The Art of Living hosted a reception to honour H.E.Mr. Hakubun Shimomura, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, on 7th August ,2014 at its International Centre, Bangalore.
Welcoming the Chief Guest, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder, Art of Living said, “The Japanese have a great message to offer about teamwork, cleanliness and perfection in everything they do." He also emphasized that the East has a long tradition of harmonious co-existence of different faiths and this message has to spread to every nook and corner of the world.
Mr. Shimomura, responding to the welcome address, stated, ”I strongly believe that the message of The Art of Living will spread in many countries. With The Art of Living, I would like to work towards bringing peace to the world."
Sri. Abhaychandra Jain, the Hon.Minister for Sports, Youth Services & Fisheries Govt. of Karnataka, India chose the occasion to present to H.E Mr. Hakubun Shimomura, a book on the youth of Karnataka.
Among the other dignitaries were Sri. Abhaychandra Jain, the Hon. Minister for Sports, Youth Services & Fisheries Govt. of Karnataka ; Justice Venkatachaliah, Former Chief Justice of India; Justice Rama Jois, Former Governor of Jharkhand & Bihar; and Swami Sachidananda, Former Member of Parliament, India. Eminent personalities from the business world also attended the event.
On this occasion, D.K Hari and Hema Hari, founders of Bharath Gyan, an Art of Living initiative to collate research on India's ancient knowledge-systems and arts, presented a book called, " Indo-Japan: A connect over Millennia," highlighting the similarities between the two ancient cultures.