KINGSTON, Jamaica – A peaceful and happy society cannot exist without economic mobility, according to global humanitarian and Art of Living Founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

“Make people entrepreneurs, if every entrepreneur, every young person on this planet starts contributing to the society we will have more prosperous society,” the Nobel Peace Prize Nominee said, emphasising the importance of stable finances, inner peace and empathy as building blocks for progress during a visit to Jamaica.

Ravi Shankar was speaking Thursday at a press conference at the Amber Group offices on Haining Road in St Andrew, having been invited to head the One Love Jamaica Tour by Amber Founder and CEO Dushyant Savadia, a teacher at the Jamaican chapter of Art of Living. Shankar is also hosting two conferences in Kingston and Montego Bay on December 12 and 14.

Ravi Shankar, who has been received by the Pope, Dalai Lama and Emirati royalty among other global leaders, stressed that entrepreneurship was one of two key prongs to countering global division. The other, he said, was changing the mentality of people.

“Mental issues [including] prejudice against races, prejudice against gender, prejudice against culture, these things should be done away with. So the conflicts in the name of religion or race or nationality can be dealt with if the mind set of people changes,” he said.

When questioned on how he planned to spread this message of peace and happiness in the Jamaican context, he said: “First is we would like to see a violence-free Jamaica. That can happen if young people are free from addictions. We are committed to doing everything to bring the inner happiness, inner peace to them.”

Ravi Shankar is also proposing an actionable programme for youth in the country.

“We have this youth leadership training programme. We are going to do it in a big way here so young people, local people, they go through this 10-day programme and then they are empowered to bring others into the group. We will do it with a greater speed in this country because a population of three million is very doable. It’s just one city in India,” he told the press with a laugh.

Gurudev Ravi Shankar, Indian spiritual leader at the Amber Group on Haining Road (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

Regarding youth and social media, Ravi Shankar said it was time to utilise it, not fear it.
“There is no going back on social media, people live through that; but we need to judicially use it. That we can do when people start to meet in real time. See I could have given the whole conference by technology. But I keep moving I want to meet people in real time,” he said.

On the possibility of religious pushback on his Art of Living programme in the majority Christian country, Ravi Shankar stressed that it was apolitical and irreligious.

“Listen, everybody has cell phones, whether you are Christian or a Muslim or Hindu or whatever your religion. Why? Because it’s very useful to you. Everybody has ice cream. We don’t say, oh I’m a Jewish, I have Jewish ice cream or I’m Christian, I should have a Christian ice cream,” he continued, “Stress and anxiety doesn’t choose to go to only Christians or only to Muslims, that is there in everybody. And this program we do about the breath and about meditation is common to everybody. And this does not conflict with anybody’s religion. Rather, it supports one to do, whatever way they want to pray.”

Art of Living claims to foster well-being through meditation, yoga and breathing, and has over 10,000 centres in 180 countries.

A Christian volunteer at Art of Living’s Jamaican chapter detailed his experience for Observer Online.

“I used to be resistant of doing the course, and when I did a three day course, the first day I went home and I couldn’t sleep in the sense that I was bursting with energy – I used to be against it because I grew up as a Christian– don’t just take my word for it, try it,” he said.

– Dana Malcolm