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Terrorists Transform to True Self Again Through Art Of Living of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - Pragati Mukhopadhyay Dr Pragati Mukhopadhyay is a Senior Principal Research Scientist in the Advanced Centre for Research in Electronics, IIT- Bombay. She was in TIFR as a visiting scholar. Pragati obtained her Ph.D from Chalmers Institute of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden in 1978. She returned back to India and joined IIT in 1979. She has been a very active volunteer for the Art of Living Foundation.

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual teacher and the founder of the Art of Living Foundation, an international nonprofit human development and service organization with centers in over 130 countries. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar travels throughout the world teaching the Art of Lliving.

The Art of Living - This internationally acclaimed program that cuts across the barriers of sex, nationality, culture and belief, is the combination of the best of ancient wisdom and modern science. The Art of Living - teaches you to be able to see and feel for yourself - your real self. It trains you to search within yourself to attain the right attitude towards life. You can experience and learn to develop the full potential of life with an emphasis on conscious holistic living and personal self-development. It is about the connection between the mind, emotions and the breath.

The Basic Course offered as Prison SMART course (SMART stands for Stress Management and Rehabilitative Training) is a unique jail program introduced by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for providing the possibility of genuine rehabilitation and integration into society for prisoners. It is tailor made for the under trials and the prisoners. It also offers special courses to criminal justice professionals providing them with the practical methods to cope up with unusual demands of their work.. Prison SMART course has been taught to more than 20,000 people the world over and has transformed several people in jails.

Here is a tale about how the terrorist changed to his true self again with grace of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar-

Mohammad Afroz, the Al-Qaeda Terrorist, transformed by the Art of Living Even as the USA was putting together all their fire power to track down the brains behind terrorist attack all over the world, the Indian media carried a report of apprehending an al-Qaeda terrorist at Mumbai Airport. Soon after Afroz was arrested in Mumbai he had allegedly confessed to having links with Osama bin Ladens al-Qaeda network. He told his interrogators that he was part of a plan to carry out terrorist attacks in India, UK and Australia. Mainly to crash planes into key targets, and had trained for it in Australia. Afroz made headlines in the local papers in Mumbai when he categorically refused bail, just so that he could remain back in jail to complete the Art Of Living Basic Course.

Singing Guru (Click on the image to enlarge it) -- >

How did this turn about happen? How could a man who apparently thought crashing a plane into the House of Commons, London would be a heroic deed, is now suddenly a person who wants to serve the mankind, was the question in every ones mind? Afroz had completed two Basic Courses in the month of February and was now participating in the Advanced Course. According to the Art of Living teacher, Mr Dinesh Ghodke for his course, Afroz was definitely more friendly, cheerful and relaxed after attending the program. In fact by the end of it he was visibly changed and transformed. The teacher said his calmness was due to meditation. Since attending the course he has become a changed person and has a different outlook. His vision has broadened and it has helped him get over the past.

Afroz was in a batch of 60 under trials who had enrolled for it. Initially Afroz had appeared silent and aloof. A typical complex personality associated with a criminal mind. The changes in his personality was drastic and remarkable. The Sudarshan Kriya introduced by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had the same effect on Afroz (a criminal) as it had on any other normal person. Deep down he too was a human being. It was just that he was misguided youth pursuing the wrong goal. The Sudarshan Kriya reinforced the human natural tendencies in him as well. The violent nature due to stress and ignorance had been eliminated and Afroz became his true self once again. - a Human being who now wants to give and not take a life.

“There are only selfish or bad moments; there are no bad people in this world. They are ignorant. Inside every culprit is a victim crying for help. Feel compassionate for such people.”

~ ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Rishimukh, is the official magazine of the Art of Living Foundation. It is printed every month and contains news and articles from around the globe. It is sent out internationally and is a ready reference to what is happening in the Art of Living family across the world.

For Art of Living Worldwide bookstore http://bookstore.artofliving.org/
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