Ameya Dabli's Experience

About me:

I was born in Nagpur, also called as the 'Orange City' of India, however, soon after my birth, I moved to Mumbai and have been staying there ever since. A Chemical Engineer and an MBA in Marketing, I am currently working with HSBC bank. My immediate family comprises of my father, an educationist, who is currently working as the Director of YCMOU Open University in Mumbai, my mother who is a home maker and my wife Anuradha who is a cosmetologist and works for a leading German company.

Right from childhood, my parents had imbibed in me, a strong sense of religious beliefs and spiritual practices. My father would recite to me various 'stotras' (sanskrit chants) and help me by-heart and learn them. My mother too would share stories from ancient Indian scriptures like the Bhagavatam, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Exposure to these stories and scriptures since early childhood has really helped me a lot in shaping up my overall personality and my mental make up.

Introduction to Art of Living:

My entry into the Art of Living has been quite an experience in itself. I first hear about it during the last year of Chemical Engineering studies from a friend named, Alpa Teli. Despite my interest in spirituality, I would challenge Alpa as to why I should take the course with questions like: "should I have to pay for someone to teach me how to breathe?! Little did I know what I was missing at that time.

I completed my MBA and started working for a reputed Business House in India as a Management Trainee and life seemed to be perfect. (When one has a decent job, lovely parents, a caring girlfriend and no worries, life always seems that way). Sure enough, I started having some issues with my boss at work as also with my girlfriend. Despite being a top performer at work, my boss started treating me like just another fly in the pan and this started affecting my work and my self-esteem. My confidence was at an all time low and I was on the verge of a breakdown. Compound this with arguments between my girlfriend and me, and I was feeling like a complete wreck!

It was at this delicate time in my life that I finally embarked into Art of Living. I happened to hear of an Art of Living Course happening right next to my office and I decided to enroll in it. This was a life-transforming course for me. After performing the Sudarshan Kriya on the second day of the course, I felt a deep sense of joy and calm in my mind. I was seeing tangible improvements at my work place as a result. I regained confidence and in due course, got a promotion. At the same time, I became clear about my relationship with my girlfriend and we mutually decided to part ways. It was as though all the puzzles in my life were decoding themselves, on their own!!

Meeting Guruji:

Soon after my part 1 course, I enrolled for the Art of Silence (Part 2) Course in the Bangalore ashram with Guruji in October 2005. On the last day of the course, Guruji was meeting all the course participants and while meeting me, Guruji invited me to come over to Bangalore to attend the 'Silver Jubilee' celebrations of the Art of Living. It was the way things shaped up during silver jubilee and the numerous miraculous and mesmerizing events that took place at Bangalore during this time that strengthened my faith of this new path on which I was walking.

I had the most comfortable stay during the event, totally blissful. This instance and many such small yet significant instances during the event made me realize that Guruji was personally attending to not only my needs, but to that of the 10,000 Ashram guests with the same level of care and attention, despite his very packed schedule.

Living the "Art of Living":

My life defining moment came on 12th of March 2010. It was the eve of my Art of Silence Course with Guruji at Rishikesh. Having just arrived from Delhi, I went to Guruji's kutir for Darshan. It was quite late in the night, around 10.00 pm. The volunteers at the gate advised me that Guruji had already met everyone and had now retired to bed. Disappointed of having missed him, I hung around on the banks of the Ganges, hoping to get a glimpse. As I turned to walk back towards my room, the gate to Guruji's kutir opened and a volunteer called out to me saying Guruji is giving Darshan. I enthusiastically ran to see him. Considering the joy I felt just being there for a few minutes with Guruji, who emanates joy in his very presence, you could imagine how blessed I became when he unexpectedly invited me to go on tour with him. I found myself speechless and all I could say at that moment was, "thank you Guruji".

True to his word, in July this year, I traveled with Guruji on a 35-days tour, which included several cities throughout Hong Kong, Canada, USA, Germany and France. This journey was one of my most profound experiences in life. Being in the presence of the Guruji 24x7 and seeing him go about doing his routine activities was a profound learning experience for me. There was no difference between the way he was in public and the way he was in private. I realized he truly practices what he preaches, every day, every hour, every minute and every second of his life. Be it the humility with which he would answer the questions at each of the immigration checks at the airport when asked questions like "why are you visiting this country and what are you here for" by the immigration officials, or the compassion with which he untiringly met each of the 5500 plus devotees that had come to meet him during Guru Purnima at Hartford, or simply the regularity with which he performed his sadhana every day, all of his actions were simply inspirational and so very pure!

Sri Sri is truly an embodiment of care and compassion... It is in the seemingly small gestures that I came to recognize the grace and magnanimity of this benevolent being

Today, after being associated with Guruji and the Art of Living Foundation for over 5 years, I find my life is so much more rich and useful than before and I have begun to recognize that I myself am capable of contributing greatly towards the society through the inspiration of Guruji.