“Five things I wish someone told me when I first started” with Preethaji Co Founder of O&O Academy

Preethaji is a transformational leader and cofounder of the O&O Academy, a philosophy and meditation school in India. She offers courses in major cities around the world that lead people to the scientific and transcendental dimensions of consciousness. Her TEDx Talk, “How to End Stress, Unhappiness and Anxiety to Live in a Beautiful State,” has reached more than two million people. Watch it here. Learn more about Preethaji, her husband Krishnaji, and their new book, The Four Sacred Secrets, here.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

I am a transformational leader, author, and a cofounder — along with my husband — of an academy for consciousness studies in India. My path began to open to me when I was nine years old, and later in a massive way when I was 17. Let me share my story of awakening with you.

For as long as I can remember, I have always felt what my mother, father or sister felt. I even felt what my teachers and friends felt. It was not that I knew their thoughts, but I could feel their feelings as if nothing separated us. And I would respond to them from that position of knowing. I had assumed everyone was like me until about nine. When I was around nine years old, I went through a shock when I realized that others did not experience life the way I did.

My next milestone evolutionary leap came when I was 17. I began to experience spontaneous states of timeless and limitless dimension of consciousness. In those experiences, I began to experience reality without mind commentaries, where there was a total cessation of all judgment, all mental chatter. It was a state of total inner stillness. And there were days when I experienced a total absence of the individual self, where only experiences remained, not the experiencer. It was a state of causeless bliss. The defined boundaries of the past, present or the future dissolved. I was the great flow of the universe. These states and more continue to come unasked to me.

I am very blessed to have a husband who is himself a philosopher and a mystic. Together we have founded O&O Academy and Ekam, a mystic meditation space where we offer insights and lead people through sacred processes that can bring them to these transcendental states beyond the self. As people awaken to these states, their old hurts heal, they become free of addictions, and awaken to a greater purpose to life. They know that there is a space in consciousness where there is a stillness that no worry can touch. It has become far easier for these people to move away from judgments and disconnection into a space of love and connection.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

One of the most exciting projects that my husband Krishnaji, our daughter Lokaa and I are together very passionately engaged in is a global charitable initiative called, World Youth Change Makers (WYCM). WYCM is a massive movement to create transfromed youth leaders who will in turn serve and support young people in their schools, colleges and neighborhoods. We have so far reached out to over 300,000 young people in several schools and universities. The WYCM aims at breaking emotional addictions of young people to anger, stress, fear and inferiority, and increasing their intelligence quotient so they become capable of greater attention and greater passion for achievement. WYCM also aims at creating a deeper sense of responsibility towards the world around them by making them conscious of their interconnection with life.

Krishnaji and I are also creating Breathing Room, a never-before-online meditation platform. We bring ancient practices magnificently crafted to suit contemporary needs. These specially guided meditations lead your body to relaxation and your mind into beautiful states of calm, cheer and inspiration. Please visit www.breathingroom.com.

What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a great writer (e.g., perseverance, discipline, play, craft study)? Can you share a story or example?

Firstly let me make it clear that I am not an author by profession. I see myself more as a transformational leader. I am moved when I see people in stress and suffering. I am moved when I see disconnection in individuals, families and the world, and the innumerable problems that arise because of disconnection. It is what I see that moves me to teach, that moves me to awaken people to inner journeys that can lead them to freedom, transformation and love. What moves me to action is a beautiful state of connection.

Our purpose behind writing The Four Sacred Secrets, as an inner journey, is to awaken people to this power of connection.

Can you share the most interesting story that you shared in your book?

Let me share an ancient fable with you from our book The Four Sacred Secrets. We have taken this simple story to communicate a very profound lesson on consciousness.

Two monks, Yesmi and Nomi, were returning to their monastery after a day of teaching in the nearby village. On their way back, they had to cross a river. Just as they were about to enter the river, they heard a woman crying. Yesmi approached the woman and inquired what was troubling her.

“I need to get back to my toddler, who is waiting for me in the village across the river. Since the waters have risen today, I am unable to get back,” she said. She was miserable that her child would cry for her all night.

Yesmi volunteered to get her across the river. After he carried her to the other side, she thanked him, and the two monks continued on their way to the monastery.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Nomi finally spoke. In an agitated tone he said, “Do you realize the seriousness of what you just did?”

Yesmi smiled. “I know.”

Nomi continued, “Our master said, ‘Never look at a woman,’ and you spoke to her! Master said, ‘Never speak to a woman,’ and you touched her! Master said, ‘Never touch a woman,’ and you carried her!”

Yesmi calmly replied, “This is true, but I set her down half an hour ago. Is it not you who is still carrying her?”

The two monks in the story represent the two inner states that all living beings experience. At every moment in our lives, we are either living in a suffering state or a no-suffering state. Let us call this no-suffering state a “beautiful state,” because that is how life feels when we are not suffering.

If you’re uncomfortable with the word “suffering,” replace it with the word “stress.” Generally, stress refers to tension — but anger, fear, loneliness, frustration are all stressful states, aren’t they? The word “suffering” embraces all these states.

Beautiful states include experiences of calm, connection, passion, joy, vitality and inner peace. When we are not in a beautiful state, our default state is stress or suffering.

If we look at every single happening in our own lives or the world around us, we see the driving force of these two states of being. Behind war or peace, addictions or social harmony, persistence or failure, kindness or cruelty, cooperation or corrosive politics, and, finally, happy children or a generation that is troubled, there is either a suffering state or a beautiful state.

Let us now return to our story, keeping in mind that Yesmi represents a beautiful state and Nomi a stressful or suffering state.

Nomi created a nonexistent problem in his mind and got stressed trying to solve it. Yesmi solved a fellow human being’s actual problem and continued on his peaceful walk. Nomi was agitated before the event, during the event, and after the event. His inner agitation led him to overcomplicate matters and act irrationally.

Yesmi, while in action, was fully present. Once the action was over, his departure from the situation, too, was total. In a beautiful state, there is no compulsive rumination over the past or anxiety about the future. We experience inner simplicity and the brilliance of an uncluttered mind. We are connected to the present.

Nomi was lost because a stressful state separates. When we are Nomi, we stand in a joyful crowd and still feel absent. We feel lonely even when we are with close friends.

Yesmi’s state was different; he was present. He also felt Nomi’s distress and tried to help him out of it with a wise question.

When we are in a beautiful state, we are wise enough to help ourselves and to help others. Our actions are decisive and powerful.

There have been times when we have all been Yesmi, and there are times when we have been Nomi. We have all lived in stress and disconnection and have contributed to the chaos in our personal lives and the lives of the people around us. We have also lived in beautiful states of connection and have contributed to the wellbeing of the world and ourselves.

In our years of observation of consciousness and its manifestation in life, we have noticed a recurring pattern. The more a person lives in a suffering state, the more life becomes like a tangled net from which there seems to be no escape. No matter what decision we make or what action we take, we find life heading toward greater and greater chaos.

We have also seen, on innumerable occasions, that when we live in a beautiful state, magical synchronicities begin to unfold. Synchronicities are meaningful coincidences. They are favorable and harmonious occurrences that happen in alignment with your intention.

What is the main empowering lesson you want your readers to take away after finishing your book?

I want my readers to realize the incredible power of the beautiful state of connection. When you connect to your loved ones, your connection will heal their hearts. When you connect to yourself, you will heal your body and mind. When you connect to the earth, your responses will heal the destruction we are perpetuating on her. When you connect to the Universal Intelligence, you feel a power beyond your limited mind. I want my readers to realize that connection nurtures the giver, the receiver and the onlooker.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming a bestselling author? How did you overcome it? Can you share a story about that that other aspiring writers can learn from?

The biggest challenge I faced on our journey to becoming a bestselling author was having to spend time away from family. There is no way around it, other than doing as many podcasts and interviews from home. It finally comes to making a clear and conflict-free decision as to when you will say enough and get back to being with your family.

Which literature do you draw inspiration from? Why?

One of the most inspiring books for me personally is the Panchatantra of Vishnusharma. This is a collection of ancient Indian animal fables that is supposed to have transformed five irresponsible and passionless princes into wise young people who understood the nature of life and what it means to be true leaders.

How do you think your writing makes an impact in the world?

We wrote The Four Sacred Secrets not to fill people’s heads with beautiful words and poetry but to lead people on a journey of transformation. The Four Sacred Secrets is about a journey of transformation. As a partner or a couple, if you want to have an experience of what it means to be in love, or if you are a wealth creator who wants to rid oneself of stubborn obstacles that stand in your path, or if you are someone who wants to end the war with oneself, this book will awaken you to the possibility of calm, to the possibility of connection and creativity, and lead you on an inner journey.

What advice would you give to someone considering becoming an author like you?

My advice to anyone who wants to become an author or for that matter who wants to do anything in the world is that you need to transition from doing things for mere survival to living from passion — because only a passionate mind can truly contribute. The first and foremost evolution for every author, I believe, is to awaken to a state of connection. To connect to yourself — to people, to life and to the Earth itself. From that space of connection, feel the difference you want to make in the world. Please do not take other people’s words and simply shuffle them, juggle them, and give them back to people in a new book. Do not just give people what will excite them; give to people what will help them.

What are your “five things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Funny enough the one thing I wish some one had told me years ago was the importance of writing a book. We have been so engaged in creating curriculum for our academy, teaching the participants, and training our members of faculty into authentic teachers. We did not focus on writing a book until a very good friend reminded us of its importance. I wish someone had really explained the importance of writing a book early on.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can reach us on @pkconsciousness, which is our social media handle on Instagram and Facebook, where my husband Krishnaji and I share important wisdom and meditation lessons.

We would be very happy for you to share it with your loved ones, friends and the world. You can also visit us on our website, www.pkconsciousness.com. And meditate with us on www.breathingroom.com.

Thank you so much for this. This was very inspiring!

Contact: Jay Austin/BPCM, jayaustin@bpcm.com, +1 914–980–7788