Guru of Joy: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living

by François Gautier

This is the authorized biography of one of the most magnetic men in the world. He is a man whose presence and grace have touched and transformed millions of followers all over the world—from Bangalore to Bosnia, Surinam to South Africa, Tamil Nadu to Trinidad.  A tireless traveler, he has addressed the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and bright young minds at Harvard University. In a world torn with strife, he has carried the eternal message of love and revival of human values. Wherever he goes, people from all walks of life—homemakers, chiefs of industry, politicians, and film stars—seek his blessings and advice. Amazingly, he manages to make each one feel special and cherished.
Who is this playfully profound, childlike, ever-smiling guru whose avowed mission is to “put a smile on the face of every person he meets”? He is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the international Art of Living Foundation, with centers in more than 140 countries of the world. This book offers you hitherto-unpublished material about his childhood, his adolescence, his spiritual development, his organization, and his Healing Breath Workshop. He has devised the Sudershan Kriya, a transformative process that has miraculous healing powers. This is a man who practices no religion but teaches, through example, the meaning if true spirituality: being ever-joyful!

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Biography, India

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

François Gautier was born in Paris. In the early eighties, he began freelancing in India for different publications and finally ended-up being the correspondent in South Asia, for the Geneva-based « Journal de Geneve ». In 1993, he switched to Le Figaro, one of France’s leading newspapers for which he worked exclusively for eight years. He was also a regular columnist for Indian newspapers, initially for Blitz Bombay, and later for Hindustan Times, the ‘Ferengi’s column” in the Indian Express, the “French Connection” column in the Pioneer, Rediff, New Indian Express, Dainik Jagran, etc.
Gautier is now the editor-in-chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l’Inde and a director of a book collection on India with the same publisher.
Along with his wife Namrita, he is also the trustee founder of FACT-India, which does exhibitions and commissions films documenting Human Rights abuse in South Asia. Amongst them: an exhibition on the persecuted minorities of Bangladesh, another one on the plight of Kashmiri Pandits (which was shown to the US Congress in 2005), a film on the trauma of 1947 and another one on the testimonies of the Mumbai train bombings of 2006.

La description en français:
Ecrivain et journaliste français, François Gautier fut le correspondant en Inde et en Asie du sud du Figaro durant dix ans. Il est l'auteur du livre "Un Autre Regard sur l'Inde" (1999, Editions du Tricorne), pour lequel il fut invité à Bouillon de Culture en mai 2000 (le livre a été réédité trois fois depuis), de "Swami, PDG et moine hindou (Editions J.P. Delville, 2003, 8000 exemplaires vendus), de La Caravane Intérieure (Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2005) et de "Français en Inde" (France Loisirs, 2008). Résidant en Inde depuis 35 ans et marié à une Indienne, François Gautier est aujourd'hui le rédacteur en Chef de la Nouvelle Revue de l'Inde, publiée par les Editions l'Harmattan, et directeur de collection chez le même éditeur.

Reviews

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is something of a biography for Sri Sri and his programs rather than actual explanations of the art of living techniques themselves. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar like the Dalai Lama believes in tolerance, understanding and compassion. The views in this book are very uplifting and balanced making it a pleasure to read.

[Runjhun · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a guruji's fan I learned so many things about him.The way he works infact the way aol works.Loved it to the core
Jgd

Merged review:

An introduction about guruji's life and how art of living was formed.Loved every bit of this book.

[Iman]

"Stretching sound is music, stretching movement is dance, Stretching the smile is laugher, Stretching the mind is meditation, Stretching life is celebration, Stretching the devotee is God, Stretching feeling is ecstasy, Stretching emptiness is bliss."

[Gerlinde Vassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful account of meeting a truly remarkable human being

[Tanuja Shanmukhappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for re-servicing our mind and body. Beautiful narration by Francois sir.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book to nourish your soul. Sri Sri's focus on interconnection and cultivating an unshakable joy within yourself will inspire and mold your worldview.

[Rumi Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me begin with the profile of the author. Francois Gautier is a prominent writer of Indology and has written several books on Indian history, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Sri Sri) & his Art of Living foundation (AOL). Frankly, after reading about Francois & this authorised biography written by him, I found author’s life story more fascinating than the story of the Sri Sri.
This is author’s second biography of Sri Sri (1st biography being “The Guru of Joy: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living”) & it aims to uncover a little more about his personality, outlook, & his life, which remains largely unknown to the general public. He claims that his biography is different from the other biographies written for him as it covers many important aspects of Sri Sri’s life.
Though I am inclined towards spirituality and have practiced & read a lot of texts on Yoga & Meditation, I don’t follow any specific Guru to find out my purpose in life. I believe in my heart & follow it, for all the answers. But when I read the forward by his Holiness the Dalai Lama, I felt like reading this book. Francois’s writing is really smooth and easy.
I disagree on many things (for e.g. definition of “Brahmacharya”, Guru being the initiator of Pranayama, Yoga asana’s being Guru’s technique, yoga being originated from “Hinduism”, it’s a true Indian tradition to forget things etc.) he mentioned in the book but I respect his knowledge, interest in our culture and I am sure he has enough reasons to support his thoughts here. We however agree on one thing that excess flattery happens around the gurus all the time.
I particularly liked the way he has mentioned different terminologies & concepts at the footers. It really helps the readers with the true context, with which it used without referring to the internet.
This book is an interesting mix of story’s, testimonies, experiences & miracles congregated from many disciples. Sometimes you feel like reading biography of the disciples itself. As he mentioned in the book, purpose of the book is to encourage the readers to do “The Happiness Course” apart from knowing the work of Sri Sri. Author has truly done justice while describing the courses available in Art of Living Foundation & making it intriguing for the readers.
This book should not be considered as a spiritual work and should be enjoyed like any other biography. Overall a 4 star out of 5 to the book & the author for an easy read with interesting insides of Sri Sri’s life and work over the years.
PS-I have written this review for someone else and never posted on my profile. Now Compiling all the reviews on my personal page.

[Nishant Chandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

much of it is pure information rather than practices you embibe.
if you want to know about sri sri and his practices, its a good book to start.
there are parts where you can pick up and they are good enough to warrant one quick read.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The biographical information was well done as Francois interviewed Ravi Shankar's family. This is confirmed in the fact that Ravi Shankar's sister Bhanu's biography is almost identical to the the early parts of this book.
The latter half of this is mainly testimonials by people who became AOL teachers and several reported miracles that people experienced by doing Sudarshan Kriya or meeting Ravi Shankar.
It was interesting how Ravi Shankar was made out to be a god and all his faults were smoothed over in a guise of mystique.
I'm not a follower so obviously I just don't get the urge to elevate him to godlike status.
Francois did well in presenting both Ravi Shankar and AOL.

[mlle-cassis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intéressant si l'on connaît déjà la Fondation AOL et ses principes. Probablement simplement cryptique sinon.

Les questions&réponses en ligne (https://www.artofliving.org/ch-en/wis...) sont beaucoup plus éclairantes et inspirantes, à mon avis. Et puis comme le dit Sri Sri: "la vie est à vivre, non à analyser". Il en va de même pour son enseignement.

Vite et plaisamment lu, mais dispensable, donc.

[Sambit Dash · Rating 4 out of 5]

The review can be seen here.

[Shruti Buddhavarapu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I know. I must be kooky to give it 4 stars. But the truth is, I "really liked" the book when I read it. Context wise, let's just say I was mindnumbingly bored - for a period of almost 4 months - where all I had for entertainment was a gym membership (where only one treadmill worked) and the dumbest holiday ever at this lameass "resort" that kept telling its guests "if you want to talk, take it outside" in the restaurant cause this owner-whoever guy was busy "practising" for his guitar strumming at night as the "live music" for the night.

Then he proceeded to "release" his "single" in the very restaurant, after yelling at a kid to not touch his guitar and it pretty much was this pre-fed tune on the synthesizer over which he sang some really average lyrics which were pretty remeniscent of 90s Indi-pop songs (Remember "Aryans" and "The Colonial Cousins"? ).

So we came back from the shiteous road trip "vacation" where all we did was get out of the room 3 times a day and eat food - nothing to go out and explore or eat or buy or do because its a bloody lake which was half dried up and had two plastic boats in it as its tourist magnet.

Obviously I sat on my gym membership cause I realised the one thing in common with everyone in the gym I saw, was that everyone remained fat.

Oh the book, yes. So basically it came to me then. It was fun for the 3 hours that I finished it in.

[Craig Bergland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Straight hagiography, not very informative. In the end, I felt as if I didn't learn anything about Sri Sri other than gushing adoration - which is great but doesn't make a book!