Did you know that on average, we spend almost 40 years of our life sleeping, 10 years working, 8 years eating, another 8 years in bathrooms and toilets, and about 5-6 years in traffic jams? Add all this and life is finished. If you notice how many hours or days in life we spend laughing, it comes to hardly 3-4 years; we don’t even spend 10% of our life laughing! Do we need to change our style of living so that we spend more time being happy? I would say, ‘Yes! That is The Art of Living.’
A violence-free society, a disease-free body, a confusion-free mind, an inhibition-free intellect, a trauma-free memory and a sorrow-free soul is everyone’s birthright.
It costs much more money to keep a young child in prison than to send him to University.
Anything that anyone does is to be happy. People do so many things to be happy, but the day doesn’t come! It’s like someone making the bed all night to sleep; changing the bed spread, the pillow case, but finding no time to sleep. We need to change this, and we (The Art of Living) can make a difference here.
Earlier today, when I was talking to the Governor, he mentioned that it costs much more money to keep a young child in prison than to send him to University. This is something very astonishing. I think we all need to focus on making Bahia free from violence. It is a very big dream, and seems very tough, but I think we can do it, we all have to work towards achieving this. Inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help; we can heal the victim through meditation, and that is what we will do. I want more and more of you to become teachers (of spiritual practices). How many of you would like to become teachers for The Art of Living? Raise your hands. (Many in the audience raise their hands).
We need to give our children a better society than what we inherited. Just 20 years back, the crime rate was so low in Bahia. It was so safe; people could walk anywhere, anytime. Today, the crime rate has gone up and this is because we have not created a sense of belongingness in society. This sense of belongingness cannot drop from the sky, we need to create it. When there is a sense of belongingness, corruption, violence and stress will go down. So, let us all give one hour each day for our society, for our country. Let us all become volunteers for a better Brazil (VBB). Can we do this just for two years? (Everyone is the audience agrees)
My dream is to create waves of happiness. Just like how all of you here are so happy, I want to create the same happiness in every nook and corner of society. There is so much knowledge, beauty, wisdom and depth that I want to share this with all of you. But we need to create a platform for that, where society is more harmonious. That is why I ask you once again, how many of you want to become teachers or volunteers for a better Brazil? Just one hour for the country, you can keep 23 hours for yourself!
Inside every culprit, there is a victim crying for help. We can heal the victim through meditation.
I feel we should have Happiness Centres in Bahia; what do you think? How many of you would like to participate in creating them? These centres will be places where people can come, sit for a few minutes, feel happy and go back. Every place has restaurants, gymnasiums and hospitals, but you don’t find Happiness Centres anywhere. We do need such places, right?!
I want to share a few tips with you:
• Ensure that you have good food, especially organic food - It is important that you have the right type and the right amount of food.
• Pay attention to your health - A little bit of exercise, yoga and some meditation will help maintain good health.
• Relationships - This is something that disturbs everybody, and there are many questions about it. I have three pieces of advice, one for men, one for women and one for both. First, for women – never step on the ego of a man. The whole world may say that your husband or boyfriend or man is very dumb, not intelligent, but you should not say that; you should always praise him. A man should not be pressurized to prove himself at home.
Second secret is for men – don’t step on the emotions of women. If your wife or girlfriend complains about someone in her family like her father, brother or anyone else, you don’t join the chorus. If you do that, they would feel more hurt. And if she wants to go shopping, don’t question her, just give her your credit card!
Third, advice for both – do not question the other’s love for you. Don’t keep asking, “Do you really love me” or say, “You don’t love me!” This sort of complaining, demanding for love is no good. Demand destroys love, in you and in the other person too.
I want each one of you to be magnanimous; come from a space of, “I’m here for you!” Just imagine, when both say these words, there is so much harmony. When both want to grab, there is disharmony. When we move from the joy of getting to the joy of giving, we have matured in life, and this is a sign of success.
• Devote some time to knowledge and meditation.
• Be grateful to the Police - This is because they spend their precious time in protecting our society. Whether it is festival time or birthdays or anything at home, they always have to be on duty; especially if there is a big soccer match or something. They lead such a stressed life, making so many sacrifices for society; we must not blame them or put pressure on them.
• Enroll yourself in a silent retreat. I would like you to take a minimum of four days in a year to go deep into silence, and discover the enormous wealth that we have all been bestowed with. We have Advanced courses from time to time; just imagine, all of us sitting together for 4 days, meditating, learning more about our self, it will make such a big difference. It’s like getting your battery fully charged. You learn about your soul, about who you really are, and why we have come to this planet. What is the purpose of life; is it simply eating, sleeping, gossiping and dying one day or is there something more? We can discover all these things if we take a little time out for our self.
What is the purpose of life; is it simply eating, sleeping and dying one day or is there something more? We can discover all these things if we take a little time out for our self.
Definitely, a silent retreat once or twice a year can be very good. Then, you will see that nobody can take the smile away from you, nobody can disturb you as you become so strong from within. And many more avenues, dimensions within you open up.
I want to tell all of you this, give me all your worries; I only want to see you all with a big smile and serving society. How many of you feel that your wishes and desires are already getting fulfilled? Raise your hands! (Many in the audience raise their hands) . Very good. Now you have to desire and ask for something bigger; not small things. Desire for a violence-free and happy Bahia. We will help people who are sad, depressed, and violent; we will help bring the smile back on their faces.
