Whither, Whence and How

With an ardent prayer I prostrate before the Divine Mother who is Jnanaakaasha Paraasabda-roopini to give me the light of wisdom to pen the following:-

It was a cold but pleasant midday in December 1952. Myself, a Bombay Government Officer, and a relation who had arrived from Bombay on route to Mangalore were standing on the Poona Railway Station.  From the other end of the platform suddenly a totally un-known person clad in dhoti walked up to us and accosted me, ‘You will be initiated by a Sadguru at the Ajna Chakra’, and having said that much he moved off as fast as he had come towards us.  None of us three understood what he had said and quite forgot all about it.

After about a year or so I was again standing on the broad-gauge platform of the Poona Railway Station for no apparent reason at all.  The Bombay-Madras Express arrived.  Right in front of me was the carriage in which was seated holy Divine Mother.  A large gathering of devotees had come to see Her; and some had followed Her  from Bombay to Poona.  I admired their devotion.  The train moved off to the Jaya Ghosha of these sincere devotees.

At the time it did not occur to me how my future was indissolubly linked with this Mother of infinite powers and perfections.  The day for the meeting was yet far off!! After this event my interest in the Yoga systems awakened and many divine as well as friendly agents lent a helping hand in my search for the Unknown.  Literature on the Kundalini Yoga and Hatha Yoga flowed in.  I soon saw that the whole of Indian ancient literature had only, one burning topic to describe and that was the Yogic Sadhana of various ways.  But hardly anyone who knew the practical side of it was at all to be found.  Description of the chakras as outlined in the Saundarya-lahari of the great Acharya, Lalitha sahasranama, the Goraksha Shataka, the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, Hathayoga Pradipika, Geeeehranda Samhita, Shri Gurudutta Yoga, numerous songa of the saints of India which describe the seven chakras, writings of Tukaram, Jnaneshwar, Nivritti etc, engrossed my attention.  Even the Megha Doota of Kalidas was shown to be coded Yoga Shastra.

Again in 1956, when I visited one day a friend in Bombay there was a Hyderabadi astrologer. At the first sight as I entered he said, ‘I do not know you at all but I predict that you are a devotee of Shakthi, and what is more you will be initiated by a Sadguru from the south.  At that moment I did not know what he meant, for the concept of Shakthi was far from my mind, though in truth unknowingly I was worshipper of Shakthi.  This I gleaned only after initiation by Divine Mother and entirely due to her Grace.  I became aware of the fact that I had been a Shakthi worshipper all along and learnt the meanings of many events that had happened to me from childhood, the manner in which Shri. Sadguru paved the way and guided one in life by significant steps.  So my destiny awaited me if only I would wake up for the emergence of the Light of the Self,  When I met in the summer of 1962 Divine Mother at Madras, and heard Her divine voice the link of Guru-Shishya was soon established by Her Grace.

I had read that, ‘A man can withdraw himself (i.e. turn inwards or be antarmukhi) as easily as he can get out himself (i.e. become Bahirmukhi).  There is a canker of doubt in every thought, and a margin of risk in every act.  Such is the human drama.  The ambiguity of human life lies precisely in the fact that most of us do not know whether we are what we are, or merely playing a part.  Very often, even when we play a part we convince ourselves that we are our own selves.

I had also read, ‘that the Ajna spot on the forehead of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had been pierced with a glass piece by another saint to activate it’.  And, ‘That an Afghan saint of Jangli Maharaj Road, Poona by kissing Sri. Meher Baba between the eyebrows on his forehead activated his Ajna’.  But such saints who could do it, did it out of their own choice and grace, and are not many in this world.  Many even today contend that the Yoga practice should commence at the very bottom chakra and step by step one should reach the sixth stage, which is Ajna, the sixth form of the yogic study.

It was a revelation to me to hear Divine Mother telling in clear resonant voice to the assembly at Vrija, Madras.  “You are Consciousness, you are not the mind, you are not the body, you are divine.  Concentrate on the divinity within you, meditate on Him by steady contemplation, you will then soon be able to still your mind, the body-consciousness will vanish, sense of individual egoism cease, and you will feel that Prakash. The Divine Light will flood you with ecstatic joy.  In such supremely blissful condition you will dissolve yourself into the Divine.  He reveals Himself in you.  All mundane desires become dead.  Your vision becomes universal.  Your love goes out towards all beings alike.  You realize that you are the very embodiment of Brahman.”

These words that I heard thrilled me to the inmost core and I was inwardly praying that this Supreme Sadguru may initiate me into the very mystery She was so ringingly speaking about to the audience.  Very soon She did so.  How supremely happy I felt then.  The very thought fills me with joy even at this moment.

………to be continued

–  Sri. B.V Rao, Bombay

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