QnA with Sri Sri
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Q: Many times we see that an arrogant person earns a lot of fame and respect, while a humble person often goes unnoticed. Why is this so?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is purely your own concept. It is not that only arrogant people get respect. If that were the case, then Mahatma Gandhi would have never won the respect and support of the people of this country.
Did Acharya Vinoba Bhave not command great respect from the people? Was Mahatma Gandhi an arrogant person? Was Vinoba Bhave an egoistic person? What about Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa? All these are the concepts of your own mind. You should not have such prejudices in the mind.
If you are good by nature but people around you do not find you good, then that means that you are not expressing yourself correctly; you have not been able to fully express yourself the way you truly are. Do not simply blame other people for this. Do not hold society responsible for this. Society is essentially good. It is not as bad as you think. In fact, Society and its people are much better and nobler than what you think of it.
We often feel this way because we tend to generalize and eternalize the problem. Then we end up saying, “Oh! Everyone is so bad”. It is not so. Just see from my eyes. People are not bad. Do not blame the society or the people. In every society, there are some bad anti-social elements. But that does not mean that the entire society is bad. If you think that way, then you will either justify yourself or think that others are not righteous. If you say that “Everyone is hopeless”, then you too may be one of them. Is it not so? This subtle understanding must come in our mind.

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