Q&A177

What if we feel we have gotten more in life than we deserve and are afraid to lose it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Be grateful, prayerful. Know that whoever has given it to you, cares for you and would not take it away. Do service. Put your attention on giving back to society. This is giving back to God. If negative thoughts, insecurities, doubts come into the mind, chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. This itself will put you on the right track. Take the past as destiny and the future as free will. What was meant to happen, happened. We tend to do the reverse. People who are foolish think the past is free will and the future is destiny. This only makes you miserable in the present. ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ has been there for thousands of years. The five elements are represented there and each sound in the mantra corresponds to one of them. For instance, Om is the life force or divinity. Chanting energizes our psyche, our inner self. It is very powerful and we should chant this every day. It will keep away depression. Just try this. You will see that whenever you are low, saying ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ removes the negativity.