Sri Sri Stories
This note describes my placement story – 20 November, 2014…
It was the seventh semester of the 4 year B.tech (CSE) programme. Every student was preparing to get a job and be placed somewhere. My plans were pretty much the same. A 15 day placement practice class was introduced by the authority, which would benefit the students in getting well prepared for the corporate world.
It was in the month of September when “Cognizant Technology Solutions” came to my university for placements. The process took three days and there were 3 rounds post which 600 students were selected from the 1900 odd seekers. I got rejected in the second round itself while quite a few of my friends landed in the final round and got placed as well. It was extremely disheartening for me at that time, as I was very enthusiastic about getting a job.
I felt the same way as one would feel when there is a celebration everywhere and you are not a part of it. But the Art of Living knowledge points were like a hero to me that time, which made me strong. Expectations from parents and sympathy from friends is enough to make anyone a stressful zombie. But doing Sadhna and listening to knowledge is the only support you can rely upon.
A month had passed, waiting for the next good company. Meanwhile I sat for two placement drives, “HP” and “Syscom coorporations”, but got rejected at both.
Finally the day came when “HCL Technologies” visited the University, in November. I just sat for it with the hope to get another experience. The drive arrived with a five round selection process.
Since I had already been through many interview rounds, no more preparation was required at this stage, so I just went for it, with immense hope and faith in my heart. I cleared the first round, and was ready for the second one, which was Group Interaction with 15 students at a time. This round was called the Rejection round. It started with an introduction of all the students. At my turn, I gave a basic summary of myself and my background, after which, all of a sudden, Sri Sri’s Iraq visit came to my mind. I then went on to telling the interviewer that I belonged to the largest volunteer-based NGO, “The Art Of Living” , and instantly a big smile came on my face and I automatically got relaxed. I spoke confidently and fluently about all the Seva projects that I had been a part of in the last one year. I spoke continuously for over 10 minutes, and the interviewer was listening to the information with great interest, as he knew little about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
After that round, 4 out of the 15 students were taken further, and to my pleasant surprise, I was a part of that 4. I was then told to wait for the Technical and HR rounds. I prayed to my Master saying “May the best happen!”; and my faith worked. I cleared both the rounds and was successfully placed with HCL Technologies. This was truly a miracle! Having gone through numerous failures, success tasted even sweeter. But it was only with the support of my Master that I could survive all the failures. Thank you Gurudev:)
Sri Sri says: “Relax and you will find that everything is falling in the right place. Anything that bothers you, just drop it here. Send it to me. I am with you!” .
Jai Gurudev
Garima
On the 27th of October, 2014, I was blessed with the birth of a baby boy, my son. But on the same day, we were informed that the baby’s food canal was blocked, as the baby was not in-taking Milk. Due to this, the Milk was flowing out from his nose and mouth. This was a very grave situation for me and my entire family. We were all shocked as to how such a tragedy could happen to a child who is just one day old on this planet. But there was no answer to our questions. A feeling of deep helplessness gripped me. Our Doctor advised for surgery, in order to open the baby’s blocked canal, as that was the only option left. The Doctor also told us that this surgery would be risky and critical, and would have 50-50 chances of saving the baby.
Being a father, this news shattered me completely. I just did not know how to react, what to do, where to go. And in such times of deep distress, there is only one power that comes to your rescue – Your Faith in the Master! These times are a true test of Faith.
And I had full faith when it came to Gurudev. I knew that He would sail me through this storm. All my fear would disappear at the thought of Sri Sri, as where there is Faith, there is no room for Fear. I could feel His presence with me and my family, throughout.
Call it inner faith or Divine intervention, something gave me the strength to fight. With that, we gave permission to the Doctor to proceed with the surgery. We prayed for the best, and surrendered the rest! And as a sincere prayer never goes unheard, the surgery was a success. This was a huge miracle in itself:)
Then the Doctors told us that we would need to wait for 7 days to see if the baby accepts the Milk or not; and that the child will be kept in the NICU for about ten days. So I requested one of the Nurses to keep Guruji’s picture on my baby’s bed. She agreed and kept Guruji’s picture underneath of the baby’s back. This gave me an added sense of reassurance.
Few days passed by, and on the 7th day, the Doctor gave us permission to feed the baby, and to our greatest joy, the baby started accepting the milk! There were only three words that crossed my mind then – Guru, Grace, Gratitude:)
I was cent percent sure that this beautiful miracle was only possible with my Masters’ unending Grace. He had been taking care of my child since the beginning. We just needed to have Faith and be patient. Thank you Gurudev. I am indebted to you for life!
Presently my baby is doing good. He is now fit and fine! It’s only because of His Grace.
Everything and Anything is possible, when He is in our lives!
Thank you Guruji,
Satyajeet
The impact of the collision was so much that it bent the car’s front frame and dashboard. Miraculously, while Avni just fell from Priyanka’s lap, none of us were anywhere hurt. I just had a small scratch due to the hot air bag, on my left wrist.
While it took some time to come out of the shock, both Priyanka and I were very grateful that nothing had happened to anyone of us. We called up Rishi Vidhyadharji. He blessed us and said that everything would be taken care of. In minutes, we had an ambulance, traffic police and the emergency car trailer, helping us out of the situation. The police did not put any black mark on my driving license (though it was totally my mistake), the petrol pump manager did not put any fines on me, the ambulance were ready to take us to hospital and we had a taxi coming from no where to pick up Priyanka and Avni to safety. Quite soon, one of our close friends, Prasad, came over to help me with all the formalities.Such a major crash happened, the car was trashed away as the engine got fully damaged, and yet all I had to bear was just a minor scratch, roll out a few thousands for damages and experience tons and tons of Grace in our lives.
Miracles do happen:)
With Gratitude and Love,
Sachin
Jai Gurudev,
My name is Ved Prakash Gupta. I was born on the 7th of November, 1951, at Delhi. I did my Bachelor of Technology-Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in1973 and MBA, HR from IGNOU in the year 2000. I then joined the Department of Telecommunication,(DOT) Government Of India as a Class-I Officer in the year 1974 and retired in April, 2011, as Principal General Manager(Elect), (equivalent to Add Secretary to Government of India), Head of Electrical wing of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL), Corporate Office, New Delhi.
The begining of my journey at the Art of Living:
In the November of 1999, I got a VVIP pass for attending a Satsang with Sri Sri at Chatarpur, New Delhi. I thoroughly enjoyed the Satsang, His childlike entry, His movements, enthusiasm and expressions. In an answer to a question, are you GOD? He said,” Yes I am GOD”, and after a long pause he added “All of you are also GOD”. That was a revelation and Aho moment for me!
Next week, my friend who gave me the VVIP pass, requested me to do the Basic Course. Since I was posted at Ahmedabad, as Chief Engineer(Electrical), Department of Telecommunication, Government of India, at that time and was also living alone, I agreed to do the Course, provided it was taken in Hindi or English. So after talking to my then teacher, Ms Dhwani, a young 25 year old Architect, I joined the course. To my amazement, though she said that she would talk in Hindi, she started teaching in Gujrati, as most of the participants were Gujrati. Inspite of the fact that I was not able to understand Gujrati, I had a wonderful Experience of the ’Sudarshan Kriya’, and My Journey with Art of living started on that day. The Kriya had blessed me with a calm, composed and conflict free mind as it’s after-effect!
At that time I had huge targets to achieve for installing telephone exchanges in rural areas and most of the time, I was firing my team members for not successfully achieving these targets. Within just 3 months of the course, there was a huge shift in me. I was no longer firing my colleagues, and they too were pleasantly surprised about my changed behaviour. We were now able to accomplish all our goals in a joyful, stress free manner. Things just started moving smoothly, all falling well in place with the right effort, all thanks to the Sudarshan Kriya benefits!!!
Since the last five years, I am a full time faculty with the Art of Living, and since 2003, I have been teaching AOL’s Basic Course on Voluntary basis for General Public, Government officials, Jail inmates, DE addiction Centre Inmates, employees of Small and Medium Enterprises, Police, Army and Para Military Forces, Women from weaker sections of society and Youth Leadership Training Program’s for the youth from Delhi Slum areas. I am also a Guru Puja Pundit and a Blesser, now.
MY GURU STORIES:
I have had several amazing experiences since ‘Gurujis’ presence in my life. I would be delighted to share a few of them with you all!
1. Chaotic Car Accident: On 1 July, 2014, I was returning after a meeting with some youth about ’Youth Leadership Training Program’, and suddenly I found that 2 children came in the middle of the road out of nowhere, and in my effort of saving them, I smashed my Toyota Etios on the backside of a stationary truck at the opposite side of the road at Andrews Ganj, New Delhi. Front Bumpers, Bonnet, Right side Doors, Wind shield, Dash board, everything was completely damaged. With great difficulty I could even come out of the car. And then the realisation dawned. The car was completely damaged, but by Guruji’s Grace, there was not even a scratch on me. It took 25 days for the Toyota workshop to repair the car.
“You do HIS work and HE takes care of you”.
2. Grand Daughters’ premature Birth: On the 28th of September, 2009, Dushehra day at around 6.30 pm, my daughter in law prematurely (less than 7 months) delivered twin baby girls in a small Nursing home at Chennai. Doctors at Apollo Hospital Chennai told us that the delivery would be complicated through an operation. There was nothing we could do then, apart from having faith, and so we prayed and surrendered the matter at His Lotus feet. And it was only by Gurudev’s Grace that it turned out to be a normal delivery. And to our pleasant surprise, both of them are now very active, energetic, and enthusiastic, even though their very chances of survival were bleak at the time of their birth. It’s all Divine care. They now listen to all of Guruji’s talks very attentively:)
“HE takes care.”
3. Daughter’s fracture : My daughter, while studying in a medical college at Belgaum, Karnataka, fell from a bike and fractured her right leg. It was a grave injury. I got a call at around 12.30 midnight from the hospital, and the Doctors took my permission in order to operate upon the fractured leg. Two screws of the length 80 mm each were inserted to hold the bone erect. Next day, when we reached the Hospital at Belgaum, the Doctors informed us that it was a very serious case, and that my daughter may not be able to sit on the floor, crossed legged, throughout her life. We all got extremely worried. It was a major issue. But soon enough, with all our prayers and by Guruji’s Grace, within a years time, she could not only sit on the floor, but also do Pranayama in ‘Vajrasana’. Doctors were amazed at her speedy recovery, and the screws were also taken off after 5 years.
“HE can do anything”.
Thank you Gurudev for everything. I am so very grateful to you for being my true care-taker! Truly blessed to meet You:)
JGD
Ved Prakash Gupta
I had read many of Guruji’s articles, books and watched His knowledge sheets in audio, but it wasn’t until 2006 that I met Him for the first time. That’s when the feeling actually started sinking in. It’s like when you make a scrumptious dish, you need to know the right recipe, but it’s only when you taste the dish that you realize its value. Same was my encounter with Gurudev. Since then, my life has witnessed various ups and downs, and other challenges. But I have always sensed a Divine hand on my soul. I have always sailed through, with a smile on my face:)
With His grace, I have been able to endure it all, with my calm intact, always. One day, a person asked me about this sudden change in my attitude; that I always seemed happy and jovial. I told him that the secret for it was nothing but my Guru, and since then even he is excited to come around and know more about the Art Of Living. Over the past ten years, from whatever personal experiences I have had with AOL, one thing I can say with certainty – it’s a must do course for one and all. In today’s day and age, dealing with the continuous hustle bustle of life can be quite demanding, leading to unavoidable stress and fatigue. But with this course, people can learn how to handle stress and difficult situations with great ease and panache. We just need to realize that all these are passing clouds, some are dark, some are grey, but as they say – every cloud has a silver lining! We just need to learn to handle our mind, tame it the right way, it’s that simple! But implementing such knowledge is truly an art, and what better place to learn this other than the Art of Living. Living certainly is an art, and your not fully living if you haven’t learnt the Art of Living 🙂
With my beloved Guruji’s grace, all my problems have been solved in time. I have become happier, relaxed and hale and hearty. I truly feel as though I am swimming in a pool brimming with grace, and I don’t need to worry, for there is an unseen force, the divine love, that is taking care of me.
Thank you Guruji!
JAI GURUDEV,
Deepak Baboota
I have been an Art of Living volunteer for almost two years and have experienced many miracles in my life, but there is one particular incident which requires a special mention.
I was working in a Company as an Assistant Manager and was in a comfortable position. However for further growth I was looking to switch my job. One company offered me a good job with high salary in Ghana, and I was supposed to join them. So I resigned from my existing company. Unfortunately, during the notice period, the new company suffered some problems mainly because of the EBOLA outbreak hence my joining got delayed by three months. My marriage was on the cards as well, but things started to look worse.
I had started to get worried. And one particular night I couldn’t control my sorrow and became teary eyed, as I tried to sleep. I felt restless, filled with deep anxiety. I knew not what the future held and felt uncertain. Guruji came in my dreams that night. He held my hand and put His hand over my head. Next morning, I woke up very happy about the fact that Guruji had come in my dream. I felt reassured and had actually forgotten the state of problem I was in.
A major shift happened after that night. A week prior to my notice period, I had gone to attend the weekly long Kriya session. There, a few AOL volunteers informed me that one of their volunteers was trying to reach out to me since a week. I was wondering as to who this could be, and to my utter astonishment, he was the owner of a company which was in the same field as mine! I spoke to him over the phone the same day, and the next day I got an interview call. What’s even more coincidental is the fact that he offered me to join from the very next day of my notice period completion. I got the desired profile and the salary package was also better. What more could I have asked for?
He came in my dream, gave me hope and light, and took away all my problems and pain. Thank you Sri Sri. Words fall short in expressing my heartfelt gratitude towards my ever-so-loving, ever-so-caring Master!
I start this new job with His blessings and also a promise to myself, that come what may, I will never doubt the Guru’s Grace. I am so grateful that my Master is there for me, all the time.
JAI GURUDEV!
Ashish
I did my first Art of Living course in August, 2012, and that day transformed me forever. I was keen on doing the course since a long time, but as Guruji says, there is a prefect time for everything. I did my course when I needed it the most.
I had done my Engineering and was confused about what I should do further. I thought of preparing for GATE at home and I studied for 6 months and gave the Exam, but the result was disastrous. I was not able to clear the cut-off. This made me extremely disheartened and depressed. Then I gave one more exam, though I was not able to get a good percentile in that too. It was truly the worst phase of my life but I still kept my faith strong and hope going, and I would do my Kriya very regularly and on time. Finally one night, Guruji came in my dream. I was crying, while He was shinning in white, smiling as always. He said to me “Don’t worry, I am always there with you in every situation.” And that feeling, when you know that your Guru is there with you, taking care of you at every step, became my biggest source of strength.
Then I gave another entrance and cleared one of the exams, and started my post graduation. Now I am in my final year of degree, yet one feeling was always there at the back of my mind, that I am a failure and I was not able to clear the exam, and this always hampered my confidence. I then decided to sit for the placements but was never sure of getting through. My morale was really at a low. Soon, I came under pressure and could not sleep or eat well, 1 week prior to my written test, and I studied day and night. So due to lack of sleep and immense tension, I became ill. I had fever and was very weak, just when I was to appear for the test. I had no other option, but to surrender the situation to my Master. So I gathered all my confidence and went ahead with the test. After that was done, I fell asleep on returning home. My results were expected in the evening. But I was a bit tensed hence told my room mate to check it for me, and to my pleasant surprise, I was selected. Wow!!!
Then I learned that I would have to give my interviews the very next day, but as I had a bad throat and hence could not speak well, I prayed to Gurudev to somehow postpone the interview round. I needed more time to prepare. It was a sheer miracle that the interviews actually got postponed by 2 weeks. I thanked Guruji with all my heart.
Then came the day of my interview. I was slightly nervous, but the thought of Surrender gave me immense confidence, as I trusted myself and my Guru. And needless to say, my interview went off really well. I felt extremely happy and positive throughout the session and gave my absolute 100%. The best feeling came when I learned that I was finally selected for the job. I was so overjoyed, truly on cloud nine:)
It’s all Guruji’s Grace. And now I have realised that while I was struggling also, I was actually getting prepared to accept the ups and downs of life. And the only constant factor through all these ups and downs is – The Master. He will never leave your hand! Just have Faith.
Thank you Guruji 🙂
Jai Gurudev
Vaibhavi
I am Manali Pimple from Mumbai. I am currently working as a Compliance Executive at Kotak Mahindra. I did the Art Of Living course in Febuary, 2011, & became a devotee & a lover of Guruji since then. I found the Sudarshan Kriya so amazing that I can say only 1 thing, “THE KRIYA GAVE ME LIFE”.
Thank you:)
I would like to share this beautiful experience of mine that made me realize the importance of Sankalpa, and how a pure desire truly manifests.
One day while we were taking a walk, my husband said to me “Wouldn’t it be nice to purchase a school and run it?” We both had always been in favour of education to all, as we believe that it is extremely essential in order to be self sufficient in today’s world. So we made a strong Sankalpa in our minds that we wanted to teach and educate in a big way, and we then surrendered it at the Lotus feet of Sri Sri.
To our utmost joy and surprise, just within a weeks time, we got a call enquiring whether we were interested in looking after the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar pre-university College. This was like a dream come true, so perfect! We had fulfilled our desire to educate children, the Art of Living way.
Once our work at the college had concluded, we humbly requested Gurudev to put us into some other Seva. We waited as He told us to. We belong to the state of Karnataka. Having lived abroad for the best part of our life, we had returned to Bangalore after retirement. A desire arose in us while we waited to hear from Guruji. We thought that now that we are free, we must travel around to see Karnataka. We have visited other continents, but what a shame that we have not seen our own State yet!
Soon enough, we got a call from Him, and here’s what He said, “You do this, travel throughout Karnataka, touch all the districts and work for the expansion of all activities in Karnataka.”
He had heard us!
I feel so blessed to have such a loving Master in my life, who takes care of every small wish of mine. A sincere desire, for the benefit of others, always gets fulfilled. And the happiness you receive when working for the betterment of society, while doing service to mankind, is just not explainable in words. You have to experience it. It is Bliss:)
In the last couple of years we have seen the entire state of Karnataka, while taking AOL activities forward.
Sankalpa works!
In Gratitude Always
Leela Ramesh
Jai Gurudev!
I wanted to share with you all, a beautiful incident that made me realise the power of my Master and elevated my faith and trust in Him, multi fold!!!
My husband and I were residing in Surat since a couple of years. During July 2006, we went to meet Guruji at Rishikesh, as He was to be there for a few days, and we did not want to miss out on such a wonderful opportunity of seeking blessings from the Master Himself! So with happiness and excitement in our hearts, we set out to visit Him on the very day that we arrived.
I was ecstatic on seeing Him. It had been a while since I had met Him closely. I had reached a state of pure Bliss:)
Then we went further to meet Him. After giving us a loving smile, He asked us where we lived, not once, but twice. I was quite puzzled at the question. I did not see any need for Him to ask us that question at the time. But without pondering too much, I replied saying “Guruji, Surat!”. He nodded and gave us blessings. We then left. I was very happy after this Divine encounter.
The next day, we went back to Surat. To my surprise, I saw that my husband’s elder brother had decided that our family would be shifting out of Surat and moving into Kamrej. I was not aware about the logic behind this shift. It was a sudden event to me, and I had no option but to pack all my luggage and move. So we all shifted into our house at Kamrej.
From that very evening, there were heavy rains in Surat, rains like never before. Within 2 days we got the news that there were floods, as well, in Surat, and that the area where we previously lived were among the most highly affected regions. Had we continued staying there, it would have been tragic, owing to the gushing rains and floods.
And then it all fell in place. I now realised as to why Gurudev had asked us that question about where we stayed. He ensured that we moved out from the area that could have wiped us out. Only and only His Blessing and Grace has saved us from the unknown, unfortunate situation.
Thank you Sri Sri for being my Saving Grace:)
Jai Gurudev
Harsha
