2 January 2014 - QA 9

(A member of the audience asked a question which was inaudible)

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

In my eyes, it is we who create these boundaries.
Way back in the 80s, if I had to come to Europe I had to take so many visas. One visa for Germany, one for France, one for Italy, one for Switzerland, one for Holland and one for Scandinavia also. So many visas! My goodness! It would take me 4-5 days to get the visa of each country. So I had to plan well in advance. At that time I had wished and said, ‘These borders between all the countries in Europe should all go’.
I even loudly expressed this and said, ‘Why are there so much visa restrictions? It should all go’, and boom, that’s it, a couple of years later it happened.
Now with one Schengen visa you can go everywhere. Still Switzerland was the last one to join. They usually push other people in the water and see how deep it is and then they get inside (laughter); to be very safe you know! Finally Switzerland also has joined.
So now we don’t have that issue. One visa and that’s it, you can go all over.
Poland also has joined. Earlier, we could come to Germany but could not go to Poland without a particular visa. Those borders are now becoming obsolete, and that is nature’s way. That is coming closer to nature.
The border between cultures, borders between races, languages, nations should just be dropped. It is time! One world family. We must understand this. Vasudeva Kutumbakam!