CLARITY IN MIND, PURITY IN HEART, AND SINCERITY IN APPROACH CAN RESOLVE ANY PROBLEM IN THE WORLD – GURUDEV SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Globally renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, recognized for his unwavering commitment to causes like peace, environmental stewardship, meditation, and education, delivered a keynote address on the 9th of December 2023 during COP28 at the Faith Pavillion. During his visit to COP28 in Dubai, Trade Fair Times Arabia’s Consulting Editor, Shaneer N Siddiqui, got an opportunity to interview Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Shaneer NS : Welcome to TFT Arabia, and thanks for talking to us. In COP28, all the top leaders and policymakers are gathered to protect the Earth. What is the role of a spiritual leader in COP28, and How a faith community be leveraged for organizers to protect the environment?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Ideas can be great, but when it comes to the implementation, the faith leaders who can motivate people, make them take it up, and do it accurately. It is the people’s participation that makes anything successful. The faith-based organization and public all have to come together to achieve anything significant on the planet. In India for ages, we have always considered nature as a mother and it is part of our growth, so unless we care for the planet, we care for the five elements of nature.
Shaneer NS : When we are talking about long-term goals or any other development plans, the policymakers are sitting on the top, they are not aware of the gross root situation. It is always a lack of communication….How do you see this problem and the role of Art of Living?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Yes, we are very much with the grassroots people. Our work is all on the grassroots. We’re not just creating an awareness of media campaigns. What we’re doing is reaching out to farmers and training them how to take care of the water, take care of the land, to rejuvenate rivers, which are just on the revenue records, but there is no river and no water. We also trained them on what trees to plant to you know to preserve the groundwater in what happened during the Green Revolution. In India, what they did, they brought a lot of these trees, acacias and other trees which just suck the groundwater and don’t give attract rain. So now we are replacing those trees with indigenous trees and the trees which will attract birds which would attract you know the rain and also see that the groundwater levels are recharged, and we have rechargeable more than 1000 water bodies and 75 rivers in India. This has helped the farmers a lot and organic farming is another thing that helps to rejuvenate our depleted soil. This education needs to happen at the grassroots level and that’s what we have been doing.
Shaneer NS : We are in the Middle East, and we have seen in the past, that the art of living played a significant role in bringing peace and happiness in Iraq and Syria after conflicts. Currently, another conflict is going on in this region if you get a chance to mediate and bring peace… Will you accept it and what will be your approach?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : I am always ready for peace If someone invites me. Sometimes people ask me why I jump into this type of situation when there’s a conflict. You know, what can we do? It’s in our nature to either resolve the conflict or to bring peace. That continues for a generation that’s come to help people to get rid of that and this work is happening based on volunteers, who have been so daring enough, to go to these regions and they do so much to bring them into the normal situation. They know the psyche of people that heal them and bring them together.
See if you observe nature, nature has diverse fauna and flora, but this nature loves diversity. Language is diverse and the whole world does not have one language. We have so many languages. So many types of food we use. So here similarly this could be faith and belief systems. Any differences should be honored, instead of just tolerating them. The word tolerates, I don’t like it so much because you tolerate what you don’t like, you don’t appreciate. So, I would say we must learn to appreciate all the different cultures, traditions, and customs in the world. And that’s what we are doing in the Art of Living, bringing everyone together, giving the simple message that the world is one family.
Shaneer NS : We would love to know that magic, wherever you are intervening in Cambodia, either in the Middle East or in India. What techniques did you use, and what teachings were given to the revolutionaries? That they are ready to come for peace and love.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : It’s very simple. Clarity in mind, Purity in heart, and Sincerity in approach. That formula is always with us. Once you listen to everybody, understand their mindset and issues. If you listen to both sides, you will find both of them are right. Because there is a communication gap, we always try to find the common thread and bring them together and see how it could be resolved. Clarity,
Shaneer NS : You have said that “Diversity is what creates happiness and beauty in the world and that we are experiencing in UAE. If we try to eliminate diversity, then we are mistaken. We are then creating more conflicts.” Could you explain it more for our audience, particularly in the context of south asia? As, anywhere in the world conflict starts with the idea of superiority only…
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : See if you observe nature, nature has diverse fauna and flora, but this nature loves diversity. Language is diverse and the whole world does not have one language. We have so many languages. So many types of food we use. So here similarly this could be faith and belief systems. Any differences should be honored, instead of just tolerating them. The word tolerates, I don’t like it so much because you tolerate what you don’t like, you don’t appreciate. So, I would say we must learn to appreciate all the different cultures, traditions, and customs in the world. And that’s what we are doing in the Art of Living, bringing everyone Spritual Talk Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Trade Fair Times Arabia’s Consulting Editor, Shaneer N Siddiqui 34 | Trade fair times arabia | JANUARY 2024 tftarabia.ae together, giving the simple message that the world is one family.
Let me tell you, conflict doesn’t come with superiority. If you ever feel superior, you don’t care for the inferior. The conflict starts with the perceived threat, where you think that person is going to be a challenge to your existence. So, this perception of threat is erroneous. And when you think someone is out to get you, then you react in a way, or you act in a counterproductive way. So again here, a breakdown of communication, and perceived threat from the other person. Adamancy and illogical thinking are the main factors of conflict.
Shaneer NS : In today’s materialistic world, how spirituality can be relevant for human beings and especially for youths?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Today youth are in big numbers, and they want to do something for their mental robustness, nowadays mental health is a very big issue. Youth today want to be relaxed, they want to get rid of anxiety and tension because it has become such a big epidemic in the region. We have that teaching program in 108 universities in America. In many places in India, schools and colleges have introduced yoga, breathing, and meditation.
Shaneer NS : The darkest line on the globe is the division between East and West. How will you define Progress vs Renunciation (Pargati vs Tyag) or something else?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Now the situation is changing. This is not so much with the younger generation. The younger generation is not so consumeristic in nature. They want to care for the planet they are not so rigid. Let me tell you they’re more open except in some pockets where people are not given exposure to the whole world. Open-minded society has made it much easier to cross the boundaries between the north and south, east and west. It’s all become now a sort of homogeneous society.
Shaneer NS : When we are talking about cultural awakening, there is a debate that cultural awakening taking the population backward. How do we guard against that? How do we bring our cultural values in sync with modernity?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Cultural awakening does not take one backward, fanaticism and religious thought take people backward or superiority think that I am superior and everybody else is inferior, this type of feeling can push you back until the dark ages. When we don’t embrace the diversity of the world, we will go backward to the days when people are fighting with each other.
Shaneer NS : Indian traditional practices like yoga and traditional medicines are in vogue in the West. It is a more commercialized and fashionable thing than its real essence…. How do you see this phenomenon?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : Yoga or meditation medicine cannot become a fashion. Even if it becomes a fashion, it doesn’t matter, as long as everybody uses it for their physical and mental health. I am happy with it because ultimately we want people to be happy. We want people to be prosperous and the planet to be more sustainable.
Shaneer NS : Culture and religion are an integral part of our lifestyle, but we have seen the good use and misuse of it around the world…What is your take and your message on it?
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar : lack of wisdom in life can create a conflict, whether it is domestic conflict or international. Post COVID domestic conflicts have tripled, conflict can be within the religion or between the religions. It can be between different ideologies. People follow the same religion, but not everybody is together. Same[1]religion followers carry separate identities. Here the main thing is stress. Stress is the enemy of mankind. If a person is free from stress, is happy. He will make every opportunity for progress. Always a good thing can be misused if you’re stressed.