Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was born on 13th May 1956 in Papanasam, in Tamilnadu.

His father R.S.V. Ratnam, western educated, traditional Brahmin

Mother- Visalakshmi

Parents called him Ravi Shankar. Sri Sri is the title.

 

Childhood:

He was a gifted child

Ravi was devotional from his young days. Learned Sanskrit. 

Could recite Bhagavad Gita at a very young age(4)

He got degrees in Vedic literature and physics.

 

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Transcendental Meditation)

Sri was spotted by Yogi in 1973, during a puja in Bangalore. Sri was a good pujari.

Yogi sent him to many European countries to lecture on Vedas and science. Sri organized many yagnas for Yogi.

Sri became popular. Some, suspicious Sri’s progress.

In 1982 Sri and Yogi went their separate way.

Ved Vigyan Maha Vidya Peeth – a school in Bangalore in 1981

It was run by Maharishi. But he wanted to close it and move the kids to Delhi.

Sri revolted and started to care the kids in a building.

 

Sudarshan Kriya

In 1982, Sri Sri entered a ten-day period of silence in Shimoga located in the Indian state of Karnataka. The Sudarshan Kriya, a powerful breathing technique, was born. With time, the Sudarshan Kriya became the center-piece of the Art of Living courses.

SK boosts bodily functions, including those of the heart, the liver, the brain, the kidney; it alleviating suffering in many diseases, from heart problem to epilepsy.

Art of Living

The first Art of Living course was held in Shimoga soon after the experience of SK.

Officially Art of Living Foundation was established in1982, first as an educational institution.

Secondly as a huge Seva Movement

Thirdly as a revolutionary spiritual movement

For the first five years, Sri taught the course himself.

 

The Ashram

In 1985, Sri was given, by the Karnataka Government, a piece of land in the Kanakapura road, 21 kilometers away from Bangalore.

It was a rocky place.

The same year he started in the very place, the first Sanskrit school with 20 students and also soon transferred the Vedic school there.

Many new buildings came up.

In 1988, the first international conference with eighty people took place.

Rajshree was the first advanced course teacher

 

Techniques and Courses Developed by Sri Sri

The Pranayama Techniques:

In Sanskrit yama is to direct and prana is a ‘subtle life force energy’ that pervades everything.

Controlling our emotions by using and controlling our breath-

And quietening our nervous system.

The Silence Course

Silence is a tool for enhancing self-discovery.

Maintaining silence even for just a few days can have remarkable effects on the nervous system

Silence and joy can go hand in hand.

Meditation was another component of the silence course

According to Sri Sri Meditation is not concentration it is de-concentration.

Courses for the Young

Famous are the ART Excel and YES+

Here the adolescents can learn in a playful manner how to breathe and meditate, which remains with them all their life.

ART Excel (for ages eight to thirteen)

Sri believes the world belongs to children. They are going to shape the future.

It is All Round Training in Excellence

It helps drop inhibitions, lethargy, shyness

Through yoga, breathing techniques and meditation to reawaken traditional value systems of love, compassion, peace, generosity, gratitude and grace.

In other words, learning to face life.

Youth Empowerment Seminar-YES (age fourteen to seventeen)

It is a dynamic and fun programme to releasing stress, mastering emotions and raising self-awareness.

The YES+ Course (ages eighteen to thirty)

It is s smooth blend of ancient wisdom, yoga, pranayama and meditation, fused with modern-day intellectual exchanges, music, and games,

 

The Meditation Technique

These are created by Sri.

One of his main mottos is ‘from the mind to the heart’

Heart is considered to be the place where soul lives.

It is connected with breath control

After meditation Sri used to say mantra. The most famous is:

Asatoma satgamaya

Tamsoma jotirgamaya

Mirtiyoma amirtingamaya

Om, shanty, shanty, shanty

Courses for getting rid of addiction

For alcoholics to techniques to de-addict people, using Sudarshann Kriya.

Prison related courses:

Criminals are possessed by dark forces on the spur of the moment but are not necessarily dark people.

The programme is to reduce stress-SK

Sri Sri Yoga-The path to a stress free body and mind

A combination of gentle and vigorous series of asanas is taught for the well-being of the body, while an equal emphasis is placed on techniques for nurturing the mind and the spirit.

Sahaj Samadhi meditation-the effortless path to relaxation through meditation:

Sahaj means a natural or effortless

Samadhi is a deep blissful meditative state.

It is therefore a natura, effortless form of meditation.

The art of living program for excellence at the workplace

It offers  micro, small and medium enterprises a structured intervention to eliminate stress, enhance inspirational levels and arrive at an overall work life balance for their employees.

Mostly breathing techniques.

The Art of Living Teachers: A unique Category

Sri allows followers to become teachers of his pranayama and meditation techniques.

TTC- Teachers the training course is very special

It is an intense fifteen-day course- you get up very early, sleep very late, are always on the run, do a lot of seva  (such as cleaning toilets) are quizzed constantly by your teachers and share overcrowded rooms with one common bathroom.

It is part of a drill to teach you to come out of your comfort zone

Most participants graduate and very few do not.

Sri Sri A Secular Guru

He has Christian and Muslim disciples.

To accept and respect persons of every faith, every creed and every ethnicity.

Providing a unifying teaching

The man of peace

Got Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work and peace mediations

Rural development: to clean the villages. He has a huge network of rural volunteers. Building toilets. Safe drinking water.

Skill development program:  tailoring. Tree plantation. River Rejuvenation. Sri Sri goes green.

Importance of Ayurveda

University: in 2009, Odisha, one of India’s first tobacco, alcohol and drug-free university campuses.

The curricula offer yoga, naturopathy, classical performing arts, good governance and management etc.

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