Largest Peace Meditation

Sri Sri Ravishankar inaugurated a 100 year old Church as an AOL Center in Los Angeles, CA last year - April 2010.

In Sri Sri's words, ' This building serves two purposes. First, It will bring excitement, celebration and serenity in the region. Secondly, it will be a place to bring tranquility, contentment and happiness through meditation. This would be such a place where people would come out as a beautiful human being. And this is the purpose of life - to become more and more beautiful from within.'

Since the Inauguration several Meditation sessions, breathing and yoga excercises have been part and parcel of the LA AOL Center.

Fast forward 9 months and The LA Times reported that violent crime was down to 1967 levels in Los Angeles.  Specifically there were Zero violent crimes around the vicinity of W Adams St - Location of the LA AOL Center. This came as a pleasant surprise to the city as mentioned by a LA Detective, "I never thought we'd see these numbers," said Sal LaBarbera, a veteran homicide detective with the LAPD. "It is night and day compared to the old days. Night and day."

In addition to the serenity and tranquility which encompassed the LA AOL Center and surroundings as forecasted by Sri Sri - Happiness and Excitement will be overflowing in Berlin this summer where The Largest Peace Meditation will be held!  We all know the beneficial effects of meditation on ourselves and others. Be among the hundreds and thousands of people from all over the world emanating vibes of peace through the largest meditation session.

Although the World Culture Festival is being held at the Olympiastadion, Meditation is not a spectator's sport - Come join us in Berlin, close your eyes and be a witness to history in the making!

Creating Magic, again!

Where were you exactly 5 years ago?  I was at the Jakkur Airfield in Bangalore, India from February 17 to 19, celebrating the Silver Jubilee of the Art of Living Foundation (AoLF), along with 2.5 million people from the world over.  Year 2006 set a milestone for the Art of Living Foundation: 25 years of service, of love, and of belongingness.  

Each one of us who participated in this historic event had a purpose, a driving force, a personal story to regale.  Here's mine:  

I was born and raised in Bombay, India.  While meeting the demands and breathing the stresses of this gushingly fast-paced city, I fortunately stumbled upon my first Art of Living course in the December of 2002 (finally, learning to breathe the stress out:)).  Have you ever wanted to capture a beautiful moment or a gorgeous day and keep it with you forever?  That's how I felt about that entire week - it was just incredible.  Be it my subsequent visits to the International AoL Center in Bangalore or participating in seva projects, but from 18 of us in the course, I went on to meet hundreds of people/volunteers in and around the city.  

It was all hunky dory until I moved to the U.S. in the fall of 2005 to pursue further education.  I was cringing inside, wondering, when would I see my AoL family again?  An even bigger question, How will I go back to India for the Silver Jubilee celebrations? was looming in my head.  In the corners of my mind I had posed a dozen reasons why I'd never be able to go: finances, getting time off from the semester, school-work, and so on.  I was not entertaining the thoughts of going for the Silver Jubilee one bit.  I guess that was the biggest hurdle, because as soon as I imagined being there, my heart and mind focused on that one intent (sankalpa): to be at the Silver Jubilee.  The sooner I began to overlook the hurdles, they ceased to exist.  Given my situation, it seemed impossible to attend the celebrations, but the moment I decided to attend, the hurdles began to vanish one after another.  Leave was granted, school-work was completed, deadlines were met, group discounts on air-fare appeared, and most of all, family and friends supported me all through.  Miraculous, isn't it!?  Well, with Guruji it's not very difficult to fathom! :)

There I was, chanting OM and meditating for world peace.  The world truly came together, as a One World Family, right before my eyes.  

So this time, for Art of Living's 30th anniversary celebrations, you know what to do.  Just decide to go.  

Catch The Fire!

Enthusiasm is like fire; it is difficult to contain, it spreads instantly, and it touches everyone it comes in contact with.

For those of us who remember the wave of enthusiasm that spread though the U.S. in the months leading up to Art of Living Foundation's Silver Jubilee Celebrations in 2006, this is no new phenomenon. A couple of people are talking about it, then you get a few emails, someone makes an announcement during Satsang, you see a Facebook Page, a steady stream of Twitter updates... BOOM, you know that something big is on the cards.

Art of Living Foundation marks its thirtieth anniversary this July with a big-bang celebration in Berlin, Germany. Parades from various countries, fireworks, conferences, yoga, vegetarian food festival, grand musical ensembles... the list is long and wonderful! Catch the Fire today - register online!

Happy Valentine's Day from your One World Family!!!!

The Essence of ‘Culture’

Culture is a powerful tool for human survival, but it is a fragile phenomena. Culture is that one common bond, which brings the people of a community together. The customs and traditions that the people of a community follow, the festivals they celebrate, the kind of clothing they wear, the food they eat, and most importantly, the cultural values they adhere to, bind them together. Culture is a product of constant human interactions. It is constantly changing and can be easily lost because it exists only in our minds. It is important for the society to preserve its culture as a community gains a character and a personality of its own, because of the culture of its people. Culture is shared by the members of a community. It is learned and passed from the older generations to the newer ones.

Culture helps in render a sense of individualism to a community and also has the ability to create a regional and social harmony. Culture is often defined as an invisible, social-control mechanism wherein people start interpreting the cultural values that have been passed on to them as the benchmarks for how they should function. In today’s diverse economy that we are living in, wherein people from different corners of the globe are increasingly intermingling with each other, understanding of different cultural aspects enable develop some degree of understanding of faraway nations and communities, helping them become better informed, more tolerant and better citizens.

Festivals are a great medium to remind people of the prevailing culture in the community especially in today’s fast paced life style. Festivals rejuvenate and reinforce the culture in the society and play a very important role in the human society. Festivals kindle the spirit of joy and celebration in the hearts and mind of the people and make a lasting impression of the prevailing culture.

Envision the power of culture and festival by attending ‘World Cultural Festival’- a festival celebrating 30 years of the Art of Living Foundation, a one world family that weaves the people of several different countries and cultures into a common thread of wisdom and spirituality.

Jaigurudev!

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Poem by Sri Sri

"Let the silence speak of the peace you seek

 Let the divine love flow

 Because every shining star tells who we are in the grand design..."

What does 30 Years of Art of Living Mean to you?

If you missed this 5 years ago ...

 ... there is one coming up in 5 months!!!