On Tour with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar received an honorary doctorate from the Gujarat Technological University in Ahmedabad, India on January 19, 2013. Dr. Kamla Beniwal, Her Excellency, Governor of Gujarat, presented the degree. This marks Sri Sri's 13th doctorate.

I congratulate all scientists who have assembled here, to see beyond traditional methods for more scope for research.

It was blogger's day out at The 1st International Bloggers' Conference where 837 youth delegates and enthusiastic bloggers came together to deliberate on the power of ‘Social Media for Social Good’. The conference, titled “Make a Global Connection - Just Connect”, also saw the launch of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's blog (www.srisrispeaks.org). Addressing youth delegates, Sri Sri said, “We are in a new era where we don’t depend on a group of people, journalists or newspapers. Everyone is playing the role of an informer and everyone has the right to express their vision to the whole world. This is such a great opportunity but it should not be misused. Blogs can really bring conflict between communities, friends, nations and families, while on the other hand, they can also unite them. We should work with the intention of bridging the gap and inculcating human values.” The conference boasted of an interesting line-up of themes. Many bloggers came together to form communities for writing on varied subjects impacting social transformation, such as arts for a cause, everyday spirituality, sports, travel, and vegetarian food.

"A journey to the beauty of the Self" was the motto of big course events that took place in the presence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar from 1 – 5 January, 2013. The New Year started with a serene boat trip on River Spree for the course attendees in the morning, continuing with a public talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the evening and cumulating into various Art of Living courses. Sri Sri inspired several attendees to work towards a stress-free and violence-free society and to share the inner peace found in the courses. The public talk on the evening of January 1 was completely sold out to more than 500 participants, with people standing and queuing up to listen to Sri Sri's words.