3 March 2016 - QA 7

Please talk about the subtle and unseen aspects of the World Culture Festival.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

There is a lot! Mysteries cannot be explained, they will just have to be lived! All I can say is that there are some very good things happening in the subtle, and that is going to benefit the planet.

About 15-20 years ago, no government spoke about the environment; we spoke about it. The government only spoke about the economy; now that has changed. Few decades ago, nobody spoke about happiness, especially in the mainstream; it was considered weird. They would speak about economy and power. Today, Global Domestic Happiness (GDH) has become a part of the parameters used to assess the progress of a country; this is changing the consciousness.

Around 2 billion people participated on World Yoga Day. A few decades ago, could you ever imagine that one-third of the world’s population would appreciate yoga? No! The older generation never thought that would happen! Of course, I knew! I can’t say I didn’t know; that would be wrong to say, but then it was something inconceivable.