Dr. Dipankar Khanna is a teacher-reseracher educator, performance cocah and counsellor. He who lives in Bangalore with his wife Anju and daughters Charu Latha and Chitra Lekha
He is the author of a book on Neuro Linguistic Programming called <Mind Warriors - Winning Strategies with NLP>. < He also produced <Mount of Excellence> which was the Indian entry at the <Cannes Film Festival> in 2016. The documentary was on the Palpung Monastic seat of the Tibetan lineage pertaining to the Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpas tracings it's 1000 plus year roots in India.
Early years: Dipankar Khanna was born in India in 1957 in the state of Himachal Pradesh in the town of Palampur to Daulat M. Nathaniel and Ila Indira . When he was two his mother <Indrani_Mukherjee> got a break in the Hindi Film Industry from the well known filmmaker <Bimal Roy> who gave her a break in his film <Usne Kaha Tha>.
He went to boarding school in Dehra Doon from 1965 to 1972. These were testing years for him which he fared poorly in academically and emotionally. Finally running way from school, he recalls getting on a Bombay bound train without a ticket. He admits that he was lucky to complete schooling with respectable grades and also a Bachelor's degree in commerce and business. In Mumbai he passed ISC from the famed Bombay Scottish Orphanage Society's High School and graduated from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, Bombay.
Early Professional Work: Dipankar's work profile began to take shape quite early. He began working while still in school with summer jobs. His first appointment after completing his under-graduation degree was selling weighing machines for an English company. After fifteen months he joined his father's organization selling pipes for various industries and agricultural use. This role grew to Business Administration & Marketing including international business development. As a middle level he I was instrumental in setting up foreign collaborations with American, British, French and Swiss companies like British Gas and George Fischer+ and Kulker SA and. In this role actively interacted with International Development Agencies like UNICEF, UNDP, CIDA and DAP (Dutch).
However the stress and strain of the corporate and business world took a toll on his physical and emotional health.
Career: A shift towards behavioral processes and self development took place in the mid 80’s with a teacher’s training program in Eastern Psychological processes in Yoga, Meditation, Zen and Vedanta; relating these concepts to Organizational Behavior and Education.
From the mid-eighties he studied, researched and taught at The Yoga Institute and The International Board of Yoga, Bombay, where he was part of team that set up the Museum of Classical Yoga. He also collaborated with NCRT, Government of India to formulate the Yoga Syllabus for the Navodaya Vidyalaya Schools.
In 1989 he met the Dalai Lama who encouraged to study Buddhism. He stayed on in Himachal Pradesh ironically very close to his birth place Palampur to learn and practice advanced mind development techniques first at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and later at Sherabling Institute of Buddhist Studies under the tutelage of The <12th Kenting Tai Situpa> and other senior lama’s first as a lay disciple and later as a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist Order.
He remained a monk for from 1990 to 1995. During this time he was drawn into a Tibetan political situation in India with the feuding factions of the 17th Karmapa. The <18th Karmapa> had been discovered in Tibet and at the behest of The 12th Tai Situpa Dipankar, camped in Delhi trying to get the India government to issue a visa for the then eight year old Karmapa to visit India.The Indian government didn't budge in it's tacit support of the Chinese which prevented 18th Karmapa's visit to India until he managed to flee China in his teens in December of 2000.
Wearing several hats his work in Bangalore has been as a journalist, educator, yoga and meditation teacher, behavioral facilitator and leadership coach.
Dipankar has been living in Bangalore since 2005 with his wife Anju and daughters Charu and Chitra.
Current occupation: Dipankar Khanna is a meditation master. He is also a certified trainer of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). He works in the areas of personal mastery through mindfulness and creative visualization. His advent into contemplation and mindfulness began in 1986 at The Yoga Institute in Mumbai where he was part of the team that set up the Museum of Classical Yoga and developed a yoga syllabus for NCERT for Navodaya Vidyalaya Schools in India. Pursuing his creative interests, he produced ‘Mount of Excellence’ a documentary on The Tai Situpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival, 2016. He is also the author of Mind Warriors - Winning Strategies with NLP", published by Penguin. At Srishti he runs Upaaya, a contemplative practice and research centre, and The Garden of Samadhi Mind Centre, both of which are inspired by the Heart Advice of His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. Most of his work at Srishti is with his students in areas of emotional hygiene, building neuro-cognitive competencies through self-awareness, self-leadership and mindfulness practices. At Srishti his work also aligns with the Wellness team and Center for Education, Research, Training, and Development (CERTAD). Areas of Interest: Developing and facilitating modules in the areas of personal mastery, change management, mindfulness, creative visualization, learning pedagogies, semantics, behavioral processes, self-leadership, change management and coaching, photography, painting and writing.