Batliwala Khurshed - Happiness Express

HAPPINESS EXPRESS

Khurshed holds an M.Sc in Mathematics from IIT Bombay. He is a Parsi and is fondly called Bawa, a nickname he inherited from his IIT days. More than 20 years ago, he decided he would rather teach people how to meditate and make them happy instead of teaching them math and making them miserable. He became an Art of Living teacher and this allowed him to do exactly that and gave him the freedom to explore many of his varied passions.

Dinesh holds a B.Tech in Metallurgy and Material Sciences from IIT Bombay. Hed always wanted to make a difference to the people around him and the world in general. At the age of 21, he became an Art of Living teacher and has taught the secrets of the mind and meditation in more than 30 countries. He is a fitness enthusiast and thoroughly enjoys his daily workouts. He does awesome Yoga. He has a unique, and often, humourous take on current affairs which he prolifically expresses through his tweets.

They live in a beautiful home surrounded by nature in the Art of Living Bangalore Ashram with their friends who are their family, all of whom contribute in some way or other to everything they are involved in.

First published by Westland Publications Private Limited in 2018

61, 2nd Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600095

Westland and the Westland logo are the trademarks of Westland Publications Private Limited, or its affiliates.

Copyright Khurshed Batliwala and Dinesh Ghodke, 2018

ISBN: 9789387894198

All rights reserved

The views and opinions expressed in this work are the authors own and the facts are as reported by them, and the publisher is in no way liable for the same.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

CONTENTS

People often ask us how we manage to stay so happy and what our secret is. This book is the answer.

The recipe for happiness involves five major ingredients, and thats how this book is structured. The chapters are quite independent of each other and you could read them in any order.

Do you have trouble resting? Do you feel tired and worn out a lot? The chapters on Sleep and Meditation are for you. One of the best things you can do to get that elusive smile could well be simply closing your eyes. We can almost guarantee that following the steps in these chapters will dramatically improve the quality of your sleep, as well as your life.

Feeling unfit and unwell? Read the chapters on Food and Exercise. Being physically active and eating healthy, tasty meals can make a huge difference to your well-being.

Feeling stagnated? Head to the chapters on the Brain, Learning and Focused Mind Mapping. Theres an incomparable joy in understanding and learning something new. Quite a few adults deny themselves this pleasure because they think they cannot learn new things or are afraid of making mistakes. Thats where these chapters can come to your rescue.

Do you tend to forget things? Do you wish your memory could function better? The chapter on Memory unravels the mystery of how our memories work and explores two memory enhancement methods: The Memory Palace and The Spaced Repetition System (SRS).

Keep getting into trouble because of habitually postponing stuff you have to do? The chapter on Procrastination provides insights into the working of your mind and includes an approach we call the S.T.A.R. technique to help you get over this and other infuriating habits.

Want some quick tips on becoming happier? Read Happiness Sutras. This is your go-to chapter whenever you feel low. If you are doing everything right, yet somehow not finding yourself in the best of spirits, perusing this chapter should help you out and restore your smile in a jiffy.

We were recently asked what our dream was. We replied: we are living our dream!

Life is a dream. This book ensures it doesnt turn into a nightmare. Welcome aboard the Happiness Express!

All the very best.

Jai Gurudeva!

Love,

Bawa & Dinesh

We have the Brobdingnagian fortune of being blessed by our beloved Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. We are grateful for the magical, enchanting world of the Art of Living that we are overjoyed to be a part of.

Dinesh is the solidity of the Himalayas and the love of a few saints, rolled into one. Life is absolutely incredible because of him.

My mom passed away while this book was only an idea. Theres a little story about her and me in this book. Mom, wherever you are, I love you! Dad, you are in here as well. Thank you for everything. I love you, too.

I thank Dineshs parents for their love and support, and the car.

Thanks to Abhiram, Salman and Chakri for all the work that you guys so cheerfully do, both online and offline, allowing Dinesh and me the luxury of time.

To Gowrishankar for helping when it was most needed; without him most of the illustrations in this book would not have been possible.

To Lalit for making me enjoy exercise.

To Dr Ankita Dhelia for her osteopathic treatments. This book wouldnt have been possible if she hadnt used her extraordinary skills to get me out of bed after my back injury.

To Devang for being the initial inspiration for us to even think we could write a book.

To Bhanu Didi for her music, love, sweet gentleness with everyone, and the coolest, cutest quote for our cover!

To Arvind and Srivi for ensuring we look as great as we feel.

To Susha for the beautiful suitcase on the cover and her ideas and insights.

To Harish Ramachandran for his laughter and ideas and his wife Bharathy for the timely help.

To Rajesh (Myla) Krishnamurthy for all the pointers we used in the Memory chapter.

To Atin and Pooja for the title of this book.

To Rosy for making us fly!

To Sowmya for ensuring that Rosy could make us fly.

To Manak for guiding us.

To Perviz, my sister, and Carl, her husband, for being there, and Aarman, Ahun and Bhuvana, their children, for all the problems and craziness they create.

To Shiv, Sakshi, JD, Tanu and Anya for all the great food and silly jokes.

To Chakri for the photos in the Memory chapter.

To Mayur and Esha for celebrating their birthdays and anniversaries with us (inside joke, dont bother).

To Hanoz and Rimpy for their supreme generosity.

To Kapil, Puja and darling Aarna for the good times in London.

To Uppi, Manisha, Dhara, Sourav, Rupal, Saleel, Rajesh, Shilpa, Rohit, Shibani and Rashmin for the silent encouragement (I wish they had been more vocal though).

To Esha, Santosh and Kamatchi for reading the book aloud to me, so I could hear how it sounded in order to edit it better.

To Harshal for singing.

To Chirag for dancing and being such a good sport.

As always, thanks to Prama and Ranji Bhandari for sharing their beautiful home with us and for the fantastic food and superb conversations; Shavina for all the pampering; and Abhay Joshi for those little and big things that make our life easier. To Chaital, Milan and their families for all the lovely times.

To Amarja, Raghavan, Anjana and Vivek for the lovely food and all the fun.

To Jai and Pramod Khanna for taking such good care of us in Mumbai. To Nisheeta for being the silent, systematic force in the city, making each visit special.

To Adi Kabra for being our man Friday in Hyderabad. He is actually Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well. We give him the weekend off.

To Dr Rangana Chaudhary for teaching us EFT and NLP and being such a dear friend.