Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Violence does not mean self-protection nor does non-violence mean lack of self-defence. You should be prepared for your self-defence no doubt, but in your mind and heart you nurture non-violence. And you will see in the presence of non-violence, such strong non-violence, even violent people will drop their violent tendencies. It has happened several times with me, when I was in Washington DC, another time in Los Angeles. On both occasions a gentleman wanted to attack me. He cursed me and said that this was all satanic, Yoga was satanic. As soon as he came, this tall hefty guy, I said, “Wait.” We didn’t have any weapons and we didn’t have any defence. He just went down on his knees and started crying. Everybody was so surprised, it was a satsang, like this, nobody expected a man to attack. I just said, “Wait, wait,” and he bowed down and started crying. Later on he took the course. You know, it is a misconception that could cause violence. It is stress and a sort of victimization that could cause violence. But when we believe in non-violence and we walk with that power in our hearts you will find a big change. There are so many such events. A long time ago, I was in Delhi and Noida. Thousands of people came with torches to burn my car. I just showed my hand and said, “Wait okay, you can do whatever you want. I just want ten minutes to talk to you. But that’s it, in those ten minutes they all changed. In those days, in 1980, Noida was not developed; it was all a jungle, a village with dacoits. So we must believe in non-violence and I don’t mean you should not carry a weapon or learn self-defence. Until you get so well established in non-violence you can have those arms, you can keep your self-defence that is okay.
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