23rd January 2013 - QA 5

Gurudev, please talk about passion and the lack of passion.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Passion is essential in life but it cannot be constant.
There are always ups and downs in passion. The intensity of passion will go up sometimes and then come down, and then again go up, and that is healthy.
Usually what happens is that when your passion for something goes down, you feel so bad, as if you have lost something. You start feeling as if you lack something, and wonder what to do. I would say, just relax.
See, passion should also have a little bit of contentment. Sometimes, when contentment comes, passion does go down.
Contentment should also have a strain of passion, otherwise contentment can slip into lethargy and a sense of complacency. So to prevent contentment from slipping into inertia, you need a little passion. And for passion to not become too feverish and make you restless all the time, you need contentment. This will give you the right balance.