The cricketer, who was accompanied by wife Anushka Sharma, received lessons in seeking God from Shri Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj.
Immediately after he blindsided the cricketing world by announcing his retirement from Test cricket, ending an illustrious 14-year tenure, Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma visited Vrindavan on Tuesday morning to seek blessings from their spiritual guru, Shri Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj, at the Kelly Kunj Ashram.
The couple was spotted at the Delhi Airport, and later, travelling to the Ashram by cab. A video of the meeting has gone viral. In the video clip, the Guru is heard asking Virat “Prasanna ho?” (Are you happy?), and Virat replies in the affirmative. The Swamiji then tells the cricketer, “You should stay well.”
The conversation between the Guru and his famous devotees included a discourse on the nature of success and the true meaning of God’s grace. The spiritual leader told the couple that prosperity and success are not grace, but the result of ‘punya’. God’s grace, he said, is received when thoughts and attitudes change. He advised them to remain rooted in the world, while their thoughts are turned towards the Divine. “Let there be no desire for recognition or fame within. Your inner contemplation should be: ‘Lord, enough of all worldly experiences, now, I seek only You,’” he said.
Anushka is heard asking emotionally whether chanting the Lord’s name would bring results, and the Swamiji tells her it would. Netizens commented that Virat looks sad in the video. “It is not easy when I am going away from this format of the game. But it feels right. I have given it my all and it has given me more than my expectations,” the cricketer had posted on Instagram on Monday, bowing out of Test cricket.
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have been regularly seeking blessings and advice from Sri Premanand Govind Sharan Ji Maharaj. They last visited the ashram in January, along with their children.
