Monday, December 5, 2016

An Ideal Situation

11/27/2015 Bangalore, India
(As Gurudev enters, the Satsang begins with devotees from the state of Chhattisgarh adorning Gurudev with a beautiful traditional dress and headgear at the end of a special Advanced Meditation Program)
This is all so beautiful! I think we will have to get a separate cupboard to keep all these dresses and headgear from Chhattisgarh alone! (Laughter) It is often said that Chhattisgarh is the best of all, isn’t it so?
We are all gearing up for the grand celebrations of the World Culture Festival in New Delhi in March 2016. You all should definitely come there and perform as well. So many people will come and attend the Festival.
There are so many indigenous varieties of food grains cultivated in India. It is our duty to safeguard and promote these varieties. You will not find such a diverse variety of food grains in countries abroad. In other countries they adopt a mono-crop approach in farming -- meaning that they sow only one kind of food grain or cereal in the entire fields. Other seed varieties slowly become lost over time because of this. In India, we have always had a tradition of rescuing and preserving our indigenous seed varieties. We need to continue this tradition.
Swami Brahmateji has been working extensively in this direction and he will address you all and share more details about this. He will speak to all the farmers and agriculturists present here and explain how you can cultivate different kinds of grains and vegetables in a small area. I would suggest that we make a permanent exhibit or a small exhibition for showcasing all these different indigenous seed varieties. Our Sri Sri Agriculture Trust is already very active in all these activities and works very closely with farmers everywhere.
We should also have an exhibition to highlight the rich variety of attires and languages in our country. Let us first construct a hall for this exhibition, in which we shall install different exhibits showing the various dance forms, clothes and attires, food grains, food etc., from different parts of our country.
See, now that you have come to the Ashram, remember to drop all your problems and botherations here. Do not take them back with you when you go home. In Art of Living, we all are doing such good work. My vision is to make every village in India a prosperous and self-sufficient one. There should not be even one unemployed person in the villages. If someone is unemployed and wants a job, just ask them to come to the Ashram. You can even send people in groups to the Ashram here, whether it is 200-300 people. We shall arrange to provide them training in different areas to equip them. This is the main purpose why we created the Sri Sri Rural Development Program (SSRDP). Deepakji from SSRDP will also speak to you all shortly.
I would ask all the Art of Living teachers from Chhattisgarh to make a detailed list of all the people from this group who want jobs, or who want to take up these projects. We can also train them to become Ayurveda therapists for giving different therapies and massages. If someone wishes to become a skilled cook we can also give them training in cooking. In the same way we can also provide for training people in driving, plumbing, etc., or in any other area of their choice. The idea is that not a single person should remain unemployed. A person should be engaged in Yoga and in Udhyoga ( here meaning skilled work or employment). One should become nirogi (healthy and free from diseases), udhyogi (a skilled professional), yogi(a sincere seeker), sahyogi (0ne who helps and cooperates with everyone), and a tyagi (one who can sacrifice selflessly) . When you sacrifice something for the country, you will surely get some merit and good in return.
Did you all enjoy the course? ( Everyone in the audience cheers loudly in agreement) That is good! You don’t have a choice but to enjoy and be happy!
Every year we celebrate theChhattisgarh Mahotsava here in the Ashram (a festival to showcase and promote the traditional culture of Chhattisgarh). Last year when the course workshop was going on, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh had come to visit us as a surprise. He really wanted to see you all here. A member of the State Legislative Assembly too had come to visit the Ashram a few years back.
See, we need to have a goal in our mind and work towards it. I think there is sufficient irrigation and water supply in Chhattisgarh. There is ample rain in Chhattisgarh.

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