Kamlesh Patel is an Indian spiritual intellect, entrepreneur, and author. He is the fourth spiritual guide in the line of Rāja yoga masters in the Sahaj Marg system of Raja Yoga meditation. In 2023, he was conferred with India’s third-highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan, by the Government of India.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Kamlesh Desaibhai Patel was born on Friday, 28 September 1956 (age 66 years; as of 2022) in Kalla, a village in the Bharuch District of Gujarat, India. His zodiac sign is Libra. After finishing schooling, he attended the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Thereafter, he enrolled at the L. M. College of Pharmacy in Ahmedabad, where he graduated with honours. At the age of 24, he moved to the United States and practised pharmacology in New York City.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 9″
Hair Colour: Grey
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family
He was born into a family of agriculturists.
Parents & Siblings
Daaji has an elder brother and three sisters.
Kamlesh Patel with his mother
Wife & Children
His wife’s name is Pratima K. Patel. Daaji has two sons, Akhilesh and Sahat.
Kamlesh D. Patel with his sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren
Religious Views
He considers himself a student of spirituality.
Career
Entrepreneur
When Daaji moved to New York City, he built his life as an entrepreneur. He owns several pharmacies in Brooklyn including Marg Pharmacy Inc, Pharmacy Inc Carewell, Lindenwood Rx Center Inc, Woodhull Rx Prescription Center, and Slope Drugs & Surgical Supply.
Spirituality
In 1976, after getting inspired by Swami Vivekananda, he started practising heartfulness meditation and began meditating on his own. Later that year, he met his guide Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur (Babuji), the founder and first president of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission, which is a non-profit Indian organisation that teaches the practice of Sahaj Marg. In October 2011, he was declared as Shri Ram Chandra’s successor. In August 2012, he was appointed vice president of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission. Later, he returned back to India, where he started living in Chennai’s Garden of Hearts. After Chariji’s demise on 20 December 2014, Daaji became the third president of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission.
Kamlesh D. Patel and his followers during meditation
He founded Kanha Shanti Vanam, a meditation centre, in Chepur, Hyderabad, where millions of practitioners gather from India and abroad to learn and practice meditation.
Literary works
In 2018, Patel co-authored a book titled The Heartfulness Way with Joshua Pollock, which was among the top 10 best-selling non-fiction books in Hindustan Times’ Nielsen chart in February 2018. In February 2019, he released a book Designing Destiny was released. In 2022, he penned The Wisdom Bridge, which was based on the principles of life. Daaji’s articles have been published by many popular media houses including Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Times of India, and Business Standard. In 2016, Daaji hosted a podcast titled Dil Ki Awaaz, which was aired on Radio City.
Awards & Honours
- 2018: Honorary doctorate from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati.
Kamlesh Patel receiving the honorary doctorate from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati
- 2020: Awarded with Ramkrishna Bajaj Memorial Global Award by the Priyadarshini Academy for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of holistic healing through spirituality and yoga.
- 2023: Conferred with Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, by the Government of India.
Favourites
- Colour: White
- Food: Homemade Gujarati food
- Book: ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ by Mahendranath Gupta
Facts/Trivia
- He is fondly called Daaji by his followers.
- When he was young, he wanted to become a doctor.
- In an interview, he said that despite clearing the cut-off of an open medical test by scoring 241 marks out of 300, he was denied admission to a medical college as another student, with the same score, got the seat due to him scoring more marks in Biology than Daaji. Since Daaji’s family did not allow him to apply to medical colleges outside Gujarat, he applied for admission at the L. M. College of Pharmacy in Ahmedabad. He was, however, denied admission as the college refused to admit students from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, where he completed graduation. Despite the refusal, Daaji filled out the application form and asked the management to consider him. Later, he was called to the principal’s office, where the principal told him that since Daaji had performed well in the graduation, he would allow Daaji to pursue a course in Pharmacy from the college.
- One of Daaji’s classmates offered to take him to a meditation trainer. He attended his first meditation session under proper guidance. According to Daaji, it was one of the most memorable meditations he ever had.
- He has been associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information since 2014.
- In an interview, on being asked what his hobbies were, he replied that he spends his free time like he spends his normal time, i.e., teaching meditation and working on projects related to his field.
- Daaji’s first out-of-Gujarat visit was in the summer of 1977 when he went to Shahjahanpur, along with his friend, to meet his teacher and guide Shri Ram Chandra, also known as Babuji.
- His spiritual guru is Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur.
- He is good friends with Baba Ramdev.
Kamlesh Patel with Baba Ramdev
