Q: Guruji, There are some people who say, 'A little bit of wine is okay, even Lord Shiva had wine'. How do we tackle such statements?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: People do whatever they want to do and they put it in the name of religion, or God to justify themselves. Simply look at your life, forget about others. If Shiva had alcohol, he must have had problems as well. 
See those five people who did that thing to the girl, in Delhi, they were all drunk, and when someone is drunk, you cannot even hold them responsible for what they do. Intoxicants are responsible for half of the crimes in the society. So not only should you put those five people in jail, but you should also hold those people responsible who manufacture and sell intoxicants.
This happens in almost every village. Men drink at night, come home, beat their wives, and in the daytime they apologize because they know that they were not themselves at night. The biggest reason for crime in the society is alcohol. If you stop alcohol, a lot of crime in the country will be stopped.
You have to take a definite stand, 'I will not touch alcohol.' You should really just shut the door on alcohol. Not just the door, but close the main gate as well, so that it does not even reach your door. You should put a barrier on yourself, 'I will not drink any of these intoxicants.' It gives you enormous strength you know. But the moment you become a little loose, ‘okay I will have it once’, then somehow you get caught up. Life is such that, you get upset sometimes; restless sometimes. Restlessness can come even without any cause. Everything is going on well, but there is some restlessness without any reason. One cannot understand why the restlessness. Restlessness starts in the body without any reason, and then one feels like having a drink, and that is how it starts. That is why I say, just keep it out of the gate. War on alcoholism is essential for crime to be over."