Q: Gurudev, there is an ancient proverb that says that when you come to a true master, the skills in you start to manifest. Is that true? Because I even see the elephant here, in the Ashram, play the mouth organ.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it seems to be happening that way here.
Many who have never been into music have started singing. Many people write poems. I see a lot of creativity around. Looks like they are making the ancient proverb come true!
See, whenever your mind becomes quiet and silent, when you meditate, when you are happy from inside, creativity is a by-product. It is only natural, and if it doesn’t happen, then you should be surprised.

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Q: Gurudev, today in every field, whether it is Corporate or Social Service, it is very difficult to make out the good from the bad. Now that CSR is a compulsory aspect of corporate entities; how to choose the right NGO to work with?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: See whether the NGOs are transparent and they have no religious bias; this is very important.

Sometimes people do CSR activity, but their motivation is different. They want to convert people from one religion to another religion, or from one ideology to another ideology; one set of vote bank to another set of vote bank. These should be avoided, because it is not really charity, it is a business in the garb of charity and should not happen. There should be pure intentions; the heart should be clean and pure.
There are many such NGOs who work with the mere intention of bringing happiness and smiles on the faces of people. So look into that; whether their intentions are correct, whether their balance sheet is correct, whether they are transparent in the spending of their money, and their administrative cost is low.
Their administrative cost should not be too much. Sometimes administrative cost is so high that very little goes to the beneficiaries; that should not happen.
Many NGOs, have said that 40% to 50% goes towards administrative expenditure .That is not desirable .It should be kept to a minimum of 5% to 10%, or a maximum of 15%. So look at that, and then see people who are working with that NGO, and take their help.

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Q: Gurudev, today alcoholism is the biggest challenge to move towards spirituality, and a safer society. However, in these two days of the Corporate Culture & Spirituality conference, nobody spoke about it. Please guide us.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: We tell people that we have a greater type of intoxicant here – meditation, singing, and serving. This is a better intoxicant; it takes you to a greater height. People simply don’t know of this brand of whisky, that’s all.
There is a joy in serving people and seeing the smiles around; many people don’t know of that intoxication. There is a joy in meditation; deep peace and deep sense of comfort that people don’t know. We need to make people aware of this, then they will just throw all the alcohol bottles away.

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Don’t take anything
just because I am saying it.
Simultaneously, don’t
discard what anyone says;
you should be a good
listener. First, listen, and
then contemplate on it. Then,
make it your own experience.
Then, that becomes wisdom.

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Q: Gurudev, how did a handful of British people rule a spiritual giant like India? Is there something to learn from this?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, you can wonder about it! One speciality of India is that there was never any unity here.
Once I was in Europe and a journalist asked me, ‘Gurudev, tell me, how come the Indian journalists criticize India more than anybody else?’
I said, ‘This is our speciality, we fight with each other.’

It was the internal fight between many kingdoms, and the selfishness of the kings that led to that sort of thing. In some way, it was good; the British did some good also to colonial India. You should see the positive side of everything. Of course, there are many negative aspects of the colonial rule, but there was also some positivity, you have to see that also. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been speaking in English today, and India would have never gotten into computers at all. It would be like China. We would have all had our own different languages; 600 dialects, 24 languages, and India would have been really fragmented.
Today English, somehow, has become a very common language, and India can connect itself with the entire world. So there are advantages, there are some good things.
Of course, there were many bad things too. Many laws from those times that are obsolete today, are still in place. So all the young people, like you, should become law makers, and change all these laws.
Women have already taken the reins in their hands, and have started changing some of the laws. I am sure more will happen.

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Q: Gurudev, how can I earn a lot of money without putting too much effort? Is there any mantra?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is how the scams begin (laughter).
You have heard about all the scams, isn’t it? There are plenty of them, one after another, every month.

No, don’t go for quick money; you will lose it also that fast. A sustained economy is good.
If your ethical principles are strong, you will say, ‘I am going to make a lot of money, but with ethics. And no money in an unethical manner.’
In the past century, people had the fear of bad karma, or that God will be unhappy. Fear of God, or fear of karma, would ensure that people didn’t get into unethical practices.
People would say, ‘Oh, that is a bad karma; I don’t want to take that money.’ Do you know why? It is because people had a strong belief that money earned in an unethical manner will have to be spent in a manner which will not bring them happiness.
They would say, ‘It’s going to make me more miserable’. This was a strong belief. In fact, people would say, ‘If you earn money unethically, that money will be spent in courts and in hospitals.’
So that consciousness was there, pricking people. Today, that is missing. They say, ‘When we do CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), it is going to come back to us many times, multiplied.’
CSR was always thought of as an investment, and unethical money was thought as a punishment. Those values have almost disappeared today. So we must re-look at this.

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Q: Gurudev, my father says that I don’t take stress,but end up giving a lot of stress to other people. If I give stress, I ask, why do they take it? Shouldn’t other people be managing their own stress?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That’s another way to look at it too.
Sometimes people say, ‘I am here only to test your patience. God has put me on this planet to test everybody’s patience.’
There is an old proverb which says, ‘Nobody is the giver of problems or comfort. Problems and comforts are created by our own mind.’
We can feel comfortable anywhere and we can feel miserable anywhere we want, the choice is totally ours.

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