Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Shankar was born to Venkat Ratnam, a scholar of languages, and Vishalakshi. His parents named him Shankar since his birthday matched that of the 8th century CE Hindu saint, Adi Shankara According to his biographies, at the age of four he could recite verses from the Bhagavad Gita. He was said to be often found in deep meditation even at a young age. Some of his followers of the Art of Living movement claim he received an advanced degree in physics at the age of 17.

Shankar is a former disciple of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi At his early age, his father delegated him to the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Shankar joined Maharishi's entourage, taught the Vedic pundits at Maharishi's charities, and soon became the Maharishi’s favorite disciple. In the early 1990s, Shankar added the honorific Sri Sri to his own name Ravi Shankar after the renowned sitarist Ravi Shankar objected that the guru was capitalizing on the latter's fame.

In an interview, Shankar said that in 1982, after a ten-day retreat into silence on the banks of the Bhadra river in Shimoga in Karnataka, India, the "Sudarshan Kriya" --a rhythmic breathing exercise-- came to him "like a poem, an inspiration". He added, "I learned it and started teaching it." Shankar says that every emotion has a corresponding rhythm in the breath, and believes that regulating breath could help people with their suffering.

Shankar founded the Art of Living Foundation in 1982 to spread the breathing technique. Along with Dalai Lama and , he founded in 1997 the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) to "to foster on a global scale a deeper understanding of the values that unite us as a human community."

Philosophy and Activities

Shankar emphasizes breath as the link between body and mind and therefore a tool to relax the mind. He also emphasizes service to others, besides meditating. According to him, science and spirituality are linked and consistent. His stated vision is to create a world which is free of stress and violence through acquisition of wisdom, and his programs aim to offer practical tools to accomplish wisdom. In his view, "Truth is spherical rather than linear; so it has to be contradictory." "Anything that is spherical is always contradictory," says Shankar.

In 2001, after the "9/11" attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York city, Shankar's organization offered courses in stress reduction, free of cost, to New Yorkers. A relief program has been successfully run in Kosovo, for the war ravaged population and the Public Health System , University and UN personnel. The organization also started an operation in Iraq in 2003, aimed at relieving the war-ravaged Iraqi population of stress. A Program was implemented in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2006 teaching to war victims, UN and ngo personnel. In 2007, Shankar visited Iraq at the invitation of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, and also met with Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish leaders. He visited Pakistan in 2004 and met with some political and religious leaders there as a part of his efforts to promote global peace. Many volunteers have assisted the tsunami victims and hurricane Katrina victims. There is a Prison SMART (Stress Management And Rehabilitation Techniques) Program assisting prisoners and prison staffs around the world.

Sudarshan Kriya

Sudarshan Kriya

Sudarshan Kriya is the core component of the Art of Living courses. Persons enrolling for the courses are required to sign non-disclosure agreements, so that specifics of the Sudarshan Kriya technique are not made public . However, some of the starting "asanas" and exercises have been disclosed in a newspaper article

Sudarshan Kriya is said to infuse the body with energy and harmonize the natural rhythms of the body, mind, and emotions. There have been several independent studies published on the effects of the technique.