Happiness and love, what else is needed?

Happiness is the true characteristic of religion. Love springs naturally in the religious person. Happiness leads to bliss in life

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,

Founder, The Art of Living

I am totally at a loss to understand as to why we are so afraid of being different from each other. Diversity is the real springboard of happiness in human life. In fact, even Nature also likes diversity! Tell me how dull and depressing our life will be if we remove diversity from it? Can you imagine for a moment about such an insipid life? How lifeless would living be if it lacked diversity? Human life is useless without diversity, yet why do we hate diversity so much? Why do people of different religions, castes and ideologies become cause for our anger?

Actually, the root cause of hatred is all pervasive stress! Everyone has some demands and some responsibilities. But if we only increase the demand without taking any responsibility, we are bound to come to grief. The miserable person has no religion. He does not even deserve to be called a member of the society.

As a matter of fact, it is the religion that binds people together. All our saints gave the same mantra: Sarvepi Sukhinah Santu... Each religion, sect has its own characteristics. You see, God must also love diversity, that is why He created different vegetables, flowers, and fruits in nature. Didn't He? Had he created just one vegetable, say a potato, we would be forced to eat just potatoes all our life. If that were the case, how insipid our life would have been?

Diversity is the real challenge and also cause of interest in life! While wise people rejoice in this variety, fools fight each other for the same reason. There was just one Lord Buddha, but Buddhism has 32 different branches. There was just one Jesus Christ, but there are 72 branches of Christianity. The same is true with Islam! There are countless branches in Hinduism. All of these religions also have internal diversity. Inter-religious harmony and diversity are the hallmarks of India. The culture of this country is and should be to take everyone along and respect everyone. This inclusive culture should continue forever! It is wrong to think and insist that only our religion is the best and that worship of our deity is the only way to salvation. By saying this, some people sow seeds of hatred in the society.

How do you think your children should be? Do you think they should stay happy and smiling all through life? People who are full of joy and happiness suddenly become serious when they go to the place of worship. Why should that be? Does being in a serious mood mean you are an ardently religious person? Happiness is the true mark of ‘Dharma’. Love originates naturally in a religious person. The positive result or ‘Prasad’ is obtained from happiness. This kind of positive approach can make life beautiful.