know that in Indore, every single day a suicide happens.

I tell you, life is so precious, do not lose it.

Why do you want to lose it? Why do people commit suicide? Just because you got less marks, or your debts went high, or some girl or boy rejected you and your love failed? Leave all these!

You got so disinterested in life that you started committing suicide?

I am telling you come to me and give me all your pain. All your troubles, all your botherations, give them all to me.

In our country there was this custom - Mata, Pita, Guru and Dev.

When we were children what did we do? When we were sad we called out ‘Amma’ and went to our mother. Yes or no?

Whenever a small child has any trouble, it runs to its mother. If the child had some quarrel with the mother, where will the child go? To the father.

When we were in school what did we do? Any problem we used to go to the class teacher. In every family there was a saint, a Guru. We used to go to them and whatever botheration or trouble was there, we would surrender those at their feet and become empty.

If someone did not have a Guru, then there was the family deity. Every family had their own Kuldevta (family deity). So we would go to the family deity, any problem we had we would surrender it there and become free.

We have left all these practices today. That is why all this suicide, infanticide, etc., started.

The root cause of all this is ignorance. We need to wipe out ignorance. We need to bring literacy, and this does not mean only education based on facts, but also spiritual knowledge, i.e., education of human values.

Education of human values means kindness, love and belongingness. Corruption begins Where belongingness ends. Till date no one would have been corrupt to those who belong to them. It is just not possible. And what is spirituality? It is what expands belongingness. You feel that everyone belongs to you.

So, we have to start standing up against ignorance and we have to fight against injustice. Do not keep tolerating injustice. Stand up against it. If you feel that there is corruption anywhere, 8-10 people go there and sit down there and say that we will not tolerate injustice. Or directly contact the Chief Minister, he will ensure you get justice. He is the head of the state, of this family, so you have the right to go to him. But only if are walking on the path of justice.

We also have to remove shortage and work on keeping our environment clean.

So, we need to fight against these four things: Ignorance, Injustice, Lack, and Uncleanliness.

If all of us here take a sankalpa to give just two hours in a week, or in two weeks, so much can be done and we can keep this city clean. If all of us here at Indore contribute, so much service can be done.

I had come to Indore seven years ago. Now after seven years I see a lot of development.

I was just saying that I cannot recognize this Indore now. It has developed so much. But along with development comes lack of hygiene. You will see more plastics thrown here and there, and more of cutting down of trees – that is why we need to give attention to the environment. We all have to take responsibility for it. The Municipal Corporation will not be able to do it alone. How can they do it if the people do not participate? So we all need to stand up to remove ignorance, remove injustice, and wipe out narrow mentalities that discriminate between caste and creed.

When spirituality in our country was high, we were very prosperous. There was no shortage of any kind. Where there is Narayana then Lakshmi also comes along.

We owned 33% of the world’s GDP when we were at the peak of spirituality. When there was a drop in spirituality, our financial position also came down. So we need to wake up.

To remove shortage, each one of us has to do something.

Madhya Pradesh is the heart of our country. I want there to be no unemployment in Madhya Pradesh. All youngsters should be employed. There is no shortage of jobs in the country. In fact people say that we have jobs, but we do not get enough people to work.

While I was coming here, one gentleman was telling me that there are a lot of opportunities, but we can’t find people. There are so many entrepreneurs in this country and they all say the same thing, ‘We are ready to create jobs but people should join.’

The youth can also become entrepreneurs.

But the root cause of all of this is that we have heard that God is within us, but we have not experienced it. We need to experience it.

Just once if you get this experience, you will see that what you have been searching for is right here, right inside you!

I tell you, just once if you experience this, after that nobody can rob you of your smile. All your wishes will effortlessly be fulfilled. So don’t forget this, always keep one step firm in spirituality.

For a few minutes if you sit and keep your mind calm and do some practices, then forget about your wishes being fulfilled, that is a very simple thing. You will be able to fulfill the wishes of others too because the Master of the world is sitting inside us.

When the Lord, who is the owner of everything, is within us, then what do we lack?

This is not a concept, this is the truth. This experience can arise in each and every one of you.

Do not think God is only for those monks who renounce everything and go to the forest or the Himalayas. Only they will you find God. No, it is not like that. God is omnipresent and is in every one of you. This experience is what I call meditation and this is what I have come here to tell you.

That is why I keep going place to place to tell everyone this. To remind you that God is within you. Go inward for a little while and see that nothing is impossible! What is not possible? This is what is called as spirituality.

Just one glimpse of this, or just an idea of it, gives you an everlasting smile. Sorrow disappears. All kinds of sorrow go away.

These days I have been thinking, if the youth take out some time to serve the country, we can strengthen the country. Give your country six months of time. If the youths of our country devote six months of their time for the country, we will be able to wipe out all these four problems (Ignorance, Injustice, Shortages and Uncleanliness).

We can go village to village; we will shut down the liquor shops. People are poor because they spend 60% of their income on liquor and that is why there is poverty.

We can teach people organic farming.

In Madhya Pradesh, I understand that a lot of people have raised voice for organic farming. More should rise.

Nowadays, diseases such as cancer are increasing in the country. The reason behind this is that we are eating food that has been grown using pesticides.

In earlier days, rice and wheat used to be infected with insects. These days, we can’t even find insects in grains. We eat the food which even insects do not want to eat! What will happen then, you tell me? There will be pain in the body!

Tell me how many of you have body pain, raise your hands. I think about 60-70% of the people are raising their hands. How many of you do not have pain, please raise your hands.

You all are probably doing pranayama, yoga, meditation, etc., or maybe due to hesitation you are not raising your hands.

We must do satsang for a few minutes every day. Sit with belongingness, without any artificiality.

Many times, you welcome someone to your home and say. ‘Welcome, please come in,’ but in your mind you say, ‘oh why has he come?’ This way if we live our life talking and acting artificially, in time we become disinterested and depressed and diseases will arise. That is why, if we are natural, simple, confident and we act out of belongingness, then our life starts to transform. Today, the world is ready for such a change because we are fed up of disinterest and weaknesses.

Depression is the biggest disease in the world today. When we were children we had never heard of someone being bipolar, or someone having any mental disorders or depression. We never heard about depression. Today you go anywhere, people will say, ‘I have depression.’

What depression? If one is too selfish, then only depression will happen, nothing else!

When we have someone of our own, then we are able to feel the joy in life. Disinterest does not touch us. This is spirituality.

In scriptures it is said that Raso Vai Sah - What is God? What is the self? God is bliss; and the closer you move toward the Self and to God, the more blissful your life becomes. That much joy, that much happiness and love you experience. Are you all listening?

I do not talk much, otherwise people get indigestion. If you listen to too much knowledge, it does not get digested. Listen to a little bit and ponder over it, keep it in your mind and apply it.

So what is the most important thing? Take some time out for yourself.

This whole world is a dream, just sit for a short while, five, ten or fifteen minutes, and sit and see that one day this drama is going to end. One day we have to pack up from this world.

In fact without packing up we have to leave, we may not even get the time to pack things up! Someone else will do your packing. You will leave just like that.

We will leave from this world, even packing is not necessary. No need for bedding, etc., someone else will take care of all that.

If you sit for five or ten minutes, morning or evening, keeping the mind calm, our body becomes healthy, our behavior becomes sweet, our mind becomes pleasant, intellect becomes sharp and whatever wishes we have naturally get manifested.

It is such great knowledge. If you get a glimpse of it once, then you would not leave it. It is like intoxication. Knowledge is like that. Meditation is like that. When we meditate the environment becomes pleasant; it becomes alive. This is the most important thing.

Along with meditation we need to take a vow to do social service.

The election system has become so bad in our country that we need to set it right. We all need to stand against it. If an MLA has to spend 5 or 6 crore rupees to get elected, then what else with he do? He is forced to be corrupt. He will have to get that money back.

This is the system of corruption and this should not happen. We have to stand against it.

Yes or no? How many of you feel so, raise your hands.

During the elections in Tamil Nadu just recently, they had a code of red Gandhi and green Gandhi.

Green Gandhi meant five notes of Rs. 500 and red Gandhi means Rs. 5000. This was distributed in every house. In the village, each house had a fixed amount, in this house Rs. 2500, and that house Rs. 5000. Through the medium of television and speech, we told all the people, ‘If they give you money, take it but do not vote for them. They are not giving their hard-earned money; it is your own money, so you take it.’ Otherwise people will say, ‘Guruji we are poor people, Rs. 5000 is big money for us.’

After taking the money, they had to take a vow by keeping a hand on their children’s head that they would vote for that candidate only.

I told them, ‘Don’t worry, you take the vow, I will take care of the sin of breaking that vow. I will take all your sins and I will not let you be affected by it, but don’t vote for them.’

The whole world was astonished. Those people who spent so much money were wiped out of their roots.

So I would again say to all of you, go to villages and tell people that we need to set out to make the country strong. If people try and come to power using money or muscle strength, we need to stand against it.

I am telling the youth of India that this society, this country is yours. Do not just sit and watch it disintegrate. Wake up now and move ahead.

So many people think, ‘oh if it is politics it is dirty.’

People tell me also, ‘Guruji why are you talking about corruption, you leave it. Do not talk about it. You just speak about spirituality.’

What do you think? I should not talk against corruption? How many of you think that I should do it?

I said it is not in my hands, whatever comes from within me, I say that and so I will talk about corruption. Corruption is dangerous for spirituality. It is the enemy of spirituality. Corruption, violence, superstition, etc., we need to wipe these out. This can only be possible through the Brahmastra (weapon) called spirituality. It cannot be done through law. I understand that law is necessary but there should be a wave of spirituality arising in people. We all together should have a revolution so that all these things do not happen anymore. What do you think?

See, there are activists who keep shouting slogans, such as labor unions. They only keep shouting but by shouting does any job get done? If we do not have peace in us, by shouting for peace, we cannot get peace. It is not possible.

So there should be harmony in speech and action, and that harmony is only possible through spirituality. It then happens with ease.

So two things: One, bring strength and faith within ourselves and second take a sankalpa (vow) that we will create a beautiful, divine society.

Q: Guruji, how to balance spirituality and material life?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know how to ride a bicycle? Just the same way.

When you leave spirituality, then somewhere there is a pinch inside and then you go back to spirituality. When you feel that you are neglecting your work, you give attention to your work. Take both of them together and move ahead.

Q: Most of the spiritual people are serious and dry, but you are always smiling! What is the secret?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, I am like this only!

Q: Guruji, how to handle egoistic people?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t worry, don’t try to handle them. There is some hurt inside them and to hide it, they try and show their ego.

Q: People say that follow only one God. If we follow many Gods what happens?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Last time when I came to Indore, I went straight to Pakistan from Indore and in Pakistan I was asked the same question - we follow only one God but you all follow thousands of Gods, why is it so? This time also I am going to Pakistan after Indore. March 11th, 12th and 13th, I have my Pakistan tour. Thousands of people have done course there and practice Sudarshan Kriya. Many people from the Muslim community will also come to meet me there. Arrangements are being made there now.

At that time I answered to this same question. I said, ‘You make samosa, kachori, parantha. Different types of food are all made with wheat. Why?’

There is phulka, roti, parantha, noodles, all are also made with wheat. The same wheat is used in many different ways.

Similarly, God has also not produced one vegetable for you, otherwise lifelong you would have to only eat brinjal, He has done that. How many different types of vegetables are created for you?

The creator who has created so many varieties, would He not like to manifest Himself in different forms and colors? We also say one God, but there are many forms, many names - Ananta Gunamaye, Ananta Naami. In thousands of names, thousands of qualities there is only one Paramatma.

Humans have known this fact. Knowing this, they became very happy.

Q: Why do we take birth and what is the point in taking birth and dying, and then again taking birth?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do you know games? I don’t understand why you play games.

Why do you play cricket?

Somebody runs and throws the ball, then someone bats and throws it again and then to catch it so many people run behind it. What is the meaning of it? If they want a ball, then give one ball each to all of them, matter over.

If someone from another planet comes to see a football match here and he is sitting in a stadium and watching a football match; someone is kicking the ball from here to there, and someone else from there to here, people are running, falling and jumping, getting tens. He would not understand what is happening? He will think, ‘For one ball so many people are running; 22 people! Just give one ball to each of them, let them go sit in the goal!’

If any civilization in this world has given an answer to this question, it is only the Indian civilization. India has said, ‘Life is not a struggle, it is a game, a leela.’

If life has been addressed as a game in any civilization, it is only the Indian civilization. This is the game of God - people taking birth, dying, then coming again; the flow of karma is happening, the waves of knowledge are going on and in between devotion arises and cleans up karma. Then knowledge and ignorance casts its shadows sometimes and to wipe out ignorance God again creates different kinds of activities. This is all our own forms.

God is not somewhere distant. It is here, right now, inside you and inside me!

Q: God judges us by our karma, devotion, strength or other spiritual things?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: God is untouched. If you have devotion, it is good for you, not for God. If you have devotion, you will feel light. If you are in knowledge, you will get freedom from sorrow.

Q: If in service to the Guru, household responsibilities stand in between, what to do?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No, it cannot come in between. Guru will only tell you to fulfill your responsibilities in the proper way. All the Gurus will say the same thing, do your household responsibilities well, but sit for some time and do meditation taking some time out for yourself too. Do not get drowned in worldly matters so that you become miserable. Just take a little time out for yourself and relax.

Q: How do we get freedom from the cycle of birth and death?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The moment you get the desire to be free, you will start moving in that direction.

Q: Is it possible to prohibit liquor in Madhya Pradesh?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is definitely possible. You all get into some seva work. When people start doing Sudarshan Kriya and meditation, it will happen. Tell those people who take liquor to come to us, we will give them a better intoxication. There will be no expense and the intoxication will also never disappear, you will always be on a high.

Q: How to fight for truth? I have become tired fighting for truth. Will truth not triumph in Kaliyuga? Please show the way.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Definitely, truth will triumph all the time, but you need to be skilful.

Dharmaraj Yudhishtira kept talking about truth, but he did not have skill. When Lord Krishna came, he was the one who brought skill in him. Without the help of Krishna, he would not have won the Mahabharata war.

So truth will triumph, provided there is devotion and skill. If you want to win in society, you need strength and skill.

If you want to win in life, you need to have freedom and devotion. So these four things you need to have.

Freedom, first you realize that you are free. Then love dawns. Freedom and devotion. In bondage you will not experience love. By seeing yourself as free, only then will love dawn in you.

Q: What do I do to come out of depression?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Don’t just sit and keep thinking about yourself. 'What will happen to me?'

What is going to happen to you? You keep thinking about it and get depressed. You are here in this world to do some work for the society.

You have come in this world to the work of God; to do my work. Understand this. Just be a part of any seva activity.

Do Sudarshan Kriya. Do meditation. Keep doing Sudarshan Kriya for some time and see how much change happens. How many of you felt a difference in your life after doing sadhana? Raise your hands. See, so many people have been transformed!