By Michael Draper, UK
I hadn’t intended to write this, but during the satsang led by Rekha on Living Grace: Voices of Guru Leela, the idea for this article dropped in. I have just returned from the Kriya intensive in Bosnia, and it’s apparent that there is something particularly special at this present time around the energy of these countries in Southern Europe, which are sometimes referred to as the Balkan states: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia.
If I may, I’ll set the scene by quoting from a book by Eileen Caddy, one of the founders of the Findhorn spiritual community, which is about an hour from the current location of MCB Scotland. I had the privilege of meditating with Eileen many years ago, and her books have been and are still an inspiration. In one of her books, she says:
‘Be at peace and see a clear pattern and plan running through all your lives. Nothing is by chance.’
I first met Mohanji physically in this lifetime as recently as June 2023. I have previously written about how this came about. However, it is likely that we had a close encounter of the ‘divine kind’ in Montenegro. Mohanji was in Montenegro in June 2019, and I was on a work-related capacity-building trip to Montenegro at about the same time and then again in Montenegro immediately after Covid restrictions were lifted.
We often come within the orbit of Masters without consciously knowing that we do so – who knows whether or not the person, dog, cat, pigeon, etc, that we pass by casually in the street is the manifestation of Sai Baba or another great Master showering grace on us as we move past them. Many years ago, I was on a work-related trip to Toronto, Canada. I talked with one of the Canadian event participants about meditation, and she asked if she could drop by the hotel where I was staying to further the discussion. It turned out that she was keen to go to India and have the ashram experience.
Sathya Sai Baba left his body in 2011, and so I recommended Amma in Kerala (Sri Mātā Amritānandamayī Devi), whom some will know as the ‘Hugging Saint.’ I got out my laptop to show the ashram to my Canadian colleague and find out where Amma might be currently. Incredibly, Amma was in Toronto at the same time, so my colleague immediately made arrangements to attend Amma’s darshan. Sometimes, we get to play a small role in a divine leela, which serves to encourage us onwards and upwards on the path.
When I met Mohanji, I purchased a couple of books—(okay, I wanted to buy the entire library, but how many books can you read at once) Mohanji’s signature volume, The Power of Purity, and Devi Mohan’s ‘Home for a Refugee.’ The energy encouraged me to read Devi’s book first, and I found it hard to put down and finished it in three days. Wow, what a read and what a journey.
Devi had endorsed the book with a dedication that in part said, ‘May this book surprise your heart with yet untouched parts that are brought out into the light of awareness, the parts of true you, on your journey home…..” My heart was surprised and then some by the incredible courage and honest and frank sharing of experiences throughout Devi’s life that serve as a celebration of divine transformation and the divine feminine.
In her book, Devi discusses the South Slavic Soul ‘the unbearable depth of pain and unimaginable heights of love, the courage of vulnerability, the beauty of untamed creativity, and the magnificence of expressing one’s uniqueness from the deepest space of the heart…….the beauty of unity in diversity, the ideal of being more than the ordinary, and the calling to rise above one’s selfish need-based existence.’ (Readers from Wales will be familiar with the Welsh term ‘Hiraeth’ – the deep and intense longing for a home long vanished).
Devi shares that this is hardwired into the South Slavic genome and points to a hidden history that predates Christianity by more than five millennia, which may yet lead to a major revision of the history textbooks based on recent archeological findings. The South Slavic people value the sacred feminine and, in prehistory, embraced the essence of Vedic teachings and had a deep connection with Mother Nature.
A number of years ago, I visited the Natural History Museum in Vienna. To my mind, it was the most important exhibit, although difficult to find in the extensive collections, is the so-called ‘Venus of Willendorf.’ Ignore the given name. She is a figure made of limestone and has a small, voluptuous female body, just more than 11cm high with no distinguishable facial features. The figurine is around 29,500 years old, much older than the pyramids and other recognisable historical artefacts, and its origins are unknown but some suggest around Northern Italy or Slovenia.
The energy around the figurine is tangible and I was the only one in the small antechamber appreciating the exhibit. Inexplicably, a pack of blueberries that I was carrying split open, and the floor in front of the figurine was covered in fruit. I realised that unconsciously an offering had been made to this ancient Mother that perhaps had not been made in centuries and I left the fruit in place.
Soon after meeting Mohanji and having just finished Devi’s book, I attended an International Conference in July 2023, which had the usual conference dinner attached to it. I was seated next to colleagues from Slovenia and Croatia. I realised that this was no coincidence and turned the conversation away from the conference topic to matters spiritual, sharing some of my experiences. They willingly responded with the Slavic Soul identified by Devi, and we spent the evening in a bubble of spirituality away from conference chatter.
My colleague from Slovenia shared his ‘out of body experiences’ that occurred naturally through breathing and yoga nidra, and I was able to point him to Mohanji’s teachings and the Slovenian MCB, which had just opened up. You may be wondering how our conversation was viewed by others sharing our table. My experience has been that those who are not meant to hear are consciously zoned out, and they may be vaguely aware of the conversation, but they become engrossed in their own worlds and conversations. Mohanji has said that each of us lives in our own world, and our reality is as we are.
At the Bosnia Kriya intensive, Mohanji, twice on separate occasions, suggested that I visit the Slovenian MCB to meet Raja. Raja is not an ordinary deer and shares a special bond with humans, particularly Mohanji. On the 26th of September, I was on a Zoom call with Paula from Slovenia MCB and a couple of other fairly new Mohanji followers, Alua and Tanja, who is from Croatia.
There is clearly a ‘Balkan pattern’ emerging, and at the moment, we appear to be a triumvirate appearing on many Zoom calls together, which is a great joy. I shared with Paula what Mohanji had suggested, and we spoke at length about Raja, who made a brief appearance on camera. The energy around the little deer is incredible, and both Alua and I experienced a heightened, intense feeling of love and a divine presence when chatting about and seeing Raja.
I messaged Alua after the call, saying that I felt the call with Slovenia was very special and that it was a joy to see her and Tanja so often on these calls. I feel that there is a divine energy about Raja and Mohanji’s connection with animals and deer in particular. I read sometime last year that when Mohanji interacts with animals and feeds them, he operates on many levels, including clearing the energy of his followers, who in previous incarnations may have ignored animals and their cries of hunger, etc., and by bringing us closer to our animal brothers and sisters, he is bringing us closer to ourselves. St Francis, who is closely linked with Skanda Vale and Guru Sri Subramanium, is another similar divine inspiration whose teachings are lived at Skanda Vale.
A few hours after the call with Alua, I came across ‘by chance’ a video of Mohanji giving a recent discourse at Soma Skanda in Switzerland, where Swami Govinda was present. Mohanji discussed Guru Subramanium’s sankalpa and the location of Skanda Vale’s Swiss ashram which is linked to the energy of Shiva present in the mountain location with Skanda operating as the frequency that mediates between the divine and human beings.
In his discourse, Mohanji referred to Hiranygarbha, which I had always connected with the golden womb or egg as the causal loka of creation. However, what caused me to sit up and take note was that Mohanji referred to Hiranygarbha as the golden womb of a deer. I have not heard of this description before and the energy of our Raja conversation was still fresh in my mind. Having subsequently spoken with Geetha, the literal Sanskrit translation of Hiran is that of a deer.
At the start of this year, I experienced for the first time a meditation dedicated to Mohanji and divinely inspired by him and written by Subhasree. You may have come across this already and it is called ‘Love Beyond Dimensions.’ It is incredible. Immediately after experiencing the meditation, I was moved to message Subhasree to share that in my experience the meditation is extremely powerful in its purity and love.
As soon as Subhasree started to chant the Mohanji Gayatri, I experienced an intense energy at my crown chakra. The energy stayed with me throughout the meditation. The energy then moved to my third eye. It was not an easy transition to the heart centre as I was reluctant to focus anywhere other than on my crown and third eye because of the intensity of the energy.
However an image of a very gentle looking deer was strongly present at the heart centre and throughout the entire meditation. (At this time, I was not aware of Raja or divine deer energy generally). At the first affirmation of Mohanji’s divine white protection, a jolt went through my body and I could feel the energy having an impact on the triangular area around my solar plexus. Since then Mohanji has also been working on this area.
Now for the weird bit. I was about to watch a film on YouTube on our smart TV relating to the quantum field and manifestation. It was about 120 mins long. All of a sudden, there was an energy surge that knocked out our internet connection to the TV and caused our wall lights to flash off and on. Jenny checked our router, and that was fine, so I rebooted the TV. I felt I wasn’t meant to watch the film, so I surfed YouTube and ‘found’ the Love Beyond Dimensions meditation. Had I been able to watch the film, I would not have found this meditation or experienced the deer heart energy.
As you can see I am piecing together with you, dear readers, the breadcrumb trail of a divine leela that has at its heart the Slavic Soul and a small deer called Raja. I hope to visit Raja soon. I will be in Macedonia for Mohanji’s October retreat weekend. Maybe more will be revealed then.
I would like to finish with another quote from Eileen Caddy:
“Be very still and allow every new experience to take place in your life without any resistance whatsoever. You do not have to do anything. You simply have to be and let things happen. Gratitude helps you to grow and expand: gratitude brings joy and laughter into your lives and into the lives of all those around you….”
With gratitude to Mohanji, Devi, and the Tradition and those I have been privileged to meet and share the experience, as Devi describes it, of ‘The Journey Home…….’
Postscript: It is 2.00 am in the morning and have been woken up with a memory of an email that I sent to Selma in August 2021. Many of you will know Selma who has just returned from the Mohanji pilgrimage to Kailash.
“Dear Selma
Have been visiting early Christian sites across Northern Ireland and Scotland whilst based in the Lake District. Came across this temple ‘by chance’ just outside of Ulverston. Read about the symbolism of the deer and thought of you – hence these photos with the explanation….
|| JAI BRAHMARISHI MOHANJI ||
Edited & Published by – Testimonials Team, 31st October 2024
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