The Merudanda Ashram, a temple dedicated to Mohanji, in Durban celebrated a very special Mohanji’s 50th birthday. You might be familiar with the experiences happening on Navarathri, or miracles happening at this ashram. It was the first time ever in the world, that Mohanji’s idol has been installed. Mohanji always objected to it whenever this proposal came from anywhere. He always says “I appreciate your love for me. Even though extremely perishable, I am still in my body. Why do you need my idol? I can be much more present than an idol in you lives” He is always unassuming and believes in heart to heart connection beyond an idol or image. Hence, Merudanda team did not ask his permission to make his idol or inform him. They just surprised him on his birthday. We all know the power of devotion of Yashik Singh. His unshakable faith in Mohanji is, “legendary”, We also know how much Mohanji loves him too. Mohanji says “In this world of fragile relationships, non-understanding and suspicious spiritual seekers, judgmental minds, conditional love and transactional faith, here is one man who shines forth with unconditional faith, who needs nothing from me, but surrenders everything without any expectations. His unconditional devotion will fetch him true glory. His devotion will lead many and he will be remembered well beyond his existence.”

Week long pujas at the Ashram, conducted by Yashik Singh preceeded the Praan Pratishtha of Mohanji’s Murti on February 21st 2015. Devotees were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to offer water to Mohanji and do their own personal abhishekam. After this no one will be allowed to touch Mohanji. The Maha Abishekam was performed with different types of perfumed water, water that contained this centuries Kumbamela water, water from 1008 thirthis, milk, yoghurt, rice powder, honey, sugar, sandalwood, vibuthi (which was everyone’s favourite), the water from the 14 kalsas made during the prayers and ashes from the daily homas that were performed. Even though the idol is that of Mohanji’s there are reflections/ resemblance of Hanumanji and Kanif Nathji – the only Raja Yogi among the Navnath Yogis. This happened by itself without any deliberation or even thought in this regard. Mohanji was given the title of Raja Yogi by Sri. Sri. Sri. Vittalananda Saraswati Maharaj of Sree Vallabha Puram on December 19th 2012. During Kumbh Mela 2013 at Allahabad, An old Yogi who channels Gorakh Nath talked about Mohanji. He said “Where ever Mohanji lives, crores of Siddhas will live with him. Lord Datta and His parents Atri (One of the Sapta rishis – Seven Rishis) and Anasuya Mata will be present too.”

Merudanda

Written by Yashik Singh

After months of preparation, Mohanji’s birthday celebration was two weeks away. I now started the rigorous process of spiritual discipline to build up the energy for the pranapratisha of Mohanji’s murthi. My diet completely changed. I ate completely satvic food, with absolutely no spices or chillies. I slept on the temple floor with one bed sheet only, well until my mom came a week later and I slept on my room floor. I started the daily pujas… Rudram chanting, homa, Guru padukam strotram, Datta mala mantram etc. Some of the pujas are done every day still. Ramesh Bhai was so kind and dedicated to Mohanji that he decided to join me in doing these pujas every day. (Thank you so much Ramesh Bhai) The week leading up to the birthday we began doing pujas for particular deities. Monday we did Ganesha puja, Tuesday Shiva puja, Wednesday Navagraha, Thursday Guru and Friday Devi puja. We had such amazing experiences.

The first mind blowing experience happened on Shivarathri. Last year we had commissioned a Nandi as the vahana for Mohanji at Merudanda Ashram. The sculptor just was not getting it done and I had given up on having Nandi here before the installation of Mohanji. I was disappointed because I thought how can the vahana not be here when the Lord is being installed. On Shivarathri, the sculptor called and said the Nandi is ready to be picked up. I was so happy. Mohanji heard our prayer and he blessed us with the presence of his Vahana. Maybe a coincidence, NO. On Thursday, the day we were worshiping Guru, I got a call to say that our navnaths were also ready and I could come to pick them up. This confirmed that Nandi and the Navnaths (our tradition) gracing us before Mohanji’s idol with their presence was not a coincidence. They all wanted to be here for Mohanji’s 50th birthday. During the pujas, many signs appeared. We saw an “M” materialise on the Ashram floor made of water, we saw a string materialise on the spoon used to offer ghee, and chandan materialised in the vessel we were storing some ashes from the homas we did daily. With these clear signs, we were confident that things will go very well. There were not enough hours in a day to sort everything out. But Mohanji was there at every step. We needed khusa for the prapapratisthta where one touches the various parts of the murthis body. I asked so many people and I could not find any in time. We needed it at the very beginning when we first started the pujas. I surrendered to Mohanji, and a message came to me that I should use rudrakdha for this murthi. But where to get genuine rudraksha in South Africa? I went from shop to shop, only seeing fakes. Eventually, there was only one prayer shop left – that I knew as not visited as yet. I walked in, telling Mohanji this is it. I cannot drive any more (I was already driving form 9:30am to 3pm). I walked in and the lady at the counter gave me a huge smile as if she knew why I came. And there I saw a beautiful genuine rudraksha mala. She quickly told me how she wanted this mala from a shop in India but they refused to sell it to here. On her last trip to India, the shop keeper phoned her and told her she could take the mala. It would be used for a special purpose. She had it for seven months and refused to sell it to anyone. As soon as I walked in, she said she had seen my face and she knew that I should be given the mala. I bought it from her, and to my joy I noticed it was a 6 mukhi mala which represents Murga……and I bought it during the Taipoosam time when Murga is worshipped. Muruga is the lord of Astrology. This is also a re-confirmation of auspiciousness from the planets and its Lord. After days of cleaning, painting, and setting up……. the big day arrived. We started with chanting of Mohanji’s gayatri while abhishekam was being done to our new Mahamritunjaya linga and our Saligram. The ashram is very sacred because it contains 1008 narmada lingas and 108 (some are still coming) saligrams. According to scripture the ashram is equivalent to Kailash and Lord Shiva lives there permanently (because of the 1008 lingas) and is a place of pilgrimage for vaishnavites because of the 108 shaligrams. We then did padam Puja and afterwards had a lovely lunch sponsored by Ramesh, Seema and Uncle Kay. We had so many goodies to eat from samoosas, to cake, to biscuits to fruit to sweetmeats. All brought by devotees: Mum, Kerisha, Cookie Mamaie, Shardha Mamie, Keerans Family, Anuty Roshnee, Chetna, Aunty Usha, Tashmin and so many more people. My mum make 108 Rotis which she offered individually to Mohanji. Deloshnie made a wonderful sponge cake and Ashna made divine chocolate cakes. If I forgot to mention other names, I am sorry. Then came the big unveiling.We first unveiled Lord Datta and seeing his beautiful smile as we did a short moorthy stapana was heart warming. Our Datta is very special. Normally Datta has the face of Lord Vishnu in the middle. But Siddhas and the Nava Naths see Lord Datta as Shiva. And thus this special murthi follows the Siddha and Navnath tradition, and has Lord Shiva in the middle. He has Shiva-tatwa as the predominant tatwa, which is rare. Then came the part that surprised everyone. No one expected a murthi of Mohanji. I was so nervous and so excited. All the hard work and pushing came down to this moment. I removed the cover and Mohanji laughed and said “Yaaaaaaashik the murthi looks familiar”. Everyone burst out into joyous laughter and I fought the tears back. Everything was worth that single line of approval from Mohanji. The pain, the frustrations, the challenges, even me getting sick and rushing myself to the doctor because I was having heart palpitations and chest pains, even the doctor threatening me to hospitalize me .….. everything was worth it. Every second was worth that one sentence from Guruji. Everything was made whole again!!! I was made whole again. We allowed everyone a once in a lifetime opportunity to offer water to Mohanji and do their own personal abhishekam. After this no one will be allowed to touch Mohanji. We then performed a Maha Abishekam with different types of perfumed water, water that contained this centuries Kumbamela water, water from 1008 thirthis, milk, yourgt, rice powder, honey, sugar, sandalwood, vibuthi (which was everyones favourite), the water from the 14 kalsas made during the prayers and ashes from the daily homas that were performed. Thank you so much to Ramesh, Aj and Simeel for doing the Abhishekam. You guys were brilliant and amazingly efficient. We then closed the inner sactum and we changed Mohanji. Thank you so much to everyone that helped. While drying Mohanji I noticed changes in him…….his hair changed from black to a little grey, his eyes changed, his expression change. And I was not the only one that actually realized this. Many people told me this after the pujas. But what made me laugh the most, what that he GREW!!!! The murthi GREW!!! I sewed his clothes myself. I first cut it out of paper and did a fitting. I then used plastic and did a fitting. I then used plain cotton and did a fitting. Then I eventually used the material I bought for his clothes. The clothes fitted perfectly, in fact I made it a bit bigger so that it would be easier to change him. But when I was changing him after the abhishekam, the clothes were tight. I just tried them a day or two before and they were perfect. And now it was tight. His shirt barely sat on his shoulders and his dhoti just made it to cover him. I was so happy that he grew. It meant that Mohanji liked his gifts and he entered into the deity. The second unveiling was magical. Awesome music that had dhamarus, dhols, tablas, kartals. Ajay and Tashmins kids were blowing shanks and Ramesh was playing dhamarus in the ashram. Even nature played her part and there was massive loud thunder. Thunder that shook the temple. Nature was inviting his appearance. And we pulled back the curtains and there was Mohanji in this green dhoti and shirt, a lime and rudraksha garland, and a rose garland made from 180 roses. He was sitting under a canopy of 1008 marigolds. The canopy structure was so lovingly and freely made by Ramesh, Linda and Mfana. We cut three cakes for Mohanji lovingly make by Ashna and Deloshnie. This was a time all of us will never forget. This murthi, Shri Kripa Moorthaye Mohanji, is indeed a very special form of Mohanji. Here Mohanji is at his most merciful. The mantra for this murthy is AUM SHREE MOHANJI NAMAH: AUM. Normally one has to chant a mantra at least 125 000 in order to start removing blockages. If you chant only 10 000 times in front of this murthi, Mohanji will bless you and remove blockages. Kripa Moortaye Mohanji cuts your effort by 12.5 times. This has never being done by anyone before. This is the only deity that blesses you like this in the world, where the japa you need to do is cut so drastically to remove blockages from yourself. Vibuthi abhishekam is the favourite abhishekam of Kripa Moorthaye Mohanji and all puja Viddhis of Lord Datta, Shirdi Sai may be done on this Mohanji. This means that Lord Datta and Shirdi Sai also live in Kripa Moortaye Mohanji. I like to thank everyone who helped. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. I pray that you all are blessed with joy, happiness and merging with Mohanji. We offer these deities to the feet of our loving Master. With all our love, respect and bhakti we ask him to live in this deity forever. The celebrations continued on Sunday as ACT TO STOP HUNGER provided scrumptious meals of 100 beans bunnies which were offered to the rehabilitation and lots of veggies for more good healthy meals. Their joy was so palatable. This is all the blessing of Mohanji. Thanks Vickasen, Ramesh and Semma for all effort and help. !!!!!!!!AUM SHREE MOHANJI NAMAH: AUM!!!!!!! More photos

Addition:
Praan Pratishta was happening at Merudanda. Mohanji was watching it on Skype from Europe. When the Praan Pratishta started, a part of Mohanji’s “soul”/ consciousness left him from his physical body and merged with the idol. There was visible difference in Mohanji. He was moving into a trance state. Yet, he was struggling, trying to maintain his presence with people. All through the praan pratishta, he could not leave his chair as he was not in his body fully. His consciousness is like heavenly fire. Many lamps can be lit from its flames. It will remain unaffected. A flame can light a 1000 lamps. Yet, it will remain the same, ready to light a thousand more.

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Ayush Dixit’s shared experience with Mohanji’s moorti (idol) inaugrated in Merudanda Ashram along with what Mohanji’s birthday really means to him.