Several Central ministries have issued circulars to officers and staff to instantly enrol for Sri Sri Ravishankar’s week-long ‘Art of Living’ course, with the tab of Rs 1,500 being picked up by the Government of India. The ministries include the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Home, External Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies and PSUs like ITDC, among others. Sri Sri Ravishankar’s marketing evangelists promising to help ‘‘eliminate stress and negative energy, create a sense of belonging and restore human values’’ through Sudarshan Kriya, pranayama (energising your life force rhythm) and meditation have knocked on every ministry door, and many are beginning to stir in a positive way. Exceptions are the HRD Ministry—headed by none other than the Government’s resident metaphysicist, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi—and the Finance Ministry. So even as you display profound self-control waiting endlessly for your papers, be assured the officer on the other side of the desk is experiencing a rush of positive energy from his Sudarshan Kriya, practised during the morning office hours. The Government has benignly allowed the staff to attend the course, in the Foundation’s many centres, without taking leave of absence. Going by the response, the bureaucrats are sold on the idea. Already, the DoPT staff (the first to enroll) have done three sessions in batches of 40 members each. Home did a course last week, Food and Civil Supplies has done one session already and will send its next batch, next week, while the MEA has finished one session. The programme co-ordinator, the ever-smiling Mehul Parikh, says: ‘‘The Foundation has been conducting de-stressing and motivating courses for personnel from Army officers in Botswana to scientists in NASA. Guruji believed such benefits should reach our people too, especially bureaucrats, to enhance efficiency and productivity. We began contacting officers and the response has been so fulfilling.’’ A two-hour, four-day programme during office hours renders the bureaucrat the rejeuvenating qualities of the Sahaj meditation technique. The intense two-day, five-hour course, however, has been thoughtfully scheduled for the weekend. Like every dedicated karma salesman, Parikh is ecstatic about the course’s ‘‘subliminal effects of relaxation, rejeuvenation and recharging qualities’’. And he says his Guruji’s dreams are already being realised, with government offices now brimming with stress-free, motivated, positive staff. ‘‘The days of lethargy and inaction are over,’’ says a proud Parikh. ‘‘Those bureaucrats who have attended the programme are overjoyed, they feel more energetic and feel no fatigue even after a hard day’s work. Their family life has improved. They smile a lot more, there is no anger and frustration.’’ And don’t worry about what Parikh calls Sri Sri Ravishankar’s ‘‘gift to the nation’’ not lasting long in the Indian bureaucracy’s somnolent world. Whenever officers feel their energy depleting or motivation diminishing, says the Foundation, they can swing by at the numerous Art of Living centres which dot the cityscape.
