Delhi, November 28, 2011: Grooming the young minds is not an easy task – but it was made simple for 800 principals by The Art of Living Founder, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the capital on Monday. The seminar titled 'Educators Meet' saw a huge turn-out of .principals and Managing Committee members of Public and Government Schools coming together to listen to the spiritual master.
Throwing light on the role of a teacher, Sri Sri said, “Nowadays there is a personal touch that is missing from teachers towards students. Every teacher needs to act like a counselor towards each student. This sense of belongingness is essential to build every student’s personality as this can take away the pressure from them. Creativity can only come from a relaxed mind.”.. Read More
Anandpur Sahib, November 25
The Akalis today basked in the reflected glory of the steel petal roof of the Virasat-e-Khalsa that was dedicated to humanity in a ceremony that encompassed all faiths, but was essentially rooted in Sikh culture and tradition.
Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said today’s ‘sankriti’ had been saved by the Khalsa Panth and that the 120-crore people of the country would be indebted to the Sikh Panth for the sacrifices made by its gurus in the cause of humanity. Read More
Mukesh Vassen’s day job is as legal adviser to the Speaker of the House in Parliament. Any spare time is spent doing service, teaching Art of Living courses and the accompanying practice of Sudarshan Kriya (“kriya”, a breathing technique that cleanses and harmonises the physical, mental and emotional levels).
The Art of Living is a humanitarian NGO, founded in the early ’80s by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar with the vision of creating a violence- and stress-free society. This is Mukesh’s story…
I grew up in Cape Town and was a young kid activist during the apartheid days. My dad was an attorney and used to represent most of the political prisoners, so the police used to watch us a lot. We got many death threats. I left home when I was 13, which was when they came to arrest me. I saw so many people die as a teenage boy; I remember how they killed a two-year-old child and said they thought it was a dog. And the Trojan horse thing, where they hid in boxes and killed a couple of kids. All of this left me with a lot of trauma and anger. Read More
You cannot be grateful and feel the lack. The two cannot exist at the same time. When you feel grateful, you feel full. When you feel lack, grumbling begins from some corner. If you feel grateful, gratitude will increase in you and you will be given more. If you keep on grumbling, the negativity in you will increase. Jesus said, "For those who have not, what little they have will be taken from them. And to those who have, more will be given. And more. And more." This is the law of the nature. For those who do not have this knowledge, there is no way to get out of their grumbling. It becomes a habit.
Read More
The dynamics of how events happen is a big mystery. Only one who is 100% in doing can recognise the happening. The healthiest way to apply this knowledge is to see the whole past as happening and the present as doing. If you see the past as doing, then ego and regret come along. And when you see the present as happening, laziness and unawareness set in. Let the happening be for the past and the doing for the present. And the future is a mix of both.
The wise will see the doing in happening and the happening in doing simultaneously. One who does a lot of work will never say he did a lot. If someone says he did a lot of work, it that means he can do more. He has not done enough. Work does not tire you as much as the "doership" does.
All actions happen through consciousness. The world moves because of consciousness. Consciousness expresses the three shaktis as — gyan shakti, ichcha shakti and kriya shakti. Knowledge, action and desire. If these shaktis are aligned, life becomes very smooth. If not, life is in doldrums.Read More
We live most of our life through three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and sleeping.
In the waking state of consciousness, we experience the world through the five senses. We seek elevation and joy from these senses. If any one of the senses is missing, the entire dimension of that sense is lost. One who cannot hear is bereft of the whole arena of sound. Similarly, he who cannot see is deprived of all the beautiful sights and colors. So, the sense is more important and much bigger than the object of the sense.
The mind is higher than the senses. The mind is infinite, its desires are many, but the capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited. Greed is wanting more and more of sensory objects. Even though one can only enjoy a limited amount during a lifetime, one wants all the wealth in the world. Read More
Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 18, 2011
The Art of Living Foundation(AOLF),an educational and humanitarian non-profit announced today that it has completed 30 years of education and service bringing happiness, peace and development to individuals and communities in the United States and the world as a whole. The Foundation, which offers stress management and self development programs, in partnership with International Association for Human Values (IAHV) has worked on several initiatives related to health, education, sustainable development, conflict resolution, disaster and trauma relief, prisoner rehabilitation and women empowerment to positively impact millions of people in more than 150 countries over the last three decades. Read More
All eyes are on Uttar Pradesh as India's largest state is set to go to the hustings next year. While Rahul Gandhi blew the poll bugle at Phoolpur, there is yet another figure whose visit to the state raised many an eyebrow.Sri Sri Ravishankar, guruji to millions, toured some of the most important constituencies in the state exhorting people to rise up against corruption. Political parties of all hues tried to play the four day long visit in their favour but the spiritual leader didn't bat an eyelid, apart from cancelling his Amethi visit at the last moment. Now, in an exclusive interview toindiatoday.in, Sri Sri Ravishankar reveals what the pressure was all about.
Q. What was the aim of your UP yatra and have you achieved it?
A. Uttar Pradesh was part of my routine yatra which I have been doing for past several years. I give dates according to local people's request. No political motive should be attached to my U.P. tour. It is mainly spiritual and of course social causes are also raised, just as we have been doing everywhere else. Satsangs are always an uplifting experience and it was obvious by the response of the people.
Read More
The study of life is Ayurveda (‘Ved’ means to know, ‘Ayur’ is life). Life has four characteristics - it exists, evolves, expresses and extinguishes. For this, it depends on five elements: the earth, water, air, ether and fire. To make it easier to understand, we can bring in the five senses and its objects: sight, smell, taste, sound and touch.
According to Ayurveda, life or existence is not a rigid compartment, but a harmonious flow. Even these five elements, of which the whole universe is made, are not tight compartments of defined objects. They flow into one another. Each one of the elements contains the other four.
The subtlest in us is space, which the mind is made up of, and the gross is the earth element, which our bones and marrows, and the skin and the structure are made of. This is further divided into three Doshas — Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Read More
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh state government has decided to provide its bureaucrats an opportunity to participate in spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar’s 'Art of Living' course. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has given the go-ahead to the plan.
Officials of four government departments can participate in the course. These are Department of Higher Education, Public Health and Family Welfare Department, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department and Forest Department.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been recently in news for his support to the anti-corruption movement. He himself has decided to take part in the movement by holding a rally in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, on November 7. Read More
LUCKNOW: Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar on Sunday gave clean chit to anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare and his Team from the charges of corruption,impropriety and having hidden agenda leveled against them by a section of politicians and media. He said that both Anna and his team members have dedicated theselves to the service of country and have today emerged as role models for the youth.
He also advised politicians to introspect as to why people have lost faith in them and are looking up at spiritual gurus and civil society for solution of their problems and grievances.
"Had Anna and his Team members been corrupt, I would have not been supporting them," he said while addressing media-persons in Jaunpur, where he arrived to rousing welcome on Monday evening for a four day tour of UP, in which he will hold satsang at various places. After Jaunpur on Monday, he will holding satsang in Sonebhadra on November 8, Mirzapur on November 9, Sultanpur on November 10 and Kanpur on November 11. He would be administering oath to nearly one lakh people, asking them not to give or take bribe and shun all kinds of corruption and social evils during the trip. Read More
Jaunpur: Renowned spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who embarked on a three-day anti-corruption yatra from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh on Monday clarified that his yatra was not “political”.
In his first address to his followers in the state the spiritual guru said, “Strong Lokpal is needed but only this bill cannot eradicate corruption”. In an appeal to all political parties he said, “Politics should not become trade.”
While asking everyone to keep an eye on corrupt politicians, Sri Sri said that Ramdev and Anna along with him were one on the issue of graft. Fully backing Anna Hazare in his fight against corruption, he said that Anna is “committed, honest and ideal for the youth”. Refusing to believe that Team Anna members had compromised on their ideals, he said, “I don’t agree that they are corrupt.” Read More
"If Congress has an untouchable attitude towards spiritual and religious gurus, it is their problem," says spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. In an interview with the TOI, Sri Sri talks about Anna Hazare, using fast as a means of protest and on other issues. Excerpts from the interview:
Q) You have been an active participant in the India Against Corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare. However once a spiritual master enters the political arena, he will be criticised like any other politician. Are you prepared for this? Will not your devotees get dvesh bhav for your critics?
A) A yogi doesn't mind criticism at all. All the brahmagyanis in the past have been criticized including Lord Krishna. A saadhak should not get into dwesha bhaav. At most, knowing that criticism is out of ignorance, he can have a good laugh about it.
Q) The Congress sees all sages as a group which is politically saffron (close to BJP/ RSS). Aren't you reinforcing this impression by praising Nitin Gadkari and asking for the BJP's help over Jan Lokpal? Shouldn't the distinction between spiritual saffron and political saffron be maintained?
A) If Congress has an untouchable attitude towards spiritual and religious gurus, it is their problem. It is wrong to think that, to please the minorities, you have to keep away from spiritual sages and gurus.
Read More
SONAL NAGDA quit a well paying job that she had held for 26 years to concentrate on social work. Through a global educational and humanitarian organisation, she is teaching inmates at Kenyan prisons on how to lead a stress-free life. She spoke to KIUNDU WAWERU
Life at Kamiti Maximum Prison moves slowly and mechanically. Inmates follow their chores like clockwork, but in no hurry. After all, most of them are serving life sentences while others are there for more than ten years. Yet others live in seclusion, in death row.
One such man, Brian Kariuki, has served five years of his life sentence. In an interview with Presstv, Brian, who was a student at Nairobi Aviation College before his arrest, says he harboured deep-seated anger against the people who accused him of the crime he is in prison for and which he maintains he did not commit.
The Maoist problem in Bengal is due to stunted development in the affected areas, feels Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
"Money is not going to places where it should go. The Maoist problem in West Bengal is due to lack of development. There is always a way to resolve this conflict.
Development has to take place here and violence is not the way to sort out the problems. Jharkhand has become a peaceful state now. And I am sure there will be peace and development in Bengal too," the spiritual guru said during an interaction.
Read More
Sri Sri Ravishankar today said corruption cannot be prevented by legislation only but supported a strong Lokpal Bill as people want it.
"There has to be a spiritual awakening among the people and politicians so that they do not indulge in corrupt practices," he told newsmen here.
Asked whether the government is serious in introducing the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Parliament, he said, "I wish they are. There are people in the government who are against corruption. They should pursue the matter so that the bill is issued in Parliament. I do not see why there should not be strong Lokpal bill, because people want it."
"The government of India is corrupt."
Ask any passerby on the streets of India to confirm this, and they'll agree.
Yet the statement, declarative as it is, in fact is old news that the people of India have known for a long time. Corruption, mainly through the form of bribery, infiltrates almost every sector at almost every level of government.
"The government's inflexible attitude and double standards towards a genuine public aspiration are very disturbing for the people," said Anand Mathur, a businessman based in Kolkata.
"Religious leaders are in touch with the population more than the politicians," said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spiritual guru and founder of The Art of Living, who is a presence in the anticorruption campaign against the Indian government. "Religious and spiritual leaders want nothing for themselves, but they are just working for the betterment of society. And people see that." Read More
BANGALORE : It was a celebration of Kannada writers and writing, ranging from veterans like G Venkatsubbaiah and G S Shivarudrappa to the likes of Kalegowda Nagawara and Vijayalakshmi Balekundri.
Fifty-five writers were felicitated and a book by each of them was released on Rajyotsava Day at a programme organized by Sapna Book House. The 55 books were released to mark 55 years of the formation of Karnataka.
Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said the occasion is momentous as the best of Kannada writers have gathered under one roof. "I keep telling people wherever I go, especially outside Karnataka , that they have been deprived of the best of Kannada literature. That's why I think translating Kannada works into Hindi and English would bring readers from outside Karnataka. We need to demonstrate the strength and creativity of our literature to people " Read More
New Delhi: Renowned spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will embark on an anti-corruption yatra in Uttar Pradesh next month.
Ravi Shankar would visit Jaunpur, Sultanpur, Mirzapur, Amethi, Sonebhadra, Chandauli and Kanpur from November 7 to November 10. Importantly, most of the districts to be covered by Sri Sri are known Congress strongholds.
The announcement comes at a crucial time as Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to go to polls early next year and political parties are considering the elections as the decider before the big fight – Lok Sabha polls in 2014.
