By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar | Posted: August 08, 2019

A person without emotions is like a flower without any nectar. You need to make yourself interesting for people to be with you. This will happen when you nurture yourself with music, meditation, prayer and service. When you sing and pray from your heart, your emotions are nourished and you become lively. 

When you are emotionally strong, you learn not to suffer even when you are facing pain. Pain is inevitable in life but suffering is optional.

As you grow, your consciousness should also grow. The way to expand from individual to universal consciousness is to share others’ sorrow and joy. Personal misery can be alleviated by sharing universal misery. Instead of thinking “What about me?” and “What can I gain from this world?” think “What can I do for the world?” Service, or seva, leads to a softening of heart and creates a sense of belonging. Lack of service can lead a person to depression. 

When you are sensitive to others’ pain, compassion flowers and an attitude of helping others arises naturally. Selfless Service alone can bring deep contentment in life. However, service without silence can tire you after some time. Service without spirituality becomes draining and cannot be sustained for long. The deeper the silence within, the more dynamic will be the outer activity. Both are essential in life.

When you bring some relief or freedom to someone through seva (voluntary services), good vibrations and blessings come to you. Seva brings merit; merit allows you to go deep in meditation; meditation brings back your smile.

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