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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Walk Like A King 像個國王般的行走

Walk Like A King

January 03, 2013

Berlin, Germany

Q: Why do Angels have wings, what is the symbolism of that? Can you please talk about why we have Angels in the Christian tradition.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Man had a fascination to fly. He wanted to dominate space.
Man could walk the Earth, he could dive into the ocean and swim in the water. But what he could not do is fly. So Angels, which he considered one step above him, he gave them wings. He thought, Angels have wings because they are more powerful than man and they can fly and can go anywhere they want.
But today with the kind of airplanes we have, Angels will be much slower. We can reach much faster than them. We will leave the Angels behind somewhere.
Nobody with wings, however powerful, can fly faster than an aircraft or a helicopter.
So it is just a concept that they are more powerful than us, because it is only then that they can help us.
Angels mean those who can help us, who are more powerful, more equipped than us.
Now don’t imagine that an Angel is going to come with wings, and take you with them, and give you flowers, and all that.
Who is cunning and crafty?
One who does not have the
ability to walk like a king. If
you have the ability and the
power to do things in a
straightforward manner, you
would not do anything
Also, we see many times, Angels are depicted as children.
Do you know why are they depicted as children in the Christian tradition? This is to show innocence. The higher you go, you have to be pure and innocent inside, not cunning and crafty.
Who is cunning and crafty? One who does not have the ability to walk like a king. Someone who has less power has to manipulate and be cunning and crafty.
Someone who is very powerful, why would they be cunning and crafty? If you have the ability and the power to do things in a straightforward manner, you would not do anything surreptitiously. You will not need to.
All those people who do cunning things have no self confidence. They don’t believe that they can achieve things at their will; they think they have to do some manipulation to get there.
So Angels are depicted as children with wings because they are innocent. They are depicted to have a stout body, just like a two or three year old baby.
If you see all the Michelangelo paintings, you will see most of the angels are babies. It simply represents innocence and purity, and then ability - more ability than normal human beings.
I tell you inside you there is an angel.
In Christian tradition it is said that everyone has a guardian angel. It is not that they are only guarding you, you are part of that guardian angel; you are that! You simply have to realize that you are an angel. You have the power to do what you want to do. Know this and relax.
Q: How do I find the right balance between striving for improvement and being contented with who I am and what I am doing?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Exactly like that!
When you want to have balance, you will definitely have it. Just this thought, 'I want to balance my life', is good enough. You are already moving in that direction.
Now when this question arises, ‘How do I do it?’ Know you can do it. Ask yourself, your consciousness will tell you.
‘I am not balanced, I am missing out on this’, your consciousness will say it. Then you listen to your consciousness.
If you are attending to your work too much then your consciousness will prick. ‘Hey you are forgetting your family, your wife, your children, your husband’ Then you say, ‘Okay I will attend to them’
If you’re getting too immersed in the family and forget about all other things then your consciousness will prick, ‘My god what have I got into, what did I get into, day and night I’m just immersed in family affairs, I’m not being useful to the world, I have to do something I have to pursue my cause, I have to do justice to my work’. The mind will prick. Then you do that.
This wanting to keep balance in life, that very thought is good enough. It is like the fuse in the electrical system, whenever the electric current surges too much the fuse will break and save everything else. Like that a little amount of guilt must be there like the fuse in the system.
You don’t justify but that little bit is okay to have, like the fuse in an electric system. You know about the electric system and know that in the electrical board there’ll be one small box called fuse. So whenever there is an imbalance in current, the fuse will burst and save the rest of the electrical system. Like that in life, a little bit of guilt is okay but not too much.
Like salt in the food. If there is too much salt can you eat it? No. Got it? So wanting to have balance is good.
Q: I am sensitive and easily hurt. What is good about being sensitive?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Life is a combination of sensitivity and sensibility. Sensibility is of the intellect and sensitivity of the heart.
Usually people who are very sensitive they forget reason, logic. Their sensibility becomes less. And people with a lot of reason, always thinking about logic and sensibility, seem to lack sensitivity. Life needs to be a beautiful balance of both. You need to be sensitive yet strong. Usually sensitivity is equal to emotional instability. It should not lead to that.
Your sensitivity should not lead you to emotional instability. If you are strong and sensitive then you have made it in your life. Got it.
You have to be sensible and sensitive, both.
In Christian tradition it is
said that everyone has a
guardian angel. It is not
that they are only guarding
you, you are part of that
guardian angel; you are
that! You simply have to
realize that you are an
angel. You have the power
to do what you want to do.
Know this and relax.
Q: Like a GPS you guide us to our goal and destiny, but what is our goal and destiny?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should make a list of what is not your goal.
I want you to discover for yourself what is your goal, and what is it that you want to do.
One thing you should know is that you are very lucky. You are in a time where you are leading the world. You are in a time that will go down in history as a big transition from a self-centered, hardened society to a beautiful world.
Q: If we are old souls who have been here for eternity, are new experiences ever truly possible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, life is ancient yet new.
The Sun is very old. It is 19 billion years old, or even more.
The Earth is 19 billion years old; Sun must be even more than that, some hundreds of billions of years old. But even today, its rays are fresh and new, isn’t it?!
So life is a combination of ancient and modern; old and new.
It is the same running river from millions of years but the water is new and fresh, isn’t it?
Q: Some people say they live without food, and there is a film about this. Is this true and what do you think?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I know a gentleman who said that he only watches sun light for food. He has mastered not eating, but sometimes he has a cup of tea with a lot of sugar in it.
See, this is about training your body. It is like in Russia how they train you in ballet. The way they bend their whole spine and the whole body is like it is made up of rubber. It took them so many days to train themselves in Russian ballet.
In the same way, if you want to train your body to live without food you can do so. But you have to do it under the guidance of one who has done it, and not just by reading books. Don’t do that. Someone who is an expert can train you, it has to be very gradual.
But why you want to do that, what is the point in it. Eat less, don’t eat too much. Yes there are people who get their energy from just the sun gazing.
In the morning you gaze because everything is energy. Our eyes are photosensitive, it’s like the solar cells, our eyes have the same quality as solar cells they can absorb energy and supply it to the body but that needs to be properly trained for. If nature had wished that way it would not have given you a mouth at all.
The mouth and all the digestive enzymes, liver and all this need to function so let them be functional also. Don’t go to those extremes.
Q: What is embarrassment?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do I have to tell you what is embarrassment?
I know of embracement, and not of embarrassment. If you can embrace embarrassment then nothing can shake you.
One thing that people try to run away from, is embarrassment.
Embarrassment is a mild form of criticism. A mild form of feeling uncomfortable. So sometimes we need to get out of the comfort zone and feel that little bit of discomfort. Then abilities dawn in us.













Monday, January 28, 2013

Quote of the day

"It is better to perform one's own duties imperfectly than to master the duties of another. By fulfilling the obligations he is born with, a person never comes to grief."

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Notice 通告

Koppi will be away from 24th to 27 for Advance course. Sorry for not able to post any articles during this time. For English readers, please do visit this link as below to read the lastest update of Guruji's knowledge. JGD


Quote of the day

"The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely."
C.G. Jung

Monday, January 21, 2013

Being Born Again 重生

Being Born Again

December 27, 2012

Bad Antogast, Germany


Q: Can you please explain why we should avoid rebirth?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you wake up and see, in life there is so much misery, and misery is what you don’t like. You don’t want misery.
What we don’t want to have is called misery, and it is there in life.
Between husband and wife, father and mother, mother and daughter, daughter and son; with friends and with enemies, there is misery. Even your body brings you misery. Anything you do, there is some misery.

When you are born in this world, you are dependent. When you are a baby you can’t even get up on your own, somebody has to lift you and somebody has to wipe you.
From the time you are born you are dependent, and even in old age you become dependent, but money gives you a false opinion that you are independent. That is why it is called Maya. Maya means it creates an impression.
If you give somebody a few dollar bills, they come and work for you, and that gives you the feeling that you are independent.
In life there is dependency. Where there is dependency there is misery. What is miserable is not pleasant, and you don’t want to have it. So people say, `I don’t want any more rebirth. Enough is enough.’

Just imagine, you have to go to school again, be whacked, and then go to college and go through all the teenage crises again.
Look at all those teenage children, their faces swollen; so angry. The are angry at their parents and they don’t know what to do.
See, it is not just your enemies who bother you, your friends also bother you.
Everything is a botheration.
Your mind is occupied by your friends as much as it is occupied by your enemies. So they all bother you. Moreover, keep all botherations on one side, your mind is your biggest botheration.
Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind, I tell you.
In fact, others seem to be bothering you, but it is not others, it is your own mind.
You want freedom from your own mind and so you say, ‘I don’t want another birth.'
But once you know that it is your own mind that is bothering you, and not somebody else, then that is wisdom. And when wisdom dawns then you say, ‘I don’t mind if I have to be reborn ten times, or a hundred times, or a thousand times, I will come.'
Then you realize life is joy, life is bliss. This is wisdom!

Yesterday I said, mind is our best friend and mind is our worst enemy. It sees an enemy in a friend and a friend in an enemy. Your mind can twist, distort, create it’s own hell and it’s own heaven.
So what we really want is freedom from the mind, but you say, 'I don’t want to be born again.'

Q: How to deal with people with a very big ego, especially when their behavior is affecting life and others in a bad way?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Let them have a big ego, why are you bothered?
You nurse an even bigger ego than them, there ends the story.
In fact you will find you have a bigger ego, I tell you.
Let others have an ego, so what? Why do you sign on a contract of destroying everybody’s ego, or making everybody’s ego smaller?
If someone has a big ego, nature will teach them. One day or the other, they will become miserable. Leave it to them. Let them enjoy the music.

Why do you become so miserable looking at the ego of others? I don’t understand that. You do what is required of you, as much as you can do, and move on. That is it.
In life we should just move on.
If someone is nasty to you, you can get up and shout at them, or scream at them, ‘Why did you do this thing to me yesterday; the day before and ten years ago?’
But I tell you, you are certainly spoiling this moment as well by talking about a mistake that happened yesterday or a month ago. You are spoiling the beauty of this moment.
I would want you to make a decision right now, ‘I don’t care what happened in the past, right now I am not going to spoil this moment’, finished.
The world is like an ocean, these sort of things happen. They happen and they go away as well. Friend become enemies and enemies become friends for no apparent reason.
How many of you have had the experience, that even though you have done only good to certain people, for no reason they have become your enemies? (Many raise their hands)
You wonder, ‘Oh my God, I did only good to this person, why is he blaming me? Why has this person become an enemy?’
Also, there are people to whom you have not done any favor and yet they have helped you a lot. How many of you have this experience? (Many raise their hands)
See, whether someone becomes your friend or your enemy, it all works on the strange laws of karma. That is why, put them all in one basket and relax. This, I have adopted as my policy.
You do so much good to one person and still if that person is angry with you, or they blame you, what do you do?
So, don’t go on chewing on that and spoil the present moment with the past.
Isn’t that a good idea? This moment let us celebrate.

In the past I used to listen to people, all their stories and their blaming one another. Suddenly I realized, ‘No, I’m not going to listen to anybody’s complaint any more. I don’t want to spoil this moment’s energy.’
Deal with your things, that is your karma. This is what the ancient people used to say.
They would never sit like counselors and listen to all your stories. They’d say, ‘Come on, wake up this moment; now (snapping his fingers)', and that would bring a huge change in the mind, in the energy, and in the time.
But you don’t start doing that right away, then you will be called the most insensitive and rude person. Got it?
Do it slowly. You have to listen to people, which I have also done for so many years. But a point should come, especially with people, when you have to say, ‘Okay, now no more.' Sometimes it happens, old people at home go on and on. They enjoy complaining. How many of you have experienced this? (Many raise their hands)
See! They enjoy complaining, and when someone listens, they complain even more. At those moments you should just put on music and say, ‘Hey come on, let’s dance. Stop complaining.’ 

Q: Gurudev, you said that 2012 was going to be the year of 'Nanda' (bliss). How come it was such a hard year?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The year of Nanda is not yet over, it will be over end of March.There are still three months more.
You know, it is good when things churn inside you, then you wake up.
It is not that it happens only in the outside world, but even in the spiritual field, it happens. People come here for spirituality but they get caught up in so many other things.

The other day a person came to me, and I said,‘Why did you come to me? You came to me for knowledge, and you have left the knowledge and you are thinking about all other things.'
That person said, 'This person said like this to me.’
Come on! If the world is bad, it is for a good reason; so that you better straighten yourself up. When you don’t see your own flaws, you see flaws in everybody else, and you think, ‘Everybody is bad, only I am good.'
I tell you, people who think like that are seriously wrong. They are not saadhaks (spiritual seekers). To be a saadhak is to look at oneself and see, 'What should I correct in myself, let me correct that.'
You cannot complain that it is cold in Germany in winter. It will be. It is good to stay indoors.
So, catch hold of wisdom. That is the only truth and the only reality. And that is what all this knowledge, meditation and sadhana is for. It gives you such inner strength that you can walk with a smile under any circumstance. Isn’t that what everyone is aspiring for?
Such an inner strength, that come what may, nobody can snatch your smile.
This is most needed. 

Q: How does one achieve and maintain inner strength?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By waking up to this knowledge.
It should not be that just once a year you come, listen to some knowledge and go away. Make it part of your daily routine, so that it is maintained.
Also, humility is important. Sometimes, people get so numb to knowledge. They think, ‘I know it all.'
One should not get into that arrogance, ‘I know the knowledge, what is there to know.’ The constant revival of knowledge; of the same points that you know, and reliving it is important.
It is not a very tough or difficult task, and even if you lose the knowledge for a moment, it just comes back. Knowing that it comes back, you don’t really lose it, it is there. 

Q: Dear Gurudev, can you tell us why it’s good to come out of the comfort zone in which we feel safe and secure, and do things that we don’t like doing, or which we don’t feel comfortable doing.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Coming out of your comfort zone time and again will expand your ability and your strength; you become stronger.
You are so caught up in your comfort zone. That is the cause of your fear, your anxiety, and your bondage. Your comfort zone is your bondage.
Sometimes when you wake up and say, ‘I am going to get out of this’, it brings that strength back to you.

Q: Why do people that we love commit suicide? Do they not feel our love?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, it is because they are not exposed to the knowledge and they don’t know what it is to be alive, or what it is to die.
They have no idea about their prana, or about their life. They are so obsessed with their comfort, so they commit suicide. People who want extreme comfort are those who commit suicide. They have no forbearance; they can’t bear a little discomfort.
That is where you need more prana and more energy.

The more you tell someone not to commit suicide, they’ll say, ‘No, I want to commit suicide.' Sometimes I tell them, ‘Okay, commit suicide, but climb Mt. Everest and from there you jump. Don’t hang yourself at home. Go for some adventure and if you die, you die. Good luck.’

It is stupid to commit suicide. They have not been exposed to this beautiful knowledge and they don’t know the value of life. That is why it is very important for us to teach everybody about their breath.
When prana level is really low, that is when thoughts of commiting suicide arise. When the prana is high, this thought will not come.
No crime will happen if prana is high. You will not be violent to yourself or others when your prana is high. That is why Sudarshan Kriya, pranayama, meditation, all these practices need to be taught to people.
Also, such people who have such tendencies should engage themselves in serving others.
In ancient India, nobody would be given knowledge unless they break their bones to do some seva. 10 to 12 years, people would stay in a monastery and they would do so much service. Only then they would be given some knowledge.
When the body is fit from doing so much service, so much work, then the mind is fit and humble. It is like training in martial arts. Have you seen martial art training? Mind and body are coordinated.
You are trained like that in the army as well, so that your emotions are not all over the place, and you are not thinking of 'me' all the the time.

Q: Dear Gurudev, when we have some problems or decisions to make and we get the answer from the voice inside us, how do we know who is speaking? Is it our mind, intuition or the Divine itself?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It is all the same, don’t worry about it. There is no need to analyse it too much, just be at ease. When we are at ease, the right answer comes up.
Intuition cannot come by forcing ourselves. It is a natural phenomenon.


2012年12月27日 德國，Bad Antogast








你做自己該做的，做你所能做到的，繼續向前進。就是這樣。在生命裡我們應該繼續向前進。如果有人討厭你，你站起來對他們喊叫，或對他們尖叫，『你昨天；前天和十年前為什麼那麼對我？』。但我告訴你，你談及一些昨天或一個月前的錯誤確實是破壞了當下。你破壞了當下的美 麗。我要你現在就做個決定『我不管過去發生過什麼事，現在我不要破壞這個當下』，結束。這個世界就像是海洋，這些事情會發生。它們發生了也離開了。 沒有明顯的原因為什麼朋友成為敵人而敵人成為朋友。你們多少人有這樣的經歷，就算你對某人只是做了好事，但是沒有原因的他就成為了你的敵人？（很多人舉手）你會好奇『我的天，我只對這個人做了好事，為什麼他責怪我？為什麼這個人變成了敵人？』還有，也有一些人你並沒有幫過他們什麼但是他們卻幫了你很多。你們多少人有這個經歷？（很多人舉手）看，一個人是否成為你的朋友或敵人，這些都是以一個很奇妙的業力法在運作。這就是為什麼，把他們統統都放在一個籃子裡然後放鬆。這，我把它當成是我的政策。你對一個人做了很多好事但是如果那個人生氣你，或他們責怪你，你會怎麼做？所以，不要去咀嚼然後讓過去破壞當下的這一刻。 這是不是一個好主意？這個當下讓我們慶祝吧。

問：古儒吉，您說2012年將是個極樂年（Nanda ）。但為什麼它是那麼艱難的一年？
前幾天有個人來見我，而我說『為什麼你來見我？你來見我是為了知識，但是你卻遺棄了知識而只是想著其它的事情。』那個人說『這個人對我說了這樣的話。』拜託！如果這個世界是壞了，這也是為了好的原因；所以你最好是整頓好自己。如果你看不到自己的缺陷，你看到別人的缺陷，而你卻想『全部人都是壞的，只有我是好的。』我告訴你，這樣想的人是嚴重的錯了。他們不是尋道者（saadhaks ）。要成為尋道者就是要看著自己然後想『我要如何修正自己，讓我修正這個。』你們埋怨說德國的冬天很冷。它會是這樣。呆在室內比較好。所以，抓緊智慧。這是唯一的真理和現實。而這就是這些知識，靜心和靈性修持（sadhana）的用意。它給你這種內在的力量讓你在任何的情況下都可以帶著微笑走過。這不就是所有人都渴望的嗎？這麼樣個內在的力量，讓該來的都來，沒有人可以搶走你的微笑。這是最需要的。


自殺是很笨的。他們並沒有接觸過這些漂亮的知識而他們不知道生命的價值。所以這就是為什麼我們教別人關於他們的呼吸是很重要的。如果能量很低的時候， 這就是自殺的念頭升起的時候。當能量很高的時候，這樣的想法不會出現。在能量高的時候沒有罪案會發生。當你的能量很高的時候你不會對你自己或是別人使用暴力。這也是為什麼淨化呼吸，調息法，靜心，和這一切練習要教導給別人。


Friday, January 18, 2013

Quote of the day

"Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."
- George Washington

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Guru Punch! 古儒吉智慧語錄

Some people act good and some act bad, but everyone is going to die, and the world will be finished. This set of people will all go away. Then new people will come and they will all die. Then another set of people will come, they will fight among themselves, they will hug, love, kiss, do everything, and they will all die. See, the world is like a river, there is fresh water flowing every moment in this river. What is it that you are so bothered about? - Sri Sri


Every human being is a book in himself/herself 每一個人都是自己的一本書

Every human being is a book in himself/herself - a novel. In a library we get all kinds of books. The whole world is a library. There is only One Author for all these books and He is flooding the market! Only a few, who are awake, see that these are all stories and rejoice. And you are one of those few. If you think you are not, become one right away. You have a lifelong membership in this library. ~Sri Sri Ravi Shankar


A Balance of the Heart and the Mind 心和心智的平衡

A Balance of the Heart and the Mind

January 07, 2013

Kochi, Kerala

(Sri Sri at the International Leadership Summit)


In a home, do you know who the real leader is? Is the father the leader of the house, or the baby?
You will be surprised to know that it is the baby that leads the house. It is around the baby that the entire family circles, isn't that so?!
That is why, I consider myself as a baby; as a child.

A real leader needs to have these two qualities, one of the head and the other of the heart - Sensibility and Sensitivity.
Often what we see, people who are very sensible, are not sensitive, because they are so focused on reason; on being sensible and logical. And then there are those who are very sensitive that at the drop of a hat, tears come into their eyes, but they are not sensible enough.
Neither of these two can become a good leader, because you need to have a balance of both - Sensibility and Sensitivity; heart and mind, because we are all made up of these two very important aspects of our life.
Intellect has its unique place, and so do our emotions.

In the past century, the emphasis has been only on the intellect. A tear in a man's eyes was considered to be something weird. How can a man cry?!
And a woman taking a mike, and standing up and speaking, or fighting for her rights, was considered to be weird. And that is how the society was. Women could not lead!
Of course, not in Kerala. In Kerala, a different system has been there. But world over, women were not given that intellectual power to speak because she was brushed aside as the more fair and sensitive race. Today, the scenario has changed.
Today, we need sensibility and sensitivity. We need that softness of a female in every leader, and the strength and perseverance of a male in every woman, then one can lead any organization. What do you say?!
There is something very important that I want to tell you. Whenever we have to discuss about leadership, or anything very dear to our hearts, we need to be in a very informal atmosphere.
So, why don't we just take half a minute, to greet the person behind us, in front of us, to our sides, saying, 'I belong to you!'

Done?! Did you greet the people near you?
Some of you were so shy to even say 'Hi' to others.

Many times, we find leaders in such a position. They don't look at people, they look somewhere else and keep talking. They can't relate to people, isn't it?!
So did you really tell the people around you, 'I belong to you'; or you did it as a formality?

You must have noticed, when you get off the plane, the air hostess greets you saying, 'Have a nice day!' They say this much but they don't really mean it.
In the same way, most of the pleasantries that we exchange in our daily lives, is from that level. We say, 'Hi', or 'Welcome', but there is no warmth of welcoming someone.
But the same words, when it comes to you from someone very dear to you; your mother, or your sister, or close friend, then it carries some vibrations.
Most of what we communicate is through vibes, and words play a very small part of it. Your vibrations send more messages, even before words come out of your mouth.
A leader when he relies on his words should know for sure that his words will not be relied upon.
If you rely on words so much, people will not rely on your words. It has to come from deep within. That is what is called sincerity, when there is a connect between your vibes, your feelings and your words.
You may tell me, 'Gurudev, it is so difficult to match these three. How is it possible?! If everybody could match these three, everybody would be a saint. It is not practical!'
I tell you, okay, I agree with you. You will not be able to match it 100%, but at least can you match 25%. That much you can do, because people can feel it; sense it.
So we convey a lot through our vibrations than through words. Words are important but it needs that presence.

People are intelligent, they can make out when you really welcome someone and when you are doing it as a formality.

Okay, I have another exercise for you. Will you do it? Are you ready?
Can you turn to the person next to you and tell the person, 'I don't trust you!'
If your spouse is next to you, this is an opportunity! (Laughter)
You all did it so quickly?!
Did you notice that it was not easy to do that. This is the very first time that you must have told someone, 'I don't trust you', and you started laughing and they started laughing as well. Transformation has begun.
You were not relying on their words and they were not relying on your words, isn't it?!

Just for a minute close your eyes, and just imagine, no one trusts you. Everybody is telling you, 'I do not trust you.'
You may open your eyes.
How do you feel? Relieved?! Awful?!
(Audience: Awful; miserable; uncomfortable; desperate; sad; horrible; dejected)

You know, this is what we generate when we have this attitude, 'I don't trust anybody.'
We create such a vibration, that anybody who comes around us, they feel that we feel that way, and then there is mistrust in society, and that is how society starts going down and conflicts arise.
Do you know, most conflicts can be solved at the very beginning itself, if the pact of trust is attended to.
See, when you feel nobody trusts you, you feel so bad, and you feel such a bad vibration all around you, and that creates such an atmosphere that is not good for you or for anybody else.
I don't mean that you have to be naive, but at the same time I want you to look at this aspect of trust. A society which has no faith in human values cannot flourish, or progress, or be creative, on any count. This is my conclusion.

Now you may ask, 'What about self-doubt. I trust others but I don't trust myself.'
This is another form of the same disease. Lack of trust in yourself leads to lack of trust in others. Lack of trust in others leads to lack of trust in the values of society, which leads back to lack of trust in oneself.
This needs to be corrected. And anything that corrects this should be welcomed.
Trust between communities, trust between members of the same family is important.
I would say, it is stress that is responsible for distrust.

Don't think everyone is a fraud. There are good people on the planet and that counts for majority of them. The world is bad today, not because of a few bad people, but it is the silence of the good people that has created unfavourable situations. Now it is in our hands to change this.
Each one of you is a leader, don't look for a leader.
What is important is to lead from behind. A real leader is not one who emphasizes, 'I am the leader, you must follow me', instead he says, 'Go forward', and he pushes others in front. 'I am here with you, so you run'; just like the coach who assists his participant in a running race, or a coach who teaches you swimming.
Someone argues, how can I jump into the water when I don't know swimming. But unless you get into the water, how can you learn swimming?! You can't swim in the air. So that guidance has to come from one's own very life's example.

You have seen the big uproar that has happened in India. Finally people have woken up to the plight of women. It is not the first time that a woman has been abused, it has been happening for many years and in many places. People have woken up, and everybody is demanding that these people need to be punished, but they are leaving out one person, i.e., Mr. Alcohol.
If these people were not drunk, perhaps they would not have gone out of their senses. And if these people were in their senses, perhaps they would not have committed such a crime. But they were totally drunk. Isn't it?!
It is alcohol which is the first culprit.

I keep hearing of this everyday; every single day. Men drink at night and then they go and beat up their wives, and in the morning they ask her for forgiveness, and she forgives them and life continues.

Q: You just said that alcohol is the main reason behind the Delhi gang rape case. But today, there have been cases of young girls being raped by their own fathers. In those cases, it is not just alcohol. What is the bigger problem?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Correct, it is not alcohol which is the main reason behind this case.
Sex offenders have primarily three issue. One is hormone issues, where there could be some serious hormonal imbalances in them.
Second is emotional disturbances. The person must be a victim of some sort, within themselves.
Third is, total deterioration of human values.

So, these three things together can make a person do such criminal acts which they themselves would regret.
It is not that they would feel very happy that they have achieved something great. They are doing such a bad thing to a small child.
They are compelled because of their sick mind, imbalanced emotions and hormones. So these kind of people need treatment. They definitely need counselling, and society needs to provide them with this kind of counselling without any stigma.
Do you know, this is not just in rural places, in fact, it is more in all the advanced countries. In world over, this problem of child molestation is prevalent. So many such cases are there. Father molesting his own daughter, we have heard of something like this in India only recently, but this has been happening in America for so many years. And it has gone to an extent with all these television shows, that sometimes, children start doubting, 'Oh, maybe my father did like this to me.'

I want to share one such case with you.
An elderly couple came to me. Their daughter who at time was already 38 years of age, suddenly thought, after watching all these talk shows, that she is a victim. That her father did this to her when she was a child.
So suddenly, after this television show, the relationship between the parents and the daughter became so bad.
The father was crying, saying, 'How can I ever do such a crime. My daughter thinks I have done this to her.'
So, some of these television shows can make such an impact as well, that it destroys the family.
Are you understanding what I am saying? It took me quite a while to sit them all together, to counsel them, to make them meditate, and all that.
Of course, finally the family came together, they could let go of these impressions.
Many times people consider themselves as victims to draw more attention. These kind of things also happen in society. 
We need to put an end to crime against women and children at any cost. This can only happen when society turns more spiritual, more humane and more sensitive.

Q: If government is corrupt, how can the nation create good governance.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The government has no personality, it is the people in the government who become corrupt. It is the people who can become incorrupt as well.
See, corruption begins where the sense of belongingness ends. Nobody can be corrupt with people whom they think belong to them. They will not take bribe from their friends and family. They take bribe only from those whom they find are outside their sense of belongingness.
So, corruption and crime, these two things have to be removed, otherwise the government cannot be effective.

Criminal elements in the government is a horrible thing.
Do you know why every party gives tickets to these criminal elements? It is because they have a vote bank. If you, the good people start making your own vote banks, you can dictate to every party, 'If you give tickets to criminal elements, we are not going to vote for you', then no party will dare to give tickets to corrupt people or to the criminal elements in society.
That is why I said, we should all, together, stand up for human values in society, united. Individually we all stand up for values, but we need to stand up being united.
If all good people in Cochin stand up and say, 'We will not allow Cochin to be polluted. We stand for cleanliness in our city', then things start changing.
I feel this is necessary.

Q: There are many corporations that are venturing into social responsibilities, but recently the government has introduced some policies where this is being thrust onto corporations. What do you have to say about this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If the government says that companies have to spend 3% of their profits on social responsibility, a good corporation would spend 4% of their profits, and not limit to the 3% as per the government's guidelines.
It is a good thing that the government has given such a guideline. At least 2% to 3% must be given towards corporate social responsibility.
I don't think there is anything wrong with this decision of the government. I think this one decision is very good, that every corporation should spend at least some percentage of their profit for the welfare of others.
This has been said in our Dharma Shastras as well. Anyone who gets any profit has to share a percentage of it for the welfare of society.

Q: Can you say something about entrepreneurship.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Entrepreneur is a projection of creativity. One aspect of creativity.
An entrepreneur has to come out of his or her comfort zone. One cannot say, 'I want to be in my comfort zone and I want to be an entrepreneur', that is not going to work.
Entrepreneurship always involves risks and the ability to undergo hardship.

Q: What is the significance of the culture of leadership in organizations?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A leader has to walk the talk. Be sensible, sensitive and compassionate.
We need three things in life, Passion, Dispassion and Compassion.
You can't have only passion, then you feel very stressed out. You need to have dispassion, you need to know how to let go. If you keep holding onto things when they are out of your hands anyways, you will only be more stressed. And a stressful person is a burden for himself, for the society and for everybody.
A stressful person becomes harmful and toxic.
In any institution you should identify those who are stressed. The ones stressed are soon going to become toxic. So, see to it that the person changes his whole attitude and feels better about himself.
When people are relieved of stress, then you see a wave of change that arises.

It is not an easy task. If someone is not willing to let go of his or her stress, you cannot make them let go of it. So, it is an uphill task and you have to do that.

Q: You have already told that women are naturally good leaders, but there are not enough women leaders. Can you tell us, what are the barriers for becoming a good leader?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I want to tell you that India has more women leaders than any other part of the world. Do you know that?
We have many women members of Parliament, many women in the legislative assembly, and many states ruled by women. The whole country has been ruled by women for several decades; so never think that you need to be empowered by somebody.
Here, in India, women are already empowered. America has to learn that. America has not yet come to that level as far as women empowerment is concerned.

Q: In my work environment, I meet different kinds of people, and I may not like talking to some of them. How do I be diplomatic in my approach?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is a very tricky question.
Sometimes if you are not direct, and if you don't tell them on their face, they think that you are giving them some other indications in a subtle way, or are confirming what they have in their own mind.
At the same time, you need not be rude when you need to express your opinions, or ideas, which you want to put forth. So, it is really about striking a balance.
There is no definite formula. You have to play by the ear.
How to be diplomatic - this cannot be taught now and applied later. It has to come out of you spontaneously at that moment.


2013年1月7日 柯欽，喀拉拉










OK，我有另一個練習要給你。你們會做嗎？準備好了嗎？ 你們可以轉向你隔壁的那個人並告訴他『我不信任你！』如果你的配偶在你隔壁，那這就是機會！（笑聲）







所以，這三者加起來會讓一個人犯下這樣一個讓他們自己都會後悔的犯罪行為。這並不是他們會為自己做了些偉大的事而感到高興。他們對小孩子做了那麼壞的事。他們是被逼是因為他們那生病的心智，情緒和荷爾蒙的不平衡。所以這些人需要治療。他們肯定需要被輔導，而社會需要在沒有任何恥辱的情況下給他們這些輔導。你們可知道，這不只是在偏僻的地區而已，事實上，在先進的國家有更多。在全世界，這類兒童性騷擾問題都在遍布。所以有很多這樣的案子。父親性騷擾自己的女兒，我們只是在最近才在印度聽到這樣的事件，但是在美國這樣的事情已經發生了很多年。而電視節目也已經到了一定程度上，所以有時候，孩子會開始懷疑 『噢可能我的父親對我做了這樣的事情。』



古儒吉：政府是沒有性格的，是在政府裡的人變成腐敗。也只有人才能變成不腐敗。 看，腐敗是因為歸屬感沒有了。沒有人會對那些他們認為是屬於他們的人賄賂的。他們不會對他們的朋友或家人賄賂。他們只會對那些在他們歸屬感以外的人賄賂。 所以，貪污和罪行，這兩件事必須被去除，不然政府是不會有效率的。
所以我說，我們全都應該，一起，為社會的人類價值站起來，團結。個別的我們為價值站起來，但是我們需要團結的站在一起。如果在科欽（Cochin 地方名）全部的好人站起來說『我們不會讓科欽被污染。我們為這個城市的清潔站起來』，這樣事情就會開始轉變。我覺得這是需要的。


古儒吉：如果政府說企業應該用3%的利潤在社會責任上，一個好的企業至少要用4%的利潤，而不是只是限制在政府的3%方針。政府給這樣一個方針是好的。至少2%至3%應該給予企業社會責任。我不覺得政府的決定有什麼不對。我覺得這個決定很好，一個企業至少需要用利潤上的一些巴仙率在別人的福利上。這也是我們的 Dharma Shastras 有記載。任何人都應該把任何利潤的一些巴仙率分到社會的福利上。





古儒吉：我要告訴你印度比世界其它的地方有更多的女性領袖者。你知道這個嗎？我們有很多女性國會議員，有很多女性在立法大會，和很多的州被女性統治。這個國家被女性統治了好幾十年； 所以不要去想你需要被某些人授權。這裡，在印度，女人已經被授權了。美國需要學習這點。美國還沒有來到授權給女士的那個階段。


而如果你沒有當面和他們說，他們認為你是在以一些含蓄的手法給他們提示，或是在和他們確認他們腦子裡所想的。同一時間，你也不需要在你表達你要提出的意見，或想法的時候用粗魯的方法。所以，它是關於取決平衡。這裡沒有明確的公式。你需要去發揮。如何去建交 ——這不是件可以現在教等下就派上用場的。它必須是在那個時候自己發出來的。