India | Englishw Si arch @Ppeggram | Find an Art of Living Center THE ART OF LIVING Home > Wisdom You Are CaredFor © Wed, 01/07/2015 Bangalore, India om isonly the divine who care of you as your parents, and it is only the divine who will take care of you, as your nurse, neighbour, friend, or anybody else. Someone will come and take care of you. ‘You don’t have to worry al all. e - Sri Sri a ~~ : ww. artofliving.org/wisdom (Below is a continuation of post Strive To Be Ordinary) Questions & Answers Collapse allO &A lam an elderly person, and | feel like dying because | am so dependent. ~~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Life is such; you should not feel that | am dependent, and | want to be independent. See, no baby has been independent. As a baby, parents took care of you, and in your old age, your children or someone else will take care of you. So, life in the beginning, and in the end, is dependency. In between, we think we are independent but there also we are dependent on many things. If your attention is on divinity, then you will not feel the burden of dependency, or the frustration to have independence, both will disappear. People who feel that they want to have independence, they are also frustrated. This is because wanting independence is a frustration. Come on, wake up. When you were a baby, were you not dependent? No baby thinks 'I want to go back from where I camebecause | am dependent on my parents’, no! Whether in the form of parents, or as children, or as friends, the help you get from anywhere is coming from only one source, ie,, the divinity, It is only the divine who took care of you as your parents, and it is only the divine who will take care of you as your nurse, or neighbour, or friends, or anybody else, Someone will always come and take care of you, you don't have to worry at all. This whole sense of insecurity that we build in us should simply be thrown out and burned down. Don't think your children will take care of you. Maybe during your last breath, your servant or neighbour may come and help you, who knows? Whoever is helping you, it is not that individual that is helping you, it is God helping you in that ‘form. Leave it to the divine energy to help you when you are in need, in whatever form. So you don't need to feel obliged or burdened by anybody's help. Got it? This is a big problem. We feel burdened by somebody's help. You don't need to fee! burdened by it; that is ignorance. It is only the divine who is helping you through other people. /f you have this understanding, the Advaita knowledge, then nothing can restrict your blossoming. (EIDE, 5 | tweet!{o}— Gat} 5 Gurudev, how do we increase our eligibility on the spiritual path? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The thought that you would like to enhance your worthiness itself makes you move in that direction. When a person starts thinking, ‘lam very worthy’, that is when you should realise that he has some problern. When complaints start coming up, then worthiness starts reducing. When complaints end; when one’s gaze moves away from worthiness, then simplicity, ease and modesty dawns. Whenever we feel that we have been blessed with far more than what we deserve, then gratitude wells up in us. If we start thinking that we are very deserving, then something in us starts becoming small. When we start thinking like this, it is almost as though we are asking for rewards for our efforts; the same as joining a labour union, asking for wages. When we think that we do not deserve so much, then we behave like Masters, we don’t need to ask or get anything from anyone. EEE § |} tweet (0 — Gai} 65 Gurudey, a saint gave me a yantra and asked me to worship it every day. Nothing good has happened. How useful are these things? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do not get caught up with these kinds of things. People may tell you to pay Rs. 5 lakhs, and say that you will get something, but don't get into all that. | know of people, who claim to give you mantras they know nothing about. They have no clue of Sanskrit, but they give yantras, and sell to people. People who have belief, they pay huge amounts, and then come to me saying that it doesn’t work. Of course, it won't work. Do not get entangled in these kinds of things. It is our greed that makes us do such things. Be patient. Sit wherever you are and everything will come to you.IEE © | en (0) cat} os What is your opinion about religion? a Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Religion has a role to play. Everyone is born into a religion. Alll the rituals in your life go through that religion. It has a limited role to play. Religion is not everything. You should be more spiritual, When your movement is from religion into spirituality, that is more important. People who move from religion to spirituality, they bring dignity to their religion. When people move from religion to criminality, they bring disgrace to their religion. Today, this is what is happening around the world, Today, people are not moving towards spirituality from religion, they are moving towards criminality. They use religion as an excuse to further their own agenda, and that has cost humanity a great deal. When you move from religion to spirituality, you will find that everyone is yours. Otherwise religion divides people. In fact, within religions also, there are divisions. When you move to spirituality, not only do you unite within the religion, but also across religions. EET} tweet {0 nt fs Gurudey, you spoke about politics but what about business especially for youngsters? Any specific advice you have people who want to get into business? a Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, go for it. Be ethical when you do business. You don't need to be in a rush to make money overnight. Think about creating a stable, sustainable business. Don't be too greedy, but at the same time, have a vision and an ambition. Let that vision and ambition not turn into greed, where it takes you beyond ethics and makes you collapse. Don't get carried away by greed. Read earlier posts WTwoet (0 Gu | 65 Changing The Other October 29, 2015 How to change someone? The way of the Guru Three Levels of Consciousness >