by Christopher Greenwood
Day 75 Lesson – A devotee of Sai Baba
Good morning everybody. I hope you are doing well.
(Before living with Mohanji, I read many of his blogs, and I especially enjoyed following his connection and his experiences with Shirdi Sai Baba in the ‘Sai and I’ blog.)
This morning, we were up early again, as it was the second day of the seventh anniversary of the consecration of the Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Palakkad, which Mohanji attends every year.
Something interesting for me to hear yesterday from Mohanji is that this is a service to Sai Baba to whom Mohanji credits much of his spiritual life and life in general. He has been looked after by Sai Baba because he never really had anybody – a Godfather or anyone who is looking out for him on his path, but there was always Shirdi Sai Baba there.
If you have read the blogs ‘Sai and I’, one of the stories is about when Mohanji was in Shirdi, a man from nowhere came to him and gave him a bag and said, this is from Baba. Later, Mohanji realized that it was Baba himself that gave it to him. There was a set of padukas (feet) in the bag, and those are actually in the Palakkad temple here; they sit on Baba’s feet.
For me, having read the blogs and then seeing them there for real, it was a nice connection to make. In the morning, we went there, and it started with Abhishekam for Baba (a bathing ceremony), which went on for quite a few hours.
It was a great atmosphere at the temple; the whole place had been set up for the festival, and everyone got the opportunity to come and bathe Baba. It was wonderful to watch.
It was also interesting to watch Mohanji and his state because there was so much focus and bhaav towards Baba. He said in the car that for him, this is a service. He comes here every year as a devotee, and he doesn’t want to be seen as anyone higher than anybody else there. He just comes to give his service to Baba, which was nice, and it gives another testament to the humbleness of Mohanji.
In between each of the events taking place, there’s a room for everybody who is coming in and speaking to Mohanji. Each person has their reason for coming. I’m always in admiration of how Mohanji operates and works because there’s never anything generic. Everyone comes with something, and he gives them what they need, as per what they can take, as per their capacity. Everything is always a personalized approach, depending on what the needs of that person are.
For whoever is coming to see him, he is available, which is nice. Some people travelled backwards and forwards with us between the temple and home. Throughout the day, there were people around coming to meet him, coming to see him, and it was a jolly family atmosphere, the way that he was speaking to everyone and caring for them.
A good lesson for me yesterday was just to watch and observe Mohanji speaking to people about relationships. There was a married couple there and a few others who were just talking about relationships in general.
Mohanji’s general view on relationships and marriage is that – people should always have their lives; they should always be free, and they should be able to come together. It shouldn’t be out of insecurity or out of a need to be there, but out of a genuine companionship for a higher purpose.
He has spoken about this before as well. What was interesting to witness yesterday was that there was a lovely married couple there, and for them, one of the things which they must have had was a very close attachment to each other, and that was their pattern. They were never without each other, which was beautiful to see.
Mohanji, recognizing what everybody needs, organized a situation where he brought the husband with us to the temple, so there was a momentary separation. When we came back and spoke about this, this was enough for a shift to happen for that couple, for them to bring awareness to it, recognize that pattern, and actually help them break it.
I was just amazed at how fast, direct and practical Mohanji was and gave people whatever they needed at that time to raise their awareness. He mentioned as well that years of sadhana wouldn’t be able to bring that shift. So here I was witnessing the speed of everything happening; whilst Mohanji was attending the event, we were moving from one place to the next; he’s doing his duty and service to Sai, and he is still at the same time giving people all that they need.
A miracle happened partly through the event, which I’ve heard about before, but I’ve never really been close to any experience of this. The lady who is running the temple invited Ananth to her home at lunchtime.
What happened is that all the pictures in the temple/puja- room had started oozing Vibhuti – there was lots of it, all the pictures and the altar were completely covered with it. There’s one big full-size picture of Sai Baba with a flower mala decorated on him, and all you can see is the head; the rest is just completely coated with Vibhuti. That must have been a recognition from Sai Baba that he was happy with how the function was being conducted.
A Master, whom Mohanji had met earlier, said that Sai Baba lives in Mohanji’s third eye. When I came back, one of the ladies who had been sitting there had taken a photo of Mohanji’s third eye with the kumkum on, and this very much resembles a picture of Sai Baba. I will send the pictures for you to see.
Today again, we have another Abhishekam. It’s early morning, so we’re getting ready for that now. I hope you have a great day. Speak soon.
Read the blog – Sai and “I” – Shirdi Sai Baba
Day 76 Lesson – One family
Good morning everybody. I hope you are doing well.
Yesterday was the second day of the seventh-anniversary celebrations of the Sai Baba temple in Palakkad consecration. Mohanji attends this every year as a service to Baba, and he gives as much time as required for the various rituals taking place throughout the day.
Yesterday (Day 2) for me was a real pleasure to witness Mohanji’s devotion to Baba; he was happy sitting down in front of him. Today, Day 3, Sulakhe Maharaj arrived, and he was a part of today’s ceremonies as well. He had said that Baba had spoken to him to ask Mohanji what he wanted. Mohanji simply answered, “Baba”. I think that gives a very clear picture of his devotion.
Ceremonies yesterday started with an Abhishekam to Baba. This is the ritualistic bathing of the Sai Baba idol. It’s a really lovely atmosphere; it feels like being part of a family where everyone’s friendly and open. Even though I don’t know the language, everyone is very accommodating and welcoming. Everyone also takes part in that ceremony; they come up, take the water, and bathe Baba. It’s been really lovely to witness this.
That’s the theme I wanted to speak about today, this idea of pulling all together as a family. After the event or the ritual, we came back to Amma’s and Acchan’s house -Mohanji’s parents, which is not far away. It’s a modest-sized house; it has a living room, then a long corridor that leads to a little foyer where the pooja room is, and then a kitchen, and with people coming in throughout the day, it’s extremely busy.
I find that busy, but Ananth said this is nothing because earlier, it was even busier. I think because of COVID, it’s quieter. Everyone takes every possible space; everyone is squeezed and sitting down into any little nook and corner they can find to sit and listen to Mohanji speak. It is like a family atmosphere, with whoever comes served with tea and water with Mohanji giving everybody his time equally.
What I’m noticing from this trip is that many people are coming forward and connecting to Mohanji, with very established experience in their field and wanting to help and contribute. In Mohanji’s inimitable style of ‘no postponement; no delay; it’s now,’ he’s pulling people together and putting people in contact with each other. I’m witnessing this coming together of that ‘one family’.
People have said before about Mohanji that there’ll be a time when there will be 1000s of people wanting just even to catch a glimpse of his clothing, as it would be a blessing for people.
With all this coming together, all the people were uniting; everybody was coming forward to support the visions that we have for the platforms like World Consciousness Alliance (WCA), EBC, ACT foundation, Ammucare, any of them – you can strongly feel the potential that’s about to unfold; because if this is just a small glimpse in Kerala of the people coming together, across the world you can see this happening.
So that’s my observation that I took from yesterday, this really nice feeling of a genuine family coming together. And for me, even though I don’t speak the language, of being welcomed very well.
We’ve come back this morning after the third-day celebrations, and we’re going back to the temple now where Mohanji will give a Satsang. I think this will be live on Facebook, but in the Malayalam language.
Speak to you soon, have a great day.
Have a great day ahead.
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 14th November 2021
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