Service Initiatives by Art of Living for Girl Child

"When you train a woman, you help the entire family, community and nation."
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The International Women’s Conference (IWC) aims to enhance the global impact of women’s work by arranging a platform for dialogue and information sharing. The Conference also integrated The Art of Living’s individual empowerment program with tailored social initiatives designed by the International Association for Human Values (IAHV).

IWC is designed to complement ongoing Art of Living and IAHV initiatives. Examples of these initiatives are mentioned below. Get more information on the Art of Living’s women’s empowerment initiatives. Art of Living’s Women’s Empowerment Initiatives.

A partial list of service initiatives include:

Girl Child Education

Funds accrued during IWC were dedicated to providing scholarships to 500 girl children who attend VVMVP schools across tribal and rural areas of India. Provided with meals, clothes, books, transportation and value-education, the children participate in a deductive approach to learning and on aggregate perform at the 95 percentile on state board examinations. Nearly half of all the children enrolled in VVMVP schools across India are girls.

Women Welfare VISTA, India

VISTA is an independent non-governmental organization dedicated to fighting poverty and gender related injustice in India, specifically targeting marginalized women to empower them. VISTA India is a grassroots project based on the principle of Value Integrated Services To All (VISTA). The IWC has helped this project establish a strong foothold in rural India. VISTA educates women and provides vocational training in sewing and embroidery to make them self-reliant. Many of these women find work in the local garment industry; others work from home to augment family income. VISTA has also instituted a special program called 'Earn while you Learn,' which helps women-in-training take up tailoring orders from individuals and companies. Over 2000 women from 30 villages in Karnataka, India; have been trained so far under the VISTA ‘Earn while you Learn’ program.

India’s Missing Daughters" - Campaign Against Female Foeticide

The Art of Living and UNFPA partnered to address the imbalance in India’s sex ratio as an outcome of IWC 2005. The Founder of IAHV and The Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, joined more than 36 religious and spiritual leaders, representatives from government, civil society and the media to launch a nation-wide campaign that drew thousands against the practice of female selective abortions.


AIDS Awareness - HARA

HARA Program, started in 2009, promotes HIV/AIDS awareness among rural communities, and helps women with HIV/AIDS achieve economic self-sufficiency. To achieve this, HARA educates youth volunteers (“yuvacharyas” ) in villages about HIV transmission, prevention and care. These yuvacharyas are trained for three days by certified doctors. In this training, rural youth are made aware of HIV/AIDS, its causes and prevention methods. The yuvacharyas are also trained to organize awareness workshops and to work with other like-minded, non-profit and government organizations in their area.
To complement the efforts of the yuvacharyas, HARA provides vocational training to affected individuals in skills such as tailoring, pickle making, honey and ghee production and handbags and handicrafts production. HARA also helps participants market and sell their goods. The HARA Program has reached out to 29,196 people between 2009- 2010.


Peanut Butter Project, Zimbabwe

Inspired by IWC 2007, the Zimbabwean delegation worked with local Murewa women to engage in the community-driven development programs offered by The Art of Living. After 797 women participated in leadership and capacity development, 82 formed a group to start a small scale peanut butter production and manufacturing factory. With seed capital and mentorship provided by Art of Living Zimbabwe, the project has provided a sustainable way to build civic engagement and the asset base of women in poverty.

You can read about other service projects of the Art of Living.

Bhanu Didi sings Krishna Bhajan

This is the Krishna Bhajan sung by Bhanu Didi ( Bhanumathi Narasimhan) at Washington D.C.
The bhajan lyrics are as follows:


Krishna Govinda... Govinda Govinda...
Krishna Govinda.. Govinda Govinda...
Govinda Shyama Radhe Krishna...
Krishna Govinda.. Govinda Govinda...
Govinda Shyama Radhe Krishna...
Govinda Govinda Paramananda ananda
Govinda Govinda Paramananda ananda
Ghana Shyama Ananda Krishna
Manamohan Manamohan Krishna
Raghava Keshava Yadu Nanda Nandana
Krishna govinda govinda govinda


You can also read what Bhanu Didi has to say on mother divine and her power.

Sri Sri’s Birthday Message

 Sri Sri’s Birthday Message Sri Sri Ravishankar’s birthday message was unique and simple yet precious. I will quote only 2-3 sentences and explain it. Trust me, if this world understand this, there will be only peace and happiness around. He says, it’s very easy to see God in Guru as we have been groomed like that and we have been told from our childhood that “Guru Govind Dou Khade , kake lagoon paavn; Balihari Guru apno, Govind diyo batay.” (When you get both God and guru together, who do I bow down first, to my surprise, God directed me to the guru) It’s really easy to see god in enlighten and good people. But he asks, can you see God in a foolish or not so good person? It’s not easy and then he also tells how to do that, He explains that if you get a thief do your service like policeman, if you get a patient, serve him like a Doctor. This knowledge looks simple but it’s not. Generally, when a person is told that see God in all forms, it becomes very difficult for him to handle the situations. He does not know what to do with a person, who is not having good outlook, who is not following the norms of the world or who is indulging in unlawful act like stealing, killing or other crimes. His message to serve him / her by seeing god in him, tells you how to be compassionate to anyone who is not on the right path. He tells you to serve a bad person like police man to improve him or make him free from that crime. How beautiful are these lines, when we try to serve even the wrong ones and try to make him useful for the society in some or the other way. I am sure this world will be a beautiful place. Second statement, is about the state of mind when we are at rest. He says your mind keeps the same grudge against someone when you are at rest. Even if you ignore his mistakes or bad behaviour during the working hours due to influence of knowledge, your mind does not leave it. You cling to it again, when you are at rest. He tells us to become completely free from these worries, grudges and have a peaceful rest. This is very true in case of many of us. Even if we somehow stop ourselves to react when someone is not reasonable to you, we do not forgive him from our mind and we keep the grudges inside our mind. Sri Sri tells you to be free from that and have an absolute rest when you are at rest. Do not carry the baggage in your mind.

More Messages on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Official Blog

Two Steps to Enlightenment

Enlightenment or evolution has got two steps. The first step is from becoming somebody to nobody. It is not getting stuck in something or somebody. You get stuck being somebody in two cases - either you are too special or you are hopeless. People get stuck in the seat. If you don't give them a proper seat, that's it. That pushes their button. “What difference does it make if I sit on the sofa or on the carpet? I remain what I am.” Meditation is from being somebody to becoming nobody. Dissolving of ego is from somebody to nobody.

The second step is from nobody to everybody. That is the state where you feel oneness with everybody, you feel that you are a part of everyone and everyone is a part of you. That is the reason why Jesus said, "If you have to go to my Father, there is no other way, you have to go through me and me alone." Krishna said the same thing to Arjuna. He addresses him in three terms. First he says, "Surrender to Him who lives in everybody's heart". Then he says, "Just surrender to me." And then he says, "Surrender to that divinity that is deep in yourself and get out of this illusion of ‘me’ and ‘you’ and all the separation.”

The whole universe is one organism, one living Being. And each mind is just a part of that. This is the highest knowledge, the universal truth. You are in everybody. Only then the real service also begins. That service is really authentic. You see someone suffering and you feel you are suffering too or you see somebody getting hurt, and you also feel the pain.

See, the body is decaying. Whatever you do, your body is perishable. The direction of body is towards perishing, is towards decay. And the direction of your soul should be towards the immortal, the non-changing, imperishable. As you grow older, your mind should mature and look towards that eternal something that is undying, that doesn't age. That is deep in you: the spirit.

There is so much suffering in the world and that's why we need to be very active in giving this knowledge to as many people as possible. You can. All those who have learned meditation, and all those who have not learned meditation also, just get together, do some reading and satsang, meditate together, eat together; share lives together. Once in fifteen days, once in a month, have a sort of community get-together. And talk about knowledge. Instead of gossiping or talking something just trivial, why not talk about knowledge, wisdom? Putting your mind into something that is eternal is worth doing.

We need to improve the quality of life. Just look at the children when they are in kindergarten, in nursery school; there is so much joy, there is so much happiness, celebration in their life. And, as they grow older, when they go to high school, see how they are? Do they grow in joy, in bliss, in celebration, or are they going towards violence, hatred, unfriendly behavior, stress, frustration, agitation and dullness? Is this what we are doing to the children? And we spend thousands of dollars to bring this suffering on to them. And this we call as education? Losing all the human qualities is called education! That's ridiculous, no?

And this is not an instance here and there. This is widespread, nearly the same all over the globe. Maybe not so much in developing countries but especially in all the developed countries and metropolitan cities - there is absolutely no human quality at all being expressed. I wouldn't say they have died out. They are there but are never expressed. So there is such frustration, such pain, such suffering all over and we need to do something about it.

- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Art of Silence

I am just back, rejuvenated and refreshed from my favorite Meditation Retreat at the Art of Living International Center in Bangalore. The experience of deep silence and stillness is not easy to capture in words, and yet not wanting to give up easily, I am trying to share it here. 
As the flute flowed melodiously during the evening satsang, it seemed no different from the human body. Air was being blown through the hollow and empty flute and beautiful music was flowing out. Three things came together to create this music: Knowledge of the music, the mastery over the blowing of air and the knowledge of the apertures to be opened and closed. The manner in which the air is blown, its smoothness, force, transition, intensity, the practice and the knowledge all come together to create the music.
 The human body, made up of the five elements and five senses, is also like a beautiful flute with its five apertures. It is a much more complex system than the flute; however the fundamental principles to create music remain the same. A mastery of the body and mind are needed to bring out the harmonious and melodious music, inherent in us.

Every time I do The of the Art of Living, I find myself acquiring greater skills to gain this mastery. These skills help us to wade through life’s transient events and give us the experience that in its essence Life is indeed Celebration, Joy and Love.

The same message was echoed as I watched Nature and its hollow and emptiness. Hollow and Empty and yet playing the most beautiful music in the chirping of the birds, the distant sound of the children, the chanting of the Vedas, the flow of the water, the sound of the trees swaying… A silent symphony played by sounds of silence and wonder.

As I became one with the swaying of the trees, the blueness of the water, the vastness of the sky, the heat of the Sun, the solidity of the Earth underneath my feet, a silence dawned. The moment stood still and I was alive like never before.

A deep impact has been made. There is a playfulness in me that is enlivened, a calmness and an understanding that does not allow the situations to overwhelm me. There is also a new dawn of creativity and an enthusiasm to live every moment in its fullness. Living has become exhilarating after I heard the Sound of Silence.

The Art of Silence Course provides optimal conditions for going deep within, quieting our mental chatter, and experiencing deep rest and inner peace. The practice of silence – of consciously withdrawing our energy and attention from outer distractions – has been used in different traditions throughout time as a pathway to physical, mental, and spiritual renewal. By participating in various course processes specifically designed to take us beyond our usually active “monkey minds”, we experience an extraordinary sense of peace and renewed energy that we carry home with us. The course features:
Rejuvenating yoga
Two to three days of guided silence practice
Unique guided meditations designed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Advanced breathing techniques which can also be practiced at home after the course
Advanced insight on the laws governing our mind and emotions The course is typically held as a residential retreat in a place of natural beauty and tranquility. It’s no wonder that many course participants refer to it as the ideal vacation for body, mind, and spirit.