HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar drew the attention of the leaders of peace with a stimulating articulation on the time-tested but largely discarded vehicle for dialogue. “Dialogue is the only way to bring lasting peace in the world. Differences in ideologies and actions, however big, can be resolved through dialogue. It’s the only way to bring people together,” he said.
What excited the peace brigade at the Point of Peace Summit in Stavanger was the spiritual leader's refreshingly fresh take on dialogue. “ M ost of the problems and conflicts in the world today arise because of the lack of proper dialogue and communication. Hatred cannot be countered by hatred. Hate need to be treated with love as the power of love is much stronger. But the power of love can be experienced only when people come to talking terms,” he explained.
And it was not just talk. HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has a long and impeccable track record of bringing warring parties to the negotiating table and resolving differences around the world. Be it his interventions in Kosovo and Bosnia or in Gujarat, India after the communal riots of 2002, time and again he has shown that even the most volatile conflicts can be resolved through dialogue and effective mediation. He travelled to Baghdad amidst gunshots and concerns about safety for his life to engage different sections of the Iraqi leadership in finding non-violent ways of combating violence.
Just weeks before addressing the world leaders in Norway, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar delivered two major breakthroughs in peacemaking through dialogue.
In August 2008, he played a major role in finding an amicable solution to the Amarnath land imbroglio that triggered large-scale violence and protests throughout Jammu and Kashmir. He intervened to facilitate a dialogue process that not only defused the situation that got polarised along communal lines and was slowly turning into a India-Pakistan conflict, but also led to the ultimate resolution of the problem.
Similarly, in June, he worked to defuse the violence and tension that had engulfed the Indian state of Rajasthan following an agitation by the Gujjar community demanding recognition as a backward community (scheduled tribe status) and reservation benefits. At a time when the issue was deadlocked with both the sides refusing to soften their stands, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar travelled to Rajasthan and prevailed upon the agitators and government to initiate talks. Within a few days, a negotiated political settlement was reached, bringing an end to the 19-day imbroglio.
What makes him believe that dialogue will work in a world where even the mightiest of might has terribly failed in ending conflicts? “The key to achieving peace in this new environment lies in inter-cultural dialogue to nurture understanding of the differences that exist. I have seen this over and over again that when communication breaks down, it causes turbulence, which in turn causes stiffness and rigidity. When we interact with both the groups engaged in the conflict, they soften up. That was how we paved the way for reconciliation and acceptance in Kosovo; thus helping people who had been locked in bitter conflicts live together peacefully again. In Sri Lanka our focus has been on opening up channels of communication and facilitating meaningful dialogue between the government and LTTE,” he explains.
HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ’s call in Stavanger was for creating mediators. “The role of a mediator is vital and it is the skill of the mediator that makes successful dialogues. A mediator needs to listen and create hope in people. When you listen to conflicting points of view, you will often find that both sides are correct in their own points of view. If you listen to the Tamils, you would side with them. If you listen to the Sinhalese, you would side with them. If you listen to the Maoists, you would sympathise with them. If you listen to the government, you would think, they are right. We have to find a way where both sides can come together in peace.”
Stressing the role of mediators further HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, “When differences are considered, there could emerge something new which is relevant to both sides and this process can continue till something that is common to both parties is achieved. This can happen only through effective mediators who play the role of a catalyst without imposing themselves.”
This approach of acting as a neutral entity has helped HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar not only unite the hearts and minds of the people, but also impress upon conflicting parties to shun rigid positions and consider several options for peace. For a dialogue to be successful, the parties need to “suspend” their motives, egos and judgments and attempt to “think together” collectively. And this is where spiritual leaders like HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have a unique advantage. Not only that they are free of motives and prejudices, but also bring with them tools to alleviate stress. “Stress creates barriers in communication. Thinking together is possible only when barriers are broken. That’s why we need to get rid of stress in the world to end conflicts. The root cause of all the violence is stress,” explains HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar .
Through programmes designed to calm the individual mind, HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been laying the foundation for promoting collective peace in many corners of the world. His stress elimination programmes that inspire people to see life in a broader perspective, have been widely acclaimed for their effectiveness in transforming destructive emotions and turning violent aggressors into more reasonable, calm and loving people. Take the example of the recent success in creating bonhomie between Deula and Guéré tribes in Côte d'Ivoire.
One such programme of 15 youth from each tribe, who were at loggerheads for the last many years, not only united their hearts and minds, but inspired them to join hands in a friendly gesture of repairing the houses abandoned by the opposite tribe and inviting them back to their house. One of the tribes even handed back a village which it had forcibly occupied. The Ministry of National Reconciliation of Côte d'Ivoire has feted the breakthrough.
These programmes have worked with amazing success in creating a sense of belonging between even people perceived to harbour arch enmities. “It’s wonderful to be together with so many people from neighbouring Arab countries. The programme has brought us so close that I can’t believe that Arabs and Israelis don’t see eye-to-eye back home,” said Yoav Yenon from Israel after attending a special course hosted by HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bangalore, India to bring Arabs and Israelis together. Along with 16 Israelis, over 150 Arabs, including Iranians, Jordanians, Bahraini, Lebanese, Omanis and Saudi Arabian, took part in the programme held in August 2007. The palpable camaraderie was best captured in a comment made by a visiting Israeli journalist from Channel 10 News. “It is amazing to see people from my country so happy here. I never imagined Arabs and Israeli can mingle so freely with one other.”
HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ’s approach of dialogue has an inherent advantage over other means in tackling terrorism and ideological conflicts arising out of intolerance for diversity. As dialogue can happen only between groups which have diverse points of view, it acknowledges the existence of differences, thus making it easier for the parties to break the ice. “The core of dialogue itself is diversity,” he adds. And it was this understanding which brought phenomenal success in his efforts to bring harmony among the Hindus and Muslim in the aftermath of the Gujarat communal carnage. Even in those highly-polarised circumstances, he was able to convince leaders from both communities to shed differences and work for restoring peace.
“Even decades-long ideological differences between the Maoists and landlords in Bihar melted when we established contact with the warring groups and fostered dialogue between them,” HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar recalls referring to the Art of Living’s intervention to check Naxalism in Bihar. The fallout of the dialogue process was so strong that the cycle of violence between Ranvir Sena -- the private army of landlords – and the Maoist groups literally came to an end in Bihar and when HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar visited the Naxal-infested villages in 2002, more than 100,000 youth from various warring factions came together and took a vow to spread the message of non-violence.
HH Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is so sworn by the power of dialogue that he even says the only purpose of organised religion is to facilitate more dialogue. Listening to his passionate pitch, it seems hard to deny that dialogue is a phenomenon whose time has arrived.
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