Through his multi-faceted interventions, Sri Sri has brought about a realization that there is strength in peace. “When we are peaceful, we radiate that peace to the people around us. If each one of us remains peaceful and radiates harmony, there will be collective harmony. Hence, the issue of peacemaking needs to be tackled not only in a collectively, but also individually,” explains Sri Sri.
Often attempts to bring peace in society are confined to the realms of politics and economics. The focus has been on establishing an outer atmosphere for peace rather than creating peace from within, thus making the means bigger than the end itself. This vision of Sri Sri envisages the process of peace in its totality by reaching out to individuals, families, communities, nations and humanity as a whole. “Unless every member of our global family is peaceful, our peace is incomplete,” says Sri Sri in his message on the occasion of the United Nations International Peace Day on September 21, 2008.
All the initiatives taken up by Sri Sri have an underlying goal of achieving holistic peace. His approach places sustainable development and social upliftment alongside value education. This has created happy, healthy individuals who have attained a decent standard of living and received essential education and life skills so that their proclivity to fight is eliminated.
By bringing a spiritual perspective founded on universal human values, Sri Sri has been able to take his message even to people who have never experienced peace in their lives. Through programmes that rid people of stress and inspire them to see the bigger meaning of life, he has been successful in making violent aggressors calmer, happier, more loving and less prone to destructive emotions. “There is only one criminal in the world today – stress,” he once said. |
- Recognize inner peace as the foundation for peace in society
- Adopt a holistic approach that touches individuals, families, communities, nations and humanity as a whole
- Have a practical spiritual basis and see stress as the main cause of violence
- Promote a sense of belonging among diverse groups of people by rekindling human values
- Promote development with a human face by placing sustainable development and social upliftment alongside value education
- Envisage youth as a key player in peacemaking
- Include solutions to combat global terrorism
- Foster human rights - political, civil, economic, cultural and social
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Sri Sri’s programmes have a strong accent on promoting a sense of belongingness among diverse groups of people by rekindling human values such as non-violence, compassion, cooperation, friendliness and service to society. “We need to educate people on human values, friendliness, compassion, non-violence, non-aggression. Aggression has come even into the lives of children. One who is very aggressive in the classroom, gets more attention than one who is peaceful,” he says.
By bringing trauma relief to victims and peace to violent aggressors, he empowers people to a new way of life.
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~His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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Another unique facet of Sri Sri’s agenda is that it enlists the youth as a key player. Young people everywhere have embraced special programmes designed by Sri Sri. This has far-reaching significance at a time when more and more misguided youth are being lured into acts of terrorism - the most dangerous security issue in the world today. Sri Sri has initiated several initiatives to combat terrorism. He ran a global campaign advocating a holistic approach to terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11- the first major act of global terrorism. “To end terrorism, we need to globalize wisdom and ensure a multi-cultural, multi-religious education for children. When every child in the world learns a little bit about every other religion, the child will not have inhibitions or hatred towards other religions or cultures,” he said in a full-page appeal for peace put out then by the Art of Living in The New York Times.
At a time when the world is becoming an alarmingly violent place to live with frequent terror attacks and reign of violence in many flashpoints, this all-encompassing vision offers a hay of hope to humanity. This approach to peace is not just alive and relevant, but is the only course for lasting world peace.
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Let there be peace within, Peace in society, Peace in the whole world
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