BACKGROUND : Hans Dholakia began this motivational work around 1997 and later founded HOLISTIC HEALTH & LUMINOUS LEARNING INC, in Noida, India. He is a qualified engineer, with nearly 34 years' experience in sales / marketing, having last worked as Vice President - Marketing. He also has nearly 25 years' parallel exposure to Yoga and meditation. He knows 6 languages, writes poetry and believes that all religions are true but in today's situation, one needs to be spiritual rather than religious.

Before coming to the path of Yoga, Hans Dholakia had his share of good and bad fortune, times of triumph as well as those of frustration and heartburns, but nothing seemed to touch his depths and give him a lasting peace of mind and inner satisfaction. His quest for that something else which could quench his parched soul's inner thirst, took him through near-desperate reading of all kinds of books, writing poetry, seeking love (both human and divine and both without much success), and all the resultant disillusionment with the world as he experienced it. In 1984, he chanced upon a booklet "How You Can Talk With God " and later the legendary book "The Autobiography of a Yogi", both by the world-famous East-West saint, Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, who later became his Guru.

For the first time, Hans found something that touched his deepest roots and the promise of a true source of lasting joy and peace ; in his would-be master's simple but wise counsel, he found answers to his tormenting questions. He became a disciple of the great Master (though the latter was not in his physical body) and a gradual but definite inner recovery that could only be called miraculous, followed. The Autobiography is now available in 25 languages all over the world and there are millions who continue to likewise benefit from the Master's teachings, even half a century after the Master took Mahasamadhi - a Yogi's final and conscious exit from his body - an event that itself created medical history when for 20 days after he breathed his last, his body remained incorruptible and showed no signs of any decay. We are NOT an official part of the Master's great organization i.e. Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) in India / Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), USA and therefore cannot teach the exalted techniques which can be learnt by anyone directly from YSS/SRF only, but even the books like the Autobiography meant for general public (which we encourage people to read), can greatly benefit any sincere reader. We love to spread awareness amongst the modern world's hassled brothers and sisters everywhere, that such a great book, such a great Yogic path and such wonderful how-to-live teachings are available for all alike. This was one symbolic way Hans thought he could pay his gratitude to God and his beloved Guru (who actually is a direct representative sent by God).

During the later part of his long tenure in the corporate world, he noticed that like he himself did earlier, most senior managers / executives busied themselves with trying to manage other people / things, but they did not care to manage themselves well ; in fact, they were not even aware of the urgent need to take charge of and manage themselves, resulting in what can be called massive "internal losses", stress and ineffectiveness. Also, he found that the qualities that made leaders out of managers were essentially spiritual in nature e.g. courage, empathy, humility, self-esteem and self-confidence, etc. Intuition, which is accepted now in management, is a soul faculty which transcends sensory perception and knowledge.

The recent scientific findings in the West on the tremendous advantages of Yoga-meditation, on the great influence that the mind has over the body, and the rising need of an attitudinal transformation only supported this observation. He left his marketing profession, that had grown lucrative but less and less pleasurable to him over the years, to whole-heartedly devote himself to quietly serving those whose paths he crossed. In spite of the financial hardship that resulted from this decision, this work did not feel like a sacrifice because there were great inner rewards. Here was a work that he could truly love and enjoy doing, a work that was also a play, a work that his heart said, he was programmed for. He learnt from his Master that everyone should introspect and find out what one is cut out for, owing to skills earned in the previous lives, because else, we have to let others choose for us and be in the rat race where we must obviously be big rats in order to win.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE WORK WE DO ?

We are into motivational re-education of the educated for Yoga-based holistic healthcare, mind control and self-actualization. Our motivational work combines the latest management findings with the timeless Yogic tenets of happy, healthy and successful living. It seeks to balance Science with Spirituality and to blend the best of the modern West with the ancient East. Quantum Theory, recent medical findings in the West on the influence of the mind on body - especially on its immunological make-up, the management findings on Emotional & Spiritual Intelligence (EQ & SQ), the discovery of the brain in the heart, the science of Kirlian photography (browse for Resonance Field Imaging) concerned with the measurement of human aura, the medical confirmation of the tremendous benefits of Yoga-Meditation in treatment of psycho-somatic ailments especially the cardiac troubles, etc are the areas where the conventional boundaries between Science and Spirituality seem to dissolve. That's the area where we work.

The 8-fold path of Rishi Patanjali's Raja Yoga is a lofty science for complete self-development. YOGA literally means to connect or yoke (yujir) in order to manage (yuj). In the Gita, the loftiest management manual ever put in black and white and the ultimate guide on how to live, Lord Krishna provides the fundamental basis of all motivation in the chapter VI -

You are your BEST FRIEND or your WORST ENEMY depending on what you choose to be. Therefore, raise and uplift yourself by yourself ; do not let yourself down into sorrow and suffering.

Happiness and sorrow are our own mental conditionings but they appear to come from outside. One just has to CHOOSE to be happy, to be free, to be a master of oneself, and not remain a slave of egoistic habits of thought and action. One is free to make this choice every moment of one's life. William James of Harvard University says " The biggest discovery of my generation is that human beings can change their lives by changing the attitudes of their minds".

We must first love ourselves before we can love others ; the old saying is "Charity begins at home". One must get along well with one's own self before one can get along well with others, for the universe is us. Inner conflicts, the root cause of so many problems and psycho-somatic ailments, must be resolved.

But what exactly is meant by "loving oneself" ? The self to be loved is the soul, our true identity which is in natural empathy with all existence, and not the ego, the pseudo-soul, that is narrow and separatist. There is a world of difference between egoistic selfishness and a healthy self-love, between arrogant self-concern and a self-esteem. The root cause of all human suffering is the ignorance of our true identity. One thinks oneself to be one's divisive, secessionist, egoistic self, confined to one's body and all that the flesh holds dear. This is "avidya", a micro-level representation of the macro-cosmic delusion, "Maya", the "Satan".

Saints tell us, each of us is a child of immortal light, a storehouse of infinite power, a mine of endless possibilities, a diamond waiting to be polished. God, the Maker and Sustainer of this universe, resides equally in each of us. No one is high or low. Spiritual advancement consists of being increasingly aware or conscious of this inner, essential Divine Unity and then manifesting it. Yoga helps us do this by restoring our body-mind-soul harmony.

We conduct regular coaching in integrated Yoga-Meditation / Motivational Counseling / Holistic Destressing and Personal Growth etc.

We also conduct motivational training programs in corporates / institutions on holistic self-management, leadership, balanced living, scientific Yoga-Meditation, EQ/SQ etc (ref Services).

WHAT DOES HANSYOGA MEAN ?

• Health & Happiness, Attitudinal Transformation, New-Age Spirituality & Stress-free Success through YOGA ;
  
  

• HANS is "aham sah" , that is same as "soaham" , meaning "I AM HE". Every soul is potentially divine, made in His image ("Tat Twam Asi, Aham Bramhasmi"). Of course, we cannot jump into it and summarily and arrogantly take this to straightaway mean that "I am God", for as long as we live in ignorant body consciousness, we are far from God, let alone be God. In stead, this should mean "God is in me", and this should sober us down because Spirit, despite its omnipotent power, overflows with the quality of humility ; "I have a body but I am not this limited body, I have a mind but I am not this limited mind ; I have a personality but I am not confined by this personality - I am a soul and God is in me ; Divinity is my source and my destiny ; I am immortal light, peace and joy…I have infinite possibilities of evolution…" this is what it should mean to us.
  
  

• Hans also means Jivatma, an individual embodied soul ; each Jivatma is like a homing bird, flying to its eternal home in the bosom of Spirit. Hans also means Spirit. Life is a journey from self to Self.
  
  

• Finally, Hans means Swan, endowed with the legendary skill of separating milk from water ; in the Mansarovar of consciousness, the soul-swan discriminates the milk of truth from the surrounding waters of delusion. That is what each of us has to learn to do. The journey no doubt is long and difficult, but the reward is more than enough to justify undertaking this ordeal. Integrated, scientific practice of Yoga is the way.
  
  

  Hans Dholakia with his material & spiritual life-partner, Rita at their home.

  They, and their two sons Sushant (Currently working as a 3D Animator at C.O.R.E Digital Pictures, Toronto, Canada) and Shiv (Studying final year BFA in "Visual Effects in Motion Films" in San Francisco, US) and also Sushant's wife Shrinkhala (also a 3D Animator and working at C4 Studio, Toronto), follow the same Divine Master, Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda whose famous 'last-smile' picture you see here between the couple in the snap above, which is appropriate because he is the Centre of their life and consciousness (to know more about the Master, pls visit www.srf-yogananda.org and www.yssofindia.org)

  Shrinkhala & Sushant Shiv