His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is an international spiritual and humanitarian leader. He is often referred to as Sri Sri, or Guruji, or Guruji, especially by his followers.

He is the founder of the international Art of Living Foundation, which is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to multiple humanitarian causes, ranging from education and trauma relief, to prison reforms, to environment protection.

Early days:
Sri Sri was born to Venkat Ratnam and Vishalakshi, in a village called Papanasam, in the southern Indian state of Tamilnadu. From the very birth, he was perceived as a special child:

-> the birth place is called Papanasam, literally meaning the "destroyer of sin"

-> he was born on the birthday of the 8th century Hindu saint Adi Shankara, and hence his parents named him Shankar

-> his date of birth, as per English calendar is 13 May - which when translated to Hindi becomes "Tera Main", meaning "I belong to you"

According to his several biographies he could recite the complete Bhagwad Gita - the holiest of Indian scriptures, at the tender age of four. At a young age, he was often found in deep meditation. He earned an advanced degree in Physics, some believe specializing in particle physics, from a college in Bangalore, at the age of 17 years.

Becoming a beloved Guru:
Seeing his interest in spirituality, his father tendered Sri Sri to the care of Maharshi Mahesh Yogi - one of the greatest exponents of Hindu spirituality in the 20th century, and who counted among his disciples the likes of The Beatles and the Indian political  Gandhi family. Maharshi Mahesh Yogi is also remembered today due to his immensely popular Transcendental Meditation techniques which are taught by his disciples all over the world.

Sri Sri, having joined Maharshi's entourage, traveled all over the world, and taught Vedic scriptures at Maharshi's various ashrams. By some accounts, Sri Sri was among the favourite disciples of the Maharshi.

As per an interview given by Sri Sri, after a 10 day silent retreat on the banks of the Bhadra river in Shimoga, in southern India, the process of Sudarshan Kriya was revealed to him. The Sudarshan Kriya is the foundation of the Basic (aka part 1) Course of the Art of Living Foundation, and hence practically the foundation of all courses conducted by the Art of Living Foundation.

As per Sri Sri, and corroborated by the modern science, each human emotion has a corresponding breathing pattern. Your breathing pattern is different when you are angry, different when you are frustrated, different when you are elated, and so on. Inversely, it is also possible to control the emotions by controlling your breathing pattern.

One of the primary stated goals of the Art of Living Foundation is to create a world free of stress and violence, and Sudarshan Kriya, which aims at removing accumulated stress in the human mind and body, is the main tool for achieving this goal.

Most participants experience immense relief, joy and peace after only the first time of doing Sudarshan Kriya, and a lot of scientific research has been done on the effects of Sudarshan Kriya on human body. Some of it can be found on the independent AOL Research website.

Among the most popular, and authorized biographies of Sri Sri is Guru of Joy (ISBN 978-8187478423) by Francois Gautier.