About

About Saleel!

A Phenomenal Combination of Values, Technology & Spirituality!

Because, Some Coins Do Have 3 Sides….

Early Life

“It was the monsoon of 1984. Amidst the loud sound of rain from outside, even as water was dripping from the raincoats of the school kids, in Ghatkopar, a modest suburb of Mumbai, the results of the 7th grade unit test were being announced. The
Geography answer sheets were distributed. A boy totalled the marks he was given for the various answers. It was 36/40. But on the front page, it was written wrongly in bold 38/40. As a result of this, he was declared 2nd topper in the class amidst applause and praise from the teacher. The topper had scored 38.5. BUT, his conscience pricked him, his mother’s image flashed in front of his eyes. “Never cheat in life, God gives the best to those who are honest”, her words rang in his ears.

Without a second thought, he got up and walked up to his teacher and told her about the totalling mistake. With obvious embarrassment, she checked it herself and corrected it to 36/40. The very next moment, without batting an eyelid and her eyes gleaming with a sense of acknowledgement and pride, as though she was patting his shoulders, she struck it off again and rewrote 39/40. She then showed his paper holding it high in her hand in front of the whole class, and announced the new topper of the class. He scores 3 extra for honesty. Well, the boy wasn’t fully convinced, but accepted the treat graciously and thanked Aai in his heart.”

This boy is none other than Saleel Pulekar, who says,” Aai (mother) instilled honesty in me, she not only drilled it into my brain but also ensured it became a part of my character right since my early childhood.” He bases his life on honesty, the credit of which he very profoundly gives to his mother.

An Urge to do something

His brothers remember him telling his parents, at a nascent age of 10 years,” I want to do something for the nation like these soldiers in the movie, I do not want to lead the ‘normal’ life like you all are, I want to do something different”.

Although the residues of this remained in his mind, still one fine ‘normal’ day while taking an evening walk he stumbled upon the book – ‘The Bhagvad Gita’ at a humble roadside book stall, carelessly awaiting a buyer literally lying on the road! This sight moved him to promptly buy the book, only to keep it on a decent book shelf in his home – still lying, only now waiting for a reader..! Eventually the pull of the book, got the better of his laziness, and then life kind of took a U turn!

The next thing that unfolded in his life was that Saleel Pulekar joined his first ever Yoga and Meditation course, his introduction to the ‘other’ realm! He had realized, to some extent, the power and benefits of yoga and meditation, but that was it, something still missing. And, he was helplessly caught up in the whirlpool of assignments, vivas, submissions like any other ‘normal’ engineering student.

This ‘something missing’ was further clouded by a glorious job in the software industry!

And yet again, another fine day he found himself at the lunch table of his office – a top IT house, remembering this incident and saying to himself,” I ended up just like everybody, what different am I doing other than being a successful software engineer and winning a few accolades & awards, and traveling half of the globe?”

Perhaps, it was this spirit of enquiry that landed him in his first ever Art of Living workshop in November 1997, and there’s been no looking back since then. He served in various capacities like programming, designing, technical analysis, client interaction, quality control and project leadership.

From IT (Information Technology) to IT (Inner Transformation)

If someone asks him what are contributing factors for better productivity, he would reply, “The resilience and perseverance of a person to stay calm in challenging situations and not allow his our abilities of intellect, talent, skill and creativity to get affected.”

After a lot of skilful juggling between Art of living seva activities, professional and personal life, in 2003, he decided that he had found the course and purpose of his existence, and took to full time Art of Living teaching, leaving behind him 10 years of a successful IT career!

This life transforming decision of his proved to be life transforming for many thousands out there.

  • Now, he has been an Art of Living trainer since 2001.
  • Also, internationally acclaimed mentor and life coach
  • Known for his effectiveness in teaching and making learning enjoyable. He has done extensive work, committed himself to service of the society. And takes up the additional responsibility of conducting leadership and mentoring programs for dynamic and meritorious youth throughout the country.

Remarkable journey in Art of Living

  • He organized the first ever Maharashtra advance meditation program of 1150 people in the ashram in Bangalore in 2001. For the Yamuna cleaning project in Delhi, “Meri dilli Meri Yamuna” he mobilized 5000 youths, organized several Utsav courses in Akola and Amravati for 3000 and in Delhi for 4500 youngsters.
  • He has taught Art of Living programs In the prisons of Maharashtra.
  • He has taught Art of Living programs in companies/organisations like Tata Memorial Hospital, SEBI, TCS, NIA, Mastek, IBM, Syntel, Atos Origin and other top IT companies.
  • And in educational institutes like: AIIMS, COEP, MIT, IMT Ghaziabad, University of Berlin, University of Leipzig, University of Bresden, IIM Indore, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, Delhi Technical University, BITS Pilani, Somaiya College, KIMS medical college, Bangalore, COEP, B J Medical, and many other institutions.

To sign off with a few lines based on what we heard from the people who have been associated with him in one way or the other

  • His programs are widely appreciated by a varied range of audiences, corporate professionals, businessmen, young entrepreneurs, researchers, medicos, politicians, college students and even housewives.
  • He has a passion for enhancing the quality of people’s lives. People who have worked with him, whom he has mentored and continues to do so, have grown and blossomed into very resourceful, productive and effective volunteers and teachers and most importantly value based human beings.

Moreover, Saleel Pulekar is known to create an atmosphere of learning with celebration wherever he goes. Apart from this, he is also known for his broad vision towards life, sense of humor, and profoundness of knowledge blended with simplicity and amicability.

And he lives upto his name, Saleel in Sanskrit is – Apaha, which means water & love, and as Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who is the core source of Saleel Pulekar’s inspiration, and vision; aptly tweets!!