Swami Shrila Prem Paras had his first spiritual experience with a guitar in his hands. This is his story, as shared by Param Meditation International.
Swami Shrila Prem Paras. Photograph from Param Meditation.Before dedicating his life fully to the Divine, Swami Shrila Prem Paras was a music composer in the Bollywood film industry. His work contributed to productions such as Jhansi ki Rani (TV serial), Jaana (film) and the Cricket World Cup song 2011, and he remains connected with musicians and artists from the industry.
At the height of his musical career, an inner shift led him toward meditation. Over the past 12 years, Swamiji has shared meditation, satsang and conscious music freely in India and internationally. He is called a pioneer of Facebook meditation, having shared over 800 free online sessions between 2015 and 2020, and in Switzerland he conducted some of the country's largest meditation gatherings.
Today his music is not composed for performance - it emerges naturally from meditation and satsang. Music is no longer entertainment, but a doorway into stillness.
Swami Shrila Prem Paras had his first spiritual experience while climbing to the temple of Mata Vaishnodevi with his guitar, singing a bhajan. It was there that he realized his music had become a medium to connect with the divine.
In 2003, Swamiji went to Sai Baba's Samadhi in Shirdi. While standing in the queue, he spontaneously composed and chanted: "Kuch karo, Darsh do, hum pe ho, kuch karam" - please do something, give your Darshan, your appearance; please transform me. Standing before Shirdi Sai Baba, he experienced his Shaktipath. Coming out of Dwarkamai, the place where Sai Baba lived, he felt blessed - he experienced Sai Baba shaking his hand at the very place where Baba had often stood during his lifetime. Ten years later, when Swamiji gave his first satsang, he understood the meaning of that blessing: it was Sai Baba who sent him to Osho.
In 2003 Swamiji played at the Osho Samadhi in Pune the divine sound that descended on him while meditating on Osho's picture. On June 13, at the age of 26, he took sannyas and was named Swami Prem Paras. He did not fill in the sannyas form - he said inside: "Osho, if you are a real Master, you can read my mind." That evening, just before the sannyas celebration, Osho's mediums found him in the plaza and asked him: "Do you want to take sannyas?" On that day, all logic dropped. In the evening he played the tune "Yes, I love you" on his guitar near the German Bakery, and thousands of birds in the sky sang the rhythm with him. That night he sat at the burning ghat where Osho's body was burnt - the night he attained self-realization.
Swami Prem Paras conducts his Sur Khumaris, concerts and meditation workshops worldwide. Through creative meditation techniques, people experience deep bliss and peace. He was the first to serve bliss unconditionally over the phone, messages, Skype and Facebook live video - people can connect without borders, rules, rituals or fees. In his worldwide Facebook meditations, people go inwards in absolute privacy and personal freedom. This is WIFI Bliss. The PARAM Union International, based in Switzerland, helps distribute his work and make it accessible for everyone.
"Sur means musical note and khumari is the state between awareness and non-awareness - the state beyond meditation." - Swami Shrila Prem Paras. Sur Khumari is his own creation: music not as performance, but as a space where listening itself becomes meditation.
More about the music ↗PARAM means "The Absolute" in Sanskrit - the highest state of being. "Paramatman" means the higher self, which is limitless and not subject to change through time or place. It is the name carried by the international community that supports his work.
"There are teachers - they can teach you techniques, methods or knowledge. In front of a Master you have to drop all techniques, all methods, you have to drop all knowledge."
OSHOExplore Sur Khumari, WIFI Bliss and the gatherings where it all comes alive.