Appo deepo Bhava - Be your own light.
Buddha's Last Words to his disciples
About Shanti Meditation School
Shanti Meditation School encourages people to uncover their inner truth, aligning with their energies and flourishing into their authentic selves.
Finding peace within
Buddha’s first noble truth is that life is a suffering. Is life a suffering for you? Or is life a celebration? I ask this question to all the participants in our courses.
Most people reply to this answer without looking inside. Like other things in the modern age, this answer has been supplied to us from outside. For many of us, life is a suffering because Buddha has said so. For others, it is a celebration because the self-help books urge us to always look at the positive side. The first step towards finding peace is to know the answer for ourselves, which can come only through deep reflection.
If we know that life is a suffering, i.e. if we really know deep inside that life is a suffering, we will immediately take the required steps to stop that suffering. For example, during severe hot weather, we immediately switch on our air conditioner, or during cold weather, we immediately put on some warm clothes.
But most of us pass through life without really knowing its suffering or the celebratory nature for ourselves. When the suffering comes, we divert our mind to activities that seem to give us pleasure or peace, and when we feel that we have had enough celebration we go back to tackling life in the best possible way. And the cycle keeps repeating.
Going beyond suffering and finding peace has become extraordinarily difficult for the modern mind. We just keep switching between the suffering and the temporary diversions. On the spiritual path, the peace is everlasting, but this nature of peace is to be felt and known by us directly. If it doesn’t we have to look at what is wrong.
The activities of Shanti Meditation School are an effort to give a small taste of this peace to participants and to equip them with tools and techniques and provide them with a community to help them deepen this peace in their lives.
About Sugato
Sugato was born in India, and initially embarked on a successful corporate career in the USA, where he ascended the corporate ladder for over a decade. Driven by a profound inner calling, he chose to return to India and devote himself to his spiritual journey. Immersing himself in various ashrams, Sugato spent several years studying and practising under a range of masters and spiritual traditions. His extensive training encompasses the ancient yogic sciences of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Buddhism, Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, and Ayurveda.
Over the past twelve years, Sugato has channelled his vast knowledge into conducting transformative retreats, teacher trainings, and wisdom talks across Bali, the USA, Europe, and India. These retreats are more than just educational experiences; they are designed to catalyse deep, personal transformation. They represent the culmination of his spiritual quest—a journey that began with a simple realisation and evolved into a rich, integrative system blending various spiritual practices and healing modalities.
Sugato’s work is a testament to his dedication to living and understanding the principles of presence, love, and truth. His approach is not merely theoretical but rooted in his own journey of self-discovery and embodiment. Through his teachings and meditations, Sugato helps others awaken to their authentic selves, by helping them transforming their energies toward a life of fulfilment and profound insight. His work is a continuous exploration into consciousness, aiming to support those seeking healing and deeper self-awareness.