My First Visit to the Ashram..

Finally, one day, my friend, Vinit, and few of his friends decided to visit the Bangalore Ashram and learn Sudarshan Kriya. So, we all started around 12 PM from Mysore and headed towards the Art of Living Ashram. Though we planned to reach well before 6 PM, but owing to our little knowledge of route and transportation system, we managed to reach there by 8 PM only. It was all dark, and raining also. We just went there and sneaked into the satsang hall, Vishalakshi Mandap. It was all jam-packed and we got seats only at the back side. We sat there, and started to look around with curious eyes, as what was really going on?? Sri Sri had not arrived by then. The bhajans were playing on and gradually, the whole environment was getting filled with an air of joy, bhakti and celebrations. People were dancing, singing and swaying in ecstasy. It was all very strange for us what we were witnessing there. Slowly and slowly, I was also getting infected by that joy. I also wanted to stand up and dance but something inside was stopping me, some hesitation. So, I just kept sitting there and was witnessing it all.

After some time, Sri Sri came, walking so graciously, greeting everyone and smiling all the way through and it seemed the celebrations and joy reached at its pinnacle. After some time, all settled down. There was one more Maharaj Ji sitting by His side. On that day, Sri Sri didn’t speak much, but there was a little discourse by Maharaj Ji. Sri Sri was sitting there silently, and I was in some sort of disbelief as if He was really there in flesh and blood.

At the end, Sri Sri called for people having B’ Days and anniversaries. Some people stood and went up to Him. He embraced them all very lovingly and blessed them. That time, I also felt like going close to Him and meeting Him but just could not. I thought that would I be allowed to go near Him or not, as I was altogether a new person there? Then, finally He departed, and we also came out.

It was around 11 PM. We went to housing section, and expressed our desire to stay in the Ashram for a day. Initially the person there agreed, but when he came to know, that none of us had done any course, he refused. We told him that we had come there for this very purpose, but he said that the policies didn’t allow our stay here. We were all very disappointed. We inquired about the options available, and then left the ashram, somewhat dejected. We somehow managed to reach the bus stand, and then left from there to Mysore overnight.

So this is how I saw Sri Sri for the first time physically, but was not that fulfilling, may be because something really wonderful was waiting for me..

After that, time passed, and finally my training in Mysore lasting 10 months got over and I was posted to Chandigarh.

I came to Chandigarh. Sucharu had already come to Chandigarh a few months earlier. One day I met her and she introduced me to the people associated with AOL [Art of Living] there. This was basically a group of AOL people who used to practice meditation in the office.

Here I met few very nice people. Bhanuja Sharma, Ankit Grover, Amamdeep Singh, Aditi Vashishth…

Then these people further pushed me to do the course and I came to know that a YES+ course was going to happen soon in Chandigarh. And as the course neared, Ankit pushed me to do the course, and after overcoming a few obstacles from my mind, I registered for the course.