Be Happy And Make Others Happy Too

Sat, 08/20/2016 Bangalore, India

Be happy and content!

We should think about two main goals for ourselves in life:
#1. What is it that you want to achieve in life.
#2. What do you wish to give or contribute to society before you leave this planet.
Both these goals should go hand in hand in life. See, you can have a goal for yourself, and
you can also change it after sometime, if you like. But you should also think about what you
would like to do for the world, and how would you like the world to be; how would you like
society to be? Have that goal also in mind. This is Puja.
Pray for three things in life: Purity in the heart; clarity in the mind and sincerity in
action.

Questions & Answers

What is the ultimate and greatest truth of life? Is it to be happy, or to make ones family happy,
or to serve humankind, or to reach the Divine?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
The ultimate journey starts with one step. Just do not sit and dream about the ultimate.
Instead, begin your journey towards the ultimate.
Take small steps towards the Truth; towards this inquiry into life What is the goal of life?
This very inquiry can take you far. Everything has some significance in life.
Just eating alone is not the goal of life. Yet eating is essential for sustaining life. Isnt it?
Similarly, sleeping is not the goal of life. But can you discard sleep altogether? No, you

cannot. In the same way, you have to be happy and you also have to make others
happy. This is the journey towards the Ultimate.
What is the ultimate Truth, or the ultimate purpose of life? I tell you, one who really knows
will not tell you, and anyone who does tell you, simply does not know. That is the secret.

Dear Gurudev, why are we all here in this world?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
This is a very good question. It is a million dollar question. I want you to keep this question
with yourself. I will never take it away from you, because this question is like a vehicle for
you to transform your life, make unwanted things drop off from your life and help you reach
the Ultimate. So keep this question with you. You are on the right track.

I am happy and calm now. What can I do to maintain this state throughout life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Share it with more and more people. Joy or wisdom if not shared with others starts
dwindling. Now this does not mean you go to others and start teaching them Bhastrika
Pranayama, or the Sudarshan Kriya. Unless you get properly trained, you should not go
about teaching meditation and these practices to others. This is why we had to put a quality
control for Yoga in the country today. There is a QCI (Quality Control for India) body and the
government has asked it to do something for Yoga also. It is because it is observed that
people learn something from somewhere and then go around teaching it to others without
proper training. Then when some unwanted or unexpected things happen it becomes a
problem. There is a proverb in Sanskrit Yasya kasya tarur-mulam yena kenapi churnitam;
yasmai kasmai pradaatavyam yatvaa-tatvaa bhavishyati(From the Subhashita). It means
that someone may bring the root of any tree, grind it into a fine powder and give it off as
medicine to others. And something or the other may happen to the other person by taking
that (untested) medicine. The same is what is happening with Yoga also these days. People
practice Yoga for just a week and proclaim themselves to be Yoga instructors and
teachers. There needs to be a proper quality system in place for Yoga also, and there
should be levels or stages of training and certification. Until then, do not just go and
train others. But you should always talk to other people about Yoga and bring more
awareness about it. You should definitely inspire and encourage others for this.

How to experience freedom and peace of mind in this complex daily life? I am bound by my
duties and responsibilities very tightly.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

That is good. That is the contrast in life every day. When you come back home from your
job, relax and sit for meditation for a few minutes every day. Nothing stops you from doing
that.
Just like we have dental hygiene, meditation is for your mental hygiene. Listen to knowledge
regularly. That is why I have made so many talks. For nearly seven years every
Wednesday, I used to make some knowledge sheets which are compiled in the book
called Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker. Pick up knowledge sheets from that, or play
some knowledge talk and listen to that.
Meditation is more relevant when you are very busy, and when you have a lot of
responsibilities to attend to. If you have nothing to do, what is the point of you sitting in
meditation? Why would you need energy then? You need energy and intelligence when you
need to use it. If you have nothing to do, what is the need for a lot of intelligence?

How do I know whether I am in the right or wrong profession? Is it natural to feel reluctance
or disinterest to something we were earlier fond of? Please guide
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
I tell you, every profession has its ups and downs. Sometimes you will like your profession;
later on, you do not like it. Ask a doctor, or an engineer, or a politician about this. At some
point or the other in their career they all feel frustrated. They do not like their profession
sometimes and feel they should just quit. Why? It is because you experience a burn-out.
Why does the burn-out happen? It is because you never went into the other dimension that
is deep within you. If you take some time off regularly, at least twice or thrice a year to
attend a Silence workshop and the advanced meditation in Silence, you will find that you
are recharged. Your enthusiasm comes back, and then any job you do, you will do with the
utmost responsibility, keenness and awareness. You need to revive your spirit and that
can only happen through meditation.