Don't Be A Football
Of Other's Opinions

My dear ones here, this is what we need to do: Create waves of happiness in the world.
I am sure you all agree with me.

In today’s world, there is so much conflict. At the drop of a hat, people start fighting. It is time that the like-minded people, the goodhearted people come together and create a wave of happiness. See life from a bigger perspective.

Life is so short! We live for 60-90 years. Today people are dying even very early. At 50 or 60 years, people are gone. In this short span of life, there is not enough time to be happy, then why is there so much conflict, so much fighting, so much distress and unhappiness? We need to ponder on this.

I am very happy to be here. I was told that Bahrain is the gateway to Arab. And now I am in the gateway of Arab, happy to be here with you all.

As I was talking to his Excellency Dr. Mustafa, he was telling me, we need to have both old and new. Every tradition, every religion should start adopting the modern way. We need to have this adapting ability.
I was just asking him, is music considered un-Islamic, is it allowed?
He said, some people still do think that it is not allowed. But music continues to be in the world. You know there are different schools of thought!

He was sharing with me how we need to be progressive, adaptive, accommodative, and take everyone along with us and move ahead. I totally agree with him.
Life is like a tree, it has some roots and some shoots. We should have old roots and at the same times, the shoots should be new.

This morning I was with his Excellency, the King of Bahrain. He also said the same thing. Bahrain is the most open and adopting civilization, culture and giving an example of harmony in the world. And I wish that the same message goes to every province, every country, and every nook and corner of the world.
We all have to consider this world as one family. The world is one family, and that is what Art of Living is. One world family.

This morning, there were great leaders from the Arab world all over, and everyone was of the opinion that peace should be our language. Shared values is our criteria. Uniting people of all sex, traditions, religion, culture into one human value, one humanity, one human family is most essential.
This has been our dream in Art of Living for past thirty-five years. We wanted to see people bring down the walls that we have artificially built between us, because there is one Divinity, one God, and we are all part of that one Divinity; The children of one God.

So we need to bring down the walls of differences, yet maintain our uniqueness. Everyone should keep their uniqueness. Bahrain has its uniqueness, Pakistan has its uniqueness, India has its uniqueness. We should keep all our unique differences and celebrate it, instead of making it a point of contention.
What the world needs is harmony in diversity, or celebration in diversity.

Now, how can this happen if a person is stressed, angry and tensed? It is not possible. So first we have to find peace within ourselves. Calm the mind down, and feel one with everybody. We are part of this whole universe.
When we came in this world as children, how were we? We used to smile four hundred times a day. Every kid smiles four hundred times a day. An adolescent smiles only seventeen times. An adult does not smile at all, or smiles once in a while.
A smile should be our language. That something which can unite all of us is A Smile.

I want to tell you a story.
A wise man was in silence. He was approached by two men, and they asked him, 'Give us some message'. The wise man just showed his index finger, and then showed his fist, because he was in silence.
One gentleman said, 'He is telling us to be united'.
The other man said, 'He is telling us to fight. To hit others'.
If you hold your fist together, one can interpret it as: everyone come together, or it can be interpreted as, just go and hit others.
Why would you think of hitting? It is because you are not well, you are sick, you are weak and insecure. Somewhere you are afraid, so you want to go and hit others. Violence is a sign of inner weakness.
How this can go? When you feel healthy, and at home with everybody. When you see life from a broader perspective, then inner strength comes up. Then the violence simply drops away.

So this is what we need to do today: create waves of happiness.
How many of you agree with me? We all need to create waves of happiness wherever we are.
Tell people, 'Hey come on, don’t worry, we are with you. There is enough humanity in the world. We are all part of one society, one world'.

There is domestic violence, societal violence and suicide. This is just because of lack of understanding, lack of wisdom, lack of togetherness, and the lack of knowledge of how to get rid of the stress and tension in our lives.
I have heard from many scholars of Islam. They say that Prophet Mohammad had said, 'I get the cool breeze from the east'. So in the desert, getting a cool breeze means a lot of comfort, and happiness.
When he said that he is getting a cool breeze from the east, that cool breeze means harmony. Bahrain is also part of the east only. We are all east.
Today east is no longer east, west is no longer west. We have become one, almost same all over. But nevertheless, this message of harmony should reach every nook and corner of the world.

I feel so much pain when I hear that there are bomb blasts everywhere and people are dying. I feel pain when I hear of what is happening in Syria and Egypt!
This morning, we were discussing about the world situation, and I tell you, everyone is worried and concerned. Of course we know that the almighty is going to take care finally. But we all have duty to do, our job to do. Our job is to bring people together, unite them. Make them understand, 'Look inside you, there is such a beautiful you. There is so much good energy inside you'.
Lets kindle the positive energy within us and around us, and we can definitely see the world of our dream where there is a smile on everyone’s face. We become like children again and start living in the present moment.

Art of Living has only five basic principles.

1. You know there are ups and downs in life. Pleasant things happen, unpleasant things happen. The first principle is: In all situations, keep the balance of the mind.
Often what happens, when things go our way, we are so happy. But when things don’t go our way, we get depressed and angry. To maintain equanimity is the first principle.

2. The next principle is to accept people as they are. Accept difference; it could be temperament, ideology, whatever. Accept them as they are. A very important principle.

3. The third principle is, don't be a football of others’ opinions. Don’t worry what others are thinking about you. In fact, nobody has time to think about you. Look into yourself and see what is right and what is not right for you, by yourself.

4. The next point is, don’t see intention behind others' mistakes. Very important. Inside every culprit there is a victim crying for help. Recognizing that.

5. And live in the present moment.

These are the basic five things that we have to keep in mind.
What happens with these basic principles? Three things happen. Purity of heart, clarity of mind, and sincerity in action. That’s all.