The music is over, the stands have been taken away, the stage has been dismantled and the grounds are being cleaned of rubble and rubbish. And Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is "baffled" why his mega cultural event - the World Culture Festival, held over three days on the ecologically sensitive Yamuna floodplains of Delhi last week - has stirred up a row.
"We have done nothing illegal," he insists.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) slapped a cess of Rs 5 crore on his network, the Art of Living (AOL), which organised the festival, "for the damage caused to the environment, ecology, biodiversity, and aquatic life of the river".
The spiritual leader plans to move court on that, stressing that AOL followed government rules. "If at all anybody is to be punished, it should be the Delhi Development Authority, the Delhi government or whoever gave us the permission to hold the event. This is just a campaign to malign us, that's all," he says. "We would have gone to Rajasthan, or to Bengaluru. Mamata ji invited us to stage the event in Calcutta, I could have gone there."
He sounds agitated - and there's reason for that. The cultural event, said to be the biggest of its kind in India, caused an outcry on the social media. And the head of AOL found himself at the receiving end of an onslaught for holding an event that could cause enormous ecological damage.
In a country where godmen and spiritual leaders are revered as much as they are reviled, Sri Sri has stayed away from the media's harsh glare. Unlike, say, Asaram Bapu, accused of rape, or Baba Ramdev, who wore a salwar-kameez in a bid to mingle with the crowd during a police crackdown in Delhi five years ago, the man in all-white, with flowing jet black hair and beard, has largely stayed away from controversy.
The 60-year-old spiritual leader's rise has been spectacular. Born in Papanasam in Tamil Nadu, it is said that he could recite the Bhagawad Gita at the age of four. He studied physics in St. Joseph's, Bengaluru. But always inclined towards spirituality, he set up his first centre with financial help from his father in 1981.
Today, he reigns over a sprawling empire. The Art of Living Ashram, 36km from Bengaluru, is spread over 65 acres of land. Thousands of devotees gather there to learn the art of Sudarshankriya, a de-stressing technique popularised by him. His organisation is said to be worth several crores of rupees. The AOL declined to give specific figures on its net worth.
The ashram is under heavy security and manned by walkie-talkie wielding guards. The entrance to Sri Sri's office resembles a fortress. Burly security men, who look like muscled bouncers, carefully examine all visitors. Chained barriers have been put up to stop anybody from making an unexpected entry.
Gurudev, or Guruji, as he is generally known, walks into the office, surrounded by a huge posse of AOL staff members, all clad in white. The teacher sits on a throne, the devotees park themselves on the floor. Cameras are switched on. A beatific smile lights up his face. He pulls out a pristine white hanky, blows his nose hard, and gets ready to answer questions.
The idea of a mega cultural event, he explains, came to his mind when the AOL was celebrating its 25th anniversary in Bengaluru. "We had 3,800 artistes on stage and it was a grand success. Then five years ago we decided to celebrate a World Culture Festival in Berlin. It was again a very big success. So we decided to stage this event in India."
Some 37,000 artistes participated in it, singing, dancing, chanting and playing instruments on what's been described as the largest stage in the world. About 37.5 lakh people attended the festival.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has never done anything on a small scale. His AOL, which works in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, is present in 155 countries. His website claims that he has so far reached out to an estimated 370 million people worldwide through personal interactions, public events, teachings, workshops and humanitarian initiatives. He travels to 40 countries every year.
He has also been dealing with conflict resolution, disaster and trauma relief and social issues. Sri Sri's good offices have been sought in bringing warring sides to the negotiating table in Sri Lanka, Iraq, the Ivory Coast, Colombia and Cameroon. He has opened ayurvedic centres in Iraq and Syria.
"It is not my passion to venture into war zones and adventurous areas but I try to do whatever I can to unite people's heart and minds," he says modestly.
Closer home, he suggested solutions to the Ayodhya issue, convinced Baba Ramdev to discontinue his fast during the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement of 2011, offered to mediate between Naxalites and the government, and came up with recommendations to break the impasse on women being allowed to enter temples where they were banned.
"When people see me they like to work with me so I find there is a lot of love," he explains, when asked why his help is sought on diverse issues. "It is perhaps because I love them that they love me back."
Among them, clearly, are political leaders and ministers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Bharatiya Janata Party bigwigs such as Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Suresh Prabhu, Piyush Goel and Harsh Vardhan attended the cultural event. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted in his favour.
"I am not close to anybody or far away from anyone," he retorts, when asked if he is close to the PM. "We have not taken any favour from anyone. Forget about it."
The spiritual leader, who has over 2 million Twitter followers, believes he has a way of connecting with people. His staff members say that he tweets personally, though there is a team that takes care of his Facebook page. "Every few days, I put out a tweet on knowledge. It's a good way to keep in touch with the people," he points out.
Like Ramdev, who started out as a Yoga teacher and practitioner and now runs a mammoth business enterprise, Sri Sri has business interests, too.
His Sri Sri Ayurveda Trust sells a vast range of products, including face creams, toothpastes, shampoos, body care lotions, scrubs, soaps and cleansing milk. There are juices and herbal tea. It sells ayurvedic medicines such as Liv-on for the liver and anti-diabetic tablets. He says his team has found a treatment for leucoderma, a pigmentation problem. "I am always concerned about high-quality products," he says.
The passion for music is strong, too. A popular YouTube clip shows him handing out roses to his followers, while swaying to the song Jiya dhadak dhadak, moving his fingers in rhythm to show a beating heart. AOL's bhajan CDs register brisk sales in its online store. Last year, AOL organised what was called the largest music symphony at Nashik, in which 5,378 flautists took part.
"Music creates harmony, mediation too creates harmony. The purpose of music is to create silence and meditation brings that inner silence," he reasons.
What's on the anvil now? "To keep doing what we are doing - make life a celebration! We still have a lot of work to do to bring peace to those parts of the world that need it."
Spiritual leader. Music lover. Businessman. Mediator. Grand event organiser. NGT irker. Will the real Sri Sri Ravi Shankar please stand up?
