Calcutta: His broad smile peeping out of his flowing beard enables him to bond easily with his audience. When he asks them to shut their eyes, breathe deeply and meditate for 16 minutes, they do so with utmost reverence.

Power of Action - the evening session at the 45th ISAAME Forum of the International Association of Lions Clubs, in association with The Telegraph, at ITC Sonar on Monday - had Sri Sri Ravi Shankar converse on how to make effective action.

He talked of his experience with prisoners with empathy, believing that they were a misguided lot. "Some part in a person commits a mistake when he commits a crime," he said. An action becomes a crime because he was not conscious of his action. "Such people are sick people and they need compassion, not condemnation."

The founder of the Art of Living Foundation said his ability to see where the person he was interacting with was coming from enabled him to understand people and their situations well. This came in handy when he "brokered" a peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels.

"I asked them (the rebels) what is it that they wanted. They wanted social justice but their means to achieve that through violence was wrong. I showed them the path of Gandhiji's non-violence.... I spoke to them about meditation, invited them over for dinner at the Indian embassy and did some more meditation and on the third day, the commander of FARC was ready to adopt non-violence," narrated Sri Sri.

Eradicate violence

Clad in a white sari and barefooted, she stood diminutive on the dais till she began to speak in a soft but compelling tone.

Sister Shivani - delivering her discourse at the 45th ISAAME Forum - had her audience close their eyes for 30 seconds and visualise the world they would want to create. She egged them on to see the world, the faces in them, and their relationships and health before asking: "What do you see? A world of happy people?"

She then told them how to create such a world. The tele-evangelist, an electrical engineer who used to teach at a college till she joined the Brahmakumaris, exhorted the Lions to look after themselves before looking after others.

"Before eradicating poverty and disease, eradicate sorrow, terror, violence in the world," she said. "Radiate positive energy and you in return will get positive energy that you can share with others.... We are living in a world of terror, anger, fear. Create an anger-free zone at work. You will have happy people going back home, who in turn will have happy families and happy children. These people will come back the next day happy and your productivity will automatically increase."

The audience appreciated her prescription with a spontaneous applause.

Fight against odds

Two Olympic medalists spoke about their journeys at the 45th ISAAME Forum on Monday. Abhinav Bindra, who won gold in shooting in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Mary Kom, who lifted bronze in boxing in the 2012 London Olympics, talked about their careers and experiences, recounting their failures, hindrances and perseverance to reach their goals.

Bindra had to overcome epilepsy, while Mary fought off hunger and poverty. "As a kid I hated sport, but when I was introduced to shooting I loved it because I needed to keep absolutely still," he said, as the audience roared.

One of Kom's children needed heart surgery while she was training in Patiala. "I used to dream that my child was ill and the dream recurred for three days. But my husband kept the news from me to help me focus on my training. But I came to know eventually," said the mother of three who is fighting hard to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.