Knowledge Sheet of H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2014
Accept People as They Are
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The first thing that we need to do is to accept people as they are.
How many people have you met in your lives who are exactly like you? Have you met anyone like that? You have not. Yet you want that everyone should think and act like you do. You know, if you meet someone who is exactly like you, then you will not be able to tolerate them for even five minutes. The truth is that it is very difficult to tolerate someone who thinks and behaves just like you. This is the very foundation principle of The Art of Living.
Just see, there is only Jesus in the world yet do you know how many sects of Christianity are there in the world today? There are 72 sects of Christianity in the world today. How many sects of Islam are there today? There are five well known ones – like Shias, Sunnis, Ahmediya, Sufi, etc. There was only one Lord Buddha, but there are 32 sects or traditions in Buddhism today. And you cannot even count the number of different sects and traditions in Hinduism (Laughter).
For every great saint that has been, there is a tradition and sect of his following. There are many schools of thought in Sikhism also. So as time progresses, different saints, different religious philosophies and schools of thought emerge. We must let all these diverse traditions and sects grow and develop. When one tries to make everyone behave and think in the same way, then the outcome is what we are seeing in countries like Syria, Egypt, etc. The conditions there are very unfortunate.
How many people have you met in your lives who are exactly like you? Have you met anyone like that? You have not. Yet you want that everyone should think and act like you do. You know, if you meet someone who is exactly like you, then you will not be able to tolerate them for even five minutes. The truth is that it is very difficult to tolerate someone who thinks and behaves just like you. This is the very foundation principle of The Art of Living.
Just see, there is only Jesus in the world yet do you know how many sects of Christianity are there in the world today? There are 72 sects of Christianity in the world today. How many sects of Islam are there today? There are five well known ones – like Shias, Sunnis, Ahmediya, Sufi, etc. There was only one Lord Buddha, but there are 32 sects or traditions in Buddhism today. And you cannot even count the number of different sects and traditions in Hinduism (Laughter).
For every great saint that has been, there is a tradition and sect of his following. There are many schools of thought in Sikhism also. So as time progresses, different saints, different religious philosophies and schools of thought emerge. We must let all these diverse traditions and sects grow and develop. When one tries to make everyone behave and think in the same way, then the outcome is what we are seeing in countries like Syria, Egypt, etc. The conditions there are very unfortunate.
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