Let me start from the beginning. I did my first course in October 2009. I am an only child so when I was younger, I was pretty shy and had trouble making friends and opening up to new people. Somewhere in my mind, I thought I was lonely, and I wasn’t truly happy. However, I always wanted to change this feeling. I had attended an Art of Living satsang and was mesmerized when I saw just how blissful and happy all the people there were. I did not fully understand the reason for this and was curious to know their secret. I always thought, though, that AOL courses only took place in the Bangalore Ashram so I gave up hope. Luckily, a friend informed me of a course taking place very close to my home so naturally, I decided to do it. I experienced my first Sudarshan Kriya and it was like a miracle. Since then, I did not feel lonely. I stopped feeling out of place. I felt comfortable talking to almost everyone. I felt happy and that, too, without any reason, as true happiness needs no reason. Now it’s been over five years with the organisation, and to be very honest, life didn’t completely cease to be challenging but my outlook towards facing those challenges changed. That’s all that really matters. We need to change the way we look at tough situations in life. I have gained immense strength from this course, which has not only helped me survive through rough phases but has truly made me a more evolved person. I have hit various lows in my life but somehow Guruji’s grace didn’t let those situations break me. Miracles happen every day in my life. I pray to Guruji for the silliest of things like “Gurudev, please help me get the bus on time” and the moment I think He is way too busy for my stupid requests, I see my bus right there. Once, I lost my wallet and got it back and thanked the Guru’s grace but again, it did not feel like a big deal or a big story that I should share. Now I have realised something much bigger than all this, that which is the truth of my life. The very presence of Sri Sri in my life is the biggest miracle ever. The other small miracles are just subsets of having faith in a Guru. Many things in my life are yet to be sorted but I am sure about one thing – that as long as I have Gurudev, I have nothing to worry about. Jai Guru Dev.
- Shrija R
