Four years ago, if you had asked me to meditate, I would have laughed at you. But now I meditate twice, sometimes thrice a day. Such has been the impact on me of Heartfulness meditation.
Four years ago, after graduating from an engineering college, I was working in a corporate job when I had an unforeseen mental crisis which came out of nowhere. I could not locate the source of this crisis; I dreaded going to the office every morning and I stopped calling friends or doing anything productive. I started questioning my entire life at that point. Fortunately, at that time I came across a book called ‘Unlimited Happiness’ by Sister Shivani of Brahma Kumaris organisation. Reading that book answered many of my questions and revealed how getting to know oneself is the key to unlimited happiness. Naturally, meditation is one of the best ways to get to know yourself, so I started meditating regularly without any guidance of any sort. Initially, meditation felt like an enormous task, I could barely sit for ten to fifteen minutes. But I kept at it and persevered with it almost every day.
A year later, I went to study at the Ashoka University where a fortunate encounter enabled me to take my meditation to a new level – I met Mrs Smriti Chaubey who became my trainer in the practice of Heartfulness meditation. Just sitting next to her you could feel the love and joy radiating from her, she was the embodiment of peace and serenity. Call it a coincidence or fate that she had just arrived at Ashoka, it was serendipitous, indeed. Karen, my spiritual buddy and I still believe she came for us. We both began to meditate with her twice a day, and looking at us, many other students started coming to the group meditation regularly. Very soon, everyone in the group started having such intense sessions that sometimes we would sit for hours afterwards in discussion.
Mrs Chaubey suggested I do a fellowship in Heartfulness to take my practise further. Initially, I had my doubts about whether this was my true calling, however, after attending a spiritual gathering of over fifty thousand people at Kanha Shanti Vanam, a green paradise outside Hyderabad, I made up my mind to dedicate one year to my practice, such was the impact of the place. Recently I graduated from the fellowship in Yoga and Wellness in Kanha, Hyderabad. It was an incredible, magical journey till now, and I am continuing my journey in the same department, working on the ambitious goal of taking the benefits I have reaped from Yoga to everyone in the world!
- Ankur Naik
