Wisdom for Today

yoga-chicago

Gurudev on yoga, the peace process & how people can participate in the same

Following is a transcript of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s interview with WRadio, a radio station in Colombia ahead of his visit to the country. On June 24, Gurudev will receive the highest civilian award of Colombia, honoring his peace work.

Q. What is the purpose of your trip to Colombia?
Gurudev: Well, many people from Columbia keep visiting India and they have requested me to come for many, many years. That’s why I am coming.
We just had our international yoga day here in the United Nations and immediately after this program, I am coming to Colombia.

Q: What is your experience with certain places. We have a big problem. We are working on a peace process for 2-3 years now. How can you help us?
Gurudev: I would do all that is in my capacity to bring peace. We are very good in conflict resolution. We have many places where we have succeeded, so I think we will put our effort also in Columbia. This has been very much in my heart from quite some time.

Q. Has the world adopted yoga?
Gurudev: I think, all over the world. Yesterday nearly 2 billion people all over the world participated, including South America. It’s about one-third of the world’s population. Many countries in South America had tens and thousands of people participate in the world yoga day.

Q. You work with a breathing technique to manage post-traumatic stress. How does it work, especially in tough cases especially people who are victims of war?
Gurudev: It really works. It not only works to relieve stress, it also helps people to come out of depression.

Q. There is some debate in the United States and in the Vatican well regarding yoga supposedly not being Christian. What do you think about Christians practicing yoga? Is it against their faith?
Gurudev: No, look yoga is a technique and it’s to bring inner peace, and happiness. It doesn’t conflict with any religion per say. It’s an ancient science. Like gravity is not Christian or Muslim, like that yoga is not Hindu or Buddhist or Christian, it has nothing to do with religion. It is beyond religion. Yoga develops full human potential.

Q: Many times people think that peace process depends on the government. You talk about yoga, but what else can people do? What can people do to help our country to succeed in the peace process?
Gurudev: You know to have a peace process, we must have enormous patience and better our communication.
All conflicts arise due to communication gaps. We need a stress-free mind. We need to get rid of stress. We impart these skills to people. Through the training that we give, people are able to resolve the conflict and come closer to each other.