I did the Art of Living level 1 course recently and discovered that this site ranks number one in google South Africa for searches for the term “sri sri ravi shankar“. So I decided to devote an entire blog post to his holiness, as I may be the first South African blogger writing about him.
Incidently the post that’s in the leading position is a pic I took of my nephew admiring a book I bought at the conclusion of the week long course. I laughed initially when I showed him the book, he thought that the divine person on the cover was me, probably because of my beard and long hair, heehee.
Anyway, I decided to read up a bit about him on his official site and the many Art of Living sites around the net and this is what I found:
Born in 1956 in southern India, Sri Sri’s appeal transcends class, race, religion and nationality. Millions of people revere him as their guru (spiritual leader), and look up to him for inner peace. His das is Venkat Ratnam, a businessman in the automobile industry, and mom Vishalakshi.
They named him Shankar since his birthday matched that of the 8th century CE Hindu saint, Adi Shankara. According to wikipedia, at the age of four he could recite verses from the Bhagavad Gita. Often he was found in deep meditation at a young age.
Sri Sri started the Art of Living Foundation in 1981, an international nonprofit educational and humanitarian organization. The Foundation is active in more than 140 countries and offers educational and self-development programs designed to eliminate stress and foster a sense of well-being. The Foundation’s programs are helping inner city youth turn away from gang violence, drugs and alcohol and the prosion programs have helped transform the lives of an estimated 150,000 inmates around the world.
Here’s an interview of him.
I giggled when reading the comments on YouTube, there is some vile comments against Sri Sri on this page, but hey, everyone has their own opinion, check it out and let me know your thoughts 
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