Sri Sri speaks about the Current situation in Iraq

As Sri Sri Ravi Shankar leaves for his third tour of strife torn Iraq which is reeling under the onslaught of the ISIS, here are few excerpts from the spiritual leader on his mission to bring peace to Iraq.

Q: What can be done to bring the hostages back to their family?

Sri Sri: I would like this question to be kept alive till the last hostage comes back. There is no one answer. There can be multiple answers and each answer could be a way to bring them back. By putting sense into those people who are keeping people hostage, by invoking compassion in them, or even going to the extent of punishing them through legal or international laws, we should see that they are brought back.  There could be many ways. We can't have one way for that. We should explore all avenues.


Q: How can the sunis and the shias work in Iraq together?

Sri Sri: They should take example from India. Here Shias, Sunis, Ahmedias, sufis everyone works together. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains everyone works together. We need to give them this mutli-culturalism, this way of multi-religious coexistence. In fact, they were together for centuries. This disaster has happened only in the recent years, that too due to the political and ulterior motives of a few people. 

Q: What makes the ISIS such extremists?

Sri Sri: Well, I really don't know. I think the Islamist scholars should answer this question. They should see where they have gone wrong, in what way they have misunderstood their own religion. They should come up and say this. I would invite all good-hearted people on the planet, especially from the Islamic world who know that these people are doing wrong. Put sense in the hearts and minds of these people. The scholars should stand up and say that their interpretation of the holy scripture is absolutely wrong. They must bring this clear message to the people. Perhaps that can help in some way.


Q: What can concerned people around the world do to help the beleaguered Yazidi community preserve its ancient spiritual heritage? 

Sri Sri: They should digitize all their ancient scriptures and make videos of their way of life. Nobody knows what they do when a child is born. Nobody knows how they get married. And what are the basic precepts of this religion. No one has even heard about this religion till the recent genocide. The world community should make a documentary about them, create more awareness about the existence of the community, and give all sorts of possible support to the community in the manner of education, safety and security, and help the community grow economically while at the same time preserving their religious identity. Like what has happened with the Parsis. When the Parsis were thrown out of Iran, they found a home in India. They have preserved their culture, their tradition, and their language. They have kept everything intact. The kings of India in those days gave full protection for Parsis to practice their religion and to preserve it. Similarly, anyone should not try to convert the Yazidis. In fact they should help them to preserve their culture, religion, and identity.

Q: How can enemies be taught to treat each other as brothers?

Sri Sri: Yes. This needs a lot of skill. It needs a lot of patience and perseverance. First of all, the enemies should be asked to come for a dialogue. It can happen only through a person who does not take sides. When they know there is someone who does not take sides, who can mediate. Then it needs a lot of communication skills in bringing people together to sit and talk. Mistrust and miscommunication can be cleared through dialogue. Dialogue should never be given up or stopped.

Q: What are the factors that brings around war, when all religions talk about peace? 

Sri Sri: 1. Religion not for religion's sake but for political ulterior motives. People use religion, caste, language, and other identities to further their own cause. Many times it is more political and with more vested interests than just religion.
2. At other times, it is mistrust or misinterpretation of religion.


Q: The end of this war will give rise to a lot of trauma-relief work in Iraq. How do you see India as a country contributing to this need?

Sri Sri: India has a load of wealth and wisdom in yoga, meditation, ayurveda and cultural roots which It can share with the people there. In fact this is something that we have not done well in the past. If we had spread the fragrance of peace and multi-culturalism that India has been nourishing and enjoying for the past decades and centuries to Middle East; If we had been a little proactive in instilling and planting this thought of peace and non-violence in the hearts and minds of people around the world, perhaps people would not get into the violent rage that they are getting into today. Not that there is no violence in India. There is violence in India too, but these are the people who have not had any sense of India's core values of non-violence. People in India also who have moved away from the idea of the non-violence, dharma, knowledge, wisdom, and the technology of experiencing the inner strength, they are involved in violence. But it is minuscule compared to what is happening in the world. So we wish that the ISIS ideology does not filter into the Indian minds and they do not create disturbances here also. We have to be watchful for this. People here who have believed in non-violence and peaceful coexistence should not remain by themselves. They should go and plant this knowledge wherever it is needed, especially in the conflict zones.