Kaivalyadhama

Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute: Where yoga tradition and science meet

The Man Who Had Cancer Seven Times and Never Asked Why

A Conversation with Shri Gaurav Mashruwala
It was June 2, 2008. The day Shri Gaurav Mashruwala learned he had cancer. His mother had been fighting hers for over a year and a half. Ten days later, she would pass. He was 38 years old, a financial advisor, columnist, someone who had built a life of discipline and contribution. He also had a 6 year old daughter to raise. Cancer was not part of the plan.

“I cried,” he said simply. Not out of fear for himself, but for what he would leave behind, his family, his columns, the loose ends of an unfinished life.

Q: What was going through your mind when you first got the diagnosis?

My mother was already battling cancer at that time. I went to collect my report myself, and the doctor told me, it’s cancer. I was scared because my mom was dying and now this. She passed away ten days later, on June 12th, 2008.

After the next doctor’s visit, it was to be operated on in two days. It was my father-in-law’s birthday the next day, so I went to his dinner because I’d promised him. Then I came back and realized I had columns to submit. So I wrote two of them. The next morning, I had surgery.

Q. You were diagnosed at 38. You didn't smoke, didn't drink. Did you ever ask yourself "why me"?

No. Never. Not once. And neither did my mother.

Look, I never asked God why He gave me the chance to do 900 TV shows, or write thousands of articles, or have this much faith. So why would I ask Him why cancer?

If I only questioned the bad and not the good, that’s not fair.

Q. Cancer came back five times over seventeen years and 7 surgeries. How do you live with that kind of uncertainty?

After the first surgery in 2008, my wife and I went to the US for a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, one of the best cancer centers in the world. There I was diagnosed with throat cancer! So I came back to Mumbai, got an operation and stayed under my doctor’s care.

Each time it came back, I got it operated. The timeline was always short—I didn’t have time to sit and feel sorry for myself. God never gave me that chance to wonder how to deal with the situation – to be positive or negative. He just said, “This is what’s happening. Deal with it.”

Q. But there must have been moments where you felt weak?

Yes. After 2020, post-COVID, when it came back again—that was the hardest. Seventeen years, seven cancers. I told God, “Enough now. Take this away from me. Let me fight something else.”

But I didn’t ask why. I just asked for it to be over.

Q. Your faith seems to have played a big role. Did you always have that?

I grew up in a spiritual household. My mother and grandmother were deeply faithful. So yes, that foundation was always there.

But faith isn’t about being positive all the time. I’m not a positive person. I’m not negative either. I just accept what comes. I don’t try to grow—I try to evolve. There’s a difference.

Q. You've mentioned practicing yoga at Kaivalyadhama. When did that start?

I became a regular member in 2009, after the second recurrence. I was a regular there even before that. I started practicing antar mouna, inner silence, and pranayama. The teacher there really helped me manage my emotions, especially fear.

It wasn’t about curing cancer. It was about staying steady. Not letting fear take over everything.

Q. Did yoga help with recovery?

Yes, 100%. But not in the way people think. It didn’t make the cancer go away. It gave me discipline. It helped me go inward instead of constantly looking outward for answers.

The world teaches us that happiness comes from outside—good food, vacations, success. But those things have a beginning and an end. Inner peace doesn’t. That’s what yoga gave me.

Q. How did your family handle all of this?

I was very clear from the beginning: if I cry, they’ll cry. If I don’t stay strong, they won’t either or worse, they’ll cry when I’m not looking! Any patient can cry. But I couldn’t afford to.

My wife, my daughter, they’ve been there [for me]. But I also know people expect me to be “normal” now. And I’m not normal. I accept that.

What would you say to someone who's just been diagnosed or is going through repeated recurrences?

Go within. Don’t look outside for strength. You won’t find it there.

People tell me they’re inspired by me. I tell them, don’t be. Find your own strength inside yourself. That’s the only place it actually exists.

Shri Gaurav Mashruwala is still writing, still advising, still discovering new cafés in Mumbai. He calls himself a volunteer at Kaivalyadhama. Kaivalyadhama knows him as family.

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