Hangout with Sri Sri from home!!!

I’m in the Ashram of The Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore, India. Ashram means a place to rest.

This particular Ashram is like a small city where at least more than five thousand people coexist every day (some moments of the year there could be up to forty thousand).

It’s a place charged with an amazing energy. Here people participate in the Art of Living courses or do unselfish service for others (free education for rural children, training to unprivileged women in the area, rehabilitation programs for drugs addicts, cooking for more than five thousand people everyday, etc.).

Most of the people you will find here are smiling and are full of enthusiasm. Every morning everybody will meet for exercise, Yoga, breathing techniques and meditation. During the day each person is busy with activities and at night people gather to sing, listen to knowledge about life and relax. These gatherings are called satsang (a sanskrit word that means sharing the truth). There would be thousands of people everynight that even come from the city.

Some days ago we had a very special satsang. It was a clear and fresh night so the satsang was outdoors. There was a very enthusiastic group from Maharashtra (a region of India) that started to dance with the music played by wonderful musicians. After some minutes, half of the people attending the satsang were dancing and the other half were singing or enjoying.

Many different types of  people would be dancing: women and men, young and old, a five year old boy was jumping in the air and laughing nonstop. There were even some dogs that were there, curious about what was going on.

All these people had something in common: a big smile in their faces. They were happy.

I was watching this beautiful scene and I thought to myself: “it would be so nice that this also happens in my city, in my country, everywhere in the world”.

More than 30 years ago, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living, thought the same and He pursued this dream.

He received some arid and abandoned lands where He worked with the help of inspired people who also wanted this dream. After more than 30 years of continuous work, today me and thousands of people could enjoy that magic moment we had.

How can we also achieve the same? How much do we celebrate with our neighbors, with the people we live?

Could we create an everyday magical “Ashram” moment in our homes, in our building, in our community?

I think we can. I think that every Human Being in the planet has the possibility and the right to be so happy as the people who live at the Bangalore Ashram. We only need to take the first step to begin the journey to achieve this.

On January 26th, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will share with us his secrets on how He created this Ashram and many other Ashrams in the world. How to create a violence-free stress-free sociey where everyday everybody can celebrate like in Bangalore Ashram.

You can also be part of this. See you at the Google+Hangout with Sri Sri on Saturday January 26th: http://goo.gl/ATWDz

-Francisco Moreno Ocampo

Francisco Moreno Ocampo is an international Art of Living teacher working for a violence-free stress-free society in Venezuela and other countries in Latin America. 

Connect with Francisco on Twitter- www.twitter.com/@franmorenocampo