From correspondents in Jammu and Kashmir, India, 08:32 PM IST

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who arrived here on a two-day visit Tuesday to deliver a message of peace in trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir, said 'peace is coming back to Kashmir which is the land of Sufis and saints'.

Shankar, who founded the Bangalore-based Art Of Living Foundation, spoke to an impressive gathering in the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the famous Dal Lake here.

This is his second visit to the state since June 2005.

He told the audience: 'Peace is coming back to Kashmir which is the land of Sufis and saints. We must preserve our cultural values but must at the same time modernise to keep pace with the developing world.'

The spiritual leader spoke to a gathering of over 200 people drawn from various walks of life in Kashmir at the SKICC followed by an interactive session with the local youth.

Immediately after his arrival here in the morning, the spiritual leader visited the historic Shankar Acharya temple located on a hill near capital Srinagar.

He also prayed at the shrine of famous Kashmiri Sufi saint Sheikh Mukhdoom Sahib and also paid obeisance at the Shariqa Devi temple in the afternoon.

Later Sankar visited the famous Sikh temple of Chatti Padshahi in downtown Srinagar.

Earlier, he visited the International Association For Human Values (IAHV), a sister organisation of the Art Of living Foundation, which specialises in disaster and trauma relief set up in Kashmir after the devastating October 2005 earthquake.

IAHV and the Art Of Living Foundation are global non-profit educational and humanitarian organisations.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)