"Why should there always be conflict in the world in the name of religion when religion talks about love and service? It’s because they’re not really attending to the spiritual part of it. Spirituality unites people of all religions. It takes away all the barriers."
Tolerance for different religions and social harmony through spirituality are among the principles that have made the Indian spiritual leader an influential figure among millions of people in India and all over the world. He is revered and regarded in the same breath as the Dalai Lama, Baba Amte, or the late Mother Teresa.
Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar believes that compassion, commitment to society, a cosmic understanding of life, and regeneration of human values can all bring about global peace and development. And such an impassioned undertaking starts out with the individual: how well he or she can take in silence and just breathe.
"All the positive feelings you get from meditation, you need to expend somewhere, and that you can do through immense voluntarism," says the spiritual messiah. "Voluntarism gives immense satisfaction. Meditation brings you deep relaxation. Meditation is finding love, and service or voluntarism is an expression of it."
The Art of Living Foundation is proof of how the combined practice of voluntarism and meditation can bring about positive change. The nonprofit educational, charitable, and humanitarian organization, voluntarily run by the same people whose lives it has changed, is involved in a variety of United Nations-sanctioned committees and activities relating to health, education, sustainable development, and conflict resolution. Along with another foundation started by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), the Art of Living Foundation has been active in development efforts and bringing self-reliance to millions of people in war and calamity-torn areas. Their message and services of hope were observed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, earthquake-devastated Gujarat, tsunami-tattered South Asia, New York during 9/11. Now, Art of Living is active in Iraq, helping people deal with their trauma and stress.
Art of Living offers programs that include yoga, meditation, and a unique breathing technique that aims to relieve stress, anxiety, depression and restore human values to individuals from all backgrounds, religions, and cultural traditions.
Recently, this Manila-based faction was honored with a visit by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Here are a few of His Holiness’ thoughts from the press conference:
How important is breathing in the life of spirituality?
Breathing calms the mind. Once the mind is still, then spirituality begins. Spirituality means all that the spirit symbolizes: love, respect, compassion, joy. All these come when you are able to go deeper.
How often should we meditate?
Twice a day is good or at least once a day.
By now, you’ve heard about the Korean student who shot over 30 students in Virginia Tech. If you were to meet him before all this had happened, what would you have told him?
There are many students living in such rage, many youngsters that have become schizophrenic. It’s because they are not being taught how to handle their emotions, how to handle the negativity, aggression, and the loneliness they feel. We have this new program that has become very popular and helps students how to handle the negative emotions. Neither in school nor at home does anybody teach you how to handle your negative feelings. They get upset, angry, jealous of somebody, feel lonely. They feel lonely. They don’t know what to do with that: You feel you’re stuck with that, and then such mindless, senseless violent stuff like what happened. For that we need this knowledge.
How much of what this young man did was his karma?
Karma is not fatalistic. Karma means the impressions of the mind that impression, would have been erased by following spiritual knowledge. That’s why yoga, meditation, and spiritual knowledge are so essential. We teach people how to brush their teeth, but we don’t teach them how to cleanse their mind and how to keep them light and pure. That is why Art of Living has a very big role to play. I feel, in some way, we are responsible for whatever happened there.
What happens when you do service?
To sit and keep thinking about yourself: "What about me? What about me?", you really get depressed. When you see that you have a mission and that you can help others in society, there won’t be any depression left.
Is the youth as inclined to spirituality as you would wish?
The youth wants a different kind of spirituality. They don’t want something very serious. They don’t want something that says what you should do every step in life. They want a way to harness their emotions. They want a way to pray deeply within themselves. The youth today are more scientific in their approach. We need a scientific spirituality, a spirituality that appeals to their intellect, at the same time enkindles the feeling in their heart.
And how does Art of Living meet these needs?
The exercises of Art of Living are geared towards meeting these needs. It is for making the intellect free from inhibitions and getting rid of the barriers that you put in your mind. At the same time, it invokes feeling in a more positive direction.
How can we merge the teachings of Art of Living with the teachings of the Catholic Church?
Art of Living only helps you to go deeper into your prayer. It helps you to become calmer. When you want to learn about our own mind, our own breath and intellect, it benefits your body.
Whether you’re Catholic, Protestant or Born Again, the toothpaste will work, soaps will work. In the same way, though the roots of yoga are in the Hindu tradition, we have made it so secular that people from various religious backgrounds are getting the benefit of it. Acupuncture comes from the Chinese tradition, but it does not refuse to treat someone that is not Chinese. We accept food from every part of the world; we accept music from every part of the world so why shouldn’t we accept wisdom from every part of the world when it is useful for human evolution?
What is the biggest challenge as a spiritual leader?
Growing fanaticism in the world, the thinking that "Everyone is going to hell and I’m the only one going to heaven." This type of mentality is what has caused terrorism in the world today, the violence, domestic violence, the suicidal tendencies. You know, 27 percent of the population in Europe today is depressed and on Prozac. If it is left like this, it will become 48 percent in the next few years. This is really something of concern to me. Like what we saw in Virginia  you would have never heard of such things before. It was only in the last 10 years that all these classroom violence began. We have not been giving enough emphasis on human values.