21 July 2014 - QA 9

Dear Gurudev, I am suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and severe low self-esteem. I am unable to talk to anyone freely because I always feel I am not as successful or accomplished as the person next to me. I keep thinking people hate me because of this. I have begun to separate from reality and living in a negative world. I would like to seek your advice.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

First of all, know that life is like a river. You cannot put your feet twice in the same water because the water is changing. Like the flow of a river, your mind is changing all the time. You don’t get the same leaves in the maple tree for two seasons. What leaves you see in the maple tree today, next summer the leaves are different. Remember that the same is with your mind. Don’t hold on to whatever happened to you in the past. That person is dead and gone. You are a new person. And especially after coming to the knowledge, after doing Sudarshan Kriya, after meditation.
If you want, you can even change your name, I tell you. You are a new person. You don’t have to hold on to your past history.

Many times when people come to spiritual path they are given a new name. It is almost in every tradition. The reason is just to make you understand the past is gone because that was all out of ignorance. Now, you are in a different plane of existence, you are on a different level. Recognize it, honor it. Move on.