I have been practicing Heartfulness meditation for the past 11 years, and it has taught me to see life as a beautiful, God-given gift. I was born differently abled with a biological problem called meningomyelocele which, among other things, makes walking without support very difficult. I look at my life now as before Heartfulness and…
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A boy was walking along a road at dawn one day, admiring the splendour of nature. Everything seemed to come alive at once, creating a painting in front of his eyes. The canvas of the sky was painted a brilliant scarlet-gold as tendrils of light struggled to inch higher, allowing his eyes to feast upon…
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I once came across the following story of a couple, William Waldorf Astor and Nancy Astor: On a stormy night, an elderly couple looking for a room stopped at a small hotel. The young clerk at the desk informed the couple that all the rooms of the hotel were booked and that not a single…
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Dear friends, Today I am reminded of fond memories from my childhood. When I was five or six years of age, the festival of Raksha Bandhan was a neighbourhood affair, and all my sisters would tie threads on my wrists and even on my ankles. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this Indian…
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Before I started Heartfulness Meditation, I looked at prayer as a means of getting what I wanted. Prayer was like a spiritual Rubik’s Cube. I tried many ‘correct’ ways of praying to get much anticipated results, but was met with many disappointments. I couldn’t figure out the puzzle despite having what I felt was the…
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Four years ago, if you had asked me to meditate, I would have laughed at you. But now I meditate twice, sometimes thrice a day. Such has been the impact on me of Heartfulness meditation. Four years ago, after graduating from an engineering college, I was working in a corporate job when I had an…
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As parents, our goal is to raise happy children and at the same time prepare them to be resilient and ready for the outside world. At times this can feel like an uphill task – how can we equip our children to stand on their own feet and face the realities of life, and yet…
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Like many stories you may have come across, mine starts with an unresolved past issue. For me, it was the usual teenage angst and uncertainty. I didn’t know what I was doing; I felt lost in this world and, typically, looked for reassurance in other people and things. Frequently, when we play around we fail…
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What’ and ‘if’ are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: What if? What if? What if? -From Letters to Juliet (2010) As humans we’ve all had situations where we wonder, “If I had just…
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A friend recently commented that most people living in cities are between one of three things – between jobs, apartments or relationships. This might not be true for everyone, but my experience is that things seem to be unpredictable and in constant flux for most of us. Everyone seems to be grappling for some sense…
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Whenever I say this at home, everyone laughs, especially when I can’t remember what it is that I forgot. My wife jokes, “Tomorrow, you will forget me too!”, and we banter about my various bouts of forgetfulness in the past. Nowadays, it is justified as being natural for my age, however, she often reminds me…
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“Meditation brings me in, Yoga brings me out.” At least, that is what I knew at age 10. My parents, who were Christians, were also involved in Transcendental Meditation, Zen, and Buddhism. Both did Yoga and encouraged me to learn. I would go to Yoga class with my Sunday school teacher and learn sun salutations,…
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