Q: Gurudev, how can we make utterly materialistic people realize the importance and urgency of meditation in today's gloomy economic situation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Here, memory of the past will help you.
See in the past, after World War II or before that, the world was in such a big crisis. There was very little food and people had limited resources because everything was destroyed, but then people did survive.
We have seen worse periods on this planet. Before independence, in India, there have been so many crisis. We have undergone so many types of crisis - There was drought, floods, famine and a big plague. But people have survived all those hard times as well.
It is not any harder than what it was in the past centuries, so, don’t worry, we have survived those tough times.
Now is when we need to encourage more human values. We need to be of help to each other, share with each other and live together. We need to have good communication with people around us. This human touch is what will give us strength to overcome the crisis.
When you know there are a bunch of people who are behind you, who are supporting you, why would you be afraid of anything?
If you have faith in the consciousness, in the Divinity, it is bound to take care of you, why would you be gloomy?
So, you should make every crisis into an opportunity to turn towards the Divinity, turn towards humanity and turn towards the inner light.

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