The Cave- Internet Entrepreneur's Spiritual Journey

By the time he was thirteen, Alok Kejriwal had begun to have profound spiritual experiences. Separated from his parents at birth, he was raised under the loving care of his Nana and Nani. During the course of these life-altering events, Alok realised that his life was not going to be a usual one.

Over the next few years, Alok met unusual and blessed holy men who uplifted him. He visited temples and sacred places where he had transformative experiences. In November 2011, Alok visited a remote cave near Ranikhet in Uttarakhand that changed him forever.

The Cave is an insightful, honest and deeply personal account of Alok’s spiritual journey. With characteristic candour, he shares intimate aspects of his life that bring meaning and balance to his journey as a successful digital entrepreneur.

A playbook of the principles of success that Alok has acquired over the years, The Cave details the amazing opportunities that are available to us all, if only we follow our heart as much as we follow our mind.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Alok Kejriwal is a serial digital entrepreneur and is currently the CEO and co-founder of Games2win.

His first two companies, contests2win.com and Mobile2win, pioneered digital gaming and promotions in the world. The Walt Disney Co later acquired Mobile2win.

Besides being a businessperson, Alok is an Art of Living Teacher and regularly facilitates meditation and breath workshops. He has been meditating since the last thirty years.

Alok s first book Why I Stopped Wearing My Socks was a best-seller and won the C.K. Prahalad Best Business Book prize at the Bangalore Business Literature Festival in 2019.

Alok is also a motivational speaker and has spoken at various corporate conferences, the Wharton, Harvard Business Schools and many of the IIMs and IITs.

In November 2011, I visited a remote cave in the Himalayan mountain regions of Ranikhet in Uttarakhand, India. The cave changed me forever.

I have lived an unusual life. I was born to an affluent and young couple. My father was a textiles factory owner, and his father (my Dada) an established financier. My mother, barely nineteen, was a pampered `bahu' (bride of the house). In the Marwari joint family that they belonged to, I was the first grandchild. My parents lived on South Mumbai's posh Nepean Sea Road, in a flat teeming with cooks, maids, servants and drivers. The scene was straight out of a Bollywood movie.

Yet, barely a few days after I was born, I was separated from my parents and sent away to live with my maternal grandparents, in an ordinary, rundown area in Mumbai, called Girgaon. My Nana and Nani were barely in their forties, had no other children (other than my mother) and they got custody of me.

Those who have heard this story have found it to be unusual and bizarre. Why did my young parents hand over their only child to my maternal grandparents, without any compelling factors? What could have been the unseen or unknown reasons for their unnatural behaviour? My parents were a happy couple, had two more children and doted over all of us. Why, then, did they choose to send me away? Who influenced them to do it? What were they made to believe and by whom?

For many years, I tried to figure out this riddle but got vague answers. My parents claimed they were too young and inexperienced to raise their first child and while they tried hard, my grandparents took over and that was that. Another time they said that they went on a world tour and when they returned, I refused to leave my grandparents and go back to them. When I asked my grandparents, they simply said, 'You became attached to us. Honestly, I don't think anyone of them knew the real reasons. That's when I realised that some mysteries cannot be solved. This one, too, quietly slipped into the past and was forgotten.

It was forty years later that I had an epiphany. I understood that living with my grandparents was not some random act of insensitive parents; rather, a premeditated, secret, divine plan. It was my destiny to spend my childhood and formative years as an adult in the company of highly evolved spiritual souls who would significantly mould and influence me. My parents lived a worldly life. They were passionate about travelling, eating out at five-star hotels, going to the movies and socialising with friends. My grandparents lived a spiritual life. They kept to themselves, ate simple meals and visited temples and holy cities when they travelled. It became clear to me that I had a unique destiny, and my grandparents would be my partners in helping me fulfil it. More about that, later.

My grandparents dedicated their lives to raising me. Growing up with them, I began to have unusual and profound spiritual experiences. As a young boy, I had dreams that took me decades to understand. In the temples and monasteries I visited, I had transformative experiences that completely altered my life. I met unusual and blessed men who made me realise the power of prophecies and karmic connections. It did not take me long to figure out that my life was a unique storybook, which was living out a destiny of its own. I was a mere witness.

As a young boy, I excelled in studies and began working in the family businesses from the age of sixteen. Luck, destiny and an innate sense of entrepreneurship brought me very early success. Even before I had turned thirty, I had overtaken my father in his business and established myself as a pioneering hosiery exporter from India. I then fortuitously started a dotcom venture that thrived beyond my expectations, and brought me fame, glory and money. Even though I had been a complete teetotaller while growing up, my new-found status resulted in my smoking and drinking occasionally. Also along with success came uninvited stress and anxiety.

Amidst all the mayhem, in the most unexpected way, the cave appeared and changed everything. I experienced the grace and love of my God and Guru and realised that with them around, I would receive everything I needed. My bad habits left me, and my professional work flourished. I found a magical balance being a spiritualist and a capitalist! There was no conflict in my being a businessman and a meditator. The cave became my portal through which I entered the golden world of deep spiritual blossoming and profound personal upliftment.

In this book, I wish you to be my fellow traveller, as I narrate some of the stories and experiences from my personal life. In the chapters that follow, I will share principles I have learned that I believe could benefit you as well. I have been the recipient of so much that I feel it is only fair that I share it with as many people as possible. I hope this book helps you on your journey of self-discovery.

All I request is that you have an open mind and an accepting heart!

**Contents and Sample Pages**