On Tour with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  

Over a thousand village deities gathered from all over Karnataka at the newly built Guru Paduka Vanam at the Art of Living International Campus at Bangalore on 12th May. The oval shaped amphitheater with a water body at the center completely full of decorated deities was an ethereal sight to behold, especially when all thousand of them were offered arati at the same time. The entire atmosphere was festive and full of celebration with sounds of drums, cymbals, conches and ringing bells. Explaining about the significance of the event, Sri Sri said in his address, "Just like we have a Parliament, the subtle beings also have a Parliament. This Parliament of the Gods has assembled here today. An idol becomes a deity when a realized person invokes life in it through mantras. Every village has a deity that is worshipped. Leaving aside all differences of caste and creed, we are all under one Divinity. The purpose of this event is to remind us of this."

Sri Sri interacted with entrepreneurs at a special seminar, encouraging the audience to embrace spirituality in corporate practices.

Earlier in the day, Mr Hakubun Shimomura, Minister of Education ,Culture, Sports, Science & Technology met with Sri Sri.

Former Prime Minister of Japan and Opposition Leader Mr Noda Yoshiko also received Sri Sri.

Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe welcomed HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Mr. Shinzo Abe appreciated the work of The Art of Living in the country and lauded Sri Sri's vision of a stress-free, violence-free world.

Earlier in the day, Sri Sri visited the famous Meiji shrine.

A large audience comprising Indo-Japanese youth interacted with Sri Sri at a special seminar at the Indian Embassy. The Japan Entrepreneurs & Presidents Association (JEPA) awarded Sri Sri with a special Certificate of Appreciation. Mr Yamada Hiroshi, Member of Parliament, was also present at the session and felicitated Sri Sri. 

Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe welcomed HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Tokyo on April 23. Mr. Shinzo Abe appreciated the work of The Art of Living in the country and lauded Sri Sri's vision of a stress-free, violence-free world.

The Indian ambassador to Japan hosted a welcome reception for Sri Sri as the latter arrived in Tokyo.

Earlier as Sri Sri landed,  he was interviewed by a Tokyo channel which comes to the Narita airport every Monday and interviews passengers.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Where are you coming  from & where are you going?

Sri Sri: I'm coming from Canada and on my way to Indonesia from here.

Q: Why have you come to Japan?

Sri Sri: I'm on a world tour to create a happy society. I'm giving a few public talks and seminars aboutt spreading health and happiness in Japan.

Q: What is your name?

Sri Sri: They call me Guruji.

Q: What kind of teacher are you?

Sri Sri: I teach meditation & Yoga.

Sri Sri addressed 1000 people at the launch of the I Meditate Calgary campaign. He was greeted by a roaring crowd and a standing ovation, and was introduced by Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, Jonathan Denis.

He spoke about meditation, did Sukshma yoga for the head and then went into a 25-minute guided meditation, followed by Q&A.

“What we do here is mend broken hearts. Neither alcohol, nor eating can fill the emptiness of a broken heart. Meditation can. Also meditation has many physical and mental benefits that medical research is documenting.”

He departed at for the airport and again received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Calgary’s Mayor Naheed Nenshi met Sri Sri and they spoke about how the city has grown. Mayor Nenshi said that he wears a badge with the number ‘3’ on it. The badge signifies his campaign, “do three good things for your community each year”. Sri Sri then went on to explain the significance of the number ‘3’ which he also uses. He tells doctors to do three free medical camps; lawyers to do three free consultations; engineers to do three free estimates. He then went on to speak about how the number ‘3’ is a very auspicious number – that is why they say shanti three times, which signifies peace for the mind, body and spirit.

Earlier in the day, Sri Sri interacted with participants from the ongoing Art of Living courses and also gave a talk at a Hindu temple. He addressed 700 people in a hall with a capacity of 400. He spoke about the significance of Ram, the importance of unification in the community (working together) and did a Q&A.

Sri Sri was mobbed on his way out of the temple, India style.

Then he met with 60 local volunteers and inspired them to reach out to various ethnic communities and spread the spirit of peace and happiness.

Sri Sri’s evening keynote address entitled ‘Enlightenment: The Answer to Everything’ opened with spiritual music that set the room of 2500 in harmony.

The Mayor gave a welcome address introducing Sri Sri, he praised all of the good work he has done globally, and encouraged the citizens of Calgary to become more involved in their communities.

Mayor Nenshi then gave him the Calgarian welcome of a white cowboy hat and announced him as an honorary citizen of Calgary and then asked the crowed to initiate Sri Sri by all saying together, ‘Yee-Haw’.

He answered questions with delight, many about meditation. In response to, “Is it hard?”, as he put on and took off the hat, he said: “It is as easy as putting on and taking off a hat…”

He taught the technique of reducing stress in the shoulders and neck and everyone loved it. He led a meditation and as someone from the audience shared: ‘…15 minutes, we sat shoulder to shoulder.  Truly, a blissful time!’

Media links

http://artofliving.ca/media_articles/060906_CH_nobelcalgary.pdf

http://www.theloop.ca/news/ctvnews/local/alberta/article/-/a/2275934/Guru-leads-Calgary-meditation-movement

http://www.justinhavre.com/blog/meditation-on-the-forefront-in-calgary.html

http://www.660news.com/2013/04/20/i-meditate-features-sri-sri-ravi-shankar-sunday-at-the-bmo-centre/

Several dignitaries interacted with Sri Sri at a special meet, which included political leaders such as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, Joanthan Denis, who brought Sri Sri a message from the Premier of Alberta, Calgary; MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Moe Amery and Dave Rodney(Dave is an Associate Minister for Wellness.

Past and present SEED event speakers also met with Sri Sri – Sequoyah Trueblood, Native Leader; Sherry Strong, food philosopher and nutritional strategist; Theo Fleury, Canadian former professional ice hockey player for the Calgary Flames, founder of an NGO fighting against sex abuse; and Elisabeth Fayt, author were among the others.

Later in the day, Sri Sri conducted the Shakti Kriya sessions for the course participants.

The evening’s satang was full of people beaming and dancing. Everyone went and met Sri Sri one on one. Though the interactions with the course participants had been planed for the next day, it organically happened that evening

Sri Sri addressed over 200 medical professionals through The Symposium for the Medical Fraternity of Calgary, at the Libin Theater, Health Sciences Center.

He spoke about meditation, Ayurveda and allopathic medicines.  Sri Sri also gave a debrief about the research and development happening at the Ayurveda Hospital in India and invited interested people to come and engage in research.

A definite highlight was when be took out the Shakti drops, Art of Living’s special immunity medicine which is yielding benefits to many people. After a demo on the Shakti drops, a yoga followed.

The participants also had the opportunity to experience first hand the calming effects of meditation, as he guided them through a deep and profound 18-minute meditation.

The health providers in attendance came from a wide variety of health professions; doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, internal medicine specialists, naturopathy, homeopathy, as well as some working with veterans, medical students and residents.

Sri Sri’s talk was complemented by three presenters giving different perspectives – Dr. Emma Sepalla, Associate Director Research, Stanford University, talked about the healing factor of SKY® and Meditation in at-risk groups; War Veterans (PTSD) and High Risk Adolescents Behavior.

Dr. Ryan Punambolam, Neurologist gave a well-organized academic presentation that illustrated through medical research the mitigating effects of SKY® and Meditation on psychoneuroimmunological (PNI) disorders, and showed the benefits of yoga and meditation in health promotion.

Dr. Bharti Verma, Family Physician, MA, MD CCFP gave a short anecdotal presentation, which included case studies of some of her patients who have done SKY®, and talked about work-related stress within the medical fraternity.