''Gurudev: On the Plateau of the Peak'' is a biography of

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

, a spiritual leader and founder of

The Art of Living Foundation The Art of Living Foundation is a volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization (NGO). It was founded in 1981 by Ravi Shankar. The Art of Living Foundation has its centers in 180 countries. Art of Living offers se ...

. The author of the book is his sister Bhanumathi Narasimhan.

Overview

''Gurudev: On the Plateau of the Peak'' is about the life of

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (born 13 May 1956) is an Indian yoga guru, a spiritual leader. He is frequently referred to as Sri Sri (honorific), Guru ji, or Gurudev. From around the mid 1970s, he worked as an apprentice under Mahesh Yogi, the founder of Tr ...

from his childhood days to the days spent by him in the company of saints as a teenager, from being a young meditation teacher to a revered spiritual master. The book begins with the story of the historic peace negotiations with the FARC in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

resulting in the FARC's new vision of non-violence. Tracing back to the beginning, the book jumps to

's birth and tells about his childhood's incidents and also describes how his decision to take sanyas was received by his family. His decision to start on his own, the creation of Sudarshan Kriya, his transformative art of breathing, his early teaching days, the beginning of The Art of Living ashram, his travels to various countries teaching The Art of Living programs to people from diverse walks of life, his choice to venture into the red zone in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and the no-man's land in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

to bring trauma relief, the promotion of yoga and meditation as a universal solution for healing and physical and mental peace, the

World Cultural Festival The World Cultural Festival (WCF) was held on the Yamuna floodplains in New Delhi from 11–13 March 2016. It was organised by Ravi Shankar to celebrate the Art of Living Foundation’s 35 years in service. It was reported to have been atten ...

where he brought together close to 3.5 million people in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in March 2016 to celebrate human values – the book shares anecdotes and insights associated with his life choices as a spiritual master and humanitarian.

Editions

The book has been published in English () in 2018 by Westland Publications. It has been translated into

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

(),

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

(),

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

(), Lithuanian (),

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

(),

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

(), Kannada (), Spanish (9789874177063), Portuguese (9788561634209), Chinese (9789671687109) and Bahasa (9789386850577).

Author

Bhanumathi Narasimhan was born in

Papanasam Papanasam is a panchayat town in Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Kumbakonam. The name literally translates to "Destruction of Sins" in the Tamil language. It is the suburban region ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

References

{{Reflist Books about spirituality Biographies (books) 2018 non-fiction books Westland Books books