Guru Urges Pacifism

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Indian humanitarian and spiritual leader, revealed his much anticipated "Project 2000" at the Hillel's Beren Hall yesterday.

During the talk, Shankar told the audience he had created his plan in response to a general observation of an increased level of violence and aggression in today's children. This phenomenon, he said, was made even more apparent by the recent tragedy in Littleton, Colo.

"Today, aggression seems to be the way of living," said Shankar, pointing to the example of the classroom, where the most outspoken students tend to receive the most attention. According to Shankar, this encouragement of aggression in turn leads young people to take pride instead of shame in crime.

However, Shankar took an optimistic approach to the trend of violence among youths. "Project 2000" involves realizing various sources of and offering ways of dealing with this aggression, he said.

Teenagers' emotions are often not properly expressed, leading to the violent behavior so commonly visible in today's youth, Shankar said. He further attributed this aggression to a generally low self-esteem and the inability to criticize and endure the criticisms of others.

Above all, the pundit said a lack of sense of belonging among children and the lack of ability to understand others are key causes of their desires to inflict pain on each other.

Shankar offered a number of remedies to these afflictions. First, he called on parents and other members of society to encourage physical activity as a medium of expression for the emotions of adolescence. He cited evidence from studies that show a correlation of less aggression in children who are highly involved in athletics and other physical activities.

Second, Shankar indicated the close association of different types of breathing with different emotions, saying the control of breathing is an important method of controlling aggressions. He has offered several workshops on this exercise in the past.

Finally, he offered the comical but scientifically-based observation that children's eating habits of consuming a high level of sugary snacks and carbonated drinks lead to increased restlessness and a necessity for diversionary activity. Shankar pointed to fixing patterns of eating as a simple solution to the problem at hand.

Shankar fielded questions from the audience after his presentation. Many who attended the event, which was jointly hosted by the Art of Living Foundation and Harvard Divinity School, are also enrolled in a course at the foundation based on Shankar's philosophy.

The guru ended his talk by emphasizing the importance of each individual's contribution to educating the youth by serving themselves as role models.

"The basic education in human values is not there, so human rights cannot flourish," Shankar said.