Let Love and Compassion be Your Goal

Let Love and Compassion be Your Goal

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - CHENNAI

A master and a disciple were in a boat. Behind them there was a group of four people in another boat. These four were teasing the disciple who was going behind the m,aster. You know, usually if you follow some spiritual path, people who don’t consider themselves to be spiritual, or consider themselves very normal people,  consider you as abnormal - they make fun  of you. So those boys were making fun of him, and sometimes even throwing things at him, torturing him. When they got into the boat, the boat with the four people capsized and started sinking. They had a very difficult time and barely managed to come to the shore alive.

The master’s boat with the disciple reached the shore safely, but because the other boat capsized and they were saved with great difficulty, the master gave a slap to the disciple. You know why? He said, “Look, you should have spoken something back. You kept quiet. And if you had punished them, Nature wouldn’t have punished them. You did not punish them, so Nature punished them even worse. Your patience made them suffer more.” Look at the compassion of the master. It is an event that happened, this is not just a story. It is such a great lesson. A person who is in equanimity and peace, even if he scolds, blames, it is taken as a blessing, something good is happening. (That doesn’t happen very often.)

Don’t drop all your practices. Stick to them until maturity comes. It is said that love and compassion for the whole creation, for all beings is the goal and you are the proof.

Question: Guruji, you said the compassion of the master  was shown by that slap? Could you explain why?

Guruji: Yes, he taught a lesson to the disciple. Upto a certain level in your knowledge, in your evolution, you have to be patient. When? When you  have feverishness. And then compassion is born, equanimity, because you want to be calm, quiet, peaceful, patient for your own good, isn’t it? But the Master’s mind was thinking about the good of all the others, too. Do you get it?

Question: Yes. Did it also take away some karma from  that boy?

Guruji: It taught him something, it lifted him to one more level. Until then he was thinking about his own behaviour, the way to conduct himself, now he was given an understanding that you have to be compassionate. Get it? It is very subtle and  very deep.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spritual leader and founder of the Art of Living Foundation
@SriSri - Let Love and Compassion be Your Goal - The New Indian Express http://bit.ly/Lh55jO