130.Importance of spiritual sites

 

 

When my brother asked the Great Qalandar that why my Hindu friend was given the gift of closeness to God, when he was so rich, had never performed any penances and austerities, and had never quit the world (tiag). The great mystic gave the surprising answer, “These things do not matter. He got it because of some spiritual site (which he visited). There are sites in the world where you get grace (of God). Consider Jerusalem, holy to three religions”. Although in this mote’s opinion he got the grace of God (from the site) because he loved God, perhaps, as good as anybody else.

 

The Yogi Krishnaparem mentioned two such sites. One was the Srirangam temple at Trichinopoly, India, where he had the vision of Lord Krishna and Radharani (blog). The other was at Maharishi’s hall. In his own words:

 “As I meditated, it was borne home to me through the mystic silence that though the peace descends from the Lord Himself^____does’nt he say in the Gita that He is the primal source of all experience^___the peace in this instance was transmitted through His beloved agent: the Maharishi. I have previously mentioned that Brunton had experienced and said the same thing regarding Maharishee (blog 91)

Therefore these sites are not only the broadcasting sites to God, but also the receiving sites.

 

My Hindu friend once visited the room near Clacutta, where Sri Ramakrishna had spent the last years of his life. My friend was at that time in his early youth and had visited the place, unintentionally, with a bunch of loud, happy friends. None of them had any thought of God or spirituality and were just enjoying the gardens and the boat-ride. When he entered the room, he felt a shiver go through his body. There was something in the air. He became quiet. He realized that his friends had also become quiet. The experience left a mark on him because he never forgot it in the next fifty or more years.

 

Sri Daya Mata mentions in her book (1), how she had great mystic experiences at the following places: cave of Mahavatar Babaji, in Himalayas; in front of a huge statue of Lord Buddha in Nara, Japan; in Tarakeswar temple in India; in sacred Jagannath temple in Puri, India (also see blog 5).

 

St Therese of Lisieux had an indescribable experience in the church of Our Ladies of Victories in Paris, France(blog 14).

 

There are many spiritual experiences described by various persons, that I have described at the Holy site of Data Gunj Bakhash in Lahore, Pakistan (blogs 62-4, and 67).  The law of secrecy prohibits me to disclose more.

.

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

(1). Finding The Joy Within You  by  Sri Daya Mata

 

 

129. Yogi Krishnaprem

 

The original name of Krishnaprem was Professor Ronald Nixon (1). He was an Englishman, a graduate of Cambridge, who taught English literature at Universities of Lucknow and Banaras. He had been a pilot in First World War.

He became a disciple of Sri Yashoda Mae, a highly advanced spiritual lady. I have mentioned her, in blog 86, when she and others were visited by Lord Krishna in Mirtola, India. Nixon converted to Hinduism, and took the name of Krishnaprem (lover of Lord Krishna). He did not believe in half-measures, so he quit the world (sanyas) in 1928. He travelled the path of God till his death in 1965. His long time friend Dilip Kumar Roy (blog 86) writes of his earlier days, when he was a lecturer. One day a rationalist professor argued against miracles, and dubbed them as mere superstitions. Nixon genially replied:

“ As you know I was a pilot in World War……..One day as I was going to steer to the right, where I saw half a dozen planes whirring and zooming, thinking they were ours^___that is RAF planes. Just then some force simply caught hold of my wrist, and made me turn to the left. I was quite bewildered, the more so as the force was too incredible to doubt. Later on, as I returned to the base, I came to know that they were enemy planes…….I had a miraculous escape. I am as certain as certain can be that it was a miracle”

 

 

Dilip Kumar Roy writes, “What horrified me most was that Krishnaprem was actually begging alms in the streets and sleeping on a bare blanket on the cold heights of the Himalayas, 7500 feet above sea level”.

By virtue of his total renunciation and pure devotion Krishnaprem’s whole body was set on fire with the love of God (written By Haridas Chaudhuri)

While living at Mirtola, with his Guru, two other Britishers lived with them. They were also renunciants.

One was Haridas, an old friend from Cambridge, who gave up a highly successful medical practice, and tended to the sick villagers. The other was Madhava Ashish, a ground engineer posted to an air base in 2^nd World War. After the war, he came up on one brief holiday to the Himalayas, somehow heard of Krishnaprem, walked over one day to see him, and never left.

Now after this brief introduction, let me narrate two profound experiences of Krishnaprem. He told them to Dilip. He had a wonderful vision of Lord Krishna and Radharani, in the famous Srirangam temple.

“As soon as I prostrated myself in the shrine before the Lord’s image, I lost my outer consciousness. I saw a vast ocean made of liquid light. Time had stood still till a breath of Love started a ripple in the hushed ocean of Light, when countless white lotuses appeared on the blue waves………..on each flower stood a lovely Krishna with Radha­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­^____ She smiling and He playing His magic flute……..But O Dilip what beauty, what music, and what bliss……”

He shivered as his voice trailed.

The other experience was when he visited Maharishi Ramana, the guru of Paul Brunton (blog 91). In his own words:

“In the evening, I entered the hall where the Maharishi reclines daily on his couch, to meditate at his feet. As soon as I sat down I heard a voice questioning me repeatedly: ‘Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?’ I tried hard to ignore it, but could not. So, in the end I just had to formulate an answer; ‘I am Krishna’s servant’. At once a new question came ‘Who is Krishna?’ I answered ‘Nanda’s son’. No use: The question was repeated pauselessly. I gave other answers, but it was of no use. The question persisted. I gave up. I left the hall, deeply disturbed. I came back, to meditate, but I had no peace. The voice returned.

I asked Radharani for help. She asked me what answers had I given. I told Her the answers. She revealed to me the correct answer.

Next morning, when I sat down again at his blessed feet, the Maharishi suddenly gave me a lightning glance and smiled. I knew at once that he was the author of it all and he also knew that I had guessed his part correctly.

Then, a deep peace entered me like a block of ice^___an exquisite bliss.

As I meditated^___I suddenly took it into my head to return the compliment and put a question to him in silence: ‘And who are you? May I humbly ask? ’. It so happened that the next moment I had to open my eyes involuntarily, when^____ lo I found his couch empty!’

……….I closed my eyes once more and looked again^____ and there he was, tranquil……… A momentary smile flickered on his lips as he gave me a meaningful glance and then looked away.

You understand the point of the miracle, Dilip.”

‘That he was beyond nama-rupa( name and face )’.

“That is right” he answered.

I end this narration with the following addition:

Dilip writes; “I met my dear and esteemed friend S. Duraiswami, who told me; “ After Krishnaparem had left, I visited Maharishi…….He told me that I should have met him, a bhakta (one who practices bhakti or devotion ) and jnani ( one who follows the path of knowledge ) in one, a rare combination”. Such an encomium from such an exalted person, as the Maharishi.

 

 

(1). Yogi Sri Krishnaprem by Dilip Kumar Roy

128. Afzal Khan and Hazrat.

 

 

Swami Yogananda wrote in his book about Afzal khan who had an invisible disembodied entity whom he called Hazrat(1). Hazrat would instantly do whatever Afzal asked him to do. Sri Yukteswar (blog 80) told their story to Yogananda.

Afzal was not a man of God. He had been given this gift by a saint for a good deed. Afzal was told to use this gift in an honest way. Afzal used the gift of Hazrat honestly for about twenty year. Then he became dishonest and greedy. If he managed to touch any precious object, soon the object would disappear and come to Afzal’s possession. He would go to jewellery shops and pretend to buy expensive jewellery or watches. The jewellery he had touched would soon disappear. He gathered lot of followers. Soon his fame spread in Bengal. He would touch a bunch of train tickets at the railway station and then return the tickets. The tickets would come to him to be used by his disciples.

Sri Yukteswar, when he was a youth, happened to see four of his feats:

 About twenty people had gathered to watch Afzal’s performance

Afzal asked Sri Yukteswar to bring a stone. When the stone was brought, he asked Yukteswar to write his name on it with chalk. He did. Then he ordered Yukteswar to throw the stone in the Ganges, as far as he could. Yukteswar complied. He then told him to put a pot of Ganges water in front of the house.

Then Afzal asked Hazrat to put the stone in the pot. The stone reappeared in the pot of water at once! Yukteswar examined it. The stone had his signature on it.

Next Afzal saw an heavy, expensive antique gold watch and chain on a man’s wrist. He asked the man to show him the watch. The man gave him the watch . Afzal examined and admired the watch and then returned it to the owner. Soon the watch was missing!

The man begged Afzal to give him his watch. Afzal said you have five hundred rupees in your safe at home. Give me that money and then I will tell you how to get the watch. The man went home and returned with the cash.

“ Go to the little bridge near your house. Call Hazrat to give you the watch and the chain”

The man rushed home. He returned with relief. He told that when he called Hazrat, his watch came tumbling down the air in his right hand!

Next, Afzal asked for everybody to order any drink. The agitated owner of the watch ordered whisky, while everybody else ordered a soft drink. Hazrat soon made all the drinks materialize out of thin air in sealed containers!

Afzal offered to provide sumptuous lunch for everybody.

Soon gold plates with delicious dishes of food appeared.

After everybody had eaten, the guests started leaving. Behind, they heard tremendous noise of dishes being taken away. Soon all food and platters were gone. 

The story of Afzal and Hazrat had a strange ending. The saint came to know of the misdeeds of Afzal. He accosted Afzal and after finding him guilty took Hazrat away from him. But since Afzal had spent his earlier years honestly, the saint made one concession. He told Afzal that Hazrat will still provide him with food and clothes for his own self.

The confession of Afzal appeared in a paper, written by him with remorse and contrition, recounting his greed and misdeeds, and asking for forgiveness from God.

 Yogananda asked his guru, that why did Afzal take the money and gold of others, when he could easily procure it, himself, from some astral plane.

His master replied, “The things made from astral atoms do not have stability. They disintegrate. That is why Afzal was forced to take it from people and shops”

 

 

(1). Autobiography of a Yogi by Swami Yogananda

 

127. If One lays The Life At God’s Feet: part two

I came across five examples of acts similar to the one narrated in the previous blog, I.e., willing to die unless one hears from God or His representatives. Three of them have been previously described. However, they will be very briefly narrated again.

1. Yogananda’s need to hear from God prior to his going to America. (Blog 79). When he was ordered to go to America, Sri Yogananda got worried that he will be lost in the materialism of the West. He started meditating, with the vow that he will continue praying till death, unless he hears from God. After several hours of his lamentation, Babaji (the founder of his sect and reputed to be several hundred years old) came to him, and assured him that his mission had Divine sanction.

2. Sri Ramakrishna was in utter despair (blog 20). Life was not worth living. He was sitting in the temple. His eyes fell on the sword hanging on the wall. He thought of ending his life. Like a mad man he grasped the sword and ran outside to end his life.  The blessed Mother chose to reveal Herself at that moment. He fell down unconscious, and was engulfed in a sea of light.

3. Giri Bala. (Blog 80). This holy woman was overweight when she was a girl. Her mother-in-law constantly criticized her habit of overeating. One day stung by her mother-in-law’s remarks, she vowed not to eat anything at all! She prayed to God for help. Help came in the form of her Guru, who taught her some secret mantras, by which she could live without eating and drinking!

4. Robert Bogucki, a 33 year old man from Alaska went into Australian desert to find some spiritual answers. In his own words, “I just wanted to spend a while on my own, just nobody else around, just make peace with God”. He was rescued after 43 days. He drank muddy water, and ate flowers and wild plants. He was without food for about 6 weeks and without water for about 12 days. Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert is one of the harshest places in the world. God did not let him die, because he had gone there for the sake of God

5. Brunton met the leader of a spiritual movement called Radha Soamis that had originated in 19^th century (the fraternity exists to this day) India. His name was Sahibji Maharaj. The leader thought that to travel on spiritual path, a master was absolutely essential. He told Brunton the story of his own search for the master.

“I was desperate to find a master. I asked the trees, the grass, and the sky to enlighten me if truth existed. I sobbed my heart out like a child.

One day I resolved to give up eating and starve to death, unless and until the divine power saw fit to grant me some illumination.

The next night I had a vivid dream, wherein a master appeared to me and revealed himself as such.

I asked his address. His answer was ‘Allahabad ’

I told the dream to a friend, who brought a group photograph, and asked me if I could recognize the master of my dream. I at once recognized him.”

God did not let him starve to death!

 126. If One lays The Life At God’s Feet: Part One

There are over 7 billion inhabitants of planet Earth. Then there are close to 10²² star systems (one followed by 22 zeroes). The estimate by Kepler spacecraft data was that:

“22 percent of Sun-like stars have Earth-like planets”

What I wanted to point out by the numbers mentioned above is that there are lots and lots of planets, and even if intelligent life (like us) may be present only in one in a billion Earth-like planets, there are still quadrillions of intelligent life forms.

There is only one Creator (God)

Now, consider for a second, that you want to attract the attention of God. Now you may ask, that why should one attract the attention of God. Business of living continues without us calling God. That

is true, but some of us have this desire.

Some years ago, I asked a saint (through an intermediary) that I want jazzab (oblivion to time and space while all thoughts are focused on God). The saint said that jazzab is good, but it is not the most important thing in the path towards God-realization. The most important and difficult thing is to come in the notice of God.

God could, if He wanted to, be aware of all of the quadrillions of us, but it will probably be un-necessary. Therefore, it is more than likely that He does not know any of us, individually, just as I do not know any of the 25 trillion red blood cells in my body.

It is this mote’s opinion that there is one sure way to attract  God’s  attention, and that is to lay one’s  life at God’s feet. If you try to sacrifice your life, for the sake of God, and only God (not religion or a cause), and nothing else, two things happen with unexceptional certainty:

He won’t let you die!

He will take notice of you. Who is this strange person?

A man, this mote intimately knows, was on the path of God. Almost ten years passed and there was no progress. This man was in utter despair. He was also very depressed. Matters came to a point where life without God was a burden. Separation from God was tearing him apart. Longing for God was such, that he would shed tears every day. He would call God to just acknowledge him^___ his existence^__, but there would never be a reply. Finally he decided to kill himself. Just before the attempt to kill himself, he asked himself “ Be honest. You are going to die in a few hours and may meet God face to face, just tell why you are ending your life?”  He gave the following answer, in all the near-death truthfulness. “ The reason is that I cannot bear separation from God any more. I don’t want to be separate from Him anymore. If there is a God (which he believed without doubt, but he said it for the sake of argument), after death I will meet Him, and thus get my desire, and be extremely happy. If there is no God, then there will just be oblivion; nothingness, which won’t be a loss, because the drama of life with its present pain and anguish, will be over”.

He pushed the plunger of the syringe, saying, “ Here I come, God!”. The syringe was filled with a powerful blood pressure lowering drug, Labatalol. He injected approximately hundred times the normal dose. ( He had crushed into white powder one hundred 300mg tablets, a total of 30,000mg, and dissolved them in water. Normal dose is 100-300 mg). The syringe had to be filled multiple times because there was too much liquid. He chose injection and not swallowing, because he did not want to take the risk of the powder just sitting in the stomach, and not being absorbed due to low blood pressure.

As he was injecting himself, he was thinking, God will answer him now. He was emotionally blackmailing God! He was like the proverbial kid who threatens to jump in the well, if mother does not accede to his wish.

The mother replies “ go ahead”. The kid does not jump.

But in this case the man was jumping in the valley of death by pushing the piston, again and again. He was also thinking, that one cannot blackmail God. That will be His defeat. But will the God let a true devotee die?

Maybe, God wanted to see, whether the man is empty talk, or will he actually carry out the act? Will he falter at the penultimate moment?

The man had imagined many scenarios, but in his wildest dreams he had not thought that he would survive such a massive dose.

The man laid alone, on a couch, for about fifty fifty-five hours, before help arrived. His blood pressure fell to very low levels. He would go in and out of consciousness and unconsciousness/sleep.

He remained sick for about two months. Due to low blood pressure his kidneys stopped functioning. He had to be hemodialysed with artificial kidney for a couple of weeks. Repeated infections with C.diff complicated the course.

He recovered completely.

God did not answer him.

God did not let him die.

After some more years, he did feel progress in his path towards God.

He earnestly feels that it was this act, laying his life at God’s feet, which caused him to succeed. After all, such an act must be extremely rare. Even the Creator takes notice.

To be continued.