You say that we are here to serve other people, then what are other people here for?

Question - Gurudev, you say that we are here to serve other people, then what are other people here for?

Gurudev Sri Sri - Certainly not to create trouble for you. Other people are here to teach you some lesson. Everyone teaches you some lesson or other, learn from everybody. The world is filled with teachers, you only have to be a good student. There is an ancient proverb in Sanskrit that says, 'First salute the wicked, and then the good. For the wicked is teaching you a lesson at his own cost, and the good walks his own path and teaches you a lesson. The good is just pointing out, but the wicked is teaching you a lesson at his own cost. He is falling in a pit and telling you, 'Hey, look what has happened to me. You better don't do it. So, it is a costlier lesson that he is teaching you. In Srimad Bhagavatam there is a chapter by Dattatreya, where we see how he learns from a crow, to a swan, to a mouse. He says, 'Every animal is giving me some message, everything is giving me some knowledge, some education.' You only need to be an eternal student, that's all. Life is a continuous schooling, which never ends