We left Badri early in the morning and reached the kutir of
Gokulji's guru at the village of Jakhwadi in the evening.
Swamiji has been living in that Kutir for the past ten years. It
is a very calm and picturesque place with paddy fields on the mountain
slopes surrounded by higher mountains. There is an ancient
small Shiva temple besides a perennial spring of crystal
clear water flowing ceaselessly making a gentle murmuring
sound. This seems like the mountain's unceasing japa of
Shiva naama at this ancient temple. In the vicinity of this
temple is the small kutir of the Swamiji and another small
kutir that serves as the guest room. The place does not have
electricity. The villages nearby have electricity supply.
The Swamiji said that he did not want electricity and other
modern amenities to keep away casual visitors. Only sincere
sadhaks who are ready bear a lot of hardship are welcome to
his small ashram, which is called "Sanathana Jnanashram".
Gokulji had told earlier that the Swamiji had told him once
that an ashram is not made of brick and mortar, but of
sincere sadhaks. We were all reminded of that statement and
seemed to understand the meaning of that sentence.
Swamiji asked us if we were planning to spend the night there.
We told him that we would like to, if it was not an
inconvenience to him. He replied that it was no inconvenience
to him, but it was we who should be ready to bear with the
inconvenience of the place if we want to stay. We were more
than willing to face any inconvenience to spend more time
with this great sadhu. We decided to spend the night at his
"ashram".
Gopiji asked the first question, "We went to the Chaar Dhaams
just now. We had to face a lot of physical hardship to have
darshan of the dieties. To come here too, we had to face a
lot of hardship. This place is very deep in the mountains,
with bad road access, across several mountain streams, etc.
Why do you sadhus and other places of pilgrimage are always
located at almost inaccessible places?" Swamiji gave a very
detailed reply to this question. The jist of his reply was,
"I am a rejected person in the society. I came from a middle
class family. So the poor people, who form majority of the
population rejected me. At work, I was an honest person. So
I was always a suspect in the eyes of my peers and was rejected
by them. As I was an officer, I was rejected by the workers
too. I wanted to lead the life of a Brahmacharin. I was
rejected by my family and the soceity for that. I did not
find any place in the social circles of the people of my age
group. Even in the ashram of my Guru, I was a rejected person.
My aim in life is Jivan Mukti. I was not interested in any
power or position or name in the ashram. As most of the people
in the ashram are after these things, I was rejected there
too. I had to leave the ashram. In this world, anyone who
follows the path of Truth has to face this rejection at some
time or the other. So, it is not that we choose to stay in
inaccessible places. It is the world that rejects people like
me and these are the places where we land up in." Gopiji
said, "But Swamiji, we have come in search of people like you.
How can you say that you are a rejected person?" Swamji said,
"Tell me what percentage of the society wants a person like
me?"
Raghavji asked, "We are Grihastas. We have a family, job
and other duties and responsibilities. In the midst of all
these and along with all these, how can we strive for God?
What is the way for us?" Swamiji replied, "God is the goal.
Your wife, children, job, bank balance, and all other things
are good only as long as they are not obstacles to your
spiritual life. If you are serious about spiritual life,
you should not hesitate to forsake anything that is an
obstacle between you and for God. Prahalada forsook his father.
Vibhishana forsook his brother. Bharata forsook his mother.
Mahabali forsook his guru. The goal is God. You will get
Him only if you are willing to drop anything that is an
obstacle. Keep this in mind and use your own intelligence
and make your life."
Swamiji talked to us about various things. During the
course of our conversation, he told us this. "Our mind
has various layers - like the conscious, sub-conscious,
unconscious, etc. The aims and thoughts in one layer
contradict with those in another layer. Sadhana is nothing
but bringing the contraditions in the various layers of
the mind to the conscious realm and making the choice
that leads us to God. The objective of all the various
yogas - Bhakti yoga, Jnana yoga, Karma yoga and Raja
yoga - are the same: to bring out the contradictions
in the mind into conscious vision. When you are conscious
of the contradiction, you have to make the right choice
and move forward. Keep doing this. It is not the job
of a single lifetime to remove all the contradictions.
It may take a few lifetimes. But this is the spiritual
path. You have to do this. There is no other way. You
have to face it."
Swamiji talked about giving in charity. He said, "Even
from the common sense point of view, you should give
in charity to reduce the tension between the rich and
the poor. The big gap between the rich and the poor
creates jealousy. This leads to a lot of problems in
the society. To balance this, the rich have to give in
charity to the people whom he faces everyday. This has
to be done by the rich to save his own life. This is
simple common sense."
Swamiji made herbal tea for us in the early evening.
He made kichadi for the night. He gave each one of us
a small part of the task of preparing kichadi. Some
of us washed the vessels. Some of us fetched water.
Some of us cut vegetables. It was fun. Then Swamiji
led us to sing some bhajans. He played on the harmonium.
We all clapped our hands to keep the beat and sang
with him. He sang the song "hey roma roma mein vasane
vaale Ram". We were all thrilled by the deep meaning
of the song.
Gopiji and Gokulji slept in Swamiji's room. The others
slept in the guest room. The toilet in the guest room
had more facilities than the one in Swamiji's room. For
example, the toilet in the guest room had a door which
can be locked. We had a nice sleep in the night.
Day 13 - 16 June 2006
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