Sri Sri Ravi Shankar offers to mediate on temple

Spiritual guru and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said on Saturday he was ready to mediate on the Ram temple issue to facilitate its resolution.

“Definitely, I am always ready to do any mediation anywhere”, he said when asked if he was ready to mediate between the two sides to resolve the long-pending Ram temple issue, at a media interaction.

On escalating India-Pakistan tensions, Ravi Shankar offered to promote people-to-people contacts between the two countries but saw no other role for him.

“People-to-people, we have got very good contacts,” he said, noting that Art of Living had four centres in different cities of Pakistan, where 10,000 people practised its programme.

Art of Living distributed food to people during flood in Pakistan, claimed Ravi Shankar.

“People-to-people contact is a different thing but politics is a different thing. So, I don’t know how I can do anything in the political area, that’s not my cup of tea. But people-to-people contact... Yes... Quite a bit. Every year, 300 to 400 people from Pakistan visit our Ashram (in Bengaluru) for training”, he said.

The spiritual leader visited Pakistan thrice during which he received “overwhelming response and warm welcome”.

“On this level (people-to-people contact), of course we can do a lot... Bring sense to people but I don’t know what I can do with ISI, Army and the government there (in Pakistan). That only government can connect”, Ravi Shankar said.