On the 17th, 18th and 19th February, over 2.5 million people from 150 countries came together in Bangalore, India to celebrate the Foundation's 25th year and pay tribute to its founder, H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, in his 50th birthday year.

Heads of state and personalities from all walks of life participated in the celebrations which included an International Conference on Human Values, organised to commemorate the occasion.

Hundreds of spiritual leaders from across the world, representing different faiths and traditions, came together in the name of spirituality, human values and peace.

And what was the theme of a global event like this?
"Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" meaning One World Family...

Organising an historic mega event...

The location chosen to host the Jubilee celebrations was the extensive 265 acre Jakkur Airfield in Bangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

The stage alone was immense, designed to hold 5000 people, spanning over 3.5 acres and standing 30 feet high, with a magnificent design inspired by the 14th century architecture of the World Heritage site of Hampi, in Karnataka state.

Right: Satellite image of Jakkur Airfield a few weeks before the event took place. [Picture courtesy: Google Earth]
The red, blue and grey area are the thousands of chairs being laid out infront of the immense stage. Behind that the small black marks dotted evenly across the airfield are huge television screens. The grey strip diagonally crossing the airfield is of course the runway!

Much of the event was managed and co-ordinated by 20,000 dedicated and tireless volunteers, many of them Youth Leaders - rural youth who have participated in the Youth Leadership Training Program.

Many of the volunteers had been working day and night for months, camping out at the venue up to the very last day in order to complete the logistical challenge of setting up the sea of chairs [see left], the stalls, exhibition tents, food halls, performance tents, stage, entry passes and parking areas.
As one Art of Living co-ordinator put it "We don't just believe in miracles - we rely on them."

Entertaining the global family...

A magnificent orchestra consisting of a staggering 3,800 South Indian musicians - who had never played or rehearsed together - spontaneously performed a musical symphony each night.

There was a vast array of instruments which included 100 ghatams, 360 mrudungams, 60 tamburas, 770 veenas, 782 violins, 750 flutes, 150 guitars, 138 nadaswarams, 92 saxophones, 10 mandolins, 60 tanpuras, 20 key-boards and many other instruments.

As His Holiness aptly put it "Music is a bridge to spread ideals and values."

Musicians from India and across the globe performed at the event, including Kadri Gopalnath notable for his improvisations to the conventional saxaphone to play Carnatic music; acclaimed ghatam (earthenware pot) player T.V. Vasan; renowned Israeli pianist Zita Zohar; German singer and actor Peter Maffay; Zimbabwean jazz outfit Afrika Revenge, and American rock singer Kris Keyes who performed with the Art of Living Youth Choir.

There were also individual pieces from different countries such as a performance by the Swiss contingent playing the impressive Swiss Horn [see left].

There were also many colourful dance pieces from across India displaying the richness of the sub-continents regional dances ranging from the classical Indian dance forms of bharatnatyam and manipuru to colourful local Karnataka folk dances.

In addition a spectacular dance drama was enacted on the final day, directed and choreographed by classical dancer Rashme Gopi Hedge, which included a visual feast of dance segments representing each continent of the world and included countries such as China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, Panama, Brazil, Ghana, Russia, Switzerland and Croatia.

For more information about the event, visit www.artofliving.org/Home/SilverJubilee