Forbes India - Guru Speak

Guruji answers questions on the way beyond wealth

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Forbes India - Guru Speak

An Unique Art of Living Centre to come up in Swarnabhoomi

Chennai, November 23, 2009: MARG Swarnabhoomi on ECR will soon have the Art of Living Meditation centre. A unique centre, the first of its kind in Chennai will come up on a 7 acre plot at MARG Swarnabhoomi. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will lay the foundation stone at MARG Swarnabhoomi on November 27, 2009 at 7:30 A.M. MARG has also organised a Divya Satsang at MARG Swarnabhoomi, which will be addressed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar from on Nov 26th, 6:00 P.M. onwards. Read More

Forbes India - The Forbes India Rich List Launch

Click the link below for a photo slide show of the event.

Forbes India - The Forbes India Rich List Launch

How much wealth is enough?

The rich in India are richer, but what’s the purpose of having all that wealth? Forbes India brought together G.V. Krishna Reddy, an extremely wealthy man of the practical world, and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to find an answer to that elemental question

Subroto Bagchi: I have a personal question. When I was a little boy, my mother said that you have Lakshmi and you have Saraswati, two very pretty women, extremely jealous and she said that if I follow Lakshmi, then Saraswati will shun me and if I follow Saraswati, probably Laksmhi will follow at a distance.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Today, there has been a truce

Subroto Bagchi: Thank you so much, that was really really wonderful, and I wish my mother was here to listen to that point.

The Goddess of Wealth might have made her truce with the Goddess of Learning. But Lakshmi is also the Goddess of Generosity and it seems her devotees have yet to fully learn that lesson.

Read more

Further more

A moment in history!

The Art of Living meditation hall complex coming up at 'Swarnabhoomi' near Chennai is indeed going to be a moment in history. For the benefit of everyone's understanding, we wish to present the project in its proper perspective.

The project is designed as an all-inclusive self-contained township providing for living, working, education and most important, spirituality, the basis of everything in life.

MARG has offered to build a meditation hall and allied complex, including ayurveda spa etc. The complex is going to be owned and managed by the Art of Living. It is going to be the biggest Art of
Living complex outside our Ashram!

The highlights of the Art of Living complex:

As advised by Guruji, the meditation hall is going to be in the shape of a conch and 108-feet tall. The shape is obviously with reference to the conch that appears every 12-years in the nearby Thirukazhakundram temple pond (please see note below).
The meditation hall will accommodate 5,000-persons.
The amphitheater will provide for a similar number.
Ayurveda spa and all allied activities will take shape eventually.
A convention centre.

The Art of Living complex will be a major center for all our activities in Chennai, a landmark. Since Guruji is answering our long-felt need to have some thing like this close to Chennai, we are sure you will agree, that each and everyone of us need to get involved in the event in a very big way!

Huge arrangements are being made to make the event a grand success. But it can be grand and an honor befitting our dear Guruji only when each of us get fully involved. All of us need to joyfully pitch in and be a part of the history in the making.

We appeal to every Art of Living devotee to personally reach out to at least 10-people, both in and out Art of Living. Please devote the next few days to do this. Let us take a Sankalpa that together as a team we will take a minimum of 5,000-people to the Satsang on 26-Nov-09.

Come, let us CELEBRATE!


Yours in Divine Service,
Akhila Srinivasan & Joseph Enok

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The location:

89-kms from Chennai or 60-kms from Pondicherry in a village named Seekinankuppam in Cheyyur Taluk of Kanchipuram District.
On the East Coast Road connecting Chennai and Pondicherry, positioned near Chennai’s IT Hub, Siruseri.
The significance: Very close to Thirukazhukundram, also known as Dakshina Kailasam, is one of the most-celebrated temples glorified by Thevara Hymns. According to legend, the four Vedas; Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana are seen here in the shape of four boulders, placed one above the other with Lord Shiva as Vedagiriswarar, emerging from the head of 4th Veda, Atharvana. Hence the place gets the name Vedagiri. The hill is 500-feet high and has about 550-steps. The central shrine of Vedagiriswarar is seen built of three large boulders, constituting the 3-walls of the sanctum sanctorum. The main deity is a Swaymbu Lingam. In the enclosure around the sanctum sanctorum, are the shrines for Sokkanayagi and for Vinayakar (in a dancing posture). Once upon a time, a pair of eagles used to visit this temple and eat the temple prasad. Every 12-years, a conch appears from the temple pond, with which Abhishekham is performed to the reigning deity even today.

Programme:

26-Nov-09: Divya Satsang, 6-pm onwards.
27-Nov-09: Rudra Puja, 6.30-am onwards, followed by foundation laying ceremony of the meditation hall

Education can nourish, build values: Sri Sri

Bangalore, Nov 14 (PTI) Education can nourish and build virtues that can impart true intelligence, according to spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar.

"The aim of education should be to bring out and polish the hidden talent in each child so that their personality shines," he said, speaking at a function organised to mark Children's Day.

He said every child possess a unique talent, but somehow it gets missed and buried in the course of everyday school routine.

"The key is to harness the ancient and innovative with the modern," he said

Guruji in Forbes list - Editor's Picks: The Seven Most Powerful People In India

In a nation that has more spiritual leaders per capita than any other nation on Earth, Sri Sri Ravishankar stands out for a simple reason. His Art of Living program, which emphasizes meditation as a way to relieve stress and prevent violence, commands an enormous following both in India and around the world, cuts across religious lines, and offers practitioners a tool to deal with urban angst. Read More

Darul-Uloom, Ulemas change stand on Vande Mataram

Chennai: In a significant development, Darul-Uloom and the Ulemas of Deoband, have changed their 12-year-old stand on rendering Vande Mataram to bring the Hindu-Muslim communities closer.

This development took place yesterday after a one-hour long meeting between the Ulema and Spiritual Guru and humanitarian leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, Art of Living. Present at the meeting with Sri Sri, were Maulana Margub Urrrehman of Darul-Uloom, Darul Iftah in charge Mufti Habibur Rehman, who issued the fatwa 12 years ago, Mufti Ehsaan Qasmi and Usman Mansoorpuri of the Jamiat Ulema e Hind, an Art of Living press release here said. Read more

Video Links.

Sri Sri & Ulemas reach consensus on Vande Mataram (India TV)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys3w3d06gY8

Sri Sri visits Darul Uloom Deoband (Aaj Tak)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW6GcB9tQwI

Muslims can sing Vande Mataram (Star News)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0wObaUOaRo

Sri Sri reaches Deoband, resolves Vande Mataram issue (CNEB)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09LHFlyUDYY

Living in the rhythm of nature - Article by Guruji

Ancient scriptures mention the human beings as having five sheaths--the environment, the physical body, the mind, the intuitive sheath and the fifth sheath is purushartha, ie., the blissful state.


The environment is our first body. Historically, nature has always been adored in India; mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon, the trees have always been honoured. It's only when we start moving away from nature that we start polluting it. We need to revive the ancient practice of honouring and conserving nature.

Today, man has become greedy, he wants to make profits and achieve results. This not only pollutes the physical environment but also stimulates negative emotions at some level.
These negative emotions do not stay limited to one person but rubs off on all those who he comes in contact with. These negative vibrations once compounded are the root cause of all disasters and misery in the world. Read more

No apocalypse in 2012, says Guruji.

MANILA, Philippines--The world is not going to end in 2012.

The reassuring voice dispelling fears of an apocalypse in that year brought a collective sigh of relief to the audience at the SMX convention center.

“We are going to see 2013, as good as 2012,” declared international humanitarian leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The spiritual head of the UN-affiliated The Art of Living Foundation gave this assurance not as a prophet but as a social activist who has taught people of different traditions and faiths the “art of living” through techniques that calm the mind and instill self-confidence. Read More

Reaching Out Spiritually

A man dressed in a beatific smile, with a hand constantly reaching out to bless the ones streaming in can most prospectively be a saint’s. One such saint, Swami Sri Madhusudan, has been walking Kolkata’s streets, doing exactly this, under the Art of Living (AOL) Padayatra program Anugrahotsav (the divine present).

Swamiji is in the city to spread Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s message of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Said Swamiji about this spiritual-walking movement, “We are reaching out to more and more people as it is the need of the hour. They are waiting for us. We’ll give not only practical wisdom but also walk on the road.” Read More