Sri Sri Ravi Shankar honoured

NT Bureau
Chennai, May 19:

        Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living, has been presented with 'The Global Humanitarian Award' by Governor of the State of Illinois, USA, Rob Blagojevich.

        The award was conferred on Ravi Shankar on 14 May, 2005 for exemplifying the highest ideals of humanitarian service, for his steadfast devotion to inspiring healthy living and fostering universal harmony, a press release said.

First Mahavir Mahatma Awards presented at Oneness Forum  

  Towards oneness…

THE FIRST national ‘Mahavir Mahatma Awards’ and the launch of The Oneness Forum were recently held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, with several eminent personalities attending the event. Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and various Indian dignitaries like Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, industrialist BK Modi, Mahamantra Das, musician A R Rahman and Soka Gakkai dignitaries from Japan were present on the occasion.

Industrialist Indu Jain, in her lively speech, urged the audience to unite in the endeavour to create oneness, not only in small communities but across the globe. She said, “The forum is a helipad, a launching arena for everyone.” Stressing on the motto of oneness, she said, “You can achieve anything you want if you help enough people to get what they want.”

On his part, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “Nature is diverse yet it is one. There is one human race, one truth and that is why this endeavour becomes significant.”

The proceedings of the programme saw some interesting moments with Sri Sri mesmerising the audience with an 18-minute meditation. The Mahavir Mahatma Awards were conferred on youthful and active members of various socio-economic, spiritual and religious groups.  

The awards for the national and global levels were given away to Martha Merchant of Baha`i Foundation, Hiromasa Ikeda on behalf of Dr Daisaku Ikeda from Soka Gakkai International (SGI), Tushar A Gandhi from Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, Brahmatej Ji from The Art of Living Foundation, Swami Nisarga from Isha Foundation, Shulamith Ezekiel Malekar from Judah Hyam Synagogue, Ranjit Makkuni and Dr Madhu Khanna from Sacred World Foundation, musician A R Rehman, Namman Ji from Oneness University and Shashi Kumar Nair from Mata Amritanandamayi Ashram. India’s media conglomerate, The Times Group, sponsored prizes worth Rs 10 lakh.

Expressing his father`s “lasting gratitude to the Times Foundation for conferring this award,” Hiromasa read out Dr Daisaku Ikeda acceptance speech and said, “Given the greatness of the two giants whose names adorn this award, its recipient bears an enormous weight of expectation for he or she must be actively engaged in the worthiest of endeavours to establish lasting peace for humanity.”

The purpose of the Oneness Forum is to unite global humanitarian organisations for collective actions to save and transform mankind by social, political and spiritual awakening.

This is a part of a series of events being organised across India to acknowledge and felicitate youth leaders from various social, spiritual and economic groups. The broader vision is to support and mobilise a network of those involved in positive change, peace initiatives and cultural integrity.  

jaigurudev