To mark this occasion, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder, The Art of Living, said: “Mahatma Gandhi is synonymous with non-violence and truth. In today's times, we see so much domestic violence, societal violence, tension and depression that it's appropriate to honour October 2 as non-violence day. Every day should, in fact, be a non-violence day and that is the art of living.
Every day should be a celebration and when there is celebration there is no violence.”

We stand at a point in time when the world needs the Mahatma’s ideals of non-violence and peace more than ever.

Practical solutions for peace

With an aim of creating a violence-free world, Sri Sri has travelled in conflict areas and demonstrated that there is strength in ahimsa (non-violence); there is strength in peace.

On the foundation of these principles, Sri Sri has developed practical and long-lasting solutions to achieving peace. He has travelled to troubled zones to encourage people to give non-violence a chance; to prevail upon leaders to explore non-violent ways of combating violent conflicts.

This philosophy has been welcomed with open arms even in war-ravaged Iraq. Often he reminds the world that it is through non-violence that India got independence from the only superpower of the time not so long ago. “Mahatma Gandhi brought freedom with the same principle of truth and non-violence. We can apply the same to all the conflicts zones of the world,” is his appeal.
Inculcate a culture of non-violence

At his public addresses around the globe, Sri Sri emphasises the need for inculcating a culture of non-violence. “Violence is neither our true nature nor the basis of any civilisation. However, of late there has been a tendency to attach pride in being violent and aggressive. We need to bring back the pride in being non-violent,” he says.

Inner peace and non-violence

For over 30 years, Sri Sri has propagated stress-elimination breathing techniques that have helped individuals across the globe experience inner peace. When the mind is free from stress and negative emotions like anger, revenge and aggression, only then can a feeling of brotherhood and camaraderie blossom. Sri Sri’s techniques have been taught to terror victims and perpetrators of crime with an aim to bring peace to both communities. In recent times, many Naxal leaders have surrendered their arms and reconciled with mainstream society.

Sri Sri believes, “Unless every member of our global family is peaceful, our peace is incomplete.” As Gandhi did to win freedom for India, Sri Sri is spreading the tools of non-violence to usher in an era of a stress-free, violence-free world.