On one fortunate day, Dada J.P. Vaswani was addressing a small crowd of people at the Sadhu Vaswani Bal Centre on Queens Road, Bangalore. My cousin had invited me to attend this spiritual discourse. Initially, I was least interested in attending it because I believed that my faith in Lord Shiva, my God, was more than enough to give me all the happiness, joy, and success. However, I decided to go for it eventually. That changed my life! As soon as the talk was over, I stepped forward to seek blessings from the spiritual man. We were lost in a conversation that lasted several minutes as the crowd patiently waited for him to reconnect with them. Little did I know that my life would change after this meeting and he would become my Guru – my Master for life! 

In the first meeting, his love, humility, simplicity, philosophy and oratory skills floored me. I was sold! It was the beginning of a new journey – a new chapter of my life that would change and transform me completely. It was God’s grace that I met the man who would be my Guru for life. Today, as I look back at the two and a half decades that I have spent with him, every moment with him is invaluable, and I am indebted to Dada for devoting so many years to help me become who I am. He is far beyond a Guru and a Mentor. He is the very God that I pray to – my Lord Shiva who has appeared on Earth as my Guru and my Master.

Dada taught me different things between 2007 and 2014 because I had transformed my life. I was no more Ravi V. Melwani making money. I was RVM who was making a difference after shutting down my business.  My life-changing spiritual transformation in 2014, I call myself AiR–Atman in Ravi. One of the first lessons that Dada taught me after I started the AiR journey was that although I had realized that I was not the ego, the mind, and the body, I still had an ego, mind, and body. “These will continue to attack you; they will not stop until your last breath,” Dada said.

He cautioned me, “Beware! They are your enemies”. They are going to try to destroy your realization and make you sink in the Maya of samsara so that you lose your way in the illusion of this world. Don’t think that you are through. You are not! The tug of war continues; the fight and the challenge continue.

Dada had taught me 25 years back “Tat Twam Asi” or “Thou Art That,” but then I didn’t understand it. Then several years ago, Dada mentioned to me “Shivoham Shivoham” and I couldn’t understand it. Dada led me forward on the principles of the Upanishads. He was able to now take me forward because I have understood that I am not “This” – ego, mind and body. I am “That” – the Divine Spirit.  Dada knew many years back that I have to learn the meaning of Shivoham, which means that Shiva is not just in the temple outside us, but Shiva is inside the temple of our heart. There were times when I would wonder why Dada would not pay much attention to idol worship or rituals and now I realize what it meant. Dada always encourages me to believe in the truth, the realization. Dada has a great sense of humour. He jokingly said, “You know you can fail even on the last day of your life.” I asked Dada, “What do you mean?” He said, “It means when an aspirant who is a Jivatman or embodied soul has to become a Jivanmukta or the liberated soul, the aspirant has to learn to live as the Atman and not the jiva.” The aspirant is attacked by desire, lust, and all the passions of the world. This onslaught doesn’t stop till the last day of life. Every day is a new challenge. The five famous enemies – kaam, krodh, lobh, moh, and ahankar, which are lust, anger, greed, attachment, and ego, respectively – constantly attack us. If we fail and if it happens to be our last day on Earth, then we have to come back to Earth again and again. 

Therefore, Dada used to warn that we should live each day as a Jivanmukta – a liberated soul. Every single day, we should not fail nor let these temptations overcome us, because if they do, then we will fail to realize God. 

I was a tough rock. He brought out the diamond in me! He polished me, cut me, and made me shine. All credit of my life success goes to my Guru – Dada. This is my message to you all, seek the Truth with the help of a Guru. A true Guru is absolutely essential for a seeker on the path of realization of the truth to reach his destination. Without the help of a Guru, it is practically impossible for a true seeker to be enlightened and liberated. The Guru is a manifestation of God on Earth. The Guru’s voice is God’s voice. The Guru is the one who shows us the path, and then holds our hand and walks with us, helping, guiding, and leading us onward, forward, inward, upward, and Godward!