Service: Our Second Nature











































































































  Your questions.. Sri Sri answers..
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Q: We have a small group of youth belonging to a church. We have social work going on. We find our youth group lacks leaders. We find we lack leaders among youth. Nobody is coming forward to take responsibility. So what is your idea about how a leader should be and what could be done to take the youth forward towards leadership?
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Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all, I feel that leaders should create leaders. And also leaders should not be imposing, they should be in the background, and they should be caring and compassionate. Why someone is not doing some service activity? Maybe they are stressed, they are tensed. So, if you are unhappy yourself, you won’t be motivated to do something for someone else. So, first you have to find the peace.
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That’s why I would say smile and then serve. If there is no smile in your service, it will be short-lived. You may do it 2-3 days, 5 days and then you can’t do anymore because you don’t have energy. So, that inner peace and a sense of belonging in people. When that dawns in you then you can’t but serve. Service becomes your natural..your second nature.
 
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Guruji's Knowledge Sheet: Commitment & Convinience
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A commitment can only be felt when it oversteps convenience. That which is convenient, you do not call commitment. If you just go on your convenience, your commitment falls apart causing more inconvenience! If you keep dropping your commitment because it is inconvenient, can you be comfortable? Often, what is convenient does not bring comfort, but gives an illusion of comfort. Also if you are too stuck in commitment, and it is too inconvenient too often, you will be unable to fulfill your commitment and it will only generate frustration. Wisdom is to strike a balance between convenience and commitment because both bring comfort to the body, mind and spirit.
A seeker of knowledge should forget about convenience, so should soldiers, rulers, students, seekers of wealth and all essential service providers. Those who want to be creative and adventurous transcend convenience. Those who are ambitious and have a passion for a goal do not care for convenience. To the wise their commitment is their comfort. Whenever their commitment is shaken, their comfort is also shaken. To the lazy, commitment is torture though it is the best remedy.
Commitment will always bring comfort in the long run.
Question: Are there any commitments that can be given up?
Answer: Yes.
Sometimes when you are committed without a vision, you feel stifled when your vision expands. Such commitments made with shortsightedness can be given up.A smaller less important commitment can be given up for a greater commitment.Commitment to the means can be given up for the sake of the commitment to the goals.When your commitment brings misery to many in the long run it can be given up.
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- Sri Sri
 
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With a couple deciding to celebrate their 50th anniversary at the church's marriage marathon, the minister asked Brother Ralph to take a few minutes and share some insight before their 50th Anniversary into how he managed to live with the same woman all these years.
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The husband replied to the audience, "Well, I treated her with respect, spent money on her, but mostly I took her traveling on special occasions."
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The minister inquired trips to where? "For example: For our 25th anniversary, I took her to Beijing, China."
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The minister then said, "What a terrific example you are to all husbands, Ralph. Please tell the audience what have you decided for your wife on your 50th anniversary?"
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Ralph: "I am planning to bring her back."

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