(The President of the House of Colombia bestowed the country’s highest civilian award on Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his peace work around the world, with special reference to his work in Colombia through his foundation, The Art of Living. Below is the transcript of what Sri Sri said on the occasion...)
Only deep knowledge can bring celebration, and we need to bring celebration to everyone. Be content and know that you are at the right place, doing the right thing, and remember that only the best will happen to you.
We must have this strong belief that everything will be taken care of. Challenges do come in life and every challenge makes you strong and makes you shine from within.
Only a diamond gets cut. When a diamond is cut it shines more. Similarly with gold, when it is put on fire, it shines more. The more you crush the sugarcane, the more juice and sweetness comes from it. When you crush the sugarcane, it doesn’t say, ‘I am going to give you bitter juice.’ Similarly, in our life, problems come, but know that they are very small. Look at it from a bigger perspective. Life is much bigger, and this is not our only life. We have had many lives in the past and we will have many in the future; have a broad vision.
The more content you are, I tell you, miracles will be abundant in your life. How many of you have experienced miracles in your life? (Many in the audience raise hands).
If someone is not experiencing miracles, don’t worry, it will happen to you too. This is the beauty of this path; there is an abundance of everything. Be on the path and bring this fragrance to many more people.
This trip to Colombia has been very good. Colombia was trending yesterday in India on twitter. Many people in Taiwan, China, Japan and even in India didn’t know that a country like Colombia existed!
We have a lot of responsibilities. We should fulfill our responsibilities with a smile, like a feather. If you have seen the picture of Krishna, he wears a crown with a peacock feather on it. Do you know what does it symbolize? It means that Krishna takes the responsibility of the whole world but it is not weighing heavy on his head. It is like a feather, colorful and light.
Usually responsibilities makes one very heavy, but when you live the knowledge, responsibilities become light as a feather. When you see people with big responsibilities, they look sad. If responsibilities become very light and there is a smile on your face, that is the Art of Living.
Give me your problems and move on with great enthusiasm. When you give your problems you become lighter. How many of you have experienced this? (Many in the audience raise their hands) It works right? (Audience say ‘Yes’). That’s it!
And those of you from other countries, go back to your country and create a big wave of happiness there. Next year will be very good and the year after we will find a great change in the world consciousness. In 2017 we will find a lot of people’s lives transforming. We have to work this year and the next for it. Some small challenges may come, but nothing big. We all have the energy to move through and celebrate 2017.
This year there has already been such a big change. World over people celebrated the International Yoga Day. 1/3 of the world’s population, about 2 billion people from every part of the world practiced yoga and meditation. This is a very big step.
