By V Subramanian, Bengaluru, India
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Early initiations
My tryst with Puri Jagannath began in my younger days. Listening to the episodes of Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s Charithra, I learnt about his powerful connection with Puri Jagannath. Those episodes fired my imagination whenever I thought of ‘The Lord of the Universe.’
I was fortunate to be introduced to Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s teachings very early on in life. As I read and internalized them, I understood that the following three things are incredibly precious.
In the words of Paramahamsa, the water from the Ganges, the Brindavana Rajas (sand enshrined with the footprints of Lord Krishna), and the mahaprasad (consecrated food) offered at Puri Jagannath is verily the Brahma Swarupam (God’s form).
I had the blessed opportunity to visit Puri in 1984 with my American friend Dr Tandavan. Being a foreigner, he was denied entry into the temple, but he had the heart to tell me, “You go and have your fill!” The lasting memory of this first pilgrimage to Puri is when I set my sights on the temple tower and the flag from the rear portion of the temple. I stood transfixed for hours together, and that visual feast alone consummated my maiden darshan (seeing a holy person or image of a deity).
The blessed beads and the ineffable blue
Several years later, I had the blessed opportunity to go to Puri for the second time in 2015, when my younger daughter Radha took part in a dance festival at Cuttack and was awarded the title Nrithya Bhushan.
Before the festival, we decided to go to Puri Jagannath and seek the Lord’s blessings. It was also during the Nabakalebara (the change of the physical form) time – an event that takes place once every twelve years.
As we entered the temple, a priest came on his own accord and guided us to all the shrines in the large complex. One could feel the Lord’s hand in this as it was completely unanticipated and unexpected to get a venerable priest to provide such loving guidance. Strangely, there was little of a crowd. We could all sit in front of the Lord at the Bhoga mandap (food hall) for a considerable time.
I am happy to share two events of special significance during this trip. I was wearing a Rudraksha mala (garland made of Rudraksha seeds), a precious possession given to me at the Chidambaram Natarajar Temple and also blessed by the touch of Sathya Sai Baba as he walked by me during darshan time at Puttaparthi. While sitting at the mandap (hall), I saw a priest whose Thulasi mala (garland made of Thulasi leaves) caught my attention. An urge sprang from inside that made me ask the priest whether he could get me a similar kind of mala, place it at the feet of the Lord and give it to me as a prasad (blessed offering). He asked me to return the following day. Much to my delight, he had entrusted the job to another priest who took the mala inside, kept it at all the sacred spots charged with Bhagwan’s Chaitanya (Consciousness) and handed it to me. I felt profusely blessed. To this day, this Thulasi mala is a constant reminder of my sacred connection with Puri Jagannath.
The second event was when the priest who guided us that day took me to another sacred spot called Rohini Kund. The priest at Rohini Kund asked me to do ‘Pitru Preeti’ (satisfying the ancestors). I was unsure what he expected as his dakshina (offering), so before proceeding, I asked him about the same. His immediate response was, “This is priceless. I am not going to ask you for a dakshina. You can choose to give whatever you want to give me!”
It is pertinent to record here that I had yet to do any prior study on Puri Jagannath then. I was unaware that it is a great Mokshapuri (seat of liberation) and a place for performing ancestral rituals. Only on my return did I come to know through my elder daughter Sathya that Jagannath’s Consciousness originally manifested in this Rohini Kund before it was enshrined at the temple.
Without knowing anything about the aura and significance of the place, I offered my ablutions and performed the rituals. I made a small offering on completing them, and the priest blessed me profusely. As is traditional, I started to circumambulate the Rohini Kund, and the enormity of the occasion dawned on me in the flash of a second. I could see and sense how immensely pleased my ancestors were in my completing the simple rituals on my radar. The joy of my ancestors and the radiance of the ineffable blue stayed inside me for a long time.
The subtle connections
In this connection, let me recount a related incident. The Master who originally initiated me into Mantra Diksha (a sacred word, phrase or sound that a Guru gives to a disciple as part of an initiation) when I was in my teens also foretold that a great Siddha Purusha (perfected being) would walk into my life as my Paramaguru (Supreme Master) if I was steadfast in trotting on the path he had laid for me, without any detours.
This Master came in my daughter’s dream and expressed that I had forgotten to include him in my ablutions and rituals at Rohini Kund. This was within a week of my return from Puri Jagannath. When she related this dream to me, little did I realize that I would get one more blessed opportunity to fulfil this wish that would leave me with a sense of perfect completion! Of course, while Masters do not need anything for themselves, it is incredibly rewarding for the disciples to hold them in their dearest thoughts when any event of this dimension takes place.
Now, let me dwell on the inspiration for this write-up – my indescribably fascinating pilgrimage for the third time, between 3rd January and 6th January 2022, in the company of our peerless Master Mohanji!
Before the pilgrimage, I had the opportunity to visit and spend an unforgettable evening with Mohanji. I have found that every time I hold onto my Master with some intensity, I get an inner call from deities for darshan, and in the same vein, when I hold onto my Aradhya (worshipped) deities, I am blessed with my Master’s proximity.
In that light, Subhasree’s invitation for the Puri trip immediately after this visit felt like it was a gift from Mohanji. During the trip, Mohanji confirmed this intuition when he said that the divine will have chosen every one of us. The subsequent turn of events further corroborated this. The temple had opened for public darshan on 3rd January but closed on 10th January 2022 due to a spike in the cases of Omicron soon after our return. It was another strong reminder that one could not be blessed with this kind of pilgrimage without the will of God and the grace of the Master!
The summit of sublimity
Before narrating the experiences during the pilgrimage, it is appropriate to record a few of my reflections on Mohanji.
There are testimonials galore about Mohanji’s leelas and benedictions bordering on phenomena. However, another facet of Mohanji is equally phenomenal but not so luminous. The sublime emptiness he exemplifies at all times and his absolute surrender to the will of the Almighty are unbelievable states of being. I can state with certainty that if anyone attains even an iota of this sublime state of self-nullification, they can be assured of being in the embrace of the infinite. It is also my humble understanding that many oceanic merges have taken place in the remarkable journey of Mohanji. The Nath Tradition, the Datta Tradition, and the Akandha Sai Principle have all conglomerated and merged in Mohanji at different stages of his life.
It is well recorded that the Sakthi Tattvam (the Goddess Principle), the Universal Motherhood, was transferred to him as per the directions of Guru Mandala without being asked. Another merger of immeasurable dimensions took place when Mohanji visited Kathirkamam, venerated as Dakshina Kailash (Kailash of the South) and one of the most sacred abodes of Lord Skanda. Mohanji was presented a Vel (Skanda’s Lance) here by the presiding priest. This was a symbolic merger of the Skanda Tattvam (The Guru Principle).
The wish-fulfilling Kamadhenu
Getting back to the pilgrimage, we arrived in Puri on 3rd January 2022. There was no plan for the evening in the original schedule of the trip. On arriving, we were pleasantly surprised when we were told that an evening darshan had been arranged! Before this most auspicious evening darshan on the first day of our trip, Mohanji instructed us to keep our arms extended and raised in front of the Lord. It was later revealed that this posture was an expression of embrace with the Lord of the Universe.
Right then, I intuited that an oceanic embrace was taking place in the subtler realms of Consciousness. This was a merger of Atma Chaitanya (the soul Consciousness) and Krishna Chaitanya (Krishna Consciousness). This indicated the great changes taking place at an incredible speed that will resonate for generations to come.
It is redundant to state that whenever we go on a pilgrimage with Mohanji, our deepest, righteous desires are usually fulfilled. One such desire of mine was to partake of the most revered Puri mahaprasad (56 food items offered to Lord Jagannath). I had yet to get this opportunity in my prior two visits to Puri Jagannath. As grace would have it, we were all served the mahaprasad sumptuously within the temple’s precincts during the unplanned visit. Mohanji himself described that darshan as a bonus.
Soon after, as we exited the temple premises, I held onto the flag at the temple tower. As mentioned initially, this has been my most treasured object of veneration at Jagannath. So much of the pulsating energy and the power of Consciousness is concentrated in the flag. As I was transfixed on the flag, in a flash, a thought occurred out of nowhere as to how wonderful it would be if one could get even a little shred of the blessed banner. Of course, I brushed this thought aside and decided to go with the flow simply.
Completion of a Master’s wish
The following day, we were taken to a place called Chakra tirtha. Instinctively, I sensed the aura of the place and decided to go to the sea to offer my ablutions to my late Master, who had expressed this in my daughter’s dream, as mentioned above. The innermost desire I had been carrying for six long years was fulfilled when I offered my ablutions in the blessed waters. I later learnt that this was the Adi Kshetra (ancient area or place) where the all-pervading Consciousness manifested as Daru Brahma (the Supreme Lord manifested in the wood idol).
Usually, when I go on a special pilgrimage such as this, I make it a point to carry some personally ground, fragrant sandal paste as an offering to the deities. I was given the privilege of anointing the deities with the priest’s consent in the sacred Chakra Tirtha.
The eternal banner of victory
The same afternoon, we had a grand welcome extended by the most revered chief priest of Puri, Pattajoshi Shri Janardana Mahapatra. He presented Lord Jagannath’s attire to Mohanji, a special gift reserved for the privileged few. Although Mohanji and the chief priest were meeting each other for the first time, the connection was spontaneous and instantaneous. The priest, without any prior knowledge about Mohanji, perceiving him and proclaiming him as Vishwa Guru (Universal Master) really struck me as a wonder of wonders! It is one thing to be connected to a Supreme Master such as Shirdi Sai Baba or Sathya Sai Baba and then be guided to Mohanji, which we have seen in many instances, and another, for a priest whose every breath revolves around the God of Gods, perceiving Mohanji as a Vishwa Guru in his very first encounter. This is such a precious rarity!
Much to our great surprise and thrill, every one of us was gifted with the most vibrant flag of Jagannatha by the chief priest. How does one describe this? An unspoken thought from the previous evening had been fulfilled almost immediately! It really left me dazed. Another instance reminds one that when God’s will and Guru’s grace flow together, nothing under the sky cannot be fulfilled! I consider this flag as an eternal symbol of victory of dharma over adharma, Truth against illusion, and a triumph of our highest self over all the gravitational pulls and viles of the earth.
That same night, Mohanji and the group had the great fortune to offer a very special garment exclusively handcrafted for Lord Jagannath. In fact, it was again the will of the Almighty that we could all have the darshan to our heart’s content. The ‘Vastra Dharanam’ ritual usually has no time specification as it is performed after completing all other rituals and is one of the last rituals performed before the temple closes for the night. Our darshan on that day coincided with this offering. As Mohanji remarked, this was nothing but grace in abundance.
The Puri pilgrimage was replete with so many extraordinary events, but it would be appropriate to restrict myself to just a few more highlights here.
Remarkable revelations
On 5th January 2022, we were taken to another powerful shrine, the samadhi of Totapuri Maharaj, a great Siddhapurusha (enlightened Master). He was also the Guru of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. I had two memorable revelations at this shrine, which may interest like-minded readers.
I have been an ardent devotee of Sri Sadashiva Brahmendra, an avadhoota (a person who has reached a stage in their spiritual development in which they are beyond worldly concerns). His jeeva samadhi (tomb of a Hindu Spiritual Guru whose life force still exists in the tomb) has been at Nerur in Tamil Nadu for many years. When I walked into the ashram of the Totapuri Maharaj campus, I had the same feeling at Nerur. As we walked into his abode, I bowed to the idol of Totapuri Maharaj, placing my hands on his feet, inwardly seeking a message. Instantly, I heard a baritone voice reverberating in my inner ear “He (Mohanji) and I (Totapuri) are one.” I opened my eyes with a start and immediately turned left. Mohanji was seated there, deep in dhyana (meditation). Without giving a second thought that I may disturb his meditation, I held on to his feet and bowed down, still internalizing the revelation.
Soon after, Mohanji took me to an inner chamber which is said to be the actual samadhi (tomb of a saint) spot of the great saint. He touched a tiger skin placed behind a cot and said, “This is where his head is.” In a second, he lifted the skin, and I quickly put my hand and could feel it at the tip of my fingers. This was a rare opportunity that was not available to everyone!
Remarkable revelations and communions happen in such quick succession when we are with a peerless Master. All that is needed of us is to remain receptive and vigilant. The Guru’s grace then takes over.
I got to meet Mohanji again, for a precious moment, before boarding the flight on my return journey. Feeling incredibly grateful for what had been an unforgettable experience, I held his hand of grace. Mohanji looked at me and said, “I bless you..I bless you!”. It may sound casual on the face of it, but it rang with so much power and vibrancy.
The blue magnet
On returning to Bangalore, I was ill for about a week. I was down with a fever, throbbing headache, parched throat, body aches and all the telltale signs of the pandemic. I isolated myself for the period of recovery. Going through physical turbulence makes one more sensitive to feeling the hands of grace and divine healing. An indescribable huge blue magnet was holding me in a divine thrall, and I was in a state where there was a pain but no suffering, an oft-repeated observation of Mohanji. The mind was in a zone with an exquisite blend of stillness and rapture. I wondered whether it was a replica in the microcosm of the oceanic merger of the Atmic Principle and Krishna Chaitanya playing in front of my eyes as I had intuited in Puri!
I conclude with a quote from a precious abhang (devotional poetry) sung by the great Yogi Sankevarma when he had the maiden darshan of his Parama Guru, Sant Gyaneshwar.
“Guru dhyayi Guru dhyayi Guru Parathe Sadhana Nahi
Guru sevaa cha Sankalpa Guru tochi, Para Brahma
Meaning:
Meditate on the Guru!
There is no greater sadhana than holding onto the Guru
When the Guru is pleased, the Almighty is mighty pleased
Guru is verily the Para Brahma!
Jai Mohanji!
Jai Jagannath!
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 5th January 2023
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