Knowledge sheet of H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Q: Will all teachers become enlightened? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You must first ask whether this is what every teacher wants. . Only when all desires have been wiped out, will you find mukti. See, teachers get so much respect. You get so much respect, and when you have to face disrespect, what happens to you? You get shaken. If you are not shaken even when people are hurling abuses at you, that is when your real quality shines up. When you are respected, your real quality does not shine up. But you say something that people don’t like and then see how much of abuse they hurl at you, and at that time if you are calm and collected, your true quality comes out. Then you can say you are centred now. How do you know whether or not you are centred? Not when you are given a lot of adoration but when you are given abuses or when you are disrespected. Then you can think that none of this touches me. I am centred, I am happy, I am content and I am committed. You know, many times when there are hurdles or people disrespect you, for example with volunteers whose good work is not recognized, what happens? The volunteers do not feel like doing anything more, and wash their hands off. “See, I worked from morning to night and nobody has recognized me or thanked me, they even pushed me out”. These sorts of complaints may come up with volunteers, where there is an expectation - I do a good job and I should get a reward back. This is normal with people, but with teachers, you have to pass this threshold and then you can say that you are centered. Going off-center is a normal thing but if a teacher is off-center, then it is a sad thing. For a teacher, the knowledge helps you to keep to the center and adverse situations will make you realize your inner strength.