Who is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ?

The Art of Liv­ing yoga lin­eage can be traced through Mahar­ishi to the Swami Brah­mananda Saraswati (also known as Rama­murti S. Mishra) and Swami Krish­nanand Saraswati,  accord­ing to the lin­eages in Kathy Phillips’s The Spirit of Yoga. Deepak Chopra, the best-​​selling author of self-​​help books, is also this same branch of the yogic tradition.The Art of Liv­ing Foun­da­tion has an offi­cial biog­ra­phy of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s life, and it seems to be the one repeated in other media. He was born in 1956, and soon showed his spir­i­tual bent, recit­ing Hindi scrip­ture by heart at an early age. Early in his spir­i­tual matu­rity, he also served the Tran­scen­den­tal Med­i­ta­tion(TM) guru and mys­tic Mahar­ishi Mahesh Yogi as a fairly senior and trusted lieu­tenant. He served as apun­dit or reciter of Vedic scrip­tures in the TM cer­e­monies. He was largely respon­si­ble for spread­ing the Maharishi’s gospel and activ­ity to South Africa and other parts of the globe. He struck out on his own in 1982.

Sri Sri is an hon­orific term that was added to his name after the Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar com­plained that con­fu­sion was aris­ing about who was who. “Sri” means respected one. One “Sri” (pro­nounced shree) is a term of respect sim­i­lar to “mis­ter” and the use of two is anal­o­gous to “the rev­erend.” Yoga Jour­nal‘s Emperor of Air con­tains the best non-​​official bio­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion on Sri Sri that I have found on the Internet.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar does not want his admir­ers or oth­ers to refer to him as a swami, which refers to the mem­ber of an ascetic or monas­tic order, much like a Catholic monk. His fol­low­ers address him as His Holi­ness, and more affec­tion­ately as gurudev(great teacher) or guruji (respect­ful, affec­tionare way of address­ing a teacher).

India Yogi’s Indian Saints, Mys­tics, Philoso­phers and Gurus includes a short bib. Sri Sri and AOL are a potent force in India. As often hap­pens in the devel­op­ing world, as the move­ment has increased its inter­na­tional pres­ence, it has res­onated more in India.

Beautiful words by Guruji HH Sri Sri Ravishankar ji

इस ब्रह्माण्ड का विस्तार अनंत है| इस अनंत ब्रह्माण्ड में व्याप्त चेतना भी अनंत और अज्ञेय है| यह केवल प्रेम करने योग्य है| ईश्वर को जानने की चेष्टा न करो| ईश्वर, जो अज्ञेय है - उससे बस प्रेम करो| यही श्रद्धा है|

अहंकार तब आता है जब तुम सोचते हो कि तुम कुछ जानते हो| तुम अहंकार से मुक्त हो सकते हो, जब तुम्हारा मन शांत होता है और तुम सोचते हो कि तुम कुछ नहीं जानते| जब तुम मंदिर जाते हो, तुम नहीं जानते कि पुजारी क्या कर रहा है या कौन सा मंत्र पढ़ रहा है, पर तुम्हें विश्वास होता है कि कुछ भला ही होगा| गांवों के लोगों में बहुत विश्वास होता है| तुम डॉक्टर से दवा लेते हो, पर तुम नहीं जानते कि यह कैसे काम करती है|

जीवन में हम कुछ चीजें पसंद करते है और कुछ नहीं| पसंदगी और नापसंदगी केवल तभी उठती हैं, जब हम इन चीजों के बारे में कुछ जानते हैं| यदि हम नहीं जानते, तो रूचि-अरुचि हो ही नहीं सकती|

प्रशंसा करना दिव्य गुण होता है| निंदा करना तमोगुण होता है| दूसरो की और स्वयं की प्रशंसा करे, यह आपको उन्नत कर देगा | - श्री श्री

Guru Ji Spreading Love & Their Teachings in Pakistan in March 2012

Beautiful quotes by Shri Shri Ravishankar Ji

“Love is not an emotion. It is your very existence.” 

“Life is nothing to be very serious about. Life is a ball in your hands to play with. Don’t hold on to the ball.

“Wise is the one who learns from another´s mistakes. Less wise is the one who learns only from his own mistakes. The fool keeps making the same mistakes again and again and never learns from them.” 

Activity and rest are two vital aspects of life. To find a balance in them is a skill in itself. Wisdom is knowing when to have rest, when to have activity, and how much of each to have. Finding them in each other - activity in rest and rest in activity - is the ultimate freedom.” 

“Worrying doesn't make any difference, but working does and spirituality gives one the strength to work” 

 “Today is a gift from God - that is why it is called the present.”