Ravi Shankar | |
---|---|
Born | Ravi Shankar 13 May 1956 |
Works | Celebrating Silence, An Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker, God Loves Fun, "Astavakra Gita(Commentary)", "Commentary on Narada Bhakti Sutra" |
Honors | Padma Vibhushan |
Website | Official Website |
Ravi Shankar (born 13 May 1956) is an Indian guru [1] and spiritual leader. He is also referred to as Sri Sri or Gurudev. [2] [3] From around the mid 1970s, he worked as an apprentice under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. In 1981, he founded the Art of Living foundation. [4]
Ravi Shankar was born in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, to Vishalakshi and R.S.Venkat Ratnam. He was named "Ravi" (an Indian name which means "sun") because his birth was on a Sunday, and "Shankar" after the eighth-century Hindu saint, Adi Shankara, whose birthday was the same day as Ravi Shankar. [5]
Ravi Shankar's first teacher was Sudhakar Chaturvedi, an Indian Vedic Scholar and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. [6] [7] He graduated from the St. Joseph's University, Bangalore with a Bachelor of Science degree. [8] [9] After graduation, he travelled with his second teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, [10] giving talks and arranging conferences on Vedic science, and setting up Transcendental Meditation and Ayurveda centers. [11] [12]
In the 1980s, he initiated a series of practical and experiential courses in spirituality around the globe. He says that his rhythmic breathing practice, Sudarshan Kriya, came to him in 1982, "like a poem, an inspiration", after a ten-day period of silence on the banks of the Bhadra River in Shivamogga, in the state of Karnataka, adding, "I learned it and started teaching it". [13]
In 1983, he held the first Art of Living course in Switzerland. In 1986, he travelled to Apple Valley, California, in the US to conduct the first course to be held in North America. [14]
He believes spirituality is that which enhances human values such as love, compassion and enthusiasm. It is not limited to any one religion or culture. Hence it is open to all people. According to him, the spiritual bond we share as part of the human family is more important than nationality, gender, religion, profession, or other identities that separate us. [15]
According to him, science and spirituality are linked and compatible, both springing from the urge to know. The question, "Who am I?" leads to spirituality; the question, "What is this?" leads to science. Emphasizing that joy is only available in the present moment, his stated vision is to create a world free of stress and violence. His programs are said to offer practical tools to help accomplish this.[ citation needed ] He sees breath as the link between body and mind, and a tool to relax the mind, emphasising the importance of both meditation/spiritual practice and service to others. In his view, "Truth is spherical rather than linear; so it has to be contradictory." [16]
He visited Pakistan in 2004 on a goodwill mission [17] and again in 2012 when he inaugurated Art of Living centers in Islamabad and Karachi. [18] The Islamabad center was burned down by armed men in March 2014. [19] [20]
During his visits to Iraq, at the invitation of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, in 2007 [21] and again in 2008, [22] he met with political and religious leaders to promote global peace. In November 2014, Ravi Shankar visited the relief camps in Erbil, Iraq. He also hosted a conference to address the dire condition of Yazidis and other non-Muslims in the region. [23] [24]
In June 2015, Ravi Shankar met with the delegations of Colombian government and the FARC who were negotiating the resolution to Colombian conflict in Havana. He urged FARC leaders to follow the Gandhian principle of non-violence to attain their political objectives and social justice. [25] For his efforts, Colombia's House of Representatives awarded him the Simón Bolívar Order of Democracy, Knight Cross grade. [26]
In 2019, Ravi Shankar met with Venezuelan leaders from both sides to encourage dialogue, end the political conflict and restore peace and stability in the country. [27] [28] [29]
The South Asian Forum for Peace was launched in November 2016 at a conference titled "Kashmir Back to Paradise" in Jammu. According to Ravi Shankar, 90% of people in Kashmir want peace but are neglected. He added, "The solution to the Kashmir problem can only come from the Kashmiris". This forum is intended to bring together eight South Asian countries to cooperate in areas such as entrepreneurship, skill development, cultural exchange, educational partnerships and women's empowerment. [30] [31] [32] [33]
68 militants from 11 militant outfits surrendered to the government in Manipur on the eve of India's 71st Independence Day in August 2017. The Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, lauded Ravi Shankar for his efforts in making this happen and "bringing peace in troubled areas". Ravi Shankar's organization has been working in Manipur for the last 15 years. [34] [35]
In September 2017, at the "Strength in Diversity - North East Indigenous People's Conference", Ravi Shankar claimed that another 500 militants were waiting to "lay down weapons and join the peace process". The conference was attended by representatives from 67 rebel outfits from the Northeast. Expressing his willingness to facilitate the peaceful transition of any rebel group wanting to join the mainstream, Ravi Shankar claimed that his organization has been working for this for the last 10–12 years and "will continue to work until the last gun is laid down". [36] Former ULFA General Secretary, Anup Chetia, who was also the convenor of the conference, appreciated Ravi Shankar's interest and efforts for peace in the region. [37] [38]
Ravi Shankar's efforts at mediation in the Ayodhya dispute in 2017 received a mixed response from both Hindu and Muslim leaders. Based on Supreme Court of India's suggestion for an out-of-court settlement, [39] he proposed a mutual compromise where both communities "gift" neighbouring pieces of land to each other. This proposal was met with a lot of skepticism and resistance. [40] [41] [42] [43] [44]
In March 2019, he was appointed by the Supreme Court of India to a 3-member mediation committee tasked with finding a resolution for the case in 8 weeks. [45] [46] [47] In its final verdict, the Supreme Court of India assigned the disputed land to a trust for building a temple and an alternate piece of land nearby to build a mosque. [48]
Ravi Shankar is involved in interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute. [49] [50] Through interfaith summits in 2008 and 2010, he has been engaging faith-based leaders for collective action against HIV. [51] In July 2013 at a meeting in UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, issues including HIV prevention, gender based violence, stigma and discrimination were discussed. [52]
In 1992, he started a prison programme [53] to rehabilitate prison inmates and help them reintegrate into society. [54]
In 2009, Shankar was named by Forbes magazine as the fifth most powerful leader in India. [76]
In 2012, Ravi Shankar, while attending a function in Jaipur, claimed that some Indian government schools are breeding grounds for Naxalism, a movement of militant communist groups in India declared to be terrorist organisations. "All government schools and colleges should be privatised. The government should not run any school. It's often found that children from government schools get into Naxalism and violence. Children from private schools don't get into this," he was quoted as saying by media reports, his comments were condemned by educationists and ministers as "unfortunate, illogical", and termed it as a "bizarre logic for privatisation" [77] [78] [79] Later, he issued a clarification that he didn't mean that all government schools breed Naxalism. More clarification followed on his Twitter account: "I specifically referred to sick government schools in Naxal affected areas. Many who have turned to Naxalism have come from these schools. I did not say all Govt schools (where lakhs study) breed Naxalism. Great talents have emerged from these schools & I would never generalize." [80] [81]
In March 2018, he faced criticism from political leaders for his commentary, where he said, India will turn into Syria if the Ram temple issue is not resolved soon. [82]
Ravi Shankar was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of North Indian classical music in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many musicians in India and throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999. He is also the father of American singer Norah Jones.
The Art of Living Foundation is a volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization (NGO). It was founded in 1981 by Ravi Shankar. The Art of Living Foundation has centers in 180 countries.
Anoushka Hemangini Shankar is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic. In addition to releasing seven solo studio albums beginning with Anoushka (1998), she has also worked alongside a wide variety of musicians, including Karsh Kale on the full-length collaboration Breathing Under Water (2007) and her father Ravi Shankar. She has received nine Grammy Awards nominations and was the first musician of Indian origin to perform live and to serve as a presenter at the ceremony. She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield.
Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. In 2023, he was awarded a honorary doctorate by Birmingham City University.
Hinduism in Mongolia is a minority religion; it has few followers and only began to appear in Mongolia in the late twentieth century. According to the 2010 and 2011 Mongolian census, the majority of people that identify as religious follow Buddhism (86%), Shamanism (4.7), Islam (4.9%) or Christianity (3.5). Only 0.5% of the population follow other religions.
Sadhguru is an Indian guru and founder of the Isha Foundation, based in Coimbatore, India. The foundation, established in 1992, operates an ashram and yoga centre that carries out educational and spiritual activities. Sadhguru has been teaching yoga since 1982. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy and Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny, and a frequent speaker at international forums.
Ravi Shankar Prasad is an Indian politician and lawyer, from the Bharatiya Janata Party. A Member of Parliament since 2000, first in the Rajya Sabha (2000–2019) and then in the Lok Sabha, Prasad has served as Union Minister multiple times: As Minister of State, he served in the ministries of Coal (2001–2003), Law and Justice (2002–2003), and Information and Broadcasting (2003–2004) under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's premiership; as Cabinet Minister, he held the Law and Justice, Communications, and Electronics and Information Technology (2014–2021) portfolios under Narendra Modi's premiership.
Sanskar TV is an Indian spiritual Television channel, based in Noida, India. Its programs feature to broadcasting on the Indian philosophy, religion, spiritual solidarity, and culture and focuses more on devotion than spiritualism. The channel started broadcasting in June 2000 and in 2004 The Tribune reported it to have been gaining popularity over the then dominated entertainment and news channels on Indian television.
Arundhati is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language horror fantasy film directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, and produced by Shyam Prasad Reddy, under his banner, Mallemala Entertainments. The film stars Anushka Shetty in the title role with Sonu Sood, Arjan Bajwa, Sayaji Shinde, Manorama, and Kaikala Satyanarayana. The music is composed by Koti with cinematography by K. K. Senthil Kumar and editing by Marthand K. Venkatesh.
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is part of an ongoing conflict between left-wing extremist groups and the Indian government. The Naxalites are a group of communist supportive groups, who often follow Maoist political sentiment and ideology.
Dandupalya is a 2012 Indian Kannada-language crime film directed by Srinivas Raju and starring Pooja Gandhi, Ravi Kale, Makarand Deshpande, P. Ravishankar and Raghu Mukherjee. The plot is based on the real-life exploits of a notorious gang named 'Dandupalya'. The film was a major commercial success as it became one of the highest-grossing films of all time of the year 2012, being shown for more than 100-days in multiple centres. With Pooja in the lead, it turned out to be an all time highest grossing female lead film of Kannada cinema industry.
Ravishankar, Ravisankar, or Ravishanker may refer to
Pudipeddi Ravi Shankar, also known as Sai Ravi, is an Indian actor, dubbing artist, director and a writer. As an actor, he predominantly appears in Kannada films, in addition to Telugu and Tamil films. As a dubbing artist, he has dubbed for over 3500 films, with more than 1000 of those each in Telugu and Tamil, and over 150 in Kannada.
Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.
Chants of India is an album by Indian musician Ravi Shankar released in 1997 on Angel Records. Produced by his friend and sometime collaborator George Harrison, the album consists of Vedic and other Hindu sacred prayers set to music, marking a departure from Shankar's more familiar work in the field of Hindustani classical music. The lyrical themes of the recorded chants are peace and harmony among nature and all creatures. Sessions for the album took place in the Indian city of Madras and at Harrison's home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, following his work on The Beatles' Anthology (1995). Anoushka Shankar, John Barham, Bikram Ghosh, Tarun Bhatacharaya and Ronu Majumdar are among the many musicians who contributed to the recording.
The International Day of Yoga is a day in recognition of Yoga, that is celebrated around the world annually on 21 June, following its adoption by the United Nations in 2014. As Yoga exercises have shown significant benefits for physical and mental well-being, it was considered important by the UN to globally promote this wellness practice, which originated in ancient India.
Rathaavara is a 2015 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Chandrashekar Bandiyappa and produced by Dharmashree Manjunath. It stars Sri Murali and Rachita Ram in the lead roles, while the supporting cast features P. Ravi Shankar, Chikkanna, Sadhu Kokila and Charan Raj. The music was composed by Dharma Vish and cinematography by Bhuvan Gowda.
The World Cultural Festival (WCF) is a global event series organized by the Art of Living Foundation.
Gurudev: On the Plateau of the Peak is a biography of Ravi Shankar, a spiritual leader and founder of The Art of Living Foundation. The author of the book is his sister Bhanumathi Narasimhan.