Saleel Pulekar

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...