BANGALORE: A bomb scare halted a public event addressed by His Holiness Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Kosovo on Friday. Hundreds of people, including the cream of Kosovo, had to be evacuated from the banquet hall of Victory Hotel in Priština following the bomb scare. “Gurudev had just started a guided meditation after delivering a public talk when the personnel of a United Nation bomb squad intervened and led the evacuation. No bomb was found at the venue and the police are investigating the matter,” said Snjezana Nisevic of the Art of Living Kosovo.
Gurudev is on a two-day visit to Kosovo to interact with officials and beneficiaries of Art of Living’s programmes in the country. Addressing a large gathering attended by doctors, intellectuals and police officers just before the scare, Gurudev said,
“We thank Kosovo for sending Mother Teresa to India. India would reciprocate by bringing the benefits of yoga and its ancient spiritual knowledge, which is much needed in Kosovo today.”
Welcoming Gurudev to Kosovo, health minister Sadik Idrizi, who hails from the same town as Mother Teresa, requested the Art of Living to train youth and health workers in yoga and meditation and set up preventive healthcare centres.
During the visit, Gurudev also met president of Judicial Parliament Council Hyadjet Hyesni and vice-president of Alliance New Kosovo Ibrahim Makolli. On Saturday, Gurudev will address the members of UN mission in Kosovo. On Friday, he also interacted with many war veterans. Lauding the Art of Living’s trauma relief programme, Vehbi Rafuni, retired director, Association of Disabled Kosovo Liberation Army Veterans, said,
“The participants experienced great healings from the programme. I myself have experienced great relief from anger, irritability, sleep disorders and depression and have witnessed more healings in many veterans who have attended the programme.”
Gurudev’s visit is expected to provide a boost to the process of reconciliation and restoration of peace in the strife-ridden Kosovo. The Art of Living has been working in Kosovo since 2000, helping war victims reclaim their lives. In addition to conducting trauma relief programmes for war veterans, women, children and inmates of prisons and refugee camps, it also carried out major relief work after the war. Its programmes have helped equip the trauma victims with tools of reconciliation and acceptance, helping them to live peacefully in a multi-ethnic society.