It was the end of two days of learning and the delegates were ready for some unwinding. Gaurgopal Das provided them exactly that – life’s lessons packed with a healthy dose of humor, puns on common life situations, and some real and imaginary stories.

He unveiled to the delegates what he called his “masterstrokes” to lead a happy and fulfilling life – have a passion, invest in people, have a purpose, and apply a process to find a spiritual connect and fulfillment.

“Create a balance between what you ‘have to do’ and what you ‘love to do’. And if your work falls in the ‘have to do’ category, start liking what you do. Hence, the first masterstroke is to discover your passion. Remember, happiness is not about getting what you want, but liking what you get,” he said.

Next, value relationships and invest in people, he advised. He stressed on keeping aggression down and paying attention to the tone of speech while communicating with someone. He told delegates that for a satisfactory life they must “have an ice factory in the head, a sugar factory in the mouth, and a love factory in the heart.”

Fulfillment also comes from living a life with a purpose. “I say money can buy happiness – but when you use money to give something to someone. Then you can be a candle in someone’s life (dispersing darkness and negativity),” said Mr. Das.

Giving new meaning to common words, he defined “handsome” as someone who offers his/ her hand to someone and “compassion” as the coming together of passion and purpose