21 January 2016 - QA 4

Gurudev, Europe has been bearing the brunt of the refugee crisis. How do we balance compassion and practicality?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is a challenge! It is the same thing here in India; there are some beggars who are strong, well-built and yet, people give them alms, don’t do that! Definitely, be charitable to the weak, elderly, children and women.

Similarly, refugees should be screened, and provided with some sort of orientation or training. This is because they come from a space where there has been only violence and mistrust. Often, they are victims of rage, anger and inhuman treatment. We need to remove such psychological impressions and traumas from their minds. Unless they are given training to uplift their spirits, and unless they are educated in etiquacy and behaviour, there will be a disaster in society. They would only express or contribute what they have in their psyche, which is their trauma and violence. Simply providing food and shelter is not sufficient at all!

We need to cater to the emotional scars, spiritual poverty and intellectual misconceptions of the refugees. Provide them proper understanding to remove their emotional scars through techniques and teachings that could make them feel fresh, alive, and take a new look at life; not see society from their past impressions. Unless we do this, it is going to be a disastrous situation that could create more problems.
People living in a civilised society are not used to this sort of behaviour; they are used to peaceful conditions of co-existence, human values of etiquacy. Hence, there will be a mismatch that will result in problems of violence in society. We need to attend to them.

In South Africa, we have seen it happen after the apartheid regime. There was so much hatred amongst the communities, a strong feeling of vengeance. Violence had escalated so much, whether in prison or outside. I am really proud to say that The Art of Living is one of the very few organisations that had people from all communities - Caucasians, Asians, native Africans, and Indians - everyone came together. They worked in prisons, and the change that it has brought about in just seven days of the course being taught in prisons, is still a testimony on how spirituality can change the scenario. How it can remove the root cause of violence from the human psyche, integrate individuals back into society, and bring harmony in society as well as within the individual. (BBC even made a documentary on this transformation.)

In Europe, you may have to look into this; along with bread, butter, and shelter, we will need to counsel the refugees, and give them techniques to remove those violent impressions. It is not their fault. It is unfortunate that there is violence in many societies in the world.