Smiling Petra from Croatia shares her Art of Living experience!

I was sitting in the amphitheater in front of Vishalakshi Mantap. Then came this cute girl asking me whether she could recharge her IPod from my laptop. I said yes but if she shares her Art of Living experiences with me. She is a university student from Croatia. She was not very good in English, so she had to take her friend's help to choose the right words while typing this.
Over to this ever smiling face:
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My name is Petra. I come from Croatia and i am very happy I am a part of Art of Living. I start my first practice 8 years ago through my mother that is a teacher. First time when i did my Kriya i felt a release, i touch for the first time my freedom! At that time i still didn't know who is my teacher, the next step of my experience was a recognition of Him, of my beloved Guruji! He opened my heart, gave me an awareness that my only substitute that my heart is made of is LOVE! From that moment i feel more close to myself and to all people around me! i started to feel more and more that beautiful unity that i share with all amazing creatures in this world. He gave me freedom! Its such an amazing feeling! Thank you My ANGEL! Thank you GURUJI!

Art of Living Course experience of Dolat Desai from Mumbai

Here is the Art of Living course experience of Dolat Desai, an international business consultant  from Mumbai.
He has done the Art of Living course under the instructor Mrs Henna Solanki at Kandivali, Mumbai in the first week of February 2006, just before Art of Living Silver Jubilee Celebrations, held at Jakkur airport, Bangalore from February 17th to 19th, 2006.
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The  Exeperience  of   Art of   living  Course  was  wonderful  and  amazing.

It has  helped  me  to feel  my body and mind  very light and stress-free for  all the  twenty  four  hours. I  feel  that  my digestation system has improved a lot and get very sound sleep. It has also helped  me  to  remove  any  negative  feelings and opinions to a great extent. I have  started liking the environment  and people around me. I have  no doubt  that Art of Living course can improve health of body and mind of individual  but of  society and India.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's wisdom to CEOs - Forbes India

When every breath of your body is focused on creating wealth it takes an infinity to realise the expanse of the breath itself. Journeys across such an abstract expanse need a guide whose spiritual GPS is never offline. But then Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a man of God like no other. His powerful innovation of Sudarshan Kriya from the ancient system of Pranayam has calmed many a burdened mind. It is hard to combine the commanding heights of spirituality with the mundane lowlands of everyday practical living the way Sri Sri has managed to do.

So when a club of extremely wealthy men of practical world needed to understand how to go beyond all the wealth, Sri Sri was the obvious choice.

We seemed to have hit the hot button because questions from men of Mammon flowed freely. To make sure the answers had depth, Forbes India picked four questions that seemed to be most fundamental and intricate. But that was till Sri Sri answered them; after that they were blindingly obvious.

Harsh Mariwala, Chairman & MD, Marico Industries

We are realising more and more that society has a significant stake and role to play in the growth of every individual and organisation. It then follows that some part of the wealth built by the individual or organisation owes its origin to society. In a steady state scenario, this issue may not be difficult to sort out — one could follow the Islamic Zakat approach and give a fixed percentage to charity or to society. But when it comes to estate planning or leaving behind a legacy through a will, there would arise a question, where your guidance and views will be enlightening. What proportion of a rich person’s wealth should one bequeath

to society?”

A: The Dharmashastras advise a man to divide wealth in five portions:

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  One portion is used for spiritual and religious purposes.
  
  
  
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  One portion for charity and society.
  
  
  
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  One portion for the growth of the wealth.
  
  
  
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  One portion for oneself and one’s own comforts.
  
  
  
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  One portion for one’s family.
  
  
  
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  The most intelligent thing would be to undertake all the charitable works during one’s lifetime itself. However, when you write a will with the wealth that is left to you, definitely give a substantial portion for charitable work.
  
  
  

Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman & MD, Videocon

What is the best contribution one can make to a better society? Make billions, spend billions, or give away billions?

A: The best way is to do both: To make billions, spend a little less, save the rest and give away! Twenty per cent of your earnings should be earmarked for charity. However, charity should be self-sustainable. That is, it should create more wealth rather than perpetuating the cycle of poverty and dependence. In this sense, the best form of charity would be providing quality education for children and more importantly, building a good character in them.

In the 11th chapter of the Bhagawad Gita, Lord Krishna said, “Win the war with enemies and enjoy a prosperous empire.” How can a businessman be altruistic and yet follow this piece of advice? Is there a way to resolve this riddle?

Krishna’s advice was not for a recluse, but addressed to a prince. The Gita should not be dismissed as a text for people who are not in the world. In fact, the Gita is of no use for people who are retiring from the world.

The entire Bhagavad Gita is focused on the prince who had to shoulder a huge responsibility, encounter complex situations and solve complicated human relations to make the country productive. Any business empire has to perform all these functions: They have to manage human resources; resolve conflicts.

One cannot be emotional and say: “I don’t want to compete with anybody. The world of business is always a struggle — a fight. Your weapons are speculation, bidding, negotiation, branding, marketing, pricing, innovation etc. These are the weapons for you to fight the business wars and you should fight it to your complete satisfaction. If it does not turn out to be viable, naturally you lose your fight. (Non-viability, heavy competition, lack of HR, labour problems) You can’t do business with a charitable mindset. Charity and business should be kept separate altogether. However when it comes to enjoying the fruits of your business, you should have a charitable mind. You must keep aside a portion for charity.

Analjit Singh, Chairman & MD, Max India

If one has faith and believes God exists, how important is it to pray, meditate, etc.?

A: Prayer is asking God what you want for yourself or thanking Him for what you have received. Meditation is listening to God’s will. If you believe in God, then you will definitely want to connect and communicate with Him. The way to communicate with Him is through prayer and meditation.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Partner, RaRe Enterprises

“My principles in life are as follows:

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  All spirituality lies in our deeds and empathy towards others.
  
  
  
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  All deeds should be with practical integrity and means should be more important than the ends.
  
  
  
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  More than anything else in life, I work for a sense of achievement, which I judge and am not bothered about what
  
  others think.
  
  
  
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  I have far lesser wealth than people think, but far more than I need. Wealth also has a purpose in life.
  
  
  
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  I realise that all things in life including wealth, success and beauty are transient and temporary. Therefore I never take them for granted, nor am I overwhelmed or over-influenced by them.
  
  
  
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  The divine is the giver of all wealth, and along with the wealth, has cast upon us a responsibility that as far as possible must be used for a good purpose.
  
  
  
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  I would seek your divine views and thoughts on my beliefs and principles of life.
  
  
  

A: What you have mentioned are some moral and ethical values. Spirituality is recognising that you are a part of the universal spirit and that there is no ‘Other’. Spirituality is recognising the truth that a Divine Power is managing the creation and your own life. No doubt integrity, charity, compassion etc. are all virtues which are essential by-products of spirituality. How calm and dynamic you are at the same time, how compassionate and shrewd you are at the same time indicates the depths of your spirituality.

Anand Utsav: Maha Sudarshan Kriya at Orissa by Art of Living in the presence of Sri Sri Ravishankar

Explore and Experience the power of Silence and Celebration... Book yourself on a trip to this most beautiful place in the Universe with Sri Sri...

With H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. from 29th Jan to 2nd Feb 2010
Advance Meditation Course (AMC) : 29th Jan to 1st Feb 2010
Divine Satsang & Anand Utsav: 31st Jan 2010
Sudarshan Kriya Part 1 Course: 31st Jan to 2nd  2010
Rudra Puja  & MAHA SUDARSHAN KRIYA ( Live Sudarshan Kriya with Master) on 1st Feb 2010

Contact :09937293884,09238606791,  9437102136, 9437152227

Peace Within, Peace on Earth... Sri Sri...

Jai Gurudev!

Weekly Knowledge Sheet -1

Weekly Knowledge #1 Big Sur, California
21 Jun 1995 USA

THIS BEGINS A NEW PRACTICE

This begins a new practice of weekly dispatches of Knowledge from Guruji. Every center around the world will receive the Knowledge so it can be read for people to copy down at weekly Satsang. Here is the first segment Guruji dictated at Big Sur, 21 June, 1995.

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Beyond an event is Knowledge.

Beyond a person is love.

Beyond an object is infinity.

Knowledge is not in an event; it is beyond an event.

If you take one event and infer anything from one event -- infer knowledge -- it will be erroneous knowledge. Say Nancy gets angry and shouts at someone. You attribute anger to Nancy, but actually it was carried from someone else to her. Someone else got angry first and someone else and someone else and on and on like that.

When you go beyond an event, only then the truth dawns. One particular event gives you a false notion. So you have to consider the totality of events, the totality of all events infinitely. Beyond the event is Knowledge.

What do we call a person? A person is a body, a mind, a complex of behaviors which is changing. Love is unchanging. Beyond the person is love.

When you lose your personality, you become love. If you cannot lose yourself, you cannot find yourself. So, lose your personality; you'll find yourself!!!

Behind every object is infinity. An object is limited. Take an object and reduce, reduce, reduce, and you have an atom. An atom is infinity. Each atom contains infinite space. Beyond the object is infinity.

The object behind the object is infinity. The person behind the person is love.

Maya is getting caught up in the event, personality, object. Knowledge, love, Brahman is seeing beyond the event, personality, or object. See? Just a little shift.

JAl GURU DEV

George Bush with Sri Sri Ravishankar

George W. Bush receiving Sri Sri Ravishankar at White house in May 2004

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association of Human Values, was on May 7 received by US President George W Bush in the Oval Office of the White House and implored to "please keep us in your prayers."

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is the first Indian spiritual leader to be received in the Oval Office by a president of the United States. The seer was visiting the White House for discussions with senior officials of the Bush Administration's Faith-Based Initiative, when officials asked him if he would like to meet with Bush. Almost immediately they arranged for an Oval Office meeting between the two.

Bush embraced Sri Sri Ravi Shankar soon as he entered the Oval Office, and said, 'I am very glad you are here and please keep us in your prayers." He then asked the guru if he could take a picture with him, and called for the White House photographer to do the needful.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar later participated in a prayer meeting presided over by Bush, at the White House East, which was followed by a reception for several participants belonging to various faiths.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who as part of his world tour has just returned from Mexico and is scheduled to go to Brazil to address that country's Parliament, told rediff.com this was his first visit to the US Congress and the White House.

"My message to them has been the uplifting of human values," he said. He said he had briefed lawmakers and the White House about "our stress relief program with prisoners and the people in Iraq. The prison program is one of the main programs were are doing.

"I have already sent some doctors from India to Iraq, with ayurvedic medicines, and they are helping the people to overcome the trauma because the people there cannot sleep, are in constant anxiety and the conditions are terrible and women and children are suffering. So we are doing a big campaign for them."

"I am also working with Kashmiri migrants," Ravi Shankar told rediff.com. "We have about a three-and-a-half lakh Kashmir Pandits still in refugee camps for 14 years, and nobody has cared for them. Now, I am taking up their cause and trying to rehabilitate them, trying to put them back in Kashmir."

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was also feted on Capitol Hill at a reception hosted by influential Republican Representative David Dreier of California, who chairs the powerful House Rules Committee. Among lawmakers present were the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian American Representatives Joseph Crowley (New York Democrat) and Joe Wilson (South Carolina Republican); founder and former co-chair of the India Caucus Frank Pallone (New Jersey Democrat); unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; Earl Blumenauer (Oregon Democrat); James Walsh (New York Republican); and Diane Watson (California Democrat), among others.

Dreier, who recently made his first visit to India along with Staff Director of the Rules Committee Billy Pitts, said, "He is obviously a great spiritual leader and we are all so pleased that we can welcome him. We've had some wonderful meetings, it's a great honor and privilege for me to be here and to welcome him to the US Capitol."

"This is something we need to pursue so that there is in this world that is shrinking, an understanding of differences that exist," he said.

Several influential Jewish Americans, including the hierarchy of the American Jewish Committee, were presented at the reception as were several Indian-American community leaders and senior Indian embassy officials.

Srilankan Cricket team learns Art of Living from Swami Sadyojathah

The Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team was yet another reminder of the growing threat of terrorism in today's world. You could call it 'Munich Olympics attack re-visited', though in Lahore, fortunately, the Sri Lankan players escaped with just minor injuries.
Even weeks later the cricketers were still reeling from the aftermath of the attack. That's when Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa decided summon the expertise of Art of Living teacher Swami Sadyojathah.
Sadyojathah, who is at the Art of Living International Ashram in Bangalore under the tutelage of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, conducted a four-day trauma relief programme for the cricketers.
In a detailed conversation with Chief Sports Correspondent Harish Kotian, Swami Sadyojathah talks about the programme he undertook with the players and the secret to healthy living.
Can you describe the course you put the Sri Lankan cricket team through?
The Art of Living foundation got an invitation from the Institute of Sports Medicine Sri Lanka on behalf of his Excellency the President of Sri Lanka [Mahinda Rajapaksa] to conduct the trauma relief programme for the Sri Lankan cricketers, who went to Lahore. Based on that I went there and had an eight-hour workshop spread over four days; the entire Sri Lankan team, except the two players who were in hospital, underwent the programme. They all enjoyed it; they felt it was a good break for them to move ahead.
When you met the players, did you feel that they will still in a state of shock? Were they still suffering from that trauma?
In fact, many people and the media were asking me about the trauma that they were going through. But, interestingly, in our style of Art of Living we conduct the same programme. We don't sit and just make them talk about the trauma. That is because they have spoken a lot about the trauma in the media and that was happening for nearly two weeks.
So, the four days that we spent together, I didn't ask them anything about Lahore and they didn't tell me also. It was like past is past and finished. It was about how to bring your mind to the present and move ahead. They had the belief as well and they wanted to do something as a team.
They felt this course was a good break for them. For the first time after the Lahore attack the whole team was in the same room, sitting for two hours everyday and learning the breathing techniques.
Did anyone approach you personally during the four-day course asking for help to overcome the shock?
No. We didn't have that session. They all, as a team, underwent the process. Some people did come to me, but all of them wanted to learn more about the yoga and breathing techniques.
Would you say they have got over the episode and are ready for life and returning to playing cricket?
Yes, definitely! They had already started going to the ground and practicing cricket. They believe they don't want to get stuck in the past and want to move ahead in life.
Did you meet the two cricketers, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, who were hospitalised after sustaining bullet injuries?
Yes, I did meet them. In fact, before the course started, the Institute of Sports Medicine wanted me to meet them, so I visited them in the hospital. Since they were not able to do the course they said they will do it as soon as they can.
Many of the cricketers have come out in the open and praised the Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique. Can you give us a brief on it?
The Sudarshan Kriya is a very beautiful breathing technique that his Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has given to this world. It is a very simple and, at the same time, very powerful breathing technique. In fact, by this breathing technique, what happens is that the toxins get released from each and every cell of the body in a short span of time. Once you learn the breathing technique in the Art of Living programme you will know how to practice it everyday just for 10-15 minutes.
So you just got to do it for say around 10 minutes of breathing in 24 hours any time of the day wherever you are as simple as that. It has a very deep profound effect on the body and mind and gives deep relaxation. So once body and mind gets totally relaxed you become more dynamic and you will be able to do much more in a short time in a more effective way.
This Sudarshan Kriya is so powerful that once they start doing it as part of their everyday follow up sessions, the past will not affect them at all.
So you mean to say breathing techniques can you help over come mental trauma?
Yes, most definitely. In our day-to-day life we are experiencing that our breath pattern and emotions are connected. For example, if you are very happy, inhalation is prominent; if you notice it is deep inhalation, like you are enjoying the fragrance of a flower. When you are sad, exhalation is prominent, like sometimes you say a deep sigh. And when you are angry you can notice fast breathing.
So it is very clear that breath pattern and our emotions are connected. But, as of now, it is one-way traffic or a one-way street, like when you have different emotions you have different breath patterns.
But you have to make it a two-way street where using different breath patterns you can handle the mind and emotions.
Will you go back again and help the Sri Lankan cricket team if needed?
In fact it came from them only that they would like to have Sudarshan Kriya as part of their recovery programme after every match. They have a recovery day after a game where they do other processes; so they want Sudarshan Kriya as a part of that and they are also keen to do follow-up sessions, whichever part of the world they are. The Art of Living is present throughout the world so it easy for them also.
Do you also follow cricket or some other sports?
Yes, if I get time I do watch.
Don't you think the Indian cricket team could also benefit using this breathing technique?
Yes; in fact everyone should do it. The quality of your action depends on the state of your mind. If your mind is calm, centred, balanced, happy or joyful your action will be like that; but if your mind is frustrated, irritated or stressed then your action will be according to that. So the whole theme is to make the mind calm or focused, because that what everyone needs, especially the players.
I am sure the Indian cricket team will also benefit from this programme and they are most welcome if they want to do it.
The Art of Living course is meant for mental conditioning, but can it also bring relief from physical pain?
You should see the full definition of health. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has given this definition of health in which he says you have to see health in seven dimensions that is body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and self.
These are the seven layers of existence. We all know health as disease-free body, but it is not just that. It is a combination of disease-free body, quiver-free breath, confusion-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory, ego that includes all, and sorrow-free soul.
So only when all these seven layers of existence are taken into account only then you can say that you are healthy. So these breathing techniques and the other programmes that we do cater to each layer of existence; it is holistic.
You have also helped tragedy-struck people in other parts of Sri Lanka, mainly during the tsunami in 2005. Can you give details on that?
Wherever our help is required, our volunteers go there. We have done work is Kosovo also after the war, then in Lebanon and Iraq. In fact, in Iraq we have local Iraqis who conduct Sudarshan Kriya programmes and we also have Iraqi Art of Living teachers.
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has also visited Iraq twice and we trained the youth there; it is a ongoing process.
And during the tsunami, immediately after the tragedy struck, I went to Sri Lanka. The first week after the tsunami I visited Jafna. Already it was affected by war for the past 20-25 years and on top of that the tsunami happened. It was in a very bad state. That is when I took the volunteers and teachers from India and other countries to start the work there.