I was looking around in a bookshop, and I ended up in the New Age section. I had never been into anything New Age or spiritual before so I thought all the books were a bit weird. I was running my fingers over some books, and one of them sent an electric shock up my arm. I picked it up and saw the cover. It was called Healing with the Angels. I bought the book and took it home. It said that there are always angels around us but we have to pray to them and ask them for help. As we have free will, they cannot intervene in our lives unless we ask them to. I had completely given up hope at that time, so I thought why not give it a try? I knelt down on the floor of my bedroom and just asked God to help me. A few days later, my sister came home and said she had seen a poster saying Pundit Ravi Shankar was playing a concert down the road from my house. I was amazed and excited! Pundit Ravi Shankar was the Sitar player that played with The Beatles and had released numerous albums of his own. I was a massive fan of his and knew that he had retired from live performances. Not wanting to miss this rare opportunity to see one of my favorite musicians play, I went with about 10 friends. As it turned out, we were not going to see Pundit Ravi Shankar at all. It was actually a talk and meditation session with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (aka Guruji). We entered and sat down towards the back row of the building. There was a small group of singers on the stage, singing, what I now know to be Bhajans. The music started to flow through my body and caused me to awaken into a highly blissful and altered state. Soon after, a loud voice started talking to me in my head. I then felt a hand reach down my throat and pull all this darkness out of my stomach. Shortly after this had finished, I looked up, and Sri Sri was walking onto the stage; and He sat on His chair and started meditating. What followed was the most amazing 2-3 hours of my life! As soon as I thought of a question in my head, Guruji would answer it. There were several hundred people in the room but it was like He was reading my thoughts and talking directly to me the whole time. I can’t tell how long it went on for as time seemed to fly out of the window, but it was at least a couple of hours. I do remember that after about half an hour, I turned to my sister and said that I didn’t think this was actually the musician Ravi Shankar. She replied that she thought He was a Guru. I remember not having any idea of what a Guru even was back then. One thing I knew for certain was that no one could have ever convinced me to go and listen to a Guru talk or to try meditation. I was highly skeptical of anything to do with spirituality. The only reason I was there was to see one of my favourite musicians play.Guruji then led a couple of group meditations. Many other people there had never tried meditation before either. After we finished, Guruji asked people in the audience how long they thought we had meditated for. Everyone thought it was only about 5 minutes, but it had actually been 20. It was amazing how He was able to send a whole room of people into deep meditation. After the talk finished, Guruji said that people who had never met Him before could come up the front. There was a huge line of people wanting to meet Him, and all the western people would shake His hand, while the Indians would touch His feet. While I was standing in line, He kept leaning forward so He could see me, and was smiling at me. When it was my turn to meet Him, I stood in front of Him, smiled and opened my arms and we hugged each other. I felt a lightening bolt pass from the top of my head down through my body to my feet and then back out of the top of my head again. It was the most intense experience of my life! For the next 6 months, I felt like I was in heaven. I was in a blissful state all day and had boundless energy. This eventually wore off and I began the long process of dealing with my depression and suicidal issues, but in a much calmer way this time. Had I not met Sri Sri or not done the Art of Living Programs, I know I would not have been alive today.The last 12 years of my life, since meeting Guruji, have been amazing. Everything has changed and I have achieved so many things that I thought were never possible. I have had so many incredible experiences and learned about myself, life and spirituality. Words cannot express how grateful I am to Guruji. He has dedicated His life to bringing peace, love and happiness to the world. He saved my life and asked for nothing in return except for me to be happy and follow my dreams. Thank you Gurudev. JGD.
