By Narinder Rohmetra (Mamu)

My Background

My name is Narinder Rohmetra. I graduated as Civil Engineer in the year 1977 from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar (now known as National Institute of Technology). I have been recently retired as Chief Engineer of Jammu & Kashmir Government in October 2012 after working in the Hydraulic department (Road & Building, Water Supply, Irrigation & Power) for the last 35 years.

I had faith in religion and God but I was not a person who would follow rituals precisely & vigorously. Except the Gayatri mantra, I never learnt any mantra. I only bowed down to God but rarely asked for anything except peace of mind and contentment. I was a staunch non-vegetarian who loved to have meat almost every day and also occasionally had alcohol. I did not believe in lying to anybody for personal gain. Even in my professional duties, I tried my best to work truthfully. I was very emotional and had a strong ego to convince everybody on my ideas. I always tried to judge/change the other person/situation as per my understanding.

I was never a person who believed in Gurus. I always believed in myself. I never had an inclination to go to any Gurus in physical form. However, I had a great curiosity in understanding how life works – the origins and what happened after death.I strived to get that understanding from books and learned people but could never get proper convincing answers with the desired clarity. I should however state that I was not a avid reader of spiritual books.

I was always operating through my mind 24*7 either gloating over the past or worrying about the future. I used to always get upset whenever things did not happen according to my wishes. I never learned to enjoy the present moment due to my analytical nature. Further, I had an overly critical nature that found fault with everything. God has always graced me with everything I needed materially.

My Meeting with Mohanji

My nephew Sumit – younger sister’s son) was always actively pursuing spiritual practices. He was always after us to try out some of the practices like Reiki. In July 2011, I got a call from Sumit to attend a meditation session being conducted at his residence in Trikuta Nagar, Jammu.There, I was introduced to Mohanji as Mama ji (uncle) of Sumit and Mohanji addressed me also as Mamu. Since then, the name stuck on and I have been called Mamu by Mohanji and by others within the community. 🙂

The moment I saw Him, I immediately felt as if I had known Him for a long time. We spent three days with Him at Sumit’s house in Jammu and in Sumit’s hut at Kud in Patnitop (now declared Mohanji residence). Over these three days, I asked Him a lot of questions – around a 100 of them. 🙂 Some of the questions were – Why people suffer in spite of good work carried by them for society? How and why catastrophes happen in religious places? How karmas are created? What is unconditional love, purity and faith? What is surrender? Questions about suffering in relationships, etc. What happens after death? How souls (human, animals, insects, birds, etc) are managed and by whom? He answered all my questions with patience, simplicity and with such scientific clarity that the answers did not leave even an iota of doubt. In my mind, there were no questions and a perfect peace of mind. I had finally found the Guru I wasn’t seeking. 🙂

In hindsight, I was asking all these questions just for sake of it or maybe to judge Him. Haha. 🙂 Now, I realize that all these questions were just a mind game as only mind gets insecure and seeks answers.

My Experiences

The very next day after returning from Patnitop (Kud), I had a beautiful experience. During the night at my house, I woke up to the loud sound of ringing bells. I had never heard such soothing sounds. I was fully awake and moving my legs but was unable to open my eyes. Through my inner vision, I saw Shesh Nag (the snake whose hood serves as an umbrella for Lord Vishnu) with very beautiful colors quickly moving in waves with a Glove in which Mohanji’s face was visible. I have never seen such beautiful calming colors. All His Grace!

The next day when I went to meet Him, I asked Him “Did you visit me last night?”. He smiled and confirmed his presence. A day later, Mohanji was leaving for Delhi by an afternoon flight from Jammu. All of us went to the airport to see Him off. Mohanji was sitting in the small Jet Airways office chatting with the airline staff. I thought that it would have been better if He moved to the lounge so that we could also have the grace of His lecture. At that very moment, He said, “Let us move to the lounge so everybody can hear”. He turned to me and smiled acknowledgingly.

There was an announcement to board the flight and it was time to say goodbye. Mohanji gave a hug to Suman and his wife Jyoti. I felt a strong desire that he should also give me a hug. He immediately extended his hand towards me and beckoned me to join. So there I was in His arms along with Suman and Jyoti. He was taking care of every desire of mine without me conveying it physically. After dropping him, we departed from the airport in complete silence.

I reached home in about 15 minutes. When I reached home, strange things started happening to my senses.I was almost paralyzed and it took a lot of effort to move from one place to another. White light in the form of waves were continuously falling over me.I lay down on the bed and remained in that position till evening. Late evening, I made a call to Sumit and explained my situation to him. He asked me to come over to his place.When I reached his place, Mohnish and Mousami (the son and daughter of Dr. Deepali Jaju) were also there. They were narrating their astral journeys with Mohanji.They assured me that things will be alright soon. We performed the evening aarti of Sai Baba. Soon after the aarti,I was back to normal. Later, Mohanji explained that the white light resulted from clearing of my blockages due to the hug he gave me. AllHis Grace!

A couple of years later, Sumit asked me to join them for a trip to the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad (13th February to 19^th February 2013). Kumbh Mela is one of the most sacred events in India and happens to be the largest peaceful gathering in the world. Over a 12 year cycle, It is conducted at 4 places – Nashik, Ujjain, Haridwar and Allahabad – on a rotational basis. Millions gather at these places during the Kumbh Mela to bathe in the sacred Ganga river. The Maha Kumbh Mela is a once in a lifetime event that happens after 144 years.This was my first participation in such a big assembly of people where around 30 million were expected to take a dip at the Triveni Sangam at Allahabad – the confluence of the three holy rivers Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati.

My colleagues and family members could not believe that I was going to the Maha Kumbh Mela because my general view of these events, until then, was overly critical. I dismissed them as a waste of time and unhygienic. I understood the value of these events only when I attended the Maha Kumbh Mela with Mohanji. We stayed in tented accommodation around 3 kms away from the Triveni Sangam. We visited several ashrams in the area around the Maha Kumbh Mela since Mohanji wanted us to get a feel of these ashrams and soak in their divine vibrations.

We used to get up at around 2am, take a bath and then proceed towards the Sangam for a dip. Our group had three elderly persons- two ladies and Shashank’s father – who could walk very slowly and that too only with support. Mohanji, on the other hand, tends to walk fast and it is hard to keep pace with him. We were moving quickly through a big crowd. When we reached the place at the Sangam where we were taking dips, I thought that we may have to wait for Shashank who was coming with his father. But to my utter surprise, they were right behind us. Isn’t that strange? How did they manage to keep pace?

One day, a saint visited our camp. Baba Goraknathji (the most famous of the nine Nath saints) communicated through Him.The saint told Mohanji that He was directed by Baba Gorakhnathji to give Shaktipat to Mohanji. As soon as the saint touched Mohanji’s third eye, the saint started shaking uncontrollably and went into a trance. Baba Gorkahnathji started to speak through the saint. The saint started predicting about Mohanji and about the rest of the group. I choose not to reveal the predictions due to their personal nature. Our group also got Shaktipat from the saint in that elevated state.

In between the dates of the dips, we planned a one day trip to Ayodhya. It was raining very heavily.We reached a small ancient temple of Lord Hanumanji (considered an epitome of service through his devotion to Lord Ram). The presiding priest of the temple and his family prepared and served lunch for us with a lot of love. After lunch, when we were about to leave the temple,Mohanji saw an old man sitting in the verandah of temple with his back to the sanctum sanctorum. Among Hindus, it is considered disrespectful for one to sit with their back to the idol of deities. Mohanji asked Sumit to go and take his blessings. I also followed Sumit. To my surprise,I could see Hanumanji through the side of Sumanji‘s camera screen. An image of Hanumanji was overlapping that of the old man sitting in temple. This was only visible through through the camera screen. When I looked directly, I could only see the old man. Later, Mohanji explained that I could not see Hanumanji directly because I was excited and, hence, operating through the mind. I walked up to the old man (Hanumanji) and bowed to him to seek His blessing. He blessed me and said ”Khush raho” (Be happy) in a deep sonorous sound. I had never heard such a deep sound before. I could not control my emotion and was consoled by Mohanji with a hug. All His Grace!

I have always had a very strong desire to see deities physically. After the Maha Kumbh Mela, we left for Varanasi to visit Kashi Vishwanath. I was continuously trying to connect to His Consciousness. After sometime, I had a vivid vision of Devatas (demigods), Devis (demigoddesses) and saints walking past my sight in a steady stream. It was like watching a movie. I hardly recognized some of them. The visions stopped when the driver announced a stop for lunch. In this way, Mohanji fulfilled my desire for a vision of saints.When I got down, He looked at me smilingly to check if there was anymore desire left in me. All His Grace!

We had been taught Kriya yoga by Mohanji at the Patnitop retreat. Once I was doing my usual practice of Kriya yoga at my residence early in the morning. I felt a strong fragrance of sandalwood and camphor for some time. I am not very good at identifying fragrances. I knew that the fragrance indicated the presence of Mohanji. I bowed to Him mentally and continued my practice. He means it when he says, “I am always with you”. Later, I checked with him and He confirmed His presence.

I participated in the Vrindavan retreat with Mohanji from 27^thJanuary to 2^ndFebruary 2014. On the 5th day, all of us had assembled for doing yoga at 6.30am. While performing the yogic exercises with closed eyes, I suddenly lost all feeling of the body and had a glimpse of Cosmic Consciousness.With closed eyes, my vision extended to 360 degrees and I could see in all the directions at the same time. I could see Mohanji and all the retreat participants around me. I saw Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva dancing. It is difficult to describe this state in words. While in that state, I could clearly hear the instructions of our yoga teacher (Sanjay sir ) and also perform all the exercises standing, sitting and lying down. But there was no feeling of the joints or the body during that stage.I had heard that God is omnipresent but wondered how? Also, Mohanji always said, “I am there with you all the time if you think of me from the core of your heart”. Until that time, I had only heard about consciousness but never felt it or understood it. Mohanji fulfilled that desire by granting me the experience.He carried me into consciousness by nullifying my mind. Now I understood how saints can communicate within a fraction of second. All His Grace!

On that day, we visited the Barsana temple of Radhaji (considered an epitome of love expressed through her devotion to Lord Krishna) and the ISKCON temple. When I entered the temples, I was completely filled with joy. As I closed my eyes and bowed before the idol(s), the idol(s) completely vanished from my mind’s eye and I was transported to the time of the presence of Lord Krishna on earth. I saw the Mahals (palatial houses) in which they were living and moving around. This was happening in all the temples that I visited on that day. A day filled with an outpouring of divine blessings! All His Grace!

I participated in the Wayanad retreat with Mohanji (2^nd June to 8^th June2014) in Kerala. On the last day of the retreat, I asked Mohanji, “We have not been blessed with Shaktipat this time”. He replied in a sharp and stern voice, “Why do you need Shaktipat when you are already in My Consciousness”. I kept quiet and understood that the thought was another game played by my mind. Late in the evening, we were all having dinner in dining hall. After finishing my dinner, Mohanji called me when I went to keep my plate in the kitchen. When I walked upto Him, He asked me to touch His spine.I touched and felt as if something was moving up and down His spine. I told Him what I felt. He smiled and said Ok . I felt like sitting down and took a seat a few seats away from Mohanji on the same table. The moment I sat down and closed my eyes, I sunk into a deep consciousness. I was transported to the period of Lord Rama. It was the time of the war of Lord Rama with Ravana. I could see Hanumanji fighting in the war alongside Lord Rama. I am not sure if it was a reflection of a past life or just a view of that glorious period. I also saw my previous lives with the present relation. It was like a rewinding of a movie in fast track mode. At the same time, I could hear the voices in the dining hall as well. I regained myself after an hour or so. When I opened my eyes, only one or two workers were present in kitchen. Everybody had left without disturbing me. All along, I was in sitting position and awake. He fulfilled my desire of Shaktipat. All His Grace!

There are many more incidents but I mentioned only the ones which significantly changed my perception and perspective of life.

Till date, I am unable to understand one thing. – to what do I owe this good fortune to have all these wonderful experiences? I am not the usual stereotype of a spiritual seeker. I have been a non-vegetarian and used to drink alcohol as well. I have neither done any major spiritual practices nor read many spiritual texts. I have no words to express my gratitude. This is all I can say. All His Grace! All His Grace! All His Grace!

My Transformation

How all these experiences helped me in my daily life?

• I became a vegetarian by choice without any compulsion. I could see no difference between the consciousness of animals and mine. Hence, I could not accept putting any being through any pain to satisfy my cravings.
• I started loving everybody without expectations of love or anything in return. Even if they don’t agree with me. Previously, I would react to situations and people. Now I respond to them.
• I stopped carrying the guilt of the past. If I commit a mistake, I straightaway accept it without lingering on it.
• I now accept people around me as they are and stopped judging them.
• I prefer to change myself rather than change the situation. Earlier I was unsuccessfully trying to change situations and people as per my choice. Believe me that people change after you stop reacting. Now I only respond.
• I have started to enjoy the present moment. Once you are happy in the present moment, the past and future will be happy too.
• Now I do not suppress my desires. Either I fulfill my desire or let it go with awareness. Previously, I used to suppress them if they were unfulfilled.
• Now, my happiness is not dependent on outside objects, situations or behavior of people. Previously it was the contrary. My happiness depended upon the external.

All this is due to His Grace! His Grace! And only His Grace!

P.S: I am grateful to my nephew Sumit Gupta who guided me on this path of awareness and got me in touch with my Guru, my Teacher, my All. I am also grateful to Reva Gupta who always encouraged me on the path of spirituality.

With Love

Narinder Rohmetra(Mamu)

Chief Engineer (Rtd.)