28 Dec 2011 - QA 13

How can a person decide his goal irrespective of his surroundings?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: For a while, just sit by yourself and think. Keep all other things aside. See, what is it that you want? Ask yourself, ‘what is it that I want?’ And then whatever goal comes up, hold on to that. Of course, whenever you want to take up a vision, a goal, a mission, the surroundings have a great impact on that. You have a mission and you are working. Suddenly something happens, one of your dear ones is not well or sick, or somebody had an accident; you need to be very flexible there. You can’t say, ‘I have this goal, I have to go’, no! You need to attend to this, because life is complex, it is not a straight line. Life is so complex, and in this complexity of life, keeping one’s goals is what determination is. And you can do that effortlessly when there is devotion and wisdom in life.
Wisdom and devotion are two important things that make life effortless.
How many of you feel that things are happening effortlessly now, after being on the path? It is no more a struggle.