Most of the conflicts in the world are ego-centric

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
"MOST of the conflicts in the world are ego-centric and not ideological problems. They can be done away with by uniting the hearts and minds,” said noted spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji. He was addressing the third International Conference of World Organisation of Students & Youth (WOSY) at Teen Murti Auditorium in New Delhi on February 3. More than 300 students from 40 countries of the world participated in the two-day conference which concluded on February 4. The theme of the conference was “Conflict Resolution and Peace”.
Referring to Maoist violence in India Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said violence is not the way to get justice or get the work done. Appealing to the Maoists to join national mainstream and dialogue process, he said social justice could be achieved through peaceful methods too.
Talking about the jehadi mindset which has posed a major threat world over, he said the people involved in jehadi activities have closed their eyes and ears and they see the world only through their own angle. “All religions of the world have a common thread and only wrong interpretation of the scriptures creates problems,” he said.
Coming down heavily on widespread conversions going on in India he said there is no need to convert people. “If I am born as a Hindu I should be a good Hindu. If I am born as a Christian, I should be a good Christian and if I am born as a Muslim I should be a good Muslim. The thinking that only I am going to the heaven and all others will go to the hell becomes the reason of conflicts. Instead of converting people, we should become a good human being and follow our respective ways of worship honestly,” he said.
Stressing the need to globlise wisdom he said, “If Taliban of Afghanistan had wisdom they would not have demolished the marvellous statues of Bamiyan Buddha. The reason of violence there is lack of wisdom. The same thing is happening in Pakistan, which has even denounced its heritage. After all, 400 hundred years ago the Pakistanis were Hindu. They should claim their heritage and should be proud of it. Basically extremism is creating many problems there.”
He appealed to the youth to unite and take initiative to find solutions to the present-day conflicting issues. He said conflicts at various levels are increasing in the world and now the humanity is at stake, we have to resolve these issues in a peaceful manner.