BENGALURU
Around 25 kilometres south of bustling Bengaluru, the traffic thins and the road opens into an expanse of green. Spread across 350 acres on Kanakapura Road is the Art of Living (AOL) international headquarters.
For more than 45 years, the AOL has drawn millions from across the world with the promise of a world free of violence and stress.
Nestled in the Panchagiri Hills, the spiritual world reveals itself almost at once. A quiet stillness welcomes you to the campus. Even the canines who seem to acknowledge your presence are not aggressive. Deep inside the campus live two pachyderms gifted to the Gurudev—Indrani and Maheshwara. “Gurudev loves animals,” says a volunteer. “They have as much right to be here as we do.”
Just a few metres from the entrance is a meditation hall shaped like an amphitheatre. A few devotees sit on its steps, their eyes closed. Nearby, construction work is in progress; a building is coming up to accommodate the multitude of followers.
At the heart of this movement stands the soft-spoken Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who is at once accessible and enigmatic. From a young age, he was drawn to silence and meditation. In 1981, at the age of 25, the Gurudev entered a period of silence on the banks of the Bhadra in Karnataka. He spent 10 days in meditation, and emerged with the Sudarshan Kriya—a rhythmic breathing technique designed to reduce stress, hone mental clarity and improve overall wellbeing.
There are several open-air amphitheatres on the campus, including the lotus-shaped Sumeru Mantap at the highest point. The Vishalakshi Mantap serves as a central place for satsang and discourse. Named after the Gurudev’s mother, it reflects an inclusive spirit. “People are free to sing any devotional song they wish,” says a volunteer.
The Gurudev’s father R.S. Venkat Ratnam was a scholar deeply versed in Sanskrit, Tamil and English. His sister Bhanumathi Narasimhan is a noted author and director of the Art of Living Free Schools. In 2014, the AOL instituted the Vishalakshi Global Award, and legendary singer Asha Bhosle, who passed away this April, was the first recipient. Says the Gurudev: “Asha Bhosle was a sincere spiritual seeker. Every day, she practised meditation and [Sudarshan] Kriya. She was a familiar and cherished presence at our ashram and university. She often called me to speak about her spiritual journey.”
As he approaches 70, the Gurudev has evolved as a prominent voice in the global peace initiatives. His work spans over 180 countries, with strong activities in the conflict regions in Colombia, Iraq and Sri Lanka, where he has advocated inner peace as a pathway to societal harmony.
In Colombia, the Gurudev initiated a dialogue between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels. In 2015, he persuaded the rebels to adopt the Gandhian principle of non-violence, which resulted in a ceasefire and a peace agreement, ending a 52-year civil war. The same year he was awarded Colombia’s highest civilian honour, the Simon Bolivar Order of Democracy.
He has also led peace initiatives in Iraq since 2007, focusing on conflict resolution, trauma relief and interfaith dialogue. The Gurudev has visited conflict-affected areas in these regions, and has engaged with political and religious leaders from Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities. In 2014, he visited refugee camps in Erbil in the Kurdistan region, offering help to Yazidi women displaced by violence. Over the years, more than 3,000 Iraqi soldiers have been trained by the AOL in gender equality and inclusive leadership. The Gurudev is said to have gone the extra mile to support the Yazidi community; AOL assisted over 2,000 families and arranged 110 tonnes of relief material that reached around 10,000 people trapped on the Sinjar Mountains. Over the past 12 years, Yazidi women who suffered abuse under the Islamic State have attended AOL’s healing programmes.
The Gurudev was active in Sri Lanka in the early 2000s when the country was going through turmoil. He was involved in furthering the dialogue between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The AOL also conducted many trauma relief programmes for war victims in Sri Lanka by emphasising on the significance of forgiveness and rebuilding lives.
In India, he has led peace initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast. In 2017, the AOL launched a movement in J&K to link divides, bringing together families of martyred security personnel and local youth. It was called ‘Paigam-e-Mohabbat’, which means message of love. Last November, he led a campaign for a drug-free future in Kashmir, with around 20,000 young people taking a pledge to live a drug-free life at Srinagar’s Bakshi Stadium.
The Gurudev has been working to bring militants in the northeast to the mainstream. At the Strength in Diversity event held in Guwahati in 2017, former militants participated in significant numbers. Among them was Anup Chetia, former general secretary of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Following the signing of a tripartite peace agreement between the Centre, the Assam government and ULFA in Delhi in 2023, the Gurudev wrote on X: “I have known the ULFA for decades. They are people with a mission and a vision. I am so pleased to see them come for dialogue.”
In Naxalite-affected regions, his peace-building initiatives helped over 1,500 armed insurgents lay down their weapons. In Chhattisgarh, several surrendered Naxalites were trained in yoga and Sudarshan Kriya as part of rehabilitation efforts.
AOL’s initiatives have impacted lives across every section of society. It runs nearly 1,400 free schools across India. Around 75 lesser-known and once-forgotten rivers have been revived using historical data and satellite imagery, with the support of retired officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Nearly five lakh young people have been trained in livelihood skills worldwide, while over 10 crore trees have been planted across 36 countries. More than 30 lakh farmers have been trained in sustainable agriculture. Across 65 countries, over eight lakh prisoners have undergone rehabilitation programmes, while over 60 lakh people have been supported in war and disaster zones.
The Gurudev has shared the stage with leaders across religions, often emphasising that spirituality is beyond dogma. In THE WEEK’s (September 18, 2022) cover story on interfaith practices across the country, the Gurudev wrote, “Religious harmony cannot be sustained if even a small pocket of people lives by the dictum, ‘my God is better than your God and if you worship my God, then you will go to heaven otherwise you may rot in hell.’ Trying to coerce or allure people to convert from one religion to another in the name of salvation, healing or material prosperity is corrupting the very purpose of religion itself.”
The Gurudev graduated in physics from St. Joseph’s College, Bengaluru. Today, the AOL has a university in Odisha. Located in Cuttack, the Sri Sri University offers a blend of modern education and traditional knowledge systems.
At the core of all these efforts is the Gurudev’s vision to transform life’s struggles into a celebration by nurturing compassionate people committed to service. Through his message and work, he offers pathways to address some of the world’s high-priority challenges—violence, retaliation and conflict.
AOL is powered by over 20 lakh volunteers worldwide. Among its many notable initiatives, the AOL has implemented the SKY Schools Programme across the US in 254 schools, equipping nearly two lakh students with practical tools to manage stress and emotions, and to face the challenges of adolescence.
AOL’s main offering is Sudarshan Kriya, which, through cycles of slow, medium and fast breathing, blends the body, mind and emotions. Practitioners say it helps reduce stress and anxiety, improve clarity and focus, enhance emotional resilience, boost energy and promote overall wellbeing. Take the case of Vishal Shah from Mumbai, a chartered accountant and director at Barclays. Once an average student, Shah says his life transformed during college after meeting the Gurudev. Sudarshan Kriya, he says, has several health benefits. “In the past seven years, I have never fallen ill. My memory is improving, and the grip of negative emotions has loosened. Even a 20-minute session can work wonders,” he says.
In 2025, the Gurudev was honoured with the World Leader for Peace and Security Award by the Boston Global Forum and the AI World Society for his contributions to peace building, reconciliation and humanitarian service. “I want him to help end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia,” says Marina Kogut, a theatre artiste from Moscow and a follower since 2003. She first visited India in 2006 and says thousands of Russians travel to the Art of Living centre international headquarters each year in search of inner peace. “I hope he comes again to Russia and engages with the leadership on both sides,” she says.
Spirituality apart, the Gurudev is known for his quick wit. When someone asked him how to handle difficult people, he quipped: “Keep them close—so you don’t have to go looking for them when your patience wears thin!”
The Gurudev believes a peaceful society begins with peaceful individuals. Giuliana Rossi, a real estate agent and yoga teacher from Buenos Aires, says, “After coming to the Art of Living headquarters, I feel more connected to nature, more connected to ourselves. I realised how lovely life is. Today, I don’t have bad thoughts.” In 2012, Gurudev drew a crowd of over one lakh people in Buenos Aires for a mass meditation against violence and stress.
Diana Chamseddine, a computer engineer from Lebanon, says, “I could overcome the fear of death after I met Gurudev.” She attended a happiness programme in 2007 and has since been a follower and admirer. Reflecting on the disruption in the Middle East, she says: “Guess what, the place where I was conducting meditation and yoga classes for my Lebanese students is just 10km from the Hezbollah headquarters. People are fighting on the basis of religion, and no one realises that there is only one religion.”
The trust reposed in him by the highest constitutional bodies was evident when the Supreme Court appointed him to a three-member mediation panel to help resolve the Babri Masjid dispute in 2019. The panel, headed by former Supreme Court judge F.M.I. Kalifulla, also included senior advocate Sriram Panchu. It submitted its report to the apex court a month before the final verdict was delivered.
Devyani Krishnan, a Mumbai-based homemaker, has attended Art of Living programmes and makes it a point to visit the centre in Andheri whenever she finds time. “I have been to the international campus [in Bengaluru] just once. The gaushala (cowshed) there is so special and has so many varieties of cows,” she says. In an effort to preserve and protect indigenous cattle, the Sri Sri Gaushala was set up in 2002. Says Chandu Thummar, head of the gaushala: “We have as many as 1,600 cows and bulls across 19 breeds on 20 acres. This could be one of the very few gaushalas in the country with such a wide variety of cows.”
Thummar, who is from Surat in Gujarat, has been a part of the gaushala since 2009, and now lives with his family near the centre. “The Gurudev loves the cows here. He visits them whenever he can,” he says.