03 October 2013 - QA 4

Gurudev, our leaders have advised girls and ladies to carry pepper sprays and chilli powder to keep themselves safe. Will the girls be safe by keeping chilli powder or by learning Karate? Isn't the government’s responsibility to provide safety. What can girls do for their safety?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First believe that you are safe. If you move about in fear and believe that everywhere or every person you meet is wrong, then you will be trapped in this fear like some sort of disease. There are many good and noble people in our society even today.
See, there have been demons (referring to wrong doers or criminals) in every age. We need to protect ourselves from them. So my advice would be to not roam around alone. Whenever you go out, go in groups of two to four people. Even in the daytime, you can judge what places are safe and what are not.

See, this insecurity is present not only in India but in every country of the world.
There is an area in Washington DC which is called as the Safe Zone. And just a few meters away from that area is considered as an unsafe zone. There is no safety. There, the property rates are about one third of that in the safe zone. Why is it so? It is because in every country there are some safe places and some unsafe ones. In every country there are people who carry guns. There are different kinds of mentally sick people.

By God’s Grace such extreme and terrible situations have not come in our country yet. But the situation has definitely worsened compared to what it was earlier. That is why if you get any advice regarding your safety from anywhere, just follow that.
In addition to this, women need to rise in strong protest against alcoholism. These liquor shops should be closed.

Mahatma Gandhi had three dreams for establishing Rama-Rajya (a just and moral society). The first step in achieving this was to have a society free of alcohol and intoxicants, a free society where there is no liquor consumption.
The second step he advised was to have a society that refrains from eating meat and other non-vegetarian food. He laid great emphasis on proper diet.
You know, today India has become the largest exporter of beef and non-vegetarian food in the world. Cows are slaughtered in the highest numbers in India and the meat is then exported to foreign countries. It is a matter of great shame and insult for our country. It is an insult of our country’s culture and traditions.
This situation has arisen in the recent 10-15 years. When people’s eating habits are proper and refined, then violent tendencies will not arise in their minds. But if people continue to drink alcohol and consume non-vegetarian food, then such disturbances will continue to be there in society.

Leave the world aside and just look at what is happening in our own country, in our own homes. Recently there was a report in the news about a father who molested his own daughter. It is a matter of shame and worry. We need to have a huge wave of spirituality in the society.
Some people do many wrong things even in the name of religion. Recently there was a spiritual leader who was found guilty of committing wrong deeds under the garb of being a spiritual person. A person who commits such wrong deeds cannot be a spiritual leader. The field of spirituality has been really misused by people for their own personal greed and gains.

There are fake doctors at some places today who do not have a valid medical degree or a certificate, yet they start medical practice and prescribing medicines to people to make money. Similarly there are people who falsely present themselves as spiritual masters also. There is no set system of rules or control in spirituality, which is why anybody simply enters this field and misuses it for their own petty gains, rather than doing good for people.