Namaste Dost
Namaste – vedic sanskrit word – the sacred in me recognises the sacred in you
Dost – Hindi word for friend
About me
My name “Kavita” in Hindi means “poetry”. I knew this from a young age, but this was not what coaxed me to write poetry. There was another reason why I felt compelled to think, to dream and to write. In the beginning, I just did it because I enjoyed it and it fulfilled a yearning to express my views. After all, each one of us is just who we are, right? Only now after years of basic meditation and self-reflection have I come to the conclusion that I am the way I am because it is my calling in life. My life has played out exactly how it was meant to. As each event in my life unfolded I made the most of it, willing myself to conquer all my trials and tribulations. When the going got tough, I threw myself into surviving, learning and ultimately thriving.
As a young girl, I used to have very deep, meaningful discussions with my father. Questions like why do people think differently, why is there so much suffering in the world, why are some people so rich and others so poor, what is the purpose of life? Thinking about issues such as these is in my blueprint.
I was 19 years old when I met my husband. I knew the moment I met my husband that I would marry him. How did I know this? I don’t know! To this day I am not sure whether it was love at first sight. I knew very little about these things in 1983! I was a second-year philosophy student in India when the marriage proposal was forwarded to me. I dropped out of college, got married and came to the UK. Although I had met my husband only once, I married him, leaving my safe world and throwing myself into a world I knew little about. I owe my spiritual journey entirely to my husband, even though I was born with the raw materials which were nurtured by my parents.
Once in the UK, it was my intention to carry on with my education remotely and visit India to write my exams. Yet again, destiny had a different plan. I got pregnant with my first child. My daughter reminded me how to love unconditionally. The desire to complete my education totally disappeared. But the yearning for seeking knowledge never left me. I relied upon my passion for reading and books became my anchor.
Years passed by and my second daughter’s birth brought back my love for reflection. Her wise questions intrigued me and forced me to search for answers. Still, I was busy earning a living and bringing up a young family. The war I was waging against some unpredictable happenings in my life were strengthening my resolve and laying down the foundations toward my journey of self-reflection and search for inner peace.
In 2005 my son was born. This was a turning point in my life. Work took a back seat and I decided to study a short module on child psychology. As I went through the course work, I began to realise that, instinctively, I knew at least 80% of what I was learning. I had not studied it, I just knew. Upon reflection, I can attribute this to the discussions I had with my parents and the books I had chosen to read. As we often do, I had slowly but surely been internalising much of what I had heard and read.
The April 2015 Nepal earthquake awoke the philanthropist in me. I had just turned 50 and I decided I wanted to run my first 10k race to get involved in fund-raising. This was also the beginning of my life as a runner. Fund-raising and running became the way of life for me. To support my running I took up yoga, which in turn lead to meditation. At the same time, various books, one after another began to present themselves to me. I never went seeking for them, they sought me out! The first was, Robin Sharma’s, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” followed by Parmahansa Yogananda’s, “Autobiography of a Yogi” and “Veda Secrets from the East” by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta. A dear friend of my then recommended I read, Michael Newton’s, “Journey of the Soul” after which I read, “Destiny of the Soul” by the same author. Andrea Moritz’s book, “Lifting the Veil of Duality” was actually left in my guesthouse in Oxford! This is by no means an exhaustive list of books that simply make their way into my life. I am compelled to study these books, not simply to read them.
As time went on I began to spend more time on self-reflection and meditation until suddenly the entire world came to a standstill in March of 2020. When social isolation became the order of the day, I had a longing to offer support to my family, friends, neighbours and fellow beings. That is when Namaste Dost was born. Its purpose is to remind us of a way of life we intrinsically know, but easily forget. Our inherent nature is that of peace and Namaste Dost is a humble reminder of this peace.
Namaste Dost is a two-pronged fork of learning and sharing. It is the culmination of years of thinking, yearning for answers and serving with-
“One Thought, One Second, One Person” at a time.