Under Sri Sri Rural Development Programme (SSRDP), the Art of Living runs several programmes to empower rural communities and bridge the needs and resources between the urban and rural populace. The outcome of these initiatives is the strengthening of the rural economy in the immediate future and a strong national economy in the long run. Established in the year 2001, the underlying philosophy of the programme is to share the burden and responsibility of poor villagers by helping them become self-sufficient and self-reliant. The immediate outcome of making villages self-reliant is the decrease in the number of villagers migrating to towns and cities in search of employment. This not only reduces the heavy strain on urban infrastructure, but also saves migrants from getting trapped in a web of urban crime. To train rural youth, the Art of Living offers a wide range of training modules, both in modern vocations such as manufacturing and service sector, and traditional skills such as bee water harvesting.

As the lurking dangers of global climate change become alarming, the Art of Living has taken up several holistic and multi-pronged initiatives to ensure environment sustainability. The goal of these initiatives is to take actions to protect the environment and encourage practices and lifestyles that nurture it. Combining awareness with effective actions, it has initiated several mass movements aimed at ensuring environment sustainability, which is one of the UN Millennium Development Goal Realising that one of the biggest environmental hazard today is the millions of people who live without the knowledge of climate and their surrounding environs, the Art of Living is engaged in educating them about the ecosystem and the way it is changing. There is a strong accent on awakening environment consciousness in all its programmes