We need to create waves of happiness in Holland. Don’t you think so?
Do you know, if we think only about ourselves then our life shrinks. But when we think for the whole society, for everybody then there is more joy. Yes, there are challenges in it.
Everyone wants to be happy, right? Is there anyone who doesn’t want to be happy here? Every human being, every animal, every creature wants to be happy. Now, what is the way to be happy? It is by sharing happiness. When you spread happiness, it grows. When you don’t spread it and keep it to yourself, it starts to dwindle and then finishes. This is what people don’t know. They want to be happy, but they don’t know how to share it with everybody and to expand their family. And that is what The Art of Living is. It is the education to expand one’s happiness and to expand one’s family. So, are we all committed to do this?
We need many centers
where the Sudarshan Kriya
can happen; many places
where people can congregate.
I would say, as many places
as there are McDonalds, we
need that many centers. That
would make a big difference.
There is an old Sanskrit proverb, which says, ‘The real worship, the real prayer to God is to create happiness in others.’ It has challenges, no doubt about it. All individuals have challenges. One may have challenges about their job, husband, wife, children, brother, sister, mother, father, family, health, etc. All these challenges surround us, right? There has never been a time in anybody’s life that challenges don’t come. If not yours, you are bothered about your friend’s challenges. If not your friend’s, you are bothered about your relatives’ challenges. If nothing, you have the world to bother about!
Greece is going for election today. Everybody is in tenterhooks, thinking, ‘Oh! We don’t know what will happen.’ If Greece sinks, it will have a huge impact on the Euro and Europe. This fear is there. So, everybody has something or the other to be bothered about, right?
Now, in spite of all these tough situations, if we surge ahead, move ahead, open our arms, open our wings, and start working for a happy world, I tell you, we will be successful. Got it?
You know, when I first came to Holland in 1988, I gave a talk in a small room. There were about fifteen people. Among those people, there were about five or six Suriname Indians. They said, ‘Holland is very tough. They don’t like to do anything with spirituality. Please don’t waste your time’.
I just smiled and listened to them. Then, I was taken to a small temple in the Suriname community. They requested me to give a talk there. The next day, they said that there is another temple, where they wanted me to come.
I said, ‘Okay, I will come there, but I want to reach out to everybody, the whole population.’
They said, ‘You know, the people here are not interested in anything related with India, the people will not like it; prejudice is there’.
I said, ‘No, it does not matter.’ I just smiled through, and said, ‘The whole world is my family and every community belongs to me, not just one. Not just the Dutch, or the Suriname, or the Indian community.’ Here, there were separate temples, one for the Indian community, the expatriate Indians, and one for the Suriname community. I went to both the temples and then I went to a church. There was a small gathering in the church. They also enjoyed meditation. So, I just taught a little bit of meditation, a little bit of Sudarshan Kriya, and said, ‘One day, there will be a lot of people in Holland who will learn the Sudarshan Kriya.’
And I kept moving from then on. If I had stayed in the comfort of Bangalore, nice weather, beautiful place, all types of comfort, I would have remained in my comfort zone.
In those days, it was very difficult to travel outside India. It was very expensive. It was very cold in those days when I came here. It was dark and cold. I was in a small apartment with just one room. And from that room, once you come down through a small little staircase, you are in front of a canal.
I am used to sleeping with the window open. I don’t like the window closed. So, when I opened the window, there was a cold breeze coming through it all night. But I enjoyed it all, because I had a mission to reach out to the people of Holland. I wanted them all to gain the benefits out of this and enjoy this beautiful gift.
Afterwards, I came here several times and many others joined later. But still, we are not going at the pace we should go. Don’t you think so? We are going in a very slow car, in the last lane. We have to shift our lane to the fast lane and reach out to people throughout Holland and create a wave of happiness in the country.
We can ask people to gather and we can give them a little bit of bhastrika and a little meditation, just a small sample of it.
Come on, let us sing, dance and share with each other. Life is so short! We came into the planet crying but we don’t want to go back from here crying. At least when we go from this place, let us be smiling. Yes, this body gets sick.
Sickness has been part of this world since ages. Take care of the body. We should provide food, shelter, and whatever we need (for the body). But, sitting and worrying about it, is unwarranted. Do you get it? Worrying is unnecessary.
Q: Dear Guruji, people sometimes give me the feeling of being invisible. What to do about that? Please give my family a blessing.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Invisible, meaning people don’t recognize you? Never mind. That is even better. When nobody recognizes you, nobody has any demands from you. You know, being a Guru is a very big job. So many demands are there! You have to be watchful and alert every minute, and be available every minute. It is good that you are invisible. Happy-go-lucky! Never mind.
To improve family relations you need
two things - No Explanations and No
Complaints.Asking explanation from
others is a foolish thing. And explaining
to others thinking they would understand
is another foolish thing.
Q: Can you explain how it is possible that all people in my country Holland create beautiful things? We are materialistic, but there is no awareness of consciousness. How is this possible?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I don’t think so. There is consciousness in people. There is so much kindness in people. People in Holland have lot of values and they are very much willing to support and do service. You simply need to give them a chance and channel them, that is all.
Wherever there is a disaster, aid from Holland goes there first. When there was tsunami, people from Holland supported them. A big load of clothes arrived, and our people distributed them. A lot of help comes from Holland. People from Holland have very big hearts. Don’t under estimate them. They are like tulips.
Q: Dearest Guruji, I am a yoga teacher and I work hard. I keep myself busy but I know I could do a lot more. I would like some advice.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I need more volunteers. We have four centers here. We need a lot of volunteers to work in these centers. So, sign up as volunteers. Even if you give two days in a month, that would be very good.
You come for two days in a month, for three to four hours. Do whatever work we need. How many of you would like to volunteer like this? You know, volunteering is doing what you can. All that you need to do is to come and spend three to four hours and go. Just come to the center for a few hours, answer a few phone calls, say a few nice words to people who come to the centers and help them out.
Can we not do this?
You know, five centers are not enough for a country this big.
Do you know how many satsang groups are in New Delhi? 280 satsang groups. Sudarshan Kriya happens in all these places.
In Bangalore, though the ashram is there, there are 195 centers, where people from every locality have a place to do the Sudarshan Kriya, meditate, share, sing and eat together. You know, for places like Amsterdam and Hague, we need many places where the Sudarshan Kriya can happen; many places where people can congregate. I would say, as many places as there are McDonalds, we need that many centers. That would make a big difference in the country.
Q: How do I improve family ties?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: To improve family ties, don’t try to improve it. Don’t try to get over the misunderstanding. If there is a misunderstanding, just overlook that.
Educate and ignore. Move forward. Don’t do postmortem, i.e., sit and dig, ‘Why did you say that?’, ‘You don’t love me’, all this garbage is such a waste of time. We dwell into so much emotional garbage. We should throw them all out and have bubbling enthusiasm. You should move with enthusiasm.
If someone lacks enthusiasm, push them into enthusiasm, and do not go on complaining or asking for explanation from people.
To improve family relations you need two things - No Explanations and No Complaints. That’s it. Got it?
Asking explanation from others is a foolish thing. And explaining to others thinking they would understand is another foolish thing. It doesn’t work both ways. The best is to just move forward.
