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Day I Of Spiritual Interactions (First Day at Kamarpukur)

Ref: Kamarpukur
Date: 07.04.2010.

!!!!! Jai Sri Sri Maa!!!!!

Today after morning tea & breakfast, I had been to take the darshan of mother's cottage. As I entered cottage where mother resided for fifty two long years from (1863 – 1915), Swami jyatrigahananadji Maharaj was about to leave the cottage. I offered pranams

to him with all the affection he asked me about myself. After replying to his questions I also explained him that as I was in kamarpukur from yesterday. I could see him delivering the discourse yesterday after evening aarti(prayer) on Bhagvad Gita . Further I said since I do not understand Bengali I could not attend the discourse inspite of wishing so. On my explanation he said, if you have any questions on sadhana you can please meet me, I asked about the time, pat came the reply within five minutes, you can meet me in the office corridors. Since I was not willing to loose the opportunity I immediately offered pranams to mother & her cottage & went to office corridors. Maharaj came took his seat & offered me mine. After I was made comfortable he requested me to go ahead with my queries.

Me: Maharaja whenever I visit Serene, Pious places like Belgaum, Vrindavan, and my mind is elevated the Naam japa starts coming on its own. But it is not consistent; when I go back the graph goes to its original.

Swamiji: Is your mind stable all the time?

Me: No.

Swamiji: It keeps on worrying about your children, wife, and family. It keeps on thinking when the cost of living & the prices of all the commodities are going sky high how do I maintain my family? How will I be able to make up the expenditure & maintain the style of leaving? So when you are not able to concentrate on yourself on god how do you expect to elevate your mind? So for concentrating on god what you need to do is keep yourself devoid of all worries. This is possible when you have utmost faith in god. About this lord has said in Bhagvad gita that those who surrender me completely, I take care of all their needs. Once they surrender I ensure that they get all those things which they need & desire. I preserve the things which they have for themselves. To do all these things, it is highly difficult in the world. But alike by reading the books on how to ride a bicycle or how to swim you will not be able to swim or ride the bicycle. For that to happen you need to start, Start & practice continuously. Do best whatever you can in order to explain how you can practice it in daily life he elaborated saying as you know that we all are embodiments of god. So while leading normal life you should practice following :
Whenever you are dealing with wife or children you should be able to realize that these are embodiments of the lord & lord has offered you the opportunity to serve him through them. Once you realize this, that you are serving the embodiments of god the things become more easy & different. With your changed approach you cannot hurt anybody. In today's age where difference of opinion between parents & offspring's, or between husband & wife is a major issue, if you adopt this you will not have any problem. In the process of doing so what really happens is that you are changing yourself. Once you change yourself the whole world will change. Now what is happening is that you are always in the process of altering / changing others & they do not change. Thus you get irritated with this methodology if you can see towards an incidence you will find the incidence completely different say somebody insults you & you get hurt. But if you really see towards it what is happening is both being (the one who is insulted & the one who is insulting) embodiment of the god. So the incidence is interpreted as God is insulting god & that is the fact.

Further to explain the ignorance from the reality, he narrated a short story; Once a devotee came to thakurji (master) & asked the querry whether should we carry image worship? This question has aroused in his mind because during those days in Bengal brahmo samaj was prevalent who did not believe in image worship, Similarly Christians & Muslims too do not believe in the image worship. Hence the above doubt peeped in the mind of the devotee. In answer to that Thakurji quoted a shlok(verse) from Vedanta (Vedanta is the small portion of the Vedas) He said everything in this world is made of five things (panchtatva) & those five things are aasti, bhati, priya, naam, roop. Out of these five things first three things are brahma roop. Aasti: means astitva i.e. existence; Bhati : means Luminous i.e. visible. Priya : means dear(Dear because of its utility value or any other reason like you are attached). Naam : Means identification i.e name used for identification. Roop : Means visibility. God himself has said that I exist in all those things which are aasti, bhati, priya means it is clear that god exists in all things whether living or non living which are asti, bhati, priya. The very birth of Sri Sri Thakurji was for spreading the jist of Vedanta in such simple words. But inspite of knowing all these things we are not able to sense it or implement it & it is only because of ignorance & when this ignorance will go? Only than when our guru does krupa & helps us to see that everything what is aasti, bhati, priya, naam & roop is nothing but embodiment of god.

Further in the continuation to the talk he asked me do you read gospel? I said, I have
Read it but I do not read daily on that he conveyed that, Swami Bramanandji maharaj & one more president maharaj has said that the devotee who is able to continue reading gospel for twelve continuous years without any break daily for fifteen to twenty minutes can attain salvation. He explained the reason behind the same & that is alike gospel of sri sri Ramakrishna there is no book in any religion which is written in the presence of the avatar. This is the only book which is noted as the avatar spoke. He further conveyed the tip that after reading the book you should think (ponder) over the thoughts expressed in the book (which is also known as chintan & manan on the portion read).

To continue with the discussions I asked Maharajji that holy mother has once said that" Joyrambati" is Shiv kshetra(Shiv Bhumi) " A three nught stay in Joyrambati will purify devotees body for sure this is Shiva's domain" Can you please tell me the story associated with this?





Maharajji, readily briefed the story once their were three very notorious people residing in Kolkatta they committed all possible sins during their life time & young age. As they started growing old, they realized their mistakes & to repent on the same. They approached Ramkrishna math at Belur. For getting initiation (diksha) the president there than (Swami Brahmanandji Maharajji) rakhal maharaj after seeing them he could come to know that these were very notorious people & have committed too many sins. Thus he refused to give dikhsa on such reaction of swamiji those three men started requesting & crying time & again. After listening to their urge swamiji said I cannot give you initiation; there is only one such soul in this world who can do so; you can go to Joyrambati & request holy mother for the same if she says yes or if she gives initiation to you than there is no problem. On listening to swamiji's words those three men visited Joyrambati & met holy mother on meeting her mother realized the truth on which she had funnily made a remark see all sons wherever they go what do they do? They send all good things to their mother from wherever they are but look here what has rakhal send me this time. After meeting this trio alike rakhal maharaj mother also denied the
initiation. On listening no from mother they started crying & holding the feet of the mother & requesting. After looking at them as usual mother changed her mind & asked them to stay for three nights in joyrambati. It is in this context she has said that stay of three nights in Joyrambati will purify devotees mind. After stay of three nights mother initiated them.

With this short story the discourse for the day was over. As other visitors came to see Maharaj. I took permission for the day.

Place : Joyrambati
Location : Corridor of the office.
Time : 6.30 Am to 7. 30 Am.

Details of PHoto : This is the residence where Holy mother resided for fifty two long years.


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Day III of spiritual Interactions (Day of departure from Kamarpukur)

Note : This photogrpah is of the matru mandir of Kamarpukar, the area where all these interactions took place & where Holy Mother resided for more tahn fifty long years.

Date: 09/04/2010

Today was my day of departure from kamarpukur thus while leaving I intended to get some more pearls of wisdom from Maharaj. Hence took his darshan at daily time of 6.30 AM. Near Mataji’s new cottage as I offered pranam Maharaj said, Ya tell me what is your question for today , I asked should we stand here or walk to our regular place in verandaha . Maharaj opted to go to verandaha. But since there was a group of five Bengali females & a male sitting there. As Maharaj approached his regular seat, the group offered him pranams & in the process of asking them how are you the whole conversation began & continued in Bengali, with grace of thakurji. I could get a small portion out of it which is narrated below. During course of devotees offering pranam Maharaj asked the man where you have come from. He replied “Kolkatta” Further he asked are you initiated. He said “NO”. Than maharaj said. “If you are not initiated; than you have lost a lot in life I will elaborate this with help of a small story. “Once Bhagavan Vishnu & laxmiji were sitting in their reception, After sometime arrived Narad Muni, Uttering “Narayan, Narayan” He had some conversation with bhagavan & than left the place, No sooner did he leave the place Bhagvan called his servant & asked him to sprinkle pious Ganga Jal on the place where Narada was sitting, on this act of Bhagavan Laxmiji questioned, " Bhagavan why is it so that you are sprinkling Ganga jal on that place?” Bhagavan replied “As Narad Muni had occupied the place & thus the place has become Impure.” Laxmi was astonished & said “Bhagavan Narada is one of your devotees & keeps on chanting your name continuously, yet how come that the place has become Impure because of his touch “. Bhagavan replied, “Because he has not been initiated (he has not taken Diksha) & until one does not get initiated he does not become pure.” Such is the importance of diksha or initiation.

Further to elaborate on the role of Guru In today’s context he gave a following small example, see in house when you switch on the button of lamp the lamp is lit how does it happen there is a source of electricity when you switch on what happens is the lamp is connected to the source through the copper wire & as a result lamp is lit. In any case you cannot connect the lamp directly to source it has to have a connection of wire. So the lamp is lit. Similarly god is original source & Guru is the copper wire who completely takes our responsibility & connects us to god. Thus invariably we need to be initiated so that we connect ourselves to guru & guru connects to lord. Further he explained the importance of Guru Shishya parampara (master / disciple tradition) . that is how the purity & sanctity is transpired & transferred from guru to his shishya Thus it is important while being initiated, you should be initiated through the organization where this practice is followed from one generation to the other, as in this tradition of guru & disciple the spiritual powers are transferred from Guru to disciple along with the spiritual practices & knowledge. Alike in case of Ramkrishna Math this wisdom (knowledge & Power) was passed from Thakur to his direct disciples like Swamiji, Swami Brahmananad & other total 16 Sanyasi &16 sansari disciples. From them to mumuskhus ( Spiritual Path Seekers) from one generation to the other.

Further on the same topic he continued to talk the importance of chanting the name of the lord. He said whatever you practice same becomes habit so if you practice chanting than only it is possible that while leaving this body you will be thinking of lord. To explain this broadly he quoted the story of Jad Bharat, he said you all know the king Bharat on whose name is the name bharat is given to our country. But what did happen to him, even he was born as DEER in subsequent birth. I will tell you his story, what happened with him. In order to continue spiritual practices (sadahana) he left his kingdom & went to forest. He stayed in forest for some time,One day when he was moving through the forest where came across a deer who gave birth to its calf & immediately died. Looking at the orphaned calf bharat felt pity on the calf & carried the calf in his lap to his hut.He started to bring up the calf, in the process he got emotionally involved in the calf for that calf he used to spend whole day in getting milk; grass etc. After few days it so happened that the calf grew up to deer & that deer eventually died. With the sorrow & grief of the death of the deer , King bharat was shocked which led him to fall sick to such an extent that he became bed ridden in the same state of illness continuously he kept of thinking of deer. He used to say my deer, my deer & one fine morning with same thought he died. As he died with that thought he was born as deer. So such is importance of Initiation & thoughts. If you get initiated & practice chanting than only it is possible that while dying you will die with pious thoughts of lord.
In continuation to these short stories he quoted one more story of Alexander to indicate what is real knowledge you might all be aware that king Alexander was one of the famous & successful emperor. After conquering the whole word he was moving with his chariot when he came across a sadhu who was meditating on a rock. Completely naked that too in cold of Himalayas. Looking at the sadhu , King Alexander approached him & started conversation with him. King asked few querries & the sadhu replied to each querry very satisfactorily . Satisfied by the answers, king was very happy. Thus requested sadhu that when you are so knowledgeous why are unshivering in cold with me to my palace I will offer you all comforts. Sadhu denied the offer saying no I am very happy I do not need to go anywhere king became furious as he did not have habit to listen no from anyone & his ego was hurt once again king offered him stay at palace but unperturbed by offer once again sadhu denied, This time king said, " If you do not obey my order I will kill." with this statement sadhu started laughing at king on his laugh king became too angry & asked why are you laughing? Sadhu said because; “you have spoken the biggest lie of your life time." King did not understand hthus asked sadhu, "What lie did I say?" Sadhu said," That you will kill me, which you can never do because you can kill the body not me." Understanding the deep meaning of the sadhus words king left. After this story whatever swamiji was speaking in Bengali I was able to understand thus I took his permission & left as I had to leave to Kamarpukur.


__________ Hari Om Tat sat _____________ Jai Sri Sri Maa

Day II of spiritual Interactions

Day : II
Date: 08/04/2010
Venue : Office verandaha of Matru Mandir, Joyrambati. Dist : Hoogly.
Time : 6.30 AM to 7.3 Am.

Today again I took darshan of swamiji since he had told that would I have any more questions I should see him at this time. With graceful face; he greeted me & asked me to ask my question to start with

I said: We know that our mind is not pure. Many impure thoughts do come in mind. What is way to purify the mind?

Maharaj: In kaliyug purity of mind is based on what we eat i.e. aahar. So what you eat makes your mind pure or impure see if you are physically not fit; down by some health problem than you do not feel like chanting lord's name. But if you take proper medicine have healthy diet & recover than you have energy & feel like chanting the name similarly in order to maintain the purity of mind you should take satvik aahar. Now let us see how Aahar becomes impure. There are three broad types by which Aahar becomes impure :

1. Jaati Dosh.
2. Nimmit Dosh
3. Sparsh Dosh .

1. Jatti Dosh: That Impurity which is inherent in the ingredient with which we prepare food Ex: All non-veg items. Onion & garlic. These are termed impure because they facilitate Rajsik & Tamasik characteristics in the person who consumes that food.
Then does it mean that everybody should turn veggie. No; that is also not
Possible because that amount of food grain will not be available than what needs
to be done if at all we are compelled to have non-veg for various reasons like the
Natural area like, Bengal & kerala where as compared to vegetables fish are available Then you can eat that non-veg. But only little quantity as per the necessity of body you should avoid eating more because so you like its taste or as it is tongue tickling.

2. Nimmit Dosh : The impurity imparted to the food because of some specific reason Ex : While cooking if the hair falls in the food being served unknowingly or something else like housefly falls in the food than that food becomes impure. As it is not known same food is served & consumed. Other example of this is eating over cooked food or the food. i.e cooked a day or two before eating.

3. Sparsh Dosh : The impurity imparted due to touch. For explaining this he narrated a small story of a prostitute of Dakshineshwar. The lady who had misbehaved in her young age as she turned old started repenting on her deeds. She wanted to take prayaschit for the same thus she decided to offer some service to Thakurji. But she was aware that because of her deeds & whenever she had tried thakurji won't allow her to perform any service to thakurji But she was told to go away. As she was aware of daily activities & had noticed that mataji carries a plate of food to thakurji daily at specific time. During the time of serving the food all people were daily told to vacate the room & after keeping the plate while turning back mother used to close the door. so that during his lunch time no devotee disturbs him. One day while mataji was carrying the food , The lady who was waiting in the dark with veil on her face so that nobody identifies her called mataji ; Mother please give me that plate let me offer it to Thakur today listening to the lady's humble request mother as ever got carried away & handed over the plate to her. The lady went in the room very briskly kept the plate in front of Thakurji & returned back & shut the door .After some time mother went back to Thakurji room to collect the plate & noticed that it was untouched on asking why he did not touch the food. he replied "why did you allow such a lady to carry the food when you knew about her past ? You know now that food has become impure by her touch & how can I have it now ? "Mother humbly replied: "I Would not commit such mistake again, But for this time you please have the same food. As you are aware it is late in the night & it is not possible for me to cook the complete food once again tonight." On Mother's honest request thakur said, "I will have this food this time but for that you have to promise me one thing. Mother said, "Please let me know what should I promise?" Thakur said that henceforth Plate containing my food will be carried ONLY by you & you will ensure that it is not touched by anybody Else " , Mother said , "OK, I will try to ensure but you know that whenever anybody calls me mother & requests something I am not able to deny that request . " With this statement mother was trying to indicate to Sri Sri Thakurji that this time he has come not only for pure & pious people, But this time he has come for all including wicked & virtuous, all are his children Thakurji well aware of this fact that he has come for all wanted to listen from mother that whenever she is called mother by anybody she will respond readily. As till the time this incidence had taken place Mother had kept herself hidden behind thakurji & had never come out in public. With this incidence Thakurji wanted to convey her that now people will also come to her for spiritual guidance for which she should be ready & come forward. Such was the eternal love of both towards each other.
This was the broad classification of the Dosha's that take place. But in today's life you should mark that our food till it reaches us is being handled by many different agencies like Farmer, Agent, and Shopkeeper etc. at times if you eat outside than the cook & the person who serves it. In the process at every point there are chances that the sparsh dosh gets added & becomes exponentially high. So how do you try to reduce it or eliminate it? I replied, "Maharaj ; what I try to do before eating is I close my yes & offer the food to Sri Sri Thakurji request him to have it & make prasadam of the offered food, So that I can have it. " Maharaj Said : "Yes, This is the correct method , In this method what happens is , When you offer food to thakur, Thakur touches all the food through his eyes & this method is known as Drishti Bhog i.e. the rays from Thakur's eye comes & touches all the food, Nullfies the effect of all doshas & than you can definitely have it. "

Further Maharaj asked do you have any further questions. As his discourses are very good & as mother had previlieged me by arranging these special discourse one as to one only for me I wanted to avail the facility & wanted that I should be able to make most out of it & the discourse should not get over so soon. To continue I asked many a time it so happens in the office or social gathering that we indulge ourselves in chatting or gossiping. what is the way to avoid it & how can we keep ourselves away from it ?

Maharaj Said, " This situation arises in everybody's life so what you need to do iin such situations is that you need to have presence of mind. At such instances you should be able to identify that Tahkurji is trying to test you. i.e. test your strength. he is trying to see how much are you still enjoying voyeurism ,mocking & other such situations? thus you should be able to quit the place or keep yourself busy in work. Other way is that you should be able to identify that you are the child of thakur , so no such minor incidences can perturb your mind & take you away from aim of approaching thakur. Here I recollected the incidence of Swami Bramhanand Maharj, during his time when he was writing Ramkrsihna Leela prasang , he was residing with holy Mother in Yogodyan in a very small room & simultaneously while writing the book he was performing the duty of mothers caretaker, to ensure that devotees do not disturb her more, as she was almost bed ridden. During that time swamiji was residing in a very small room & huge number of devotees used to daily visit, there by causing disturbance to him as well mother. That time in reply to the question that how is he able to concentrate on writing the book inspite of so much of disturbance he had replied, that I have told my ears that they should not listen anything whenever he is writing. Similarly we can also pray to Holy mother, Thakur & request our organs to help.
Further to continue on the subject I asked there is inconsistency in the japam which I perform should we set any target in terms of numbers?
Maharaj: Yes, Indeed you should have the target. As you might be aware that the bare minimum is 108. But once in this context mother, has said that you should atleast chant the name of the lord for 15,000 to 20,000 times. By doing so you are trying to put three to four hours in japam & with that quantity your mind will shortly become pure day by day. Further by setting target you try to have discipline so that if you do not complete your target for the day your mind itself warns you & tells that see you have not completed your exercise for the day. Also for one more reason the quantity recommended by mataji needs to be followed & that is as you yourself know out of the time whatever you devote for Japam how much time it is thinking actually about god & how much time it keeps on wandering.

As the answer to my question on japam was over. Alike yesterday A Bengali devotee approached & since maharaj had given me sufficient time yesterday & today he turned towards that devotee.

As I was about to leave I noticed that as we were speaking a huge black dog had come & sat in the space between me & swamiji. Making it difficult for me to move as I am afraid of the dogs. Thus I told maharaj Oh , this dog is taking rest at your feet in such a fashion that I am not able to go out, I am afraid of his big jaws & while moving if I disturb him there is every chance that he will bite me am afraid. Maharaj said, " why should be afraid ? Yesterday only I explained you that wherever there is aasti, Bhati , priya, naam , roop it is embodiment of god. So is it that what I told you yesterday was for mere listening , no it was for implementation in your everyday life. further he said , do you know this dog is also devotee of holy mother that is why he stays in these premises . Alike you he also loves to listen the stories & glories of Holy mother & thakur & whatever we speak > thus he has come to listen & yesterday also he had come. Do you know this is his last birth In the next birth he will be born as Holy mothers devotee . "

With this he further said , "Ok" now you can go If you have any more querries we will see tomorrow. with this note discourse for the day was over.


_____________ Sri Sri Maa_____________Hari Om tat Sat___________________

Photo : the photo pasted above is the verandaha of the office in matru mandir(Just behind Swamiji's Statue) , where all these discourses took place.