Only through spirituality may one feel the real joy from inside, explains Swami Sadyojathah, foremost disciple of Sri Sri Ravishankar, founder of Art of Living (AOL). “People mistakenly believe that spirituality is meant for old people alone. But we see people across ages, especially the youth, getting attracted to spirituality at AOL. This is not just a concept, it’s reality,” he says.
Being an ardent Communist once, the Swami says he could easily link Communism and spirituality. In his opinion, a true Communist has three different aims: “to check greed among the rich, fanaticism in religion and to care and share.” “These goals can only be achieved with a big heart and can happen only through spirituality. Therefore, only a spiritual person can become a true Communist,” he claims.
Swami Sadyojathah conducts awareness classes mainly among the prisoners. “The quality of our action depends on the state of mind. One always regrets if he performs an action with a frustrated mind. Hence, it is important to have a calm, balanced and focused mind. I think everyone needs to learn these techniques and ways of handling the mind,” he says.
A ‘seva warrior’, Sadyojathah strongly believes that ‘sadhana’ and ‘seva’ (service) should go hand in hand, and he had chosen the path after getting attracted to the idea of doing selfless service in his community. “I was ready to be a seva warrior and organise successful events that came across my way,” he says. Now, he is gearing up to spearhead a free legal service to be started by AOL to propagate the act of ‘seva’ in the state. The cell will have a group of lawyers providing legal support, basically to the downtrodden. “Meditation should be made part of your life. It is the food for our soul,” is the New Year resolution of Swami Sadyojathah.