Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Overview
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a contemporary Indian spiritual teacher and the founder of the Art of Living Foundation, an organization built around meditation and breathing-based practices rather than devotional worship of a particular deity. His teaching draws broadly on Vedic and yogic tradition, presented in a form intended to be accessible regardless of a person’s own religious background.
Life and the Art of Living Foundation
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was born in Papanasam, Tamil Nadu, and founded the Art of Living Foundation in 1981. The Foundation has since grown into an international organization, with its main campus — the Art of Living International Center — located near Bengaluru, Karnataka. Its core programs teach the Sudarshan Kriya, a structured breathing technique developed within the organization, alongside meditation and yoga instruction, and the Foundation describes its work as open to participants of any or no religious background.
Teaching and humanitarian work
Beyond the Art of Living Foundation’s core meditation and breathing programs, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been involved in a range of humanitarian and mediation efforts, including disaster-relief initiatives and, in some instances, informal roles in conflict-resolution contexts. His public teaching addresses meditation, well-being, and Vedic philosophy broadly, generally aimed at a wide audience rather than specifically at devotees of a particular deity or tradition.
Facts
- "Sri Sri" is an honorific, not a repeated given name — a doubled form of the respectful title "Sri," used within his organization and by followers to address him.
- The Art of Living Foundation, founded in 1981, describes its programs as open to people of any or no religious background, centered on breathing and meditation techniques rather than on devotional worship of a particular deity.
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living Foundation have engaged in humanitarian and mediation work in a number of contexts, including conflict-resolution and disaster-relief initiatives, alongside the Foundation's core meditation and well-being programs.