People are tired of rampant corruption: Sri Sri ; Z news

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has millions of followers in India as well as across the globe. He has strong opinion on various issues like corruption and clean politics and is not afraid to speak his mind. In an exclusive chat with Zeenews.com’s Swati Chaturvedi on her show Kahiye Janab, the founder of Art of Living shared his views on corruption, transparent government, Team Anna and lots more. Q: Religious leaders have converted religion into a façade. At a certain level, some sort of introspection is definitely necessary on the part of babas or gurus. What do you have to say? Sri Sri: Accusing somebody is an easy task. I feel that till the time some sort of proof is found, the person should be considered innocent. In the contemporary society, if anyone takes a stance or raises his voice against corruption, there are people who go out of the way to prove him wrong. I think this stems from some kind of inner guilt that these people are prey to. There are ups and downs in every revolution. A revolution cannot proceed in the same manner. But it should never be taken for granted that the revolution has failed. A transparent government is our dream. People are tired of the rampant corruption; transparency is the call of the hour. Q: Take Team Anna for instance. People from the team fled the battleground when they were required the most. Their hypocrisy has been exposed. What you think? Sri Sri: These people have poured water over the faith and hope of the people. But we cannot take it for granted that whoever raises a voice against corruption is necessarily a hypocrite. Q: You have always been very tolerant. But there are people who have spoken irrelevant things. Anna, for example, said that whoever enters politics needs to study religion for at least ten years. What sort of statements are these? Sri Sri: Specific words from people must be overlooked. Do not focus on the words spoken by a particular person. Instead divert your attention to the main goal. Human beings can make mistakes and there can be slip of the tongue. Anna Hazare is not an intolerant person, even if he has spoken certain irrelevant things, why can’t we overlook them? We should not hold on to the mistakes, we should focus our attention on the goal. Q: Do you think people of the country still have as much faith in such people as they did earlier? It is not merely the words - the actions of such people have also turned out to be hypocritical. Sri Sri: Hypocrisy has emerged now. But hypocrisy is prevalent not only among these people, but also in the bureaucracy and in our government. Q: Between your last visit to Uttar Pradesh and your impending visit now, the elections have taken place, and the results are there in front of everybody. What impact do you think your visit has made? Sri Sri: You, the media, should tell me what impact it has made. I don’t believe in analyzing such things. I don’t want to get embroiled in this cycle of speculations and justifications. Our people have worked towards making the people aware of their situation. They raised many issues, and people have now begun to understand them better. Q: I remember you’d asked people to take money if they were offered, but not vote for a corrupt person. Sri Sri: Do vote for an uncorrupt person. If today, every party is providing tickets to criminals, the reason is that these criminals have their own consolidated vote banks. If moral values in the society are falling today, then the reason are not bad people. Instead, honest and good people who stay Quiet and inactive in the face of such corruption are the ones to blame. Q: The voting percentage has gone up by a huge margin this time. Were you astonished by the number? Sri Sri: I am satisfied with the fact that the youth are coming forward to shoulder responsibilities. I congratulate the youth, who want to come forward and do something for the country, who want to see an impeccable society. I am not shocked by the response; we needed a fresh, young face. It is a matter of immense happiness that the youth are being represented by one of the youngest chief ministers in the country. Q: How do you talk to the youth? Sri Sri: I speak to them as a young person. In our satsang, 60 to 70 % of the crowd is comprised of the youth. The youth should be addressed to in their own language. We shouldn’t talk about hopelessness and failure, instead we should talk to them about hope and faith, show them the path of progress. Q: In our country, religious garbs are respected a lot. However, now, if somebody dresses or talks of religion, they are thought to be corrupt and capable of betrayal. This is because some people have converted religion into a business. Do you agree? Sri Sri: You cannot say that all religious leaders are corrupt. Religion is a part of life. It is solely because of religion that people are not falling in the throes of depression or certain illnesses. Inner strength is derived from religion. Like doctors or engineers, religious people are also a part of the society. They provide people the inspiration to move forward, they provide solutions to people in distress. Religious people are a necessary and an indispensible part of the society. Q: What is your take on people who take advantage of their religious garbs? Sri Sri: Wrong people are there in every field. But that does not mean that we should view everyone from one angle. It wouldn’t be correct to judge everybody with the same yardstick. People, however, have learnt to stay alert and stay away from such bad people. Q: What is your relation with the RSS? Sri Sri: We have no relation whatsoever. Perhaps the fact that they and I, both are Indians may be a connection. But our organization is not related to them in any way. There are good people everywhere. RSS, BJP, or Congress – I look at everybody in the same light. The Art of Living organization is different from others. Our trustees change every two or four years, and we don’t consider anybody high or untouchable. Our aim is a transparent and benevolent society, devoid of violence and corruption. Source: Z News
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