This book is a collection of weekly talks, conversations, and messages that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar gave between August 4 1999 to July 19 2000.
Shankar (not to be confused with the famous sitar player) is a saint from India, who's teachings give a wonderful, warm view of Hindu values and beliefs- a religion that is often misunderstood in the West.
While these talks often discuss the state of the world at the time they were written, because they discuss human life on the most basic levels - love, hatred, trust, peace, silence, happiness, they are still valuable today. Sri Sri avoids lengthy discussions about the deeper philosophy of life, yet his talks reflect these values to their very core.
From this Book:
"When you're in the grip of feverishness about the result of your actions, what do you do?
Faith: Have faith and confidence that the result will be much better than you can ever imagine. With faith you can get rid of feverishness of action/achievement.
Feverishness can also be a hangover from overactivity. Then sleep, listening to flute music, cold water baths, etc. can help.
Dispassion: Know the whole thing will be over one way or the other, and it doesn't matter. Meditation and breathing can calm you down. Drop whatever you are doing and do something completely irrelevant, e.g., while decorating your house, take a moment off to cut grass, or go shopping! When you are doing something very important, take a moment off to do something totally irrelevant and insignificant. This enhances your creativity. Relevant action keeps you bound to the action. Irrelevant action makes life a game!"
About the Author:
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spiritual guru and founder of the Art of Living movement, believes in spreading the knowledge of living a healthier life through his message of compassion, commitment to society, and a cosmic understanding of life. Born on May 13, 1956 in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Ravi developed an inclination and an amazing acumen for the study of the ancient Vedic scriptures.
By the age of 17, he obtained an advanced degree in Modern Physics, and later received an Honorary Doctorate from Kuvempu University, Karnataka, India. At an early age his father, R S V Ratnam delegated him to the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a renowned spiritual master. After attaining his degree in science, Ravi joined Maharishi's entourage, taught the Vedic pundits at Maharishi's charities, and soon became the Maharishi's favourite disciple.
In 1982, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar went into ten days of silence and emerged as an enlightened master. It is believed that during this time he cognized the famous Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique. In order to spread the kriya and other related knowledge, Sri Sri subsequently set up the Art of Living (AOL) Organization in 1982.
Today the Art of Living Foundation is the world's largest volunteer based Non-Governmental Organization, active in over 140 countries. Its service projects, programs on yoga, meditation and stress elimination have benefited over 20 million people representing all walks of life, religions, cultures and traditions with its 5Hs program in the areas of Health, Homes, Hygiene, Human Values and Harmony in Diversity.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar founded the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) in 1997, which undertakes development projects in thousands of villages, bringing self-reliance to millions of people from Afghanistan to Bosnia, Iraq to New York. Sri Sri is the recipient of numerous honors including the "2005 Global Humanitarian Award" by the state of Illinois, "Guru Mahatmya" award by Government of Maharashtra, India, the title of "Yoga Shiromani" by President of India, the Phoenix Award from the Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, only to name a few… He was a guest speaker at the Millennium World Peace Summit during the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Sri Sri is also a member of the Council of the Divinity School at Yale University.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar travels extensively across the globe to inspire youth to work together for a better society. As he says, "Religion is the banana skin and spirituality is the banana. The misery in the world is because we throw away the banana and are holding on to the skin." Sri Sri believes that all religions and traditions have a common value system, and these shared values have to reach every corner of the world in order to make it a better place for all.
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