Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I went to Pakistan, Iraq many countries. It felt just like India - so much love and enthusiasm. People said, ‘Guruji, we belong to you. We are yours, and you are ours.’ This feeling is in-born to all of us, inherent to us. This does not mean that there should not be patriotism. Patriotism should be present within us. That is why, devotion to divinity and nation, go hand in hand. So I would say, express your patriotism by taking on seva work. Lakhs of people are gathered in this city, - if we dedicate two hours one Sunday to clean the city, do you know how the city will shine the following day? All the dirt will be removed. It is not the work of the municipal corporation alone. We all can step out with brooms in hand. Will you do it? Next Sunday morning, you will step out at 8:00AM and until 10:00AM everyone will clean their respective communities. Can you do it? Keep your homes clean, keep your streets clean, and your alleyways clean. Inner cleanliness, and outer cleanliness – this is our duty and our responsibility. We should stand up against lack of cleanliness. In the same way, we should stand up against shortage. All the unemployed youth can become entrepreneurs in the country. They can do a lot. A lot of businesses from our country are moving to China. Why? Somewhere we have lost our entrepreneurship. We think the government should give us employment. How can the government give jobs to everyone? You stand on your own feet. I know, for this training is needed. Our Art of Living Vyakti Vikas Kendra is ready to offer training to the youth. Training will be given to the youth. See, in this country the kites that we fly, the statues of Lord Ganesha and other statues, are all being produced in China and brought here. So we can manufacture all these here. In this country each town had its specialty. For example, the kurta of Lucknow is very famous; since ages, Banarasi sarees, Kashmiri shawls, Himachal apples, these are all very well known, so this specialty in every state should be promoted. In China, the whole village manufactures only a single product. In one village only needles are made; in one village only buttons are made. This trend really boosts the economy of the country. We should also do this. Next, tourism is a very good thing. Many of India’s great sages, prophets were born right here in Uttar Pradesh. God knows why everyone picked Uttar Pradesh. Sri Ram and Sri Krishna were born here, and so many great luminaries were also born here. Kabir Dasji was also born here and Buddha lived here for a very long time. But all these religious sites are polluted and dirty. Effort should be made to clean these places and make them shine. With only a little attention we can make it an international tourist destination. And we should stand up against injustice. I already told that we should all stand up against corruption. Can we all raise our hands and promise that we will neither give bribes nor accept bribes. Many of those sitting here have been reluctantly accepting bribes. I am telling you, for just one year, do not take bribes. Afterwards we will see how it is, a year later. After one year, I will come back and again deliver an oath. So today, take the oath that you will not take bribes. Without bribe you will deliver the work. If you are hesitating because you don’t want to take it, but the one who wants to give comes and gives it from under the table, then what to do? I will say, that all the college YES+ youth that are sitting here, they will prepare a strip and come and stick it on your desk which says, ‘I do not accept bribes.’ All these youth will prepare this strip and paste it on your table, and you will not have to take the trouble. So when people see it, they will not give you bribe and you will not even need to speak up. So this work should be done. Okay? So we need to stand up against injustice. Next, we need to renounce caste-discrimination. Our country has suffered a setback because of this. All our sages and saints, thousands of them belonged to all the different castes. We have had saints and sages from all castes, even lower castes, so we should give up caste-distinction. Just remember we only belong to one caste – humanity, okay? We should stand up against ignorance. There should be no superstition or ignorance; we should stand up against this.
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