Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to launch event on Acharya Abhinavagupta

Prominent personalities of India, including artists, litterateurs, philosophers and spiritual gurus will come together at Vigyan Bhawan this afternoon and celebrate the amazing contributions of Acharya Abhinavagupta to Indian culture and in a larger context, to global society.

The event has been organised by Padma Shri awardee Jawahar Kaul, the president of the Jammu Kashmir Study Centre and former senior editor of the Hindi daily Jansatta.

Acharya Abhinavagupta, who hailed from Kashmir, is regarded as one of the world's great philosophers and literary critics. He was also a mystic and aesthetician par excellence who exercised a strong influence on Indian culture. He is to South Asia what Plato or Aristotle are to western civilization. The versatility of this genius was such that his works are even today being researched in over fifty countries worldwide.

Best known as the proponent of Kashmir Shaivism, Acharya Abhinavagupta also authored many books on tantra and theatre. His commentary on Bharat Muni's Natyashastra forms an essential part of the Indian discourse on poetry, drama, dance and music.

Jammu Kashmir Study Centre and Art of Living Foundation, in collaboration with several other supporting organizations, are organizing millennium year celebrations of Acharya Abhinavagupta throughout India. For this purpose, a pan-India Millennium Ceremony Committee is being formed, which will be presided over by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living Foundation.

The millennium celebrations will be formally launched by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.