Sunday, 15 April 2012
Friday, 13 April 2012
Jai Ma! The purest divine beauty that only spent time in kirtana and then
went straight into samadhi! This was her only sadhana as a child she was only
interested in the Inner Path, which came so easy to her. And only with a short
time spent in spontaneous yogasanas, she would go into samadhi! Ah ho!
She was even most of her time in a speechless state of 'maun'. Many times
we would come for her beautiful 'darshan', just to see her, and she would
be in maun, yet be sitting blissfully within the kirtana, with drums, and all the
chanting going on around her...in ecstasy! All in the ashrama were always
encouraged to spend some time daily in this silence!
It came to be that she was so engrossed and energized from these
moments in samadhi that she lost all interest in normal food! Her closest ones
soon took it on themselves to daily feed her by hand, and it came to be so
that she thereafter never ate on her own again! Maybe on a rare occasion,
like when she would suddenly start to sing, and a spontaneous kirtana would
begin around her of loving devotees. Or sometimes she would stand up and
dance in a state of divine rapture!
Truly like the Devi herself, she was unconcerned with the so called rules
of this world and followed another Divine Law, known exclusively to Her.
Sri Anandamoyi Ma!
The wonderful reunion of Maji and beloved Sant Gulab Singhji came
unscheduled in the Winter of 1978, at her ashrama in Pune. Santji and I
were visiting the very dear and longtime devotees of Santji, Surgeon
Rear Admiral MS Melhotra and his family. After the morning 'Katha' and
breakfast were finished a devotee informed us that Ma Anandamayi was
staying there at her Pune Ashrama. Santji was vividly overjoyed and as
usual he wasted no time and said, " bring my walking stick and let's go!"
I was thrilled at the thought of seeing Maji again. In no time we were in
the car, Dr. Melhotra driving. We arrived about noon and the ashrama
was totally silent. Finally we were told by someone that Maji was resting
now and would not see anyone! Oh, in a moment Dr. Sahibji spoke up
and said that it was Sant Gulab Singhji of Chandigarh that was here to
see her and that Ma would want to be told immediately. So, we waited
in a lovely huge tent for Sat Sang that was constructed outside of maji's
room. Even I was surprised to see Ma come rushing in and straight over
to Santji, calling out, "Pitaji! Pitaji! Pitaji! Santji rose up and called out,
Ma! Ma! Ma! We all stood wonder struck at the amazing sight! There
was Maji wrapped in her white sari, reaching over and down to touch his
feet. While Santji was glowing in his white kurta pajama with white turban
reaching towards Maji's feet!! Their arms crossed and heads came together!
Their cheeks were flushed and red. "Ma!" "Pitaji!" "Ma!" "Pitaji!" "Ma!"
They both looked like small children, faces full of joy..."Ma!" " Pitaji!" " Ma!"
Tears of ecstasy were running down all our faces to witness the childlike love
of these two great saints! Still when I remember this vision the heart comes up
into the throat...and one is over whelmed with intense ecstatic Love!
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
My favorite photo of Swami Mukund Hariji Maharaj
¸. *ღ☆¸.•°*♥ JAI SRI KRISHNA! ¸. *ღ☆¸.•°*♥
Sri Asim Krsna Dasji in Vrindavan
So, Dr. Asim Krishna Das was born as Alan A. Shapiro on a Thursday,
July 6,1944 in New York City, of a very Jewish family!
He said he was still in collage when he got drafted, and dodged it by
moving to Canada and even had a Canadian Pass Port!
Then he went for sometime to Paris, learned fluent French (as he later
did Hindi and Sanskrit). He travelled through Europe and I have
written earlier in my blog about how he came into India in 1969,
a tourist and at an Ashram in Bhatinda, Punjab,was directed to Sri Krishna
in Vrindavan by Sankirtana Samrat Swami Mukunda Hari!
Once in Sri Vrindavan he met and stayed with Swami Bon Maharaj,Bhakti Hridaya Bon Tridandi Swami, Gaudiya Math, founder
of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Vrindavana.
The very 1st day I came into Vrindavan in 1971, I passed by andsaw Asim, shaved head, smiling and wearing a doti and Tulsi mala etc.,
so he had already been initiated by then. I only later met him in the company
of Sripad Babaji, that same year. By that time he was a serious student
of Sanskrit, but there was always much tapsya whenever in the companyof Baba Sripadji! He was in this state of Bhakti-tapsya, or Prem inspired
Vairagya, full of bhava and moving with Babaji in all of Vraj Bhoomi,
mostly in Sri Vrindavan for years. One of his greatest friends, whom he
shared much in common with is Shyam Das, and they were sometimes
together in the company of the great Lineage Holder of the Pushti Marg,
Sri Prathameshji Maharaj. Here with Asim and Radha Dasi is where I
first met Shyam Dasji and had a very wonderful darshan of Maharajji.
I remember that Asim and Shyam Das would suddenly start speaking
with each other in French!! It was somewhere in Govardhan in tents!!
When President Carter, promised to give entrance to all draft dodgers,
Asim's parents prevailed on him to came back to the USA to complete
his undergraduate degree at the City of College of New York.
Radha Dasi and I saw him off at the Delhi Airport wearing his doti as usual!
While studying he also drove a taxi in Manhattan during the night
with Sri Bankey Bihari's photo up in front of him. After graduating toget entrance back into India and his beloved Vrindavan, he entered
Columbia Univ. and started his Doctorate. Sub: Shalagram! He said
he chose this subject because all the other Vaishnava subjects for
dissertation had already been done at Columbia!! Once back in Vrindavan
I met him among all his books and he laughed and said I used to be a poor
Bhakta here, and now that I have this scholarship they pay me to live here!
He often visited Nepal for his research on Shalagrams. It was a fascinating
subject as he spoke of it, and would show shaligrams and explain the intricate
beauty and details of each one.
So, around 1992 he received his PhD in Sanskrit at Columbia University.
In Vrindavan he was Assistant Director of the Research Center at SriChaitanya Sampraday. Here he supervised the creation of a bibliography
of sources on the history of Vraj, the poet saints of Vraj, for the Indira
Gandhi National Centre of Arts, New Delhi. He said it was amazing, that
the more they searched throughout Vraj villages, the more old manuscripts
and paintings were discovered!
He also worked with the Vijayanagara Research Project for 5 yrs.translating the Pampamahatmya. This, too he totally enjoyed.
His book written in Vrindavan at his room in Jaisingh Ghera is
"Evening Blossoms: The Temple Tradition of Sanjhi in Vrndavana" 1996.
There were several trips in South India and abroad where he would meet
Shyam Das and friends...of beautiful Sat Sangs...
In 1997 Asim Krsna Das Baba became ill and was eventually taken
to Hospital where I visited him again in Delhi, but since arrival there he was
unconscious! They said that he did not want to go to Delhi, refused and
became unconscious in Vrndavana only, while in the taxi!
The Delhi Doctors said he had some kind of Meningitis.
I met his sister from Israel who had come to the hospital in Delhi.His ashes were taken back to his beloved Sri Vrndavana where they
were put into the Yamuna River with chanting and proper ceremony.
Dear friend Asim Krsna Das now dances eternally with his Beloved
Sri Radha Giridhari Lalji in amazing Goloka!!
¸. *ღ☆¸.•°*♥ JAI SRI KRISHNA! ¸. *ღ☆¸.•°*♥
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Monday, 2 April 2012
" Give thanks for your breath...and for that of the street dog!
I was just outside on the street, and this street dog comes sometimes
so I was feeding him a rusk, which he was eating happily.
Then a taxi came and stopped there and 6 people came out
to visit me. they were yoga students with a teacher. They saw
me there and watched. Then the dog looked up and I asked the
students,' What is the dog saying?' They shook their heads and said,
Swamiji, we don't know what the dog is saying!' I said, 'The dog is saying,
'What a lucky Swami is this!!' "
The joyful words of Swami Jnanananda Giri,
Dehra Dun, India
March 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
