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Q: Dear Guruji, why are there religions? I know that they are there to keep us sane and have something to believe in;
but why do people feel so strongly that their beliefs are right and others are wrong? How do we know if any of them are right?
Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, people want an identity, and they hold on to religion as an identity. Once you identify with one
religion, you find that those who do not belong to that religion, no longer belong to you. They are separate; they are different.
And that is how strife has started happening; wars have happened in the past.
Human beings want an identity, and it is
simply an identity crisis, whether it is language, religion, nationality – it is all a play of ego. One doesn’t
say this religion is good because it is good, they say it is good because I belong to that religion. It is my religion, so
it is better. This is where you see clearly that it is an identity crisis more than religion itself.
All religions point
out to one thing – Love and brotherhood, existence of a supreme power and prayer to that power, confidence in humanness
and confidence in the goodness of human beings.
However, people have left the spiritual aspect of religion and are holding
on to the outer shell, and so they are all fighting. There was one Jesus but today there are seventy two sects of Christianity.
There was only one Prophet Muhammad, but today there are six different sects of Islam. Lord Buddha was only one, and today
there are thirty two sects of Buddhism. And in Hinduism, countless number of sects! There are so many schools of thought that
you cannot even count them.
What I would say is that we have to rise above our religious identity and recognize spirituality. Spirituality is experience.
Once you have the experience of peace, tranquility, love and quietness deep within you, you will find that the same knowledge
is said in all the religious scriptures.
So, I would say that you need to be like an ant. If there is a mixture of sand
and sugar, do you know what the ant does? It separates the sugar and the sand, makes an anthill out of the sand and consumes
the sugar. We need to do the same thing. That is discrimination; that is reasoning.
You know, often the places of faith shun reason. And those who take pride in being very reasonable, they don’t
value faith. Life will be handicapped in the absence of any one of them. You need both faith and reasoning. And that is what
spirituality is. Spirituality is faith and reasoning together, enriching both heart and mind.
You will find this in the
World’s history – the Orient and the Occident. There are two ways of looking at it. The Occident always said,
‘First have faith, and then one day you will get an experience.’
The Orient had a different approach. It said,
‘First you have an experience, and then, if you want, you believe.’ And that is perhaps why science flourished
in the Orient, because science also has the same methodology.
What does science say? ‘First you experience it and
then you can believe it.’ And that is the one reason why scientists were never prosecuted in the east, in the Oriental
philosophy, because the parameters were the same for both faith and science. They never got into conflict. However, in the
Occident, they were always in conflict.
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Q: What do you think of politics? Do you think people should get involved in politics?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: What
is politics? Caring for people, isn’t it? Politics means one who stands up for the people, one who cares for people.
People who are caring should be in politics. Not the ones who are selfish, but the ones who care, yes!
Unfortunately, of
late, that is not the case with many. People come to politics just to enjoy some power, not to empower people, not to serve
people. So it is good if you have an intention to serve the society, and if that is your cup of tea, then you should do it.
But if you are a businessman and your tendency is to do business, you should not get into politics. It is the same with a
philosopher or a doctor. See your aptitude.
If you have a big vision for the people, the country, or the world, then I
would encourage you to get into politics. Especially the younger generation should get involved in politics.
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