Andrew Cohen & Sri Sri Ravishankar

uh when I started I was more fascinated by the the the peace and Transcendence Dimension and now I'm becoming more interested in the active Dimension I'm in or in the creative dimension of the very same principle and so when I when I came here today after seeing you for six years and hearing so much about the work you're doing then I was associating my own growing passion for the creative dimension of God or the creative face of God and all the work you're doing and the real impact you're having in real time that's an expression of I wouldn't say feverish activity but passionate activity you know nature keeps different things in different places it makes a mango different a banana different an orange different an apple different so there is no comparison mhm and each individual is is so unique and each individual has been ordained some or it certain amount of creativity or certain aspects of nature then creation brings in them so that's I feel even say somebody may be just making making the garden here yeah but that that Gardener is no less than anybody because he also embodies the total spirit in him and he it comort in him in that form would would you say that that would be true if the gardener was wholeheartedly unselfconsciously selfishly passionately eisly with commitment giving himself to his garden he's when he's free from stress yeah and he's joyful and he's full of connectivity to everybody in the C creation so when so when each individual realizes that level of of Freedom or self- liberation then their own unique capacity to contribute will Express itself in its own fullness in its own form in its own fullness and it need not be the same work an architect does a gardener does in a different manner see we could call it maybe self-actualization of the individual yeah yeah call uniqueness of everybody so you know that we're going to this a lot of these questions that we're bringing up you know in the next 20 30 40 years are going to be uh are are are going to become even more important when we when when as we gain this capacity to create life mechanically a lot of these these spiritual and philosophical questions are going to get even more relevant correct correct you see even all the scientific discoveries everything that has happened has also come from Spirit only that's true that's true so no no scientist can say that the material thing has created a material thing mhm even to create a material object a plane or a car it has happened through the Divine only so the the Consciousness so the Divine has quite a uh Challenge on its hands in order to protect protect itself from its own Divine creativity absolutely absolutely if you see interestingly in the East uh there has never been a conflict between science and spirituality in one of the shastra said even if you understand a particle thoroughly you will be liberated it said so knowledge of an atom can liberate you CU you think that is what everything is that is what this body is that is where the mind is coming that's where the emotions are you will see everything in inside you in terms of just uh waves or atoms as the manifestation of spirit so even even a particular atom knowledge of it thorough knowledge of it brings Liberation so materialism and spiritualism was never in a conflict here in the East because the matter is only an expression of spirit but it is in the West for sure yes West it has but slowly he East also is imbibing a lot from the West oh yeah as well as as as as India becomes wealthy and as the middle class grows and grows that exactly that's what's happening yeah so a lot has to happen in a very short time we have to evolve and develop and create a new Ab a new context a new spiritual context that doesn't exist you must feel that as a challenge in your own country because you're also you're serving that function I know in other places in the world but especially in your own country you must feel that challenge with the youths you mean well with the with the youth but in other words as India begins to G gain wealth and more and more and more of the wealthier classes get more educated then then India is running into a lot of the same uh problems that the West has been struggling with now for no that's the last 50 years but fortunately in India still there is that you know philosophy still ingrained this who am I question What Am I who am I this thing it's still there though it's almost it's going to the background but still The Roots is there but the going to the background is going to increase as as the world changes for example as as India becomes a wealthy and powerful country yeah you're right the the shift is going to happen very quickly correct so it is not as much as becoming wealthy and Powerful it is more uh imitating and what is not there mediating imitating imitating what is not there yeah but they they say that India and China in the next 20 30 40 50 years are going to be come world the two world powers yes new world powers and with every with every new development with every new level development it's always a blessing and a curse at the same time good and even in this notion of interfaith which means the Faith's coming together so I think two things to have have to happen because I went to the world parliament of religions in Barcelona a year and a half ago and so many people were telling me that first of all all the religious leaders or most of the religious leaders that went to the world Parliament were not the leaders that needed to be there because they were already very the most Progressive thinkers they said that the the the biggest problems didn't have to do with the most Progressive thinkers from all the faiths coming together but it had to do with the faiths between within themselves coming together between the conservative faction and the most Progressive faction they said this is where uh the biggest or the greatest conflict was actually happening but but that being said with Interfaith the fates can come together and begin to trust each other and maybe begin to work together but I think there's something else that needs to happen is not only do the different faiths have to come together but we have to find a way to also move forward together correct into the future correct and also those we had to identify those elements who are more fanatical and fundamentalist and change bring a change in their mindset that's that's like the born agains in US yeah yeah they think only they go to heaven that's right we're all going to go to hell oh the Jihadi groups yeah yeah these the certain groups we have done some work in this direction I heard I heard that you had uh I was told that you had been visiting with some fundamentalist fighters in Kashmir correct you could transform nearly about 750 of those people that's very imp completely in extreme you are into gun culture huh who are into gun culture yeah that's miraculous yeah are they all very cold you want to go inside these are all the boys youth leaders from different Villages from Andra Pradesh uhuh I give them you know one week for each of the state so each week these youths come they go and transform their Village make them free of alcohol cleans campaign medical campaign and they try to resolve all the conflicts locally you know many court cases you know people they land disputes MH and then water this and that so they resolve all that and bring people together and they meditate together they teach meditation they teach meditation and conflict resolution conflict resolution and chemical free forming organic forming they are into that and uh Suicidal Tendencies and depression these also they handle trauma relief help them out of those things violence free Society is what we should aim at this moment violence free world you mean world so in order for that to happen we all have to realize that we're one we're part of one Brotherhood right one being one process absolutely absolutely