Brussels: The well-known Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar while addressing the diplomates and journalists at the European Parliament in Brussels on May 8, 2006, said that Ancient India has shown the world how pluralism can work. The Indian Guru currently on a tour of Europe was invited by the British MEP of Sri Lankan origin, Nirj Deva.
The spiritual leader also shared some words of wisdom on ?Human Values in our Globalising World? in the context of peace building processes in Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. Speaking about the necessity for interdependence, he gave the example of the enlarged European Union.
?It is absolutism in religions that bring clashes,? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said while appealing for mutual respect between human beings in the globalised world. He bemoaned the depression that has afflicted 27 per cent of the European population and expressed the desire to help them using his famous breathing and yogic techniques namely, the Sudarshan Kriya which is said to bring great medical benefits.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar stressed the need for broad based interactive education for children and at the school and college level. ?A sense of pride is associated with arrogance and violence today. Suicide-bombing has become a sort of fashion,? he lamented.
When asked if he would go to Afghanistan to help its war ravaged peoples, he seized the opportunity expressing a desire to train youth leaders in his art of living method. He also expressed a similar desire to try to aid the displaced people of Darfur, Sudan.
After explaining the dire need for women empowerment, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar took his audience on a spiritual journey through an enlightening meditation. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar'sArt of Living Foundation has humanitarian projects in over 150 countries. The silver jubilee of the foundation was attended by an international audience of over 2.5 million people in Bangalore.
