KAMPALA — His Holiness Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the global peace ambassador and founder, has emphasised the need for Ugandans to key into the principles of peace and love in order to achieve national unity and harmonious society.
This, Gurudev who has upto 450 million followers worldwide said last week during his Ugandan tour hosted by the Tirupati family.
“The whole world is one family. We might have different food, languages, but we all have a deep connection with one spirit, one God. This is what I believe in. I have been traveling all the time and when asked where I am going, I tell them that I am just traveling from one of my rooms to another,” Shankar.
Gurudev who stressed upon love and meditation as key components of achieving a harmonious society and peace within oneself, added, “Conflict between religions should never be encouraged. See there is only one Jesus Christ, but do you know how many sects of Christianity they are?, 72, there was only one Prophet Muhammed, but there are 135 sects of Islam. There are also 32 types of Buddhism and with Hinduism, you can’t count all of them. So the philosophies are the same but ignorant people have created so many divisions.”
The peace envoy, and the highly respected Indian religious leader who is championing “a stress free” and “a violence-free world”, promised to send IT experts from India to Uganda to train youths in IT.
This, he said, will enable them get self-employed.
“I am so happy that you have IT people but we can bring in experts from India to train these young people between three to six months as you know India is the hub of knowledge industry; even if you go to Europe, America, most of the IT companies are headed by Indians. 29 per cent of Indians are in IT industries and 33 percent of scientists are from India,” the spiritual leader said.
“So we have people who can come here and train our young people for about six months. We need a place here to operate from. We request for a place for us, then 50 to 200 youths can come and train the ones here and who will in turn, employ themselves, ” Gurudev who started his Africa tour from Ghana, Nigerai, then to Uganda and Tanzania said.
The Wednesday night event hosted by Tripati Family was graced by
Former Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda who emphasized the strong cardial and historical relationship between Kampala and New Delhi.
“The relationship between Uganda and our friends in India is historical, significant, and has had a huge impact in our country in the area of business, that has demonstrated that you come and invest in Uganda and you make a lot of money,” the former premier said, asking His Holiness to encourage people all over the world to come and invest in Uganda.
“I request his holiness to use his position to mobilise Indians to come and invest in our country. The policy is simple, you come to Uganda, you have little or no money, within a few years, you make a lot of money. Of course, we are encouraging those who are coming to invest to come with money, that will even accelerate the rate of becoming richer. So in a nutshell, if you want to make money, come to Uganda.”
The Tirupati family that hosted the global spiritual leader led by Mr Miraj Barot, applauded him for accepting to come to Uganda and bless them.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a globally revered spiritual and humanitarian leader is praised for his vital roles in peace negotiations around the world.
From Kashmir, Assam, and Bihar in India, to Colombia, Kosovo, Iraq and Syria, and Cote d’Ivoire, Gurudev’s programs are said to have had documented impact on people involved in armed conflict to pursue the path of peace.
In a world beset with escalating violence and conflict, Gurudev is offering another path where individuals find peace within which becomes the wellspring for peace and harmony in society.
For instance, thousands of Iraqis have benefitted through trauma relief programs since 2003.
At the national-community level, Gurudev’s programs have sought to address key societal problems.
In India, Gurudev was engaged in finding an amicable settlement to the long-standing Ayodhya conflict in 2001-02 and again from 2017. In recognition of his initiatives, the Supreme Court of India appointed him as one of the three mediators to resolve the dispute. The 500 year old issue finally came to an end in 2019.
He has been working to find a common ground between the ruling and opposition leaders in Venezuela to peacefully end the ongoing social and political crisis in the Latin American country.
Gurudev has pioneered and supported movements to revive ethics in public life such as India Against Corruption and the World Forum for Ethics in Business.
In India, Gurudev has started 702 schools offering free education to the underprivileged in the remotest of areas benefitting over 70,000 children currently equipping them to become productive citizens.
Care for the environment has been one of the greatest areas of activity for the organization spearheaded by Gurudev. 49 rivers and thousands of water bodies in India are currently being revived; the Art of Living volunteers have planted 81 million trees in 36 countries and 26 Indian states.
