The MASS is silent. Good people need to be more proactive, more dynamic...Sri Sri

MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW :

SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006

1. You have said that relegion is like the skin of the bannana, spirituality is like the banana and we all left holding the skin. Why does that happen, why do we get so caught in the trappings of customs, rituals and symbols? As human beings, we seem to be, it is like a manufacturing defect.

Sri Sri : I don't think that it is a manufacturing defect. The nature has manufactured us perfectly. I think the maintainence department needs to take care.

2. There is this conflict of not being able to grasp what you have said - the values that all the religions preach are the same. And yet we do not seem to grasp this and civilisations seem to an end?

Sri Sri : You know, there are many people who do understand this. The thing is that they are very passive and the few who do not understand are very aggressive. That's how it all appears that the entire mass is not understanding and they are all fighting, everybody is in conflict. I don't see it that way. You speak to anybody from any religious background and they are all peace-loving, wonderful, good people. But it is just that there are fringe elements in every religion.

3. I feel that what you have just said is very interesting - the mass is silent. So, do you think that the mass is sort of shirking it's responsibility?

Sri Sri : It needs to be a little more proactive. The so-called 'good people'. I don't think that there are any bad people. I think that everybody is good. But the so called pious or good people need to be more dynamic. They are, there are people who are doing good work in the society, but they need to be more involved in bringing people together, bringing communities together. And the basic problem is stress and the lack of spirituality. It is because of the stress and the lack of spirituality that even the families are breaking up. Tension between husband and wife, tension between brothers; in a household if there are so many problems and court cases, what do you talk about communities who don't meet and keep themselves so apart. I feel that it is quite natural.