Nilakshi Sharma
Everyone has a turning point in their lives. A moment at which you realise you cannot go on as you have. For me, that was sparked by a book, and totas.
Eight or nine years ago, I found myself in a crisis. I was in my mid-40s, running Good Earth and having just launched Nicobar. My two sons were little. Even with my privilege and a lot of help, I was finding it so difficult to keep up with my life.
When I look back now, that crisis was sparked by a combination of different things. Like many of us, I was running on autopilot. And there was also a lot of internal and external pressure. One is always expected, these days, to be on top of a hundred different things.
For me and many other women like me, taking care of our homes and bringing up our children is a role that is taken for granted and one that is unfortunately not valued enough in our modern world. And then, those of us who work give so much to that aspect of our lives, too. It is the zeitgeist of our times.
Of course I wanted to excel in all roles – as a mother, as a CEO, as a co-founder. In trying to be the best version of myself, what ended up happening was quite the opposite.
I believe when you're really at your lowest, something comes your way– it's the universe's way of throwing that little raft when you're drowning. My own tipping point arrived when I reread Dr Pratima Raichur's Absolute Beauty, a gem of a book on beauty from an Ayurvedic perspective.
You could say - what does skincare have to do with any of this? The skin, as I discovered, is actually a reflection of your state of mind, and overall well-being. The introduction of the book beautifully encapsulates and explains, from the Ayurvedic point of view, the deep connection between the body, mind and soul.
The Upanishads say, ‘As is the human body, so is the cosmic body. As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind. As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm. As is the atom, so is the universe.'
Reading Absolute Beauty led me to dive into the ocean of wonder that is our heritage of Vedic wisdom and knowledge. Which is exactly what I needed at that moment. It sparked a change in my paradigm and my way of looking at the world.
These lines really resonated deeply with me - “When you are open to learning, the lessons will come to you. So if you want to change your appearance, you must first change the thoughts, emotions, and habits where stress and ageing originate. And if you want to be beautiful, you must first create a whole and happy inner life, so that every cell in your body learns of your happiness and joins in.”
This state of pure unbounded happiness is the source and essence of Vedic beauty. It is known in Sanskrit, as sat chit ananda, our pure bliss consciousness.
The same book may not create the same a-ha moment for most people. It’s a book on skincare after all, but what became apparent to me was that a lot of what I was doing was very external.
It led me to ask myself - how do I strengthen my inner life so I am not so dependent on the external world? And that was the beginning of this new journey of Svasthi, Saukhya and Śṛingār.
