Saleel Pulekar

Baba... His greatgrandfather was a saint ; his grandfather was one of the most success ful businessmen of his taluka; his father was a bhajan singer and a harmonium player... and Baba, thats how we (my two brothers and me) address him, our father, has been an inspiration for me in several ways, and am sure for my brothers too. Born and brought up in Murud Janj ira a taluka in Raigad district, now famous as a tourist attraction, he fought in the Hindu-Muslim riots when in school and topped the entire ta luka in Matriculation (now SSC, earlier it was 11th std). Scored 97/100 in Maths. Mr. Dattatraya Balkrishna Pulekar wanted to be a mathematician. But the village kid didnt even know that somethin g like IIT e xists. He had to take up an early job to help clear the debt and losses his father had incurred. H e worked himself and sponsored the higher education of his two younger brothers and a sister. He wanted to get into politics and devot e his life for spirituality. But finally ende...

I am sure the one page reading below will make some difference in your mind set....... One evening a scholar was addressing the participants on the concept of work culture. One of the participants asked the following question: "I am a senior manager of Materials Department and I joined an organization 25 years ago as an Engineer Trainee and over the last 25 years I have gone through every experience in the organization. During the initial part of my career, the job was very challenging and interesting. However, all those exciting days are gone since I do not find my joy any more interesting because there is nothing new in my job. I am now feeling bored because I am doing a routine job. However, Sir, I am living in the same house for over forty years, I am the son for the same parents for over forty five years, I am the father for the same children for the past ten years and the husband for the same lady for the past twenty years! (the toughest job!) In these person...

A crorepati who lives in a hut! His story is an inspiration for millions. A self-made entrepreneur, his mission is to help the poor through job creation. My inspiration: My mother, who sold idlis and worked as an ayah in aanganwadis to educate me . (-: My dream: To buy a house and car for my mother. :-) My source of energy: The hut where I still live!!! E Sarathababu hit the headlines after he rejected several high profile job offers from various MNCs after he passed out of IIM, Ahmedabad two years ago. He instead started a catering business of his own, inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. As a child, he also sold idlis in the slum where he lived. "We talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hung...

MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 1. I was reading what you have said, there are different points. Some of the things that you say are so lucid and yet they are like motherhoods, they are like axioms, they are like home truths. Why is it that we need to find a Guru before we can understand any of this? Sri Sri : Why do you want the answer for this question? You want the answer, right? When you want the answer, whoever gives the answer and you accept it, they become a Guru. If there is no need, then the question does not arise at all. 2. I mentioned that when I came into Bangalore, at the airport, I saw delegates waiting. You reminded me that it is at the train stations, at the bus stops. Why is it that the Art of Living is only for the elite or the upper strata? Sri Sri : I think that it is a wrong perception. If there are 25 lakh people, who were only the rich and famous in this country, the shape of this co...

MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 1. You have studied Christianity deeply. Today, if you pick up any newspaper, you can't miss the fact that there is all this factual information as well as analysis and this great debate about - If and is Islam on a collision course with the rest of the world i.e the Western world. What are your thoughts on this? Sri Sri : India can stand as an example. In India, we have lived with many religious traditions for centuries in peace. 2. But not without moments of tumult? Sri Sri : That is very minimal when you compare it to the conflicts that the world has faced. We have always lived together and this the world needs to understand. In the rest of the world there is this conflict - only I will go to heaven and the rest of us will go to hell. Only my way is the correct way and if you believe in this set of principles, only then will you go to heaven, otherwise you will go to h...

MORE EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 1. You have said that relegion is like the skin of the bannana, spirituality is like the banana and we all left holding the skin. Why does that happen, why do we get so caught in the trappings of customs, rituals and symbols? As human beings, we seem to be, it is like a manufacturing defect. Sri Sri : I don't think that it is a manufacturing defect. The nature has manufactured us perfectly. I think the maintainence department needs to take care. 2. There is this conflict of not being able to grasp what you have said - the values that all the religions preach are the same. And yet we do not seem to grasp this and civilisations seem to an end? Sri Sri : You know, there are many people who do understand this. The thing is that they are very passive and the few who do not understand are very aggressive. That's how it all appears that the entire mass is not understanding a...

EXCERPTS OF GURUJI'S INTERVIEW : SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR (AOL) WITH ANURADHA SENGUPTA (CNN-IBN), FEB 2006 The Art of Living turns 25 this week and followers are trickling from all aver the world. There is a sense of expectation in the air and a sense of belonging. We are going to try and cut through this haze of feel good and find out what is like being Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Who is the man behind the Guru? 1. I know we are doing a longer interview, but on the eve of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, the three days, all the world leaders, 2.5 million people, to what purpose? Sri Sri : What purpose? To reinstate the faith in human values and to dedicate our self to doing good in the society. 2. You have explained why people need a Guru and why they need to look up to somebody, to the philosophy. How do you keep the philosophy going when the charisma and the personality of the Guru have passed? Sri Sri : You should go beyond the personality and charisma and go deep within to the silent co...

Anger is Energy... says Sri Sri Ravi Shankar urging Mumbaiites to channelise this energy after 26/11MARK MANUEL Times News Network (Times of India, Bombay Times, 08 Dec 2008, page 1. This time, the smile of welcome didn’t quite reach Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s dark and mischievous eyes. The face was troubled, the mind still burdened by the pain of the hundred thousand people he had addressed the previous evening at Priyadarshini Park. Some survivors of 26/11, others bereaved family members of victims, everyone a Mumbaiite let down by the state — all looking for a shoulder to cry on, a spiritual hand to apply the healing touch. That Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had already done. “I told Mumbai, if you stay with anger too long it will take a toll on your health, your mind, your thinking,” the Art of Living guru explained to me at the bungalow of Yash and Avanti Birla yesterday morning. “We need to channelise our energy,” he added. Energy or anger, I asked. “Anger is energy in a more proactive way,” ...