Imagine facing terrible things at age 16. Or 14. Or even 12. Horrors like sexual abuse, prostitution, pregnancy, and rape – that’s what the girls faced before rescue. Kranti is a not-for-profit organization that rescues girls from red light districts who have faced such horrors like and provides them much more than life – they provide hope for a better future, hope for a stable, loving life. And this is the reality for many Kranti girls today. Studying in colleges in Boston, LA, and even the United Kingdom, their once horror-filled life is a distant nightmare as they study, dream and prepare to unfold their wings.

It was these young women that Ravi Gulati conducted a session for at the ashram on the 7th of January.

It was a session that further fuelled Kranti’s vision – of providing hope and healing to a vulnerable set of young women who have seen the worst of life.

He encouraged them to open up, drawing on anecdotes from his own life and the struggles he had faced growing up. Witnessing an adult being candid about himself drew the initially reticent girls out of their shells. Many of them narrated the ordeal they had been through before Kranti rescued them.

Many mothers of the girls at Kranti have been sex workers themselves, a fact they are unwilling to admit to their children out of shame. As a result, the girls are left confused and angry about what their mothers did, why they did what they did and why they aren’t being open about it.

It is a difficult position to be in. To a large extent, therapy has helped the girls heal and accept their past, improving their relationships with their mothers in turn.

Listening to these stories, Ravi Gulati gently reminded them of the depth of a mother’s love. Only a mother can withstand the pains of birth. Only a mother can sacrifice what she does for her child. Only a mother can love her child unconditionally and give endlessly.

There is no love like a mother’s love.

The past belongs in the past, Mr Gulati said. It is time to let go. Presenting a beautiful analogy, he stated that the windshield of a car is a large plate of glass to enable us to look forward. The rearview mirror is a smaller piece of glass which encourages us to keep an eye behind us.

It is important to keep an eye on the past so that it doesn’t overwhelm us unexpectedly. It is more important, however, to forge ahead because our present is created by stepping into the future. Heal your past completely, he said, so that you can move forward with ease and confidence.

It was a session that moved the girls and deeply supported their ongoing journey of healing and self-acceptance.

For many of us, the torture and abuse these young women have faced at the hands of society is unfathomable. Organizations like Kranti take them in and show them that the world is not just what they have seen so far.

The world is also kind, compassionate, loving and beautiful. All they have to do is trust and allow their healing.

For, in healing lies freedom. And in freedom lies independence.

A state of being that is well on its way to becoming reality for the girls of Kranti today.