Pilgrimage with Mohanji is like walking with the Master of this creation. Some exquisite karma from past lives have given me this privilege to walk in the shadow of my Baba during Kumbh – a time when this Earth’s most enlightened beings come together for the benefit and uplifting of mankind. I had the rare privilege to take a dip in Kumbh with Mohanji twice in as many years (in Allahabad in 2013 and now at Nashik in 2015). I have come across many people who tend to equate the cleanliness of the water in the river to the cleansing of the soul. They often fail to see that the cleansing of the soul is beyond visual plane. And if done in presence of a Master, the effects can hardly be written down for analysis. Lifetimes of karma are washed off in a single dip!
Lifetimes of karma are washed off in a single dip!
After the dip in Kumbh, as I walked back to our transport with Mohanji, I felt a surreal sense overwhelmed me. It felt as if we had been transported back centuries, when Guru would lead His Shishyas back to the ashram after the morning bath – not just with a clean body, but with a clean soul from which baggage has been taken off.
On the way to Shirdi, we ‘lost’ our way. Our Innova passed through a walking procession of Naga sadhus. Sitting near the window, as we passed them slowly due to congestion in the road from cows heading the other way, I saw the ‘rudra’ look in their eyes. Most of them looked at us, so angrily that at one point I thought that they might even attack us.
After we had crossed them, we decided to have some breakfast. During breakfast we realized that we were on the wrong road and turned back. We crossed the Naga sadhus again. As we left them behind, Mohanji casually asked us, “So did you get their darshan (glance)?” Us mere mortals in the car, did not fathom what He was trying to say. When we asked for the clarification, Mohanji informed us that within that group there were very high beings, who preferred to remain anonymous but gave us their ‘darshan’. Such is the leela!!! The unwarranted detour was for this cause.
After this adventure, it took us some time to reach Shirdi. It was late evening – around 7.30pm. The bus and the second Innova was a good 15 mins behind us in the lead Innova, in which Mohanji was travelling. We stopped in front of Gate no 2 of Shirdi temple to assemble, so that we all could get passes for next day’s Kakad aarti. As my co-passengers were stretching their legs after alighting, Mohanji and I were still in the Innova. Suddenly, Mohanji asked Rajesh Kamath to give money to someone and touch His feet. I snapped my head up to look at the physical form of Sai Baba in front of our Innova. As the four people on ground rushed forward to touch Baba’s feet, Mohanji asked the driver to drive straight ahead to the hotel. My jaws were open, my hands were folded in prayer. I was still in awe. I could not even ask Mohanji’s permission to get down and touch Sai Baba’s feet. My mind was blank. As the Innova passed Sai Baba, Mohanji and Sai Baba looked into each other’s eyes and gently nodded. So much was said in that single nod, yet no word came out of either one’s mouth. In a flash of a second, I came face to face with Sai Baba. For the first time in this life, I looked into Sai Baba’s eyes. Oh what a gaze it had! Such intensity and yet love! Like a robot I also bowed to Sai Baba and he nodded back at me. Hey Bhagwan! Hey Bhagwan! How can words describe this darshan of Sri Guru Datta Himself?
We reached hotel and even while I was still in my daze, Mohanji asked me to accompany Him to visit Shirdi temple. This was my first visit to Shirdi temple. I always had a secret wish, that I should visit Shirdi with my Baba – Mohanji. Even this little wish was fulfilled. I have heard that Shirdi is always teeming with people for Baba’s darshan. One can imagine the state, during Kumbh when extra millions were visiting. To my utter surprise but not completely unexpected when one is with Mohanji, we entered the main line (Mohanji specifically said that everyone is same in front of Baba and no one is a VIP), had darshan and came out in about 9 mins or so. This included an opportunity to prostrate fully on the ground in front of Sai Baba’s murti (which is unthinkable as hundreds of people walk there every minute). My first visit to Shirdi has begun….and how!
Early next day, after Kakad aarti, we drove to meet Sulake Maharaj, the head priest of Shirdi temple.
Chief Priest from Shirdi, Sulakhe Maharaj welcomes MohanjiSulakhe Maharaj gifted Mohanji Sai Baba’s shawlChief Priest from Shirdi, Sulakhe Maharaj welcomes Mohanji
He was disappointed that Mohanji was there for a brief visit and was not staying for lunch. He requested Mohanji to kindly get up from the long sofa he was sitting on and guided him to sit on the main chair in the center of the room. After sitting Mohanji there, Maharaj smiled and said, now the correct person is sitting on the main chair! It was such a joy to see Sulakhe Maharaj gush all over Mohanji. He wrapped around Mohanji, Sai Baba’s dress with which Sai Baba’s murti was wrapped in the Shirdi temple. Mohanji gave me the privilege and the honour to hold this dress as we travelled to Shani Signapur. Throughout the journey, the divine perfume from the dress kept me in a state of bliss!
As the pilgrimage came to a close, I should have known that those effects could continue for days. However, I had not expected that actually I could immediately fall sick with high fever. As the fever came in ebbs, I realised that this was cleansing occurring at its best. The fever finally left me after 2-3 days. The funny part was, I did not even feel weak.
Now I wait eagerly to get my Guru’s permission to go to the next Kumbh Mela!
Written by Rakesh Kumar
It all started when Mamu (aka Narendra Rohmetra outside the Mohanji community) asked the group accompanying Mohanji to the Kumbh Mela to pen down their experiences during the trip. I was wondering how and where to start. Then, I remembered what Mohanji told the group during the satsang (spiritual discourse) at St Laurns hotel in Shirdi. He said, “Commander took me to Baba” (I work for the Indian Navy and Mohanji calls me Commander). Of course, it was his unique style to show his humility but I guessed that now it was now my turn to provide humor from the ‘usual’ ones viz. Mamu, Rajesh Kamath and Vignaji about whom Mohanji often quipped to keep the environment lively. Before coming to the subject matter “Commander took me to Baba”, first with all humbleness I would like to thank Mohanji for accepting me for ShahiSnaan (ritual bath) at Nasik, visit to ShaniShingnapur, Shirdi, Samadhi of Upasani Maharajin Sakori and Dandakvan Ashram in Gujarat.
First the ‘ShahiSnaan’ at Nasik with Mohanji was an amazing experience in all aspects, for which there are no words or descriptions. As they say, “The only substitute for experience is the experience itself”. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure that my idea of Kumbh crammed with thousands of devotees taking bath at the same time vanished in thin air. Imagine 7 million people congregating in a town for the Kumbh within a short period and you will get the picture. With Mohanji, we took just 45 minutes to complete all the activities at the holy Ram Ghat. With the grace of Mohanji, the Kumbh ‘ShahiSnaan’ seemed to all of us like a cake-walk.
Grace was flowing as the things were going smoothly which is unbelievable in such a mass event
Coming to Shirdi, when we were checking-in at St Laurns hotel at Shirdi, Nikita informed me that Mohanji was talking to Anand Joshi from Mumbai in Mohanji’s room. My wife Reena is connected with Anandji on Whatsapp and I had happened to read the wonderful content/answers sent by him for the various questions that she posed. I thought of meeting up with him. Therefore, I was roaming somewhere outside Mohanji’s room hoping to get a chance to meet Anandji. After a few minutes when they were done with their conversations, they came out and Mohanji looked at me and said, “Let’s go to Sai Samadhi Mandir”. The group was totally dispersed as they were busy with the check-in. Mohanji again said, “Let’s go to Sai Samadhi Mandir” this time looking at DB (aka Dear Brother) from Gurgaon. Earlier somebody had asked me the full form of DB and I said ‘Dear Brother’. 🙂 I was walking ahead of Mohanji. When we were passing the VIP gate, somebody said that the Mandir’s pujari was supposed to have come here to take Mohanji but he wasn’t there. Mohanji immediately looked at me and said, “Let’s go, there are no VIP’s in front of Sai Baba”. Immediately, we started walking through the general gate where devotees were lined up for taking a darshan of the holy Sai Baba. Generally, it takes many hours to get through the serpentine queues before you get a darshan (holy sight) of Baba. And these were the days of the Kumbh Mela where the crowds would have been multiplied many times over. Now this is where the readers have to believe that we were in front of Sai murthi (statue) in less than ten minutes. I call this experience a cake walk (Mohanji also does other walks such as Conscious walk and I will try and explain the relation between the two later). Seven minutes is my guess, maybe it was nine minutes (one minute for each ‘Navadha Bhakti’ – the nine forms of devotion). I really don’t know the exact timing and its reasoning as it is beyond my awareness to comprehend. Maybe I will ask Mohanji in our next meeting. The second unbelievable part for the readers is to know that we were right in front of the Sai Baba in the middle of the hall. Normally, people depart from the door behind the Baba’s murthi. We got to walk back through the central passageway getting ample time to look at the adoring image of Baba as we left the temple. At the end of the passage, Mohanji and Anandji hugged each other as if they were long lost brothers who were reunited and Sai Baba kept smiling at both of them like a benevolent father. I again submit that I am not sure of why I was made a witness to these wonderful events that are beyond my awareness and comprehension. Thereafter, we came out of the mandir and proceeded to ‘Gurusthal’ (literally “place of the Guru” – the place where Sai Baba spent most of his time when he first came to Shirdi).
Later, after the dinner, all of us were gathered in Mohanji’s room at the hotel and Mohanji remarked “Commander took me to Sai Baba”.
Here, the readers are advised to use their conscious mind to make out ‘who’ took ‘whom’. But with an unconscious mind like mine, I know that Mohanji must have visited Sai Baba at Shirdi a zillion times and, in all humility, he wanted to give the credit to me (believe me I had no role at all). People on this trip had been talking about chakras (spiritual centers in one’s body) and other advanced spiritual topics and techniques and their usefulness in connecting to one’s Guru. But I know nothing about this. All I know is that my Guru Mohanji is an epitome of humility and does walk-the-talk. This is the third walk apart from the ‘Conscious Walk’ and the cake-walk with whom Mohanji is associated with. I don’t know how many other walks are there in his bag? 🙂 But if I may guess the relationship amongst these walks — On the path of life, if we walk Consciously whilst doing walk-the-talk, then life will be a cake-walk. If I am able to walk on the previous statement then I am sure my Guruji would smile at every mile of my walk.
At Dandakvan, Guruji near the fountain in the garden told us a valuable declaration “EVEN IF IT IS UNBELIEVABLE, BELIEVE IT”. Yes, it is unbelievable that my Guru took me to Sai and I truly believe that it was him who had planned this meticulously and thereafter executed it scrupulously. JAI GURUDEV
OM SAI RAM!
On a wet and windy morning our cruise on the Scottish Loch Lomond, due to incumbent weather conditions, got cancelled! (if only they knew that wherever Mohanji decided to stop during our many photo spots the sun always shone despite a continuous wet and windy Scottish summer)!
The rain would stop at our photo stops
Waiting in the car for the others to decide where to go, a beautiful bird perched herself on the sea fence directly in front of Mohanji and made herself very comfortable watching him intentently, even the windscreen wipers at full speed did not unnerve her. It was beautiful witnessing such intensity in our winged friend.
The bird stayed perched though wipers moved at full speed
She was bathed in Mohanji’s divine presence as he did shatipat on her.
Shaktipat
Our feathered friend gave her full focus and was peacefully mesmerised and emersed for a long time in Para Brahma divine presence.
SCOTLAND ~ 2nd Aug to 7th Aug 2015
Written by Raj Sethi
The seed for the Scottish rendezvous was sown in November 2014, seven days prior to the Himalayan Retreat with Mohanji. And this is how the story unfolds – Before proceeding to Rishikesh to join the Himalayan Retreat, my intention was to spend five days with Him in Dharamsala. And Mohanji had promised to be there and fulfil my desire for a mystical rendezvous with Him. But Mohanji’s plans are prone to changes as He is very spontaneous. And sure enough, the plans changed and Mohanji couldn’t be there in Dharamsala! Needless to say that I was aghast and felt dejected. However, I did have a fabulous time in Dharamsala with other very special people but the dejection I felt was acute.
I had felt let down by Mohanji, but little did I know about what was to come and how the Divine works.
Shortly after the Himalayan Retreat, I returned to London. Within a few months, in February 2015, I found out that Mohanji was coming to the UK, and a Retreat in the UK had been arranged! Surprisingly, it came to my attention that Mohanji had asked his team in the UK to allocate five days, after the Retreat to spend time with me! On hearing this I felt totally blissful and tears rolled down my cheeks. A realisation spontaneously happened – Divine always fulfils what it promises and that is exactly what was going to happen, the only difference was that it was happening in the UK as opposed to Dharamsala in India. The feeling of disappointment and let down had totally melted away as this new awareness dawned upon me. I was blown away!
I planned a Scotland trip. We travelled from Heathrow to Glasgow airport and drove down to the cottage that had been booked, which was approximately an hour and a half from the airport. It was located in a very serene and peaceful area with a magnificent, enormous lake literally in our back garden!
Scotland is a very, very beautiful country. In the five days there, we travelled to Loch Lomond, had a cruise trip at Loch ness,
At Loch Ness
visited Edinburgh Castle, and went on a very scenic cable car ride at a mountain sports place near Ben Nevis. We also drove through the Highlands and truly enjoyed the beautiful mountains, lakes and the vast green countryside.
This was an extra special trip because the Infinite, Divine incarnate, Mohanji, was with us.
At Stonehenge
A very deep stillness infused with peacefulness was felt throughout the trip with numerous so called miracles happening along the way to make our trip safe, special and comfortable. I will just mention a few of these in the following paragraphs.
At Glasgow airport, instead of getting the normal small Hyundai hire cars that we had ordered, we ended up getting Nissan Qashqai’s which made our travelling very comfortable.
Despite the rain, we never got wet. It would stop raining and the sun would peep out to say “Hello”, every time we got out of the car for sightseeing. It was as if the elements had an agreement, that they would not spoil our trip in any way.
Travelling to Loch Ness on the fourth day, something strange happened. Mohanji knew that I wanted to stop smoking and that I was trying hard to give up but it was proving very difficult. He asked for my mobile phone and started taking a video of the countryside and then slowly pointed the camera towards me. As I became aware of the camera pointing at me, something happened within me, and laughter broke out from my inner being.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop laughing! My sides ached with the intensity of the laughter. It was as if the wall created by the mind, that had been preventing the infinite joy sitting within my being, was suddenly destroyed and the joy came flooding like a tsunami – the end result was “the laughing Buddha”! After this experience my smoking dramatically went down.
During the cable car ride on the mountain, the same thing happened again. Mohanji playfully pointed the camera at me,
and after a fit of painful laughter that followed, Mohanji said something to the effect that smoking had gone. I have not touched another cigarette since! This gift given to me by Mohanji, of taking smoking away from my constitution, has made my inner connection with the Divine energy much, much stronger than before. My past seems to be fading fast and remaining in the present moment seems to be my new reality more and more.
“Causeless laughter flushes the mind out. Mind cannot stay when there is no cause. Mind thrives on causes. When mind is flushed out, ego and intellect (logic) is also flushed out. When everything is flushed out, the inside becomes empty. No causes means no flavors. No thoughts. No agenda. In that empty space, when everything is nullified, fundamental corrections in character and constitution can happen. This is induced by a seeming activity such as laughter. However, causeless laughter is equal to the silence of beingness. It is stillness, because the mind is still. The mind has no idea what is going on. It is bewildered. Causeless laughter has no pattern or reason. It is not bound by any particular stimuli or even joy. It is based on nothing. The presence of a higher being or one who has mastered his mind, or a true spiritual personality could possibly effect this experience in a seeker if they drop analysis, judgement and comparison. If the seeker approaches a master with emptiness and no agenda, usually the master delivers them causeless joy. When the seeker approaches the master with a distinct agenda, more often than not, the result will be disappointment. Emptiness is the key here and the benefit would be unbelievable. When joy sprouts from inside for no reason, when the proximity of a master who is empty triggers causeless joy, uncontrollable laughter takes place in the constitution of a true seeker and it flushes out the mind matter and makes it empty. In the empty canvass, the master leaves the seeds of immortality – liberation. It can change habits, character and even life. It can establish silence from the core. It can create magic in life. Causeless laughter has the power of a 1000 sincere meditations. Proximity of higher beings and recognizing them, experiencing them, feeling them more than seeing them makes this possible.” Mohanji
Mohanji also said that laughing from the core, the heart, is probably the most powerful form of meditation since it leaves you feeling totally empty and believe me I have never felt so spaced out as I did then.
On the way back to London, on the plane, whilst in the air, above the clouds, I saw something incredible. When I looked out of the window, I saw the shadow of the airplane on the clouds below, and amazingly there was a ball of light surrounding the shadow of the airplane. On landing at Heathrow I told Mohanji about what I had seen. He merely acknowledged what I had said and smiled affectionately, as he always does.
In conclusion, I would just like to say a very big Thank You to Mohanji for making this trip to Scotland happen, and for always being there to guide us and lead us to Liberation. May God Bless You always dearest Mohanji. Jai Maa
Experience Sharing during Open satsang after the Weekend Programme with Mohanji “Return to yourself’’ 3-4th October, 2015, on Iriski Venac, Fruska Gora, Serbia
M: Those who have attended until now- how do you feel? Audience: Great! M: Two days are not enough. What we have spontaneously and unknowingly collected for life times, cannot be changed in two days. But at least we made progress and I can see the changes on your faces. Anybody who wants to talk further about it? This is your chance. Because tomorrow, I have to board a plane. Participant 1: I am grateful for this special beauty that we shared here; for the honest exchange and opportunity for growth. Participant 2: I am grateful to you for reminding us to look each other in the eyes. I usually do it with children, and now I felt it with adults. M: We have stopped looking at each other’s eyes these days. Earlier we used to communicate directly. Now it’s all on the computer or WhatsApp. So we lost eye contact but when we talk directly into the eyes of people, it’s a huge difference. We also see the reflection of ourselves. All the people we meet, have something to do with us; doesn’t matter whether good or bad. There are no coincidences. Everybody is related some way or the other.
I also insisted on respecting the other person. Some of these people have been connected to you in your past lives or in your ancestral lineage. So you are actually paying off the debts, honouring the other person and then correcting or cleaning the path. Thus whatever comes to you is good for you. Sometimes the effect may be painful, but eventually you will know that completion has occurred. What did you see in the people? Audience: Ourselves… Emotions… Past lives… Animals (Laughter)… God… Relief… M: Each person was expressing different things, you see? This variety is the beauty of the world. There is a reasonable theory- imagine you have taken a thousand lives in various bodies as animals, birds etc. We carry an essence of every lifetime in each incarnation. So there is always a history behind you seeing various beings in one person. This is why I said we need to respect and never judge people. Because you have no clue what they or you have been! Participant 3: If we meet an annoying person or we do not like the energy of that person, what should we do? Because you said it’s karma… M: The best way to handle life in this world is to be strong. If you are strong and powerful, you will then be unaffected even if you encounter certain energies. This is why we were talking about prayers and chants. The atmosphere is very, very turbulent now. The best thing to do is chanting. What did we experience during Conscious Walking?
When your own energy circulates inside, you are extremely powerful. It proves you already have more energy than needed to protect yourself. But you spend a lot of energy in daily life. It is like you earn 1000 euros and spend 1500 euros. So what happens? Constant debts. Do you ever see a child without energy? Audience: No… (Laughter) M: The parents do not know what to do with them! They are so energetic. This means we have it but we spend a lot more. We are tired of always chasing something or the other in life. The problem is we sometimes even lose track when we chase more and more. This takes a lot of power and energy. What did I say in the morning? All the things like mind and ego, which you have brought at the time of birth, are good for you, provided they are in their natural form. When anything is oversized- whether mind, body, intellect or ego- it’s a problem. Participant 4:We know the size of body and mind. What is the natural size of ego?
M: If I ask you, “Who are you?’’ Then you will say, “I’m so and so.’’ That is your basic ego identification. You are identifying yourself as this incarnation. That is the natural size of ego. Whatever else that we collect- “I am so and so, people should respect me.’’ is enhanced ego. Then we suffer because of expectations.
Participant 5: Thank you for showing me to feel the sky beyond simply seeing it. And for having taught to look into the soul of these beautiful people. Today I saw some past lives – even animals. I saw and felt that we are one.
M: How often do we connect to the sky? People say the sky can be connected to the throat, etc. But when sky is connected to your heart, your dimension changes. Participant 6: I felt so exhausted and I couldn’t stand. When I finished looking into each other’s eyes, my heart wanted to explode. I couldn’t feel my arms, my legs, nothing. I felt empty. M: Empty yourself. That’s exactly the point. This is the beautiful state to be in. When you need so many things, you are stressed. But when you are empty, everything comes to you.
Participant 7: I actually saw nothing, I just felt different feelings in different parts of body. When I felt heaviness here in the chest, other people cried. M: All energy and people are connected to us. We are just preoccupied with ourselves, so we fail to see this connection. We are unaware that we are actually big transmitters. This is what you felt, heaviness in your heart actually affects somebody else too. That is why all the masters repeat like parrots- do good, feel good, help everybody, hurt nobody. Because this creates the vibration. When your vibratory level changes and you are peaceful, there is a difference in the world. Participant 8: Initially, I mostly felt that people wanted to sense some support, to tell them they are loved, everything is going to be fine. That was my impression. And I was too tired and had a lot of pain in my forehead. M: Didn’t I tell you not to hug? Participant 8: I didn’t hug. M: I know you didn’t. We collect so fast. We are like a sponge. Participant 9: I felt an amazing release by connecting with the eyes, praising and honouring the other person. Looking in the eyes was an immense experience. I had a feeling of release- like receiving or giving forgiveness. I felt light and bright in connection with all those people I met today. Participant 10: During eye-gazing, I felt my breathing, some high energies, but afterwards, I felt terrible chest pain and had to sit down. M: And after shaktipat? Participant 10: It has gone! M: I do my job. Participant 11: I felt very happy. I was looking at people like this (showing a big smile) I just couldn’t take off the smile from my face. My strongest or the loudest thought was “Good to see you again,’’ for each next person. M: There is a link which brought all of us together. Some people figured it, some didn’t. There is always a connection and always a conclusion. Participant 12: I just want to say that my impression is the same like hers. Participant 13: I would like to share my experience with others who were not present. How to do that? M: Simple. Live it. Live that experience.
(Applause)
If you express what you are, the world will be brighter. All I wanted to prove in the last two days is that you are everything. There is nothing to borrow from anybody. Everything you need, you have. That is why we also call this programme “Return to yourself.’’ This is the whole point.
Flowers of gratitude
Participant 14: I am grateful for everything in the last two days. M (seeing through him): You have a full book to write. Participant 14: Yes, maybe two or three haha… Audience: Ego, ego, haha (laughter) Participant 14: Now I’m thinking what to say… People should change the way we communicate among each other. When we started communicating with our hands and eyes turned to each other, I felt we were all one. Everything was so honest. M: Good. Participant 15: I’ll be short because I have to translate.
(Audience laughs)
“I was like in a washing machine”:
Participant 15: I’m sure Mohanji knows this, but I’ll say this for the rest of you. I am really thankful. I am going through a rough period. I had a certain outlook and thought things had to be that way. Then I came here this weekend and I was being thrown here and there, up and down like in a washing machine. Slammed on this wall and that wall. My heart was all over the space… I was happy and I was sad. He just kind of shakes you up and then I thought maybe that isn’t the only way, maybe there is another way I should look at things. So thank you very much! M: I had only two days.
(Audience laughs)
And you learnt the Chinese as well.
(Explosion of laughter in the audience)
It always helps. Participant 15: When you initially said, “Now say something to that person,’’ I talked jibberish, but when you said, “Now really convey something to that person’’ I was surprised how it sounded as if I was really speaking Chinese! So real! “Wow I am speaking Chinese!’’
(laughter) I know I wasn’t but I had just a feeling I was, haha.
M: I am thankful for this group, it’s a wonderful group. It’s a pleasure. Because as I increased the temperature, you just went with it.
(Explosion of laughter in audience)
Yes, sometimes people cannot take that intensity. The group was beautiful. Wonderful team. So I could take you somewhere. It all depends on the response of the people. It is not that anybody can roll over. You were ready. That is willingness, that makes the difference. Didn’t you feel like a family, all tied together? How could that happen in just two days? This is the involvement. Participant 16 (hardly suppressing tears): You just took my words. I am eternally happy and grateful that I met my family. Thank you family.
Participant 17:I didn’t attend the full programme, I came just for the open satsang. You said in the Power of Purity Book that you get what you deserve, not what you desire. I am experiencing a lot of negativities because it is my heavy karma from the past. A sort of chronic loneliness and I cannot get rid of it because it is deep in my unconscious. How to change this?
M: I am not explaining where you came from past life or why you are experiencing this because that’s not important. Right now as you sit here, keep connecting to me and before we close this, come to me. Just try to connect to my energy, right now while sitting there and before we conclude, I’ll meet you. I will do what I can. Like Jesus said in the Bible, “Let your faith heal you.’’ You’ve come here, so I should heal you. Participant 18: In our tradition it is normal to shake hands or hug. How to politely refuse shaking hands with other people?
(Laughter)
M: You can put hands in namaskar. As I said, strengthen yourself so that even if you shake hands with a thousand people, nothing will happen to you. If you are connected to my consciousness, or consciousness of Baba, or Jesus… Stay connected. Stop being you. If you stop being you, then all the problems associated with you will also stop existing. That means you should be connected with your mind to the consciousness. Imagine mind is like a car. Park it in my garage.
(Laughter) Participant 4: How can I know for sure that I parked my mind in your garage?
(Explosion of laughter) How do I know? How to practise it?
M: Just remember. Start with just remembering, my image or whatever. When you remember something, you connect; you tend to go into that energy field. The thought is the first level of creation. Like when there was pain in the chest, it got reflected in other people. When you remember, think or talk about a particular person or entity, you are connected to them. Positive or negative, it’s the same. Energy is alive, right? When thought happens, energy is released.
Transcribed by Biljana Vozarevic Proof-read by Aviral Srivastava
“May the functions be auspicious. Keep my photo facing east. I shall be there and you will know my presence. I shall stay there too.” This was the reply from Guruji from Serbia when I invited Guruji and Bibaji for my housewarming function planned 28th May, 2015.
Before Ganapathi Homam and Devi Pooja started, I had kept Guruji’s photo in my Pooja room facing east. The homam and pooja got over very early in the morning. Priest (Mr. Ajaykumar – my cousin brother) told me that the pooja went well and he could feel some special energy field during the pooja.
The same day, in the night, after the dinner, my wife, her family and I were sitting and chatting. We saw a Black coloured Butterfly appeared (Yes! I mean it. It just appeared in the room because all the windows were closed) in the room and sat on the wall. My wife, her sisters, their children touched the butterfly. IT didn’t move even a bit.
Since Guruji told me that HE was going to stay with me, I had arranged a bed for Guruji near my Pooja room. My co-brother Mr. Vasudevan and I were sleeping near Guruji’s bed.
When we got up around 5.30 am to go to a Hanuman Temple, we saw the same Butterfly came out from the bed and sat again on the wall.
All of us saw the Butterfly in the morning and it disappeared around 7 o’ clock.
I had sent a message to Guruji in the evening asking whether the stay was good and comfortable. Guruji’s reply was “Yes, it was nice. You know, I always do my job” !!
Three days ago something strange happened, not short of a miracle. I’ve waited for the things to settle for a few days to see if everything really was as it looked.
What happened?
At 7a.m. somebody rang the doorbell. Who could that be so early? Very strange. My family were in beds and nobody bothered to get up. After some time the bell rang again. We opened the door and saw a neighbour from the flat right below ours, on 1st floor. He said his flat was flooded, and asked whether the water came from our flat. In our building, which is a 14-floor-skyscraper, water started leaking on 3rd floor right above my flat. It flooded 3rd floor on our side of the building and leaked down heavily on 2nd floor as well where I live. The wall in the hall outside our flats had wet spots and the floor tiles were darker from being soaked in water. It is the same wall of our pantry from the outer side. It flooded the flat near mine as well.
The wall in the hall outside our flats had wet spots and the floor tiles were darker from being soaked in water.
The neighbour next to us asked whether our room i.e. pantry next to her flat was wet or flooded. I checked several times and said no. The wall inside our pantry was and fortunately still is totally dry.
How did the water go from above, from 3rd floor above us to 2nd floor next to us and again to the 1st floor right below us!? There is no logic. Following the laws of physics, it would leak and at least permeate the walls of our flat and let alone flooded the pantry or the kitchen. Perhaps the water manoeuvred, avoiding our flat by coincidence. As I don’t believe in coincidences, I attribute it to the invisible energy shield of protection I got from Mohanji’s blessings and especially Shiva Kavach mantra that I listen to daily.
You can listen to the story behind Shiva Kavach here:
Find out how Mohanji recorded Shiva Kavach:
Abundance of gratitude to Mohanji’s omnipresence and protection.
When we first heard that Mohanji was planning to attend the Kumbh Mela this year in Nashik, we immediately decided that we shouldn’t miss the opportunity. After all, the Kumbh Mela happens in Nashik (just 3 hours away from Mumbai) only once in 12 years. One has read about Kumbh and seen striking visuals, but we knew we would hardly ever take the initiative to visit on our own. Of course, there are rich historical and Vedic traditions attached to the significance of the Kumbh Mela – of how amrit (celestial nectar) drops fell in 4 places (Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik) in a battle between devas (demigods) and asuras (demons) after the churning of the milky ocean. Kumbh Mela is also believed to be a time charged with positive energy, with several saints and spiritual masters coming out of seclusion to bless ordinary pilgrims.
For us, though the clincher was an opportunity to spend a week in the presence of Mohanji. How could we let that pass? We had a minor challenge about how we would handle our children in that period; dear Mamu (head of Mohanji’s management office) solved that by granting us permission to bring them along. With that out of the way, plans started unfolding at a rapid pace.
This write-up is a modest attempt to share some of my experiences – both at a group level and a personal level – through this entire process. I’ve grouped them as episodes, clubbing a few similar events and experiences together – each one a blessing, and a lesson on living Mohanji’s teachings in practice.
Episode 1: How seeming chaos morphed into perfect solutions, at exactly the right time and at the right place
When the planning for the trip started, given my location in Mumbai, I volunteered to help with some of the logistics arrangements for the group travel. The first item in any such plan is to secure hotel rooms. Given that Kumbh Mela happens once in 12 years, the tendency of hotels to charge super normal rates is quite common, ruling out most options for us. Plus, our program involved stay during the 2nd and 3rd shahi snans (holy dips), two of the most crowded days in the entire Kumbh Mela. While Mamu was obtaining quotes from different places, I began some homework at my end too. And the first set of “coincidences” began. It so happened that I had happened to visit Nashik just a few weeks ago for a weekend outing and then connected with an old friend who was working with a PSU. So one conversation led to another and voila, thanks to my friend’s connections, we had rooms at preferential rates at a high quality business hotel. We also got the flexibility to change the number of rooms multiple times as the group participation picked up – no penalties, no supernormal tariffs, a superb location and high quality, just outside the traffic blockades so convenient access as well. Could anything have worked out better?
But that wasn’t the amazing thing. After all registrations had been closed, the final tally of rooms had space for 1 extra participant each on both legs of the Nashik trip. A day before the trip, we had a last minute sign up for the first leg. Midway into the trip, a group member decided to extend her stay for the entire program, filling up the other empty space as well. Having seen events play out from when the planning began, I know that nobody could have possibly planned it to this level of perfection. Optimization at work? Or higher grace?
Our full group – outside our Nashik hotel; refreshed and cleansed after the first dip
We had a similar experience with our travel logistics as well. Our tour itinerary involved a visit to Dandakvan Ashram, located in Vansda in Gujarat (a neighbour state to Maharashtra, where Nashik is located). Apparently, travel operators need to obtain RTO (Regional Transport Office) permits for entering each state. After our Shirdi visit, we were in Sakori in Upasni Maharaj’s ashram where we had spent a blissful 45 minutes. Just before we are ready to leave for the ashram, our van driver came up to me and said “Sir, I believe you are going to Gujarat. This vehicle can’t enter Gujarat without a permit, and we didn’t get one because nobody told us about your Gujarat plan”. Normally, a RTO permit requires at least a day’s notice and the original has to be carried by the driver. Plus it was past 1.15pm that day (RTOs stop issuing permits at 1pm usually). What followed was a flurry of phone calls to our travel operator in Mumbai to figure out a way out of this impasse. In parallel, dear Mamu began to work out a back-up with our key contact in Dandakvan Ashram – this would have involved a transfer to another vehicle at the Gujarat – Maharashtra border, frankly more excitement than we would have wanted at that point. Anyway, for some reason, both Mamu and I were confident that something would work out – after all, it wasn’t really for us to find a solution, we had greater powers watching over us. Mamu decided to start the journey, as they would need to break for lunch, and it was a 200km+ journey. I was staying behind to wait for Mohanji and a few others who were reaching from another appointment in sometime. I decided to use the time to visit the Ekmukhi Datta temple there and meditate – my 15 minutes there were quite interesting. One half of my mind was busy visualizing scenarios where our vehicle was at the state border and people were jumping from one vehicle to another – clearly a residue of too many movies, and the other half of my mind was praying for a clean solution that didn’t involve such acrobatics. Well, it took a little longer than 15 minutes, but within 30 minutes, I got a call from my travel guy that he had sorted it out – we would need to pay the RTO directly at the border, and the rest of the paperwork could be taken care of when we returned to Mumbai. And talking of things working out to perfection, if you remember, I had mentioned earlier about one member extending their trip for the entire duration – the incremental fees from that member more than covered the extra costs incurred for this new permit!
One could easily attribute these events to stray coincidences and dismiss them. But having been in the thick of things and after replaying these events in hindsight, they are just too many in close succession to just ignore; then it is truly hard to not see the elegance of the higher powers behind the scenes. As Mohanji always says “There are no coincidences. When you go with the flow, things happen on their own”. Later that day when I met Mohanji and thanked him for helping us out, all he had to say in response was a disarming smile and a cryptic “Nothing to worry, its all taken care of!”
Episode 2: Shahi snans in Kumbh Mela, a happy anti-climax
The primary objective of this entire trip was to take our holy dips during the shahi snan days (13th Sep and 18th Sep, 2015) along with Mohanji. On each of these days, over 2.5-3 million people were expected to take dips, so before D-day, we were mentally ready for crowds, jostling and long waits. We were told that traffic restrictions would stop all cars 8-10km short of the bathing ghats, so Mamu had arranged for vehicle passes that would allow us to get closer. One of our group members, Rajesh, had done a full recce the previous day to identify a spot where our group could take their dips, and mapped a route to the closest official parking area (about 2.5km from the bathing spot). In addition, with two small kids in tow, we had a full routine rehearsed- one parent holds one kid, the other jumps in with the other kid, then a reversal of roles. We prepped the kids with clear instructions on “don’t ever leave our hands, stick to our group, etc”! At some level, there was a fear about whether we’d even done the right thing bringing them along, but then we also knew that if they had come with us, they had been given “permission” from above, so it didn’t have much to do with us anyway.
On the day of the first dip, 13th Sep, our group was all ready to leave at 3am, as Mohanji had clearly instructed us that the holy dips should be in the brahma muhurtha time (3-6am), and he also wanted us to beat the rush. Once we started, for some reason, our navigation didn’t go to “plan” and we deviated from the mapped out route pretty quickly. However, as we were so early, the traffic restrictions weren’t enforced yet, so we were able to take roads that were blocked the earlier day in the recce. Our alternate route took us through narrow streets that threatened to end in dead ends. But within a few minutes, we realized that where our vehicles stopped were just 5 minutes walking distance from our bathing spot! We proceeded quickly to the ghats – our identified spot seemed to have been “reserved” for us, with hardly anyone around. Our entire group finished the dips (a minimum of 3 dips – for ancestors, for living family members and for oneself – to as many as one wishes) within 20 minutes. Our children enjoyed the early morning stroll and their dips, and soon we were ready to head back. In this entire period – which included changing, posing for group photos etc – no stranger even came near our group. We were back in our hotel within 90 minutes. The story repeated itself on the day of the second dip (18th Sep) where we were back within 75 minutes with even more space and water to ourselves at the same spot!
Smiles all around, after the first “express dip” with MohanjiThe second holy dip
Later at the breakfast table, we all had silly grins plastered on our faces, with equal parts of fulfillment and amazement. We were just left racking our brains – “What just happened? Did we really just finish our dips in the holy Kumbh Mela? Where are the millions of people that were supposed to be here? What happened to the road blocks?” All we could do was to take Mohanji’s blessings and thank him for giving us such a wonderful experience – we experienced the best part of the Kumbh without coming anywhere close to the not-so-nice parts of it!
Episode 3: Darshans – physical, astral and others
After the dips, the next most anticipated section of our trip was our visit to Shirdi, especially with Mohanji. We knew that this period was among the most crowded and were told that we had passes for the kakad aarti that happens at 430am in the morning. When our group reached Shirdi, we were asked to meet at the administrative office to complete the formalities for the passes. We were a group of 32, including 5 visitors from Pune and our local contact who was to join us for the aarti. That’s when the penny dropped – our local contact hadn’t actually been able to get hold of passes!!
But then, why worry about local contacts when we had bigger contacts working for us! As our group waited at the office, they realized that foreigners were entitled to get some passes – that made it 5 x 5 people each i.e. 25 people. Then they realized that one of our group members was from the defence establishment, which allowed him a pass for 6 people. So out of the blue, we had passes for 31 people again- i.e. for all our core group members! The only person who couldn’t join us for the aarti was the contact who was supposed to originally get our passes done…. clearly the divine works in ways that go beyond our limited understanding.
Our whole group had a blissed darshan the next morning at the Samadhi mandir, but some of us had a darshan even earlier, and without even visiting the temple! That night, after we reached our hotel, we heard that Mohanji was planning to visit Dwarkamai with whoever was interested. I’d read his blog about his miraculous meetings with Sai Baba at Dwarkamai and was keen to go. But we had to wake up really early with children, so we decided to skip that trip. I recall that I went to sleep thinking of how I was going to miss this opportunity. As it turns out, the group had a spontaneous satsang which was a laughter fest, and the Dwarkamai plan was cancelled. But while I was asleep, I visited Dwarkamai in my dreams with a group of people. Mohanji always says that astral travel happens to many people but you only remember what is necessary for you. When I woke up in the morning, I had a distinct memory of the Dwarkamai trip – of walking in, seeing the dhuni, some other chatter with family and some conversation with Mohanji – but the only words I could remember were Mohanji telling me at some point “Don’t open your eyes now!” I guess that was to save me from abruptly ending my trip; thankfully I followed his instructions otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this story! Next morning when we met for the kakad aarti, I thanked him and said I missed the satsang but visited Dwarkamai. All he said was “I was working, you know!” in typical nonchalant fashion. Yet another example that he’s always listening to our desires.
The day before our Shirdi darshan, we visited the Shani temple at Shani Shignapur directly from Nashik. A few of us had the privilege of going in the same car as Mohanji, a great opportunity to soak in his presence. Midway through our journey, we decided to consult google maps to navigate and took a right turn from a fork on the road. A few kilometres down that road, we saw a long procession of kaan-phata sadhus (ascetics with a split ear lobe). These sadhus belong to the Nath tradition and are renunciates with their own methods of spiritual practice. There was a certain pattern to these groups – some were walking alone, some were in groups where a central set of sadhus was surrounded by others, some were walking in pairs or smaller groups. We took in the sights and clicked a number of pictures.
Procession of kaan-phata Nath sadhus winds their way
Procession of kaan-phata Nath sadhus winds their way
Shortly after that, Mohanji asked us to stop for a break – to stretch our legs, use the rest rooms and dose up on tea/coffee as per our preferences. In some time, the procession crossed us again and we saw Mohanji observing some of the groups with interest. By the time we finished our break, the entire procession had crossed us. Our driver then realized that we had come down the wrong road and we would need to retrace our path for about 15-20 minutes to get back to the right route. Before we got into the car, Mohanji commented “There were some higher order swamis camouflaged as humans in the middle of that group. Did you spot them? Did you see me in that group?” So it seemed like the entire “wrong turn” had been engineered to allow us to see the procession!
Or perhaps it was for Mohanji to meet some other Masters, and we were just bystanders or ignorant witnesses to this meeting! We spent some time poring through our pictures to spot them, but then if they were higher order swamis, they would not let themselves be seen by mere mortals that easily. It was easier to just take blessings from the swami that was in our car and visible to us
Which master did we miss spotting in this group?Was there a reason we stopped at a sugarcane juice stall later with a picture of Kaanifnath, one of the navnath gurus, the only rajayogi in the navnaths, and a guru that Mohanji is closely connected to?
Episode 4: Of satsangs, planned and impromptu
One of the most coveted experiences in any retreat / trip with Mohanji is the satsang. Typically, this follows a meditation session when people are blissed out already, and then they get to ask him questions – ranging from the banal to the profound. Irrespective of the nature of the questions, the hallmark of Mohanji’s satsangs is the clarity and simplicity of his explanations to any question. Further, his answers always cover questions that are in the audience’s minds but not yet expressed verbally. The Kumbh Mela trip was one where we were moving about literally every day, so only one satsang was planned. It’s a different matter that he spontaneously created another satsang in Shirdi (the one that I missed).
However, the special feature of this trip for me was the opportunity to have multiple mini-satsangs with Mohanji, be it conversations over a breakfast table, chats while he was resting or waiting between appointments, walking to destinations and in multiple other circumstances. The topics across all these satsangs ranged from how to questions on day-to-day life to karma to the origins of animal sacrifice to the nature of God.
Further, I was fortunate to be the designated driver for 4 of the 7 days and had the unique opportunity to soak in his presence over 100s of kilometres and see him in action during that time. When Mohanji talks about being purpose bound, he truly lives it. In spite of maintaining a punishing schedule and being physically tired, he would judiciously respond to messages from across the world, take calls and advise people on their problems. At least those are the parts we could see for he would say that “Even if I am physically resting, I am still working”. A guru is known to guide people spiritually, but I also had the Master help me literally with navigation – including teaching me some long overdue lessons on relying on common sense more than technology While all the conversations may not make it to the public domain, they no doubt reaffirmed his stature to us laymen, and also served to reinforce the good fortune that we have in being able to access our Guru so easily, when so many people may spend lifetimes without knowing whom to turn to.
Satsang with Mohanji –the one that was planned… and the one that was spontaneous……and laughter therapy for all the participants!
Episode 5: A special visit
On the day of 2nd dip, we were supposed to leave at 3am from our hotel in Nashik. But as it was the last day of our trip, we had stayed up late chatting with our friends and gone to bed very late the previous night – well past 12.30am. Our kids were also awake till then and we were not sure if we would be able to rouse them in time for our trip to Ram Ghat. We spoke to our children and told them that we would wake them up at 2.45am and ask them if they wanted to come. And if they said no, they could continue sleeping and we would come back for them after our dip. We gave the elder one my wife’s cellphone, and asked her to call me if she needed anything when we were away. But with all this planning, we were still not comfortable with leaving them alone. When we woke up at 2.30am, we decided that we were not equipped to deal with this and would just go to Mohanji and ask him to take care. So when he emerged from his room, we prostrated at his feet and asked him to help us. He said in his usual brief manner – “don’t worry, they will be ok, you proceed”. So we went ahead for our dip and zipped through the entire shahi snan in fast-forward mode. We got back at 4.15am and saw our elder daughter sitting up in bed. She said she’d been awake for 5 minutes, and within a minute of talking to her, she was back asleep. Meanwhile Preethi entered the room and went into the bathroom and called me to see a messy floor – the drain covers were both out, the entire floor was wet, and there was dirt all over the floor. First, my thinking mind assumed there was a drain malfunction and something had reflux-ed after flushing the toilet. Then Preethi came up with this brain wave that Shiva Ganas were in our room for protection. Again my mind rejected the notion – how could this be possible? Even if they did come, why would they leave physical traces? I got busy cleaning the floor… And then I looked at the shower cubicle and saw that there was foam on the floor, esp at the corners, as if someone had taken a bath! We knew that nobody else could have come into the room – we had left the key card inside (so that power wouldn’t get cut off) and had a new card made at the front desk when we returned from our dip. Now this was too much to fathom, even for the mind. I went next door and called Mamu to check and get his view – now Mamu is often as cryptic as Mohanji and all he said was “this is an indication for you”, whatever that meant. One of Sherlock Holmes’s most famous quotes goes “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth”. So what could this really mean? I was beginning to believe that Preethi’s hypothesis was maybe true, and was hungry for some real answers – I had had enough of riddles for an early morning. I waited outside Mohanji’s room for him to emerge from his shower and freshen up. The next 10 minutes seemed to take a long time to pass! Finally, when I got my chance, I asked him to please explain what was going on. He went “You asked me to take care of the kids, I sent two people to do that job. They just left 5 minutes ago, which is when your daughter woke up. They have gone now to attend a surgery – someone else was praying to me this morning”. I asked “were they ganas?” and he just smiled – which was an answer in itself. So, we just had two divine beings (who we’ve only read about) actually stay in our room and protect our children – how cool is that!
Unclear picture of the foam – Mohanji says these pictures to do with higher order beings cannot be clear unless they will them to be so…
Later Mohanji explained “In this incarnation, I am a Rajayogi. So just like a king gets protection, I always have protection protocol. When you asked me this morning, I asked them to stay back in your room to protect the children. And two others came over to my protection detail. As I always tell you, I do my job.” Wow!! I had had some astral experiences with Mohanji in my dreams, including one just a couple of days ago at Shirdi. Each time, he had confirmed them to me, so I knew it was not a projection of my mind. But this was the first time I had seen a miracle with physical evidence.
So what does one take away from this? For one, Mohanji is no ordinary person; he may put on that guise, with his easy demeanour, everyday attire, his jokes and his nonchalant comments. But he is a true sadguru, firmly connected to the divine; this episode was a clear pointer to his actual stature. Second, the importance of faith and surrender can never be explained enough. As he always explains, any genuine intention that is unselfish is always granted. That morning, we asked him for his help with all sincerity and with no pretence of us having any alternative solution. And he answered. Third, we got this experience for a reason. In my head, I had been guilty of doing a comparison thing of why some others were getting to see some unbelievable things and I hadn’t yet gotten lucky. This was clearly the Master’s way of putting me in my place, but with grace and kindness. He could have easily told me – “don’t crave for experiences, they can be distractions from the actual path” and I would have listened, but my mind may not have. This way, he not only solved a problem of handling children at the dip, but also gave us an opportunity to experience something that our minds cannot process. And when one sees things beyond the realm of the mind, it can only confirm your faith and conviction of the path. And for that, we are immensely grateful to our Guru.
In closing, its only appropriate to quote from the Sri Guru Gita; incidentally we had bought this booklet from Ganeshpuri months ago, and had not noticed it till yesterday, when it caught our attention and came back to the table from the recesses of our book shelf. As someone who has now begun to believe in signs and guidance, I took it as a signal for me to read and close with these shlokas:
(#48 – I fold my hands in salutation so that the oceans of the Guru’s compassion may increase. By his grace, a mortal being is liberated from the diversified world)
We have been in Johannesburg this past weekend with Swami Bhaktananda and our Johannesburg Mohanji family. We had a beautiful Homa at Milica’s house. Swamiji asked me to sit next to him, even though it was absolutely hot I think he knew I needed a tan, hahaha. I sat during the entire duration in the sun and after the Homa we had a rest for a little while and then we had to get ready for our trip to The Shanti Sanctuary where Swamiji was conducting the POP meditation and satsang.
We got everybody organised with the travelling arrangements and off we went. When we jumped into the car to leave, I told Ramesh (my husband) that I had a splitting headache. I remembered that we had the first aid kit in the car and he said we would get it out when we get to our destination. We giggled and laughed because Swamiji and Amiji sat in the back of the car which is suitable for small kids only. It was soooo funny, so with all the laughs and giggles, we completely forgot to get the tablets out. We met a few more devotees and the chatting continued. We were so happy to see each other. My head was still pounding. We were ready to start the meditation and my headache became really bad. I did not want to make Swamiji wait for me so I closed my eyes and I spoke to Guruji. It was so funny. I asked him to take my headache away because I wanted to enjoy the meditation. I even smiled to myself because I was asking for something so impossible I was blown away. Not even 2 seconds later, it was gone. I was amazed and enjoyed the entire meditation. I surrendered completely and he answered me too.
After we had crossed them, we decided to have some breakfast. During breakfast we realized that we were on the wrong road and turned back. We crossed the Naga sadhus again. As we left them behind, Mohanji casually asked us, “So did you get their darshan (glance)?” Us mere mortals in the car, did not fathom what He was trying to say. When we asked for the clarification, Mohanji informed us that within that group there were very high beings, who preferred to remain anonymous but gave us their ‘darshan’. Such is the leela!!! The unwarranted detour was for this cause.
Experiences With Mohanji 