Mohanji: The gift that keeps on giving

By Michael Draper, UK

The 2024 Bosnian Kriya intensive has led to one revelatory experience after another. I was with Mohanji in the Park area next to the Bosnian pyramid tunnel complex when Mohanji was informed that his visa application to visit South Africa had been refused. Mohanji immediately started to play. He asked his assistant to contact a high-level government official in South Africa to advise on developments and to report that Mohanji would not be coming to South Africa under the circumstances.

Further instructions were given that if the official returned the call, then the call from the official was not to be taken. Mohanji made it clear that he had every intention of keeping his word to South Africa, but I had the feeling that Mohanji was teaching those around him about self-respect and the importance of being valued, and he was showing us one way in which this could be achieved – through a playful response rather than an indignant reaction. Life is a game – play it. This experience and observing Mohanji have proved invaluable.

Sometime later, on my return to the UK, the Mohanji camp at the Kumbh Mela was announced. I immediately set about registering my intention to attend with the Gurulight organisers and applied for an e-visa to enter India as a tourist. You are probably anticipating where I am going with this, and you may well be proved right…..

Visa Application Number 1

Technology and I have an interesting relationship – I have a pay-as-you-go mobile that stays in the car for emergencies – I have never had an X (formerly known as Twitter) or a Facebook/Instagram account and only joined WhatsApp because this was the main form of communication for various Mohanji platforms. This suits my hermit lifestyle. When mobile phones first emerged on the market, I held one to my ear, and it felt as if the side of my face was being irradiated, becoming very hot, so I have been distrustful ever since. That aside, technology has its uses and does make some things speedier, so I applied for an e-visa for the proposed visit to India. A technological achievement.

Let’s say the experience of applying for an e-visa is interesting and requires a detailed knowledge of your life history, the countries visited in the last 10 years, and the purpose of your trip, amongst other things.  Unwilling to admit to seeking a divine experience as the purpose of the visit or announcing  Mohanji’s 60th birthday in this incarnation, I disclosed tourism as the main purpose of the visit to India.

Five days later, I received a rejection by email. The computer said No to my application. So I turn to thinking, what’s wrong with me? Nothing ….. I’m delightful. Matters took a turn for the worse when I was housekeeping my junk email folder and found that the Indian e-visa team had sent me an email requesting further information to be supplied within 24 hours of receipt of that request. I hadn’t responded within the stipulated time, so I now realised rejection was the consequence of this.

How this request ended up in junk when I had already received an email acknowledgment of the application in my inbox is beyond me. I sensed a leela or learning experience, but to be honest, how many of us would now start negatively analysing the spiritual significance of the request to travel to India ending up in junk?  I’m not meant to go; I am not worthy, India doesn’t want me, etc, which might take you down into a shame spiral or into anger….or, even worse, inertia: stuff it.

Visa Application Number 2 

Technology had missed its opportunity to play along with me, so this time, I was going to attend a Visa center to obtain the Visa in person and speak with a human being. A new in-person form was filled out, and with everything copied in triplicate, I made an appointment for the Visa to be issued in person. Expecting everything to be easy and straightforward, I attended the Visa office confidently. Sometimes in life, despite our best efforts to get everything right, it just doesn’t work like that.

The very polite Indian gentleman behind the very official-looking desk pointed out  I had completed my form incorrectly, and it couldn’t be processed. I had managed to wrongfully identify my place of birth! He suggested that I make another e-visa application. I’m not sure what the look on my face was at this point, but I paused, remained calm, and offered thanks for pointing out the error. I avoided the temptation to label myself a ‘Numpty.’

I now have the advantage of seeing Mohanji operate – accept without undue analysis, and above all, be practical. So, channeling my inner Mohanji, I decided to avoid indignation, play the game, and see what happened next. After all, if I was meant to go to the Kumbh with Mohanji, then I would be there. This is the textbook Raja Yoga spiritual playbook. Acceptance, awareness, and flexibility – these are the fundamentals of the path of Raja Yoga. Plug into a Master, be in the consciousness of the Master. The Master is already aligned, and when you are in the Master’s consciousness, you will automatically be aligned. Let’s dance together…..

Visa Application Number 3 

You are probably aware of the wisdom saying: You can never make the same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it’s not a mistake; it’s a choice. The third time, it’s definitely a pattern, or maybe the third time is the charm; which was it going to be?

I am not consciously aware of any relevant pattern from this lifetime involving applications or, indeed, visas and had long learned to persevere in the face of obstacles but realised that a change in the energy of the situation was required. I was consciously aware that there were energetic adverse forces now on my radar and operating around me seeking to put pressure on my energy as well as mentally. Adverse forces highlight areas to be worked on, so on one level, they are actually helpful, but during the experience, it is challenging to remember that. Fortunately, we also have support. Help arrived from Mohanji in the form of Anusha.

Unexpectedly, I received a message from Anusha, whom I have met and know from various Mohanji events, but she had never directly messaged me before. Anusha had been listening to the Mahasudarshana mantra chanted by Mohanji and felt that she should share it with me. Anusha explained that the mantra is about protection and with the added benefit of being in Mohanji’s voice. 

It was most welcome, and I considered it most auspicious given the circumstances I was experiencing. I immediately listened to it multiple times. When putting food out for the birds on my bird feeder, I had a very close encounter with a male sparrowhawk. No other birds were around, but I noticed from my peripheral vision a large bird approaching at great speed over my left shoulder. My first thought was, ‘That’s a hungry bird,’ then I realised, ‘Crumbs, it’s going to hit me.’ At the last moment, the bird swerved and passed in front of my eyes, and I recognised that it was a sparrowhawk, and given its proximity, I could see everything in great detail. It made a sharp turn around my head and headed out of the garden over my right shoulder.

I messaged Anusha to explain what had happened, having discovered that a close encounter with a sparrowhawk may have a spiritual significance in a number of ways, including protection and guardianship from spiritual forces. Anusha replied that there were no coincidences and that the physical appearance of the hawk whilst accessing the Sudarshana mantra chanted by Mohanji was an assurance that I was well protected and guided. As Subhasree says, ‘When you are involved in a significant spiritual mission, negative forces try to slow you down, but protection comes from the Tradition in many different forms as well’. 

It was time for the new e-visa application. Fortunately,  Gurulight had released further details, now calling the Kumbh camp the Mohanji Village. Harish kindly gave me Preeti’s contact details, who is in India and could act as a point of contact for the application. The purpose of the visit is to attend the Kumbh  Mela with colleagues from the Mohanji Foundation and Mohanji charities from different countries, including India, and stay at the Mohanji village within the Kumbh camp itself. I mentioned Mohanji’s name in the application as often as possible. For good measure, I also added that I have visited India on 4 separate occasions to stay with Sathya Sai Baba at his ashram at Prashanti Niliyam near Bangalore.  The intention was to bring into play the divine vibration represented by the divine names. 

The application went in. Whilst watching the darshan of Shirdi Sai on a live feed from Shridi, I surrendered the situation to Baba. Within a few minutes, an acknowledgment that my application was being processed pinged into my inbox. That gave me confidence. Thank you, Baba. It hadn’t been rejected out of hand, and I had learned to keep a close eye on my junk mailbox. Then I received a request for further information – this time, unlike the last, this request came straight into my inbox and not into junk mail. Answers were given within the required 24 hours, and I waited.

This morning, whilst waking up to the sound of the sea on the volcanic island of Lanzarote, I received an email confirming that my e-visa has been granted, allowing for multiple entries into India over a 12-month period. Feliz Navidad.

Mohanji’s path is the royal path. The path that doesn’t have any boundaries and includes all the paths – Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga. Whatever you are, whatever you feel, and whatever expression you have is an expression of the divine. If you look at it that way, everything becomes a divine act. There’s nothing wrong or right. In Raja Yoga, you work out all your desires; you see them, experience them, and then go beyond. And that’s the point; Mohanji pointed out to me in Macedonia that experience was required. 

I thought I had gone beyond desire (except possibly for food), but the fact is I really wanted to be with Mohanji in India. Mohanji has made that possible with the sincerity of that desire being tested. I could have given up. I am the Swan serenely navigating the sea of samsara whilst paddling vigorously internally. 

My new place of birth, according to visa application number 2, is Swansea.

With gratitude and thanks to Mohanji, the Masters of the Tradition, and all those walking the path home and to my beloved Mother in the form of Saraswati 

I pray to Thee, I pray to Thee, I bow to Thee,
Come to my tongue and never leave me.
May my intelligence never go astray,
May my sins be taken away,
May I be free from sorrow.
In times of peril, may I never be bewildered.
May my mind work freely without impediment
in shastra, disputation, and verse. 

|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||

Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 16^th January 2025

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