It started on an ordinary morning that didn’t stay ordinary for long. In Unbreakable Spirit: From Shadows to Radiance, Awtar Koonar tells it without drama, almost softly, as if he’s still surprised he lived through it. One moment, he was driving through a heavy fog, and the next, everything vanished into white. When the crash came, he says it felt as if time folded in on itself.
He doesn’t describe panic. What he remembers is stillness, a strange calm where the noise stopped. Later, he would call it a place between life and death, where light felt alive and kind. That peace stayed with him when he woke up in the hospital, unable to move his legs. He didn’t see tragedy; he saw a reason to begin again.
The Hospital Became A Place Of Learning
Within the white walls and the steady hum of machines, Koonar started to relearn simple things, breathing without fear, trusting the process, and letting gratitude replace frustration. His mother prayed at his bedside, whispering words that felt stronger than medicine. His wife brought calm even when she was tired. Every person who stepped into that room, nurse or friend, left behind a trace of strength. Those traces built a new kind of faith in him.
Remembering The Roots That Never Broke
During the long nights, he drifted back to Punjab, to the smell of rain on soil and his father’s voice teaching him perseverance. Those memories weren’t nostalgia; they were lifelines. They reminded him of who he was before the accident and who he could still become. The past became his guide through pain.
When Silence Turned Into Prayer
There were moments when words failed. That’s when meditation entered his life, quiet and steady. Sitting still, repeating “So Hum,” he felt each breath travel deeper than thought. The pain didn’t disappear, but it changed shape. It became something he could hold, something that no longer frightened him.
Faith As The Strongest Medicine
He learned that healing isn’t about returning to who you were; it’s about meeting who you are now, with grace. The accident, the surgeries, and the endless waiting, all of it taught him that endurance is love in motion.
When he finally stood again, even with help, it wasn’t just his body that lifted. It was every prayer that had ever touched him. That is what Unbreakable Spirit leaves with you, the quiet certainty that faith doesn’t rescue us from pain; it walks beside us until light returns.