How can I get purer? Even though I am doing Sadhana, Satsang and Seva, I do not feel very pure. When I see people who are arrogant, rude and proud, especially Art of Living people, I feel very sad. How do I get rid of this?

Question - Gurudev, how can I get purer? Even though I am doing Sadhana, Satsang and Seva, I do not feel very pure. When I see people who are arrogant, rude and proud, especially Art of Living people, I feel very sad. How do I get rid of this?

Gurudev Sri Sri - You are saying two things. One you are saying that others are arrogant, others are not okay and the other thing you are saying is you are not okay. This is just mirroring; you are mirroring in both sides. I would say if you feel that you are impure, pranayama and proper food will help. If you still feel that you are not okay then just go on a fruit and vegetable diet for a couple of days and just sing and chant. When you are sitting in satsang and singing how can you say that you are impure? There is no way. Don't you feel when you are sitting in satsang that how much ever impurity you might have felt in the mind, it all got lifted up? There is nothing better than knowledge which can purify your mind, your soul and your spirit. Knowledge purifies. Sit and listen to Ashtavakra Gita for half an hour or 20 minutes, you will feel uplifted. About your feeling that others are arrogant, it is good that these people have come to me, here, in The Art of Living. I feel happy about it and I have patience, you also keep patience. I patiently keep waiting. Out there in the world they would've created problems and so much trouble to so many. At least here they are in less difficulty, and they are giving you an exercise to practice the first principle - accept people as they are. Also, I would like you to know that The Art of Living people are not a special species from somewhere, they are normal people in the world and they have all the traits of the people in the world. They are not different. Yes, your expectations from The Art of Living people is more because you think they are soaked in knowledge, they are in love, they serve people. So your expectations are much higher because you see that they are very privileged. That is correct! But you start from yourself first, you are so privileged, you have the patience to accept everybody. People ask me questions, ‘Why have you made such people teachers who are so arrogant, who are so angry’, and so on. I tell them that I need all specimens and all species; all types of people. I carry them along and everybody is comfortable with me, and I am comfortable with everybody. I have patience to see them grow. That is how The Art of Living has grown. If I was looking for perfection, I tell you, we won't be here today. We would not be sitting here today. I would be somewhere else and you would be somewhere else. We need to have patience. It is like, in a school, you cannot expect all the kids to be in one class. And it is not that one class is superior to other class. It is not as if the nursery kids are superior to the primary kids. There is no superiority, it is just the way they are. It is just the time and pace they take to grow from one class to another, from one level to another. People keep growing, and we need to have patience. And I tell you, it tests your patience, and it is good.