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With Gurudev - A Journey of Words
by Pratibha Jain
His gaze was fixed on the peak of the Himalayas. That was the place that beckoned him, with its snowy valleys where many seekers had experienced ultimate truth. He had bid farewell to his loved ones and was all set to leave for his walk away from worldly existence when all of a sudden, he heard his Guru's directive in the inner recesses of his mind. This changed the course of his life forever. Such was his dedication for his Guru that it filled his entire being. There was no space either to question or to find another option. He simply followed the command and with the image of his Guru etched in his heart, he walked back into the ocean of humanity to spread the message of compassion in the world, thereby augmenting a spiritual revolution.
Upadhyaya Shri Praveen Rishiji; the disciple of Acharya Shri Anand Rishiji; a Jaina monk, a strategic thinker, a profound speaker, a seeker of truth, an intuitive meditator, and a nature lover. Born in Maharashtra in 1957, he embraced monkhood in 1974. Hidden behind the pranks of childhood and the rebellion of youth was a brilliant mind which the Guru recognized in the very first instant. The journey that unfolded was one of knowledge and sadhana, the description of which is enthralling in itself. Extreme spiritual practices, many successful camps on various topics in the course of many chaturmaas, lone meditation atop a hill near Indore for thirteen months, discourses on the Agamas and many activities to bring together the Jaina congregation – there is so much to mention, that one wonders where to begin and how to encapsulate such magnitude in a nutshell!
So, instead of traversing a lengthy path, let us move into that small bylane where he is with us, in our joys and sorrows, in our wavering thoughts, in our scattering
