Where I come from

Before anything else, gratitude.

To every teacher who walked ahead of me, whether they know me or not.

Previously an MBA and CFP holder with banking experience, for years I lived a life that looked complete on paper. Each step leading sensibly to the next.

Then a shift happened. I started questioning where it was all leading and who chose this. Slowly I realised that these had not been my choices.

Everything I do still begins with the same question: What’s the meaning of that which I am doing?

I started exploring. My first guide was the Vivekachudamani: a series of lectures I found in an online archive. Then the reading of the Bhagwat Geeta followed. I love words. So from Kabir, Rumi, to Tagore and Henry Longfellow, I read them all, and each added something to the way I see things now.

Life got sidetracked, the way it does when we feel busy but it leads nowhere. A wake-up call rang, guised as a big personal crisis, which pushed me to surrender. Behind those gates, I met the teachers. The ones who taught me how to get up and fight back. Surrender did not make me give up. It taught me to stand taller.

The Siddha lineage taught me courage and discipline. Chamundi Gurukulam and Nandhiji guided. The Ganpati tradition taught me about healing, especially healing through the Shakti force. Kirti Hermitage opened its doorway of grace. The Kaivalya school for yoga is a repository of knowledge for anyone genuinely seeking.

I learnt bhakti listening to and watching Maa Parvathi Baul, and the true meaning of the Devi Mahatmya from Acharya Ajay Bhattacharya.

They will not know me, for I am Eklavya to them.

Some teachers give you their hand, others their example.
Both are gifts.

And I mention this last but it remains the first step to spiritual seeking. Grounding. I owe Meher Malik for introducing me to beautiful practices of physical anchoring.

One thing that kept following me throughout were the planets. They kept making me curious about them and their role in my life. And then they showed me the way too. I dabbled in astrology through formal studies. I also learned cowrie shastra, tarot and prasna shastra, from their great practitioners.

And in between these, there were many more teachers who guided me and gave me the gift of perception. I will always be in gratitude to each of them.

Many traditions. One thread.

Akaayati is what has grown from all of this: a contemplative studio where these paths meet. Not separate disciplines, but different doorways into the same inquiry.