High on a new ‘candy’

Coming from a world of clubbing, drinking and drugs, 32-year-old Plakor Kovacevic has witnessed a huge transformation as he journeyed with The Art of Living; a journey that led him to inner peace and service.

The growing seed

“I always felt that I had the seed of spirituality in me, it just needed to grow,” shares Plakor. “Gurudev's teachings have been like sunlight and water that have helped that seed to grow,” he continues. Plakor,who comes from Croatia, was like any other European youth who liked clubbing. It would make him feel elevated but somewhere in his heart he knew that the joy he experienced was just an illusion. When he first did Sudarshan Kriya in 2002, Plakor experienced a state of natural high, something that he had never experienced before. “The feeling of connectedness clicked and I felt that something expanded in me,” he says.

A U-turn in life

Not so long after he had done the course, Plakor got an opportunity to meet Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the German Art of Living center. On entering the room, Plakor saw Gurudev playfully throwing candies at everyone. Plakor got a ‘candy-hit’ too - straight on his forehead, where people say the third eye is located. “I felt it was symbolic. Those days, when we used to go clubbing, the codeword for drugs was ‘candy’. Here the candy that Guruji threw may have meant that from then on; it was only going to be the path of knowledge. That moment I felt that Guruji is definitely someone special in my life and that I was at the right place. It was like a complete U-turn in my life,” he shares gratefully.

On the path

As Plakor began practicing the Sudarshan Kriya daily, he saw an immense change in himself. Even as a dancer, Plakor felt he could express himself better than before. “For me, my dance is purely an expression of creativity,” he shares. During adventure sports such as wind surfing (now his hobby), his fear dropped and he was able to break his barrier in doing things he thought he couldn’t. “This helped me later when I started doing seva,” he says.

His stint with seva started with service activities such as collecting books, distributing pamphlets, etc. Plakor says that he always felt good when he finished doing seva. Later, he worked on different yoga projects. Coming from an informatics design background, he joined the German ashram for seva as a video graphic designer and motion editor. His two biggest seva projects have been during the ‘Yes We Can’ program, which developed leadership skills among youth and the ‘World Cultural Festival’ where he did a number of video animations and created short timeline stories for the event.

Apart from these seva activities, Plakor’s focus hasalso been on teaching The Art of Living courses. He became a Sri Sri Yoga teacher in 2006 and a YES!+ teacher in 2009. Travelling across Europe, Plakor has conducted courses in Balkan region countries, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia and occasionally in Germany and Turkey.

“In my early 20s, I had so many ideas about my life. I wanted to see myself being an astronaut but although I was doing interesting jobs: photography, live visual performances and computer arts, I felt the aim of my work should be towards reaching a higher goal, contributing to the betterment of the society. And here I am - doing service to the society. The satisfaction that I get is so deep that I feel I have been able to discover the purpose of my life,” he shares with pride.

Bundling up memorable times

“When you do such intense service, you are simply taken care of and you do not have to worry about anything,” he asserts confidently.

A memorable time very close to his heart was during a YES!+ Course he took in Bosnia. The war that had happened in the country left a big impact on the citizens and it could be felt on the youth who came to the course. “I felt so touched, when after experiencing Sudarshan Kriya, most of them shared they felt free from fear and trauma,” he shares in a voice filled with nostalgia. To be an instrument in bringing transformation to so many lives is a great feeling,” he adds.

Straight from the heart

“All these experiences come your way when you are on this path but what is most important is that you keep on doing service. Guruji’s vision is so powerful that it is an honor for me to be a part of this vision. His unconditional love and dedication to selfless service really inspires me.

You get a lot of opportunities that can uplift you; you just have to go for them. I believe that even with little activities we should always feel satisfied because our every little action of service is somewhere a part of a bigger vision for the community. We have so many skills that if we all come and work together, this place will become a much better place to live in,” he says, widening his sparkling brown eyes.