My Guruji Sri Sri Anandanandanatha!!!
With deep emotional feelings, I, (Santosh Kumar Raja) disciple of Shri Ravi Guruji, Deeksha nama – Sri Anandanandanatha, am writing this article to give a glimpse of our beloved Guruji and his perspective on Sri Vidya and Spirituality.
In this Kaliyuga, it is a norm and common knowledge that everything is commercialized, packaged and marketed as a brand, including spirituality. There was a lone rebel in the form of Guruji himself, who was none other than the personification of the Divine Mother Lalitambika, to take the bull by the horns! It was the time when Srividya was exclusively reserved for the elite few, born in certain privileged families, lineages, caste etc., They were successful to the extent that, most of us who were born into Sanatana Dharma and are practicing Hindus, were not aware of Sri Vidya and its importance, until Guruji ushered it into the world in his characteristic style and openness.Guruji made strides to reveal the divine secrets for the benefit of all.
Even today, some scholars are of the opinion that it is a taboo to consider the non-privileged as eligible, to learn and practice this sacred vidya. As per them, it is prohibited to speak or reveal the mantras to the uninitiated and even to discuss their nuances in public. The compassion of Guruji was such, that he had decided to give this information to the world at large, with no remuneration in return – no guru Dakshina in particular, so that every person irrespective of caste, creed, status, religion or sex, can drink the nectar of Srividya! He truly had become the most compassionate Kamakshi Herself, in his generosity and compassion.
Even though Guruji was trolled, abused and attacked for making the mantras public, as it had upset the well-entrenched Gurus who were deeply concerned and worried that their hegemony would be destroyed, their commercial models impacted, he remained undeterred and his total commitment in revealing the secrets to all sincere seekers of the world, kept him going! Guruma was a pillar of support and a proof reader of all his articles and remained as Guruji’s Shakti, to get the blog going!
Shri Ravi Guruji was a senior bank officer who took early retirement in his 40s at the peak of his career, on meeting his Guruji (My Parama Guruji Satyajitanandanatha). He had decided to immerse himself in spirituality and thereby dedicated himself completely. His courage to take this huge gamble considering his humble financial status, is not only praise worthy but also difficult to comrephend as rarely does one take such huge risks when they’re not financially secure, have family and responsibilities. Guruma once again stood as a pillar of support and did not stop him from pursuing his spiritual calling.
Guruji served his guru (our Paramaguru Shri Satyajitanandanatha) from early morning till late night before Paramaguruji fell asleep, every day for several years. This went on till the passing of Paramaguruji. Guruji discussed various spiritual subjects with his Guru and learnt the secrets of the Upanishads, Vedas, mantras, meditation and various rituals by his grace. He continued his learning after the passing of his Guruji, by interacting with other Gurus and learned scholars of various philosophical streams. He was relentless in his pursuit of gathering knowledge from various sources including books, journals, manuscripts etc. Finally, overflowing with all the knowledge and overwhelmed with compassion towards sharing the vast knowledge of what he had gathered over a decade, Guruji decided to write and make it available for all interested seekers. He had decided that those who did not have access to a perfect guru like his Guruji, should not be denied all this knowledge! It was his noble intention that others should not go through the same pains that he underwent and this knowledge should be available for the general public with a spiritual bent. He was very particular that sincere seekers should not be befooled and trapped by charlatans, priests and half knowledge scholars in parting with their wealth, health and peace of mind. Instead, let the interested find the true meaning of mantras, Vedas, Upanishads and all other holy scriptures to ascend spiritually and also find solutions through mantra japa and sadhana for both mundane and spiritual quests.
Imagine, 20+ years ago when internet and technology was still not rampant as it is today and with low bandwidth and access, as well as availability in terms of devices to the common man, Guruji had decided to create a blog despite all these limitations. Though Guruji did not have any knowledge of how to create a blog or was even tech savvy, still at the age of 50+ from 2003 onwards, he made strides to learn online on how to create a blog and began posting articles. They were an instant hit and thousands of disciples across the globe began to read and get connected to the Divine Mother. The hidden wisdom was suddenly brought back into the open world for everyone to read and get benefitted. His quest to be a pied piper leading sadhakas and all spiritual enthusiasts from making blunders, began taking a shape in the form of his curiously named blog – Manblunder! A time had come when he ran out of space on his blog and had to continue into another blog called Manblunderplus, which also filled up pretty fast. The entire cost of maintaining the blogs, content, domains, discussion forum etc., were being borne by Guruji himself, without any contributions from anyone until a point came when he became overburdened and he reluctantly sought help from those who wanted to contribute for the upkeep of the blogs. It was simply a plea and not a demand from anyone. All of the content of the blogs, as well as initiations were free and remain the same to this day! It was at this time that Mr. Suresh, a close disciple of Guruji and a dear friend of mine, came up with the idea of migrating the content to a website and modernizing the same for easier management. Both Suresh and I became the admins for the content management under the ownership of Guruji.
As per Guruji’s own admission, he admitted that he used to spend 18 to 20 hours a day answering queries, initiating sadhakas and also posting content. During this time Guruma’s health also declined and she underwent treatment for cancer and the toll on guruji increased manifold. His activities and dedication to the blogs and later to the website was such, that he would skip functions, visits to places and all social gatherings, in his noble quest of helping out the numerous sadhakas who would send their queries to him and spend hours on skype, discussing their problems or seeking his blessings. Guruji admitted that he would pray before sleep, not for himself or his family members, but for the sadhakas who needed the grace of the Divine Mother to get through their difficult times.
A decade and a half later, Guruji made a decision to graduate a few of his advanced shishyas as Gurus and began to direct new sadhakas to the newly minted gurus. He stopped writing since late 2018 and his last series was the ‘Spiritual Journey’, which elucidates the spiritual secrets in a simple manner and provides a path through the adoption of Advaita Vedanta leading the spiritual aspirants to self-realization. The website Manblunder.com itself, became a partner in one’s spiritual journey!
There are a number of publications of Shri Ravi guruji under his given name V. RAVI, on Amazon. The contents of these books are also spread out on the Manblunder website, under various categories and articles.
Guruji lived by these exemplary principles and adhered to them, rain or shine! -
- No commercialization: there are no products, services sold on this website for money.
- Mantras should never be sold for money.
- Everyone is eligible for Sri Vidya sadhana. The only requirement is devotion and faith.
- No hierarchy, casteism or elite status requirements. Anyone could reach out to Guruji through emails and he would respond promptly. There was no filtering of any kind, even in approving the comments posted on the website, unless they were obscene. He allowed criticism of all types unless they were profane.
- Self-Realization is possible in this life time itself and everyone must strive to achieve it!
- Guru and Disciple relation is always one to one. He abhorred mass contact and initiations and termed them as gimmicks and ineffective.
- A disciple should be free to clarify any doubts that they may have with their Guruji. The bond is strictly spiritual.
- A true Guru is a giver, NOT a taker. The Guru must NOT withhold knowledge from his shishyas and should be a true partner in their spiritual upliftment.
- One can solve all their problems through regular sadhana.
……………………..to be continued
Krishna
December 21, 2023 09:12 AM
Thank you Dear Santosh! We are still unable to recover from this shocking news of the sudden passing away of Shri Ravi Guruji and fathom this loss. If only the Divine Mother was not in such a hurry to take back Her chosen son, we would still be drinking the nectar of spirituality from his posts and advice. I consider myself extremely lucky to have interacted with him in person and taken deeksha into Sri Vidya. Please do continue the article and share more anecdotes and experiences that you have had with Shri Ravi Guruji, for the benefit of all readers! His deeds and contributions are exemplary in the field of spirituality and he will remain immortal through his writings for all time to come! Om Shri Gurubhyo Namah!
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Balaji
December 21, 2023 11:12 AM
Thank you for pouring your heart out, Santhosh ji. My heart is heavy while reading this. I am one of the countless spiritual seekers who is learning from this website (A real ocean of knowledge). In this commercial era, people ask for money for every single thing, and during my quest for true knowledge, Guruji is the only person who has made the vidya available for everyone free of charge and with no discrimination. His passing is still unbelievable and is slowly sinking into my heart now. It is very painful to think of the fact that Guruji is not around physically. I pray to the divine mother for his atma to attain moksha. Long live Guruji, his selfless service and his kind-heartedness.
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sriram
December 21, 2023 02:12 PM
when I landed into Manblunder website had a wish of meeting the person since we both are in Chennai.. I emailed him with lot of doubts whether he would even be liking to meet me in person. But I got a reply with his mobile number and address. Immediately took permission from office and I started to his house. At that time I don't even think I will be spending most of my time in that house. I even didnt had a wish of getting srividhya initiation.. just I wanted to meet him and clear my doubts in spirituality. Slowly our relationship got stronger day by day and the frequency of spending time with Raviji gradually increased. We used to discuss lot of philosophy, meditation, rituals , etc etc.. and became more close like friends. Then one fine day I had a quench for Srividhya asked Raviji, will you initiate me.. Immediately within next 5 mins I was initiated by him over the same phone call. Next day morning before going to office met him in person and he initiated me again personally also. And blessed me to become a Guru. I just thought he was Making fun with me and left the place. Our connections got stronger and stronger and we used to discus on all articles he wrote. And I was with him when he wrote Navavaarna Pooja articles and we discussed a lot on them when he was writing itself. He taught me and gave me support to do my first navavarna Pooja on a Sharad Poornima. Later a fine day he said that he is going to do purnabhesheka for Avijith from Kolkata and he wants to do purnabheshekam for me as well.. I never asked him for such a ritualistic initiation as I know he left all those stuff long back. I met him and it was a pleasant surprise to me that he himself was ready to give me purnabhesheka. On January 26th of 2014 saw Raviji in a ritualistic attair for the first time for my purnabhesheka day. He was adorned with pasma and kumkuma on his head and was dwelling like a star. At that time aunty was just out of hospital for her treatment of cancer. She cooked the lunch for the day for us. We had purnabhesheka and went to Paramaguru's house and then lunch at Raviji's place. Again in the evening we had a Pooja for Gurumandala and navavarna Pooja followed by Dinner. Even today I think how Aunty made it possible with the lunch and dinner for the day for all of us even when she is not physically well. Hats off to her dedication towards Raviji... Days went by.. Even before putting my name on Manblunder, he made me initiate couple of people and guided them thro me.. later when he thought of making the list of initiators, he added my name in that and put it on the website. He sent a person named Senthill who have reached Raviji for initiation, as the first person thro manblunder website. Days went.. I slowly realised it is a different way my Guru has taken to teach me, by adding me in the list of initiatiors. I felt it is my Guru taking multiple forms and come to me under the blanket of initiation and fine tune my thought process. It is only him who is playing both the roles of Guru and disciple and keeping me as a witness to the play he makes me on the stage of my life. With his blessings, started to do ritualistic purnabhesheka to people. Discussed the process for it and did my first purnabhesheka in Arunachala(thiruvannamalai, Tamil nadu) and later he sent couple of people for purnabhesheka one from Himachal pradesh, a disciple of Santhosh and the other is Arka from westbengal of this Group. Both of them are from Shakti peetas Naina Devi and Attahasa-peeta. That itself is a special blessing for me to initiate people from such great places. On the evening of the purnabhesheka Raviji called me and shared his Happiness for doing the Purnabhesheka for all the people and he said he felt the vibes with all those who got purnabhesheka on that day. I had a practice of meeting Raviji with one of my close friends Arun, whom Raviji used to address as Sidhar. ARUN is also writing a series on Manblunder on a Tamil Poem Abhirami andhadhi. Last 6 months he was more liberal than ever.. he shared more personal time with us etc., and on his birth Star, we met Raviji and got his blessings on that day and nice prasadhams from Aunty's Hand. We enjoyed the day with him without knowing that it would be the last meeting when he is with his body consciousness. Myself and Arun were waiting for the next chance to meet Raviji, we only got the information that Raviji was Admitted in Hospital. And later when we met him on Thursday late evening, it was already late... Santhosh, Suresh, Krishna you all are doing a great job of taking the legacy of Manblunder website.. your contribution to it are amazing. I Met Dan in Raviji's house during his last year visit. Very nice person, we had a good discussion with Raviji on his meeting. Raviji would often refer Jayanth and Santhosh for the dedication towards initiating people. U all know I usually take a lot of turnaround time for initiating. But these people will be super fast, mostly within a day or 2, the people who sent Email will be initiated into the mantra. Great job folks. I have not interacted with many. Though I miss his physically presence as in the Form of Raviji, I console myself saying, My Brahmam is everywhere around me.. He is interacting with me every moment and will continue until I breath my last.
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Replies
Rajarshi
December 25, 2023 08:12 AM
Nice sharing Sriram-sir.
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Joseph
December 21, 2023 11:12 PM
Thank you for sharing, Santoshji.
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Vitaly
December 23, 2023 07:12 AM
Thank you for the article. It was a blessing from Devi to send Pure Soul for all of us. It is extremely hard to meet Guruji with principles you explained in article. I only contacted Shri Ravi Guruji over internet but he always helped me and answered my questions. I truly appreciate it. It is always like to see a sun in this darkness time
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Adithya
December 23, 2023 11:12 PM
It's only due to His grace that people like me could get a glimpse of true spirituality . Always indebted to the spiritual support i received from Him. May He always reside in my heart ♥️.
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Rajarshi
December 24, 2023 04:12 PM
Sweet memories with Paramaguru Śrī Ānandānandanātha (Ravi-Ji) On July, 2015 I came in contact with Ravi-sir through one of my friend. I only approached him for Siddhi Mantra. After a year onwards I started sending my queries (via e-mail) regarding sadhana while practicing the paths of other guru lineage. Sometimes the questions were too lengthy which he mentioned also but he replied the all gently. He rectified and guided my process of dhyana and provided valuable suggestions. Once I asked him How a Disciple can realize that destined spiritual Master for him which is fixed already. He replied “You can decide this based upon your experience.” On early 2018 I informed him about my certain issue. He guided me to practice the breath control or pranayama. And regarding food he replied “It is better to avoid non-vegetarian food during spiritual practices, as this will affect energy levels in the body.” Then I requested him for the mantra initiation. He replied due to age he stopped initiations and provide me a link to approach for mantra initiations. Later I met Santosh-sir to continue my practices. I am fortunate to be part of this guru tradition. Here I share some conversations that can touch all the seekers on spiritual path. Q1: People of India mostly deceived by fake sadhus. How to generate trust again on religious pursuits? Ravi-sir: Fake Gurus are always after money and material things. They will have innumerable followers and will have large ashrams sprawling to several acres of land and buildings. We have to stay away from them. When we follow them, we can never have trust in spirituality itself. Spiritual teachings should be one to one between a guru and his disciple. Q2: India has had a rich heritage on sanatan culture. What was the daily performing (Nitya-karma) relevant now to follow. Ravi-sir: More than the daily karmas that are to be followed, love, compassion and faith in the Divine are important. Nitya karmas shape our mind to come to a certain routine and inculcate discipline in our minds. Relevance depends on individual mindset. Q3: What are the qualities of a Sri Vidya Upasak? Ravi-sir: Simplicity, lack of ego, helping nature and dedication are the primary qualities of a Sri Vidya upasak. Thanks again Santosh-Ji for sharing details about Ravi-sir which he preferred to keep secret from public.
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B
January 02, 2024 02:01 PM
I came to know about this sad news this morning only. I never missed visiting the Discussion Forum of the Manblunder portal everyday but for the last 2-3 weeks since I was travelling. I sent my wishes to him on the eve of New Year and today, I got a text from GuruMa informing me about his sad demise. My sincere condolences' to his family. I am a Srividya upasaka and it was Amman’s grace that I was initiated into Sowbhagya Panchadasi by Shri Ravi Guruji in December 2022 and since them I have been doing this Mantra Sadhna almost all the time aligned to my breath. Before this, it was in October 2022 that he gave me the Siddhi mantra, which he derived from my birth chart and name. I met Shri Ravi ji in his house in Chennai in March 2023 and spent a good time with him. It was Post retirement that I started spending my daytime going through the various articles & materials posted in the Manblunder portal including the discussion forum on various topics. The portal provides treasure trove of spiritual knowledge and wisdom for spiritual aspirants like me across the globe. I don’t remember the name but someone had righted posted in this website, a few months back that this Manblunder portal is like a virtual Ashram, where the darkness of ignorance is dispelled and the Divine Mother herself speaks through such enlightened people. This initiative of Shri Ravi Guruji is unparalled. I have no words to express my sincere gratitude to Shri Ravi Guruji for his Selfless service. It is very rare to find such a highly evolved spiritual soul in today’s times, with so much of humility and humbleness, who has lived with exemplary principles, for all of us to emulate. Shri Santosh has shared some anecdotes of his association with Shri Ravi Guruji and it would certainly benefit all of us if he could share more such experiences. Shri Ravi Guruji has left his physical body to merge with the Supreme Consciousness but he would surely continue to be in our heart all the time and guide us in our journey back to the Source.
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Ravi
August 02, 2024 12:08 PM
I am forever indebted to Sri Guruji. Even I am the most unfit person on the planet for Sadhana, Sri Guruji initiated me in the highest Mantra. Sri Guruji initiated me directly into Maha Shodashi Mantra in September 2014 over telephone. The experience of initiation was so intense, that I can't forget it in lifetimes to come. I discontinued the Mantra Japa in March 2016 due to a series of circumstances that lead me to take this wrong decision. However, when circumstances became favorable, I re-started doing Japa from April 2023. I contacted Sri Guruji and he guided me to contact Mr. Jayanth as Guruji's health was not good those days. In June 2023, I got a chance to visit Chennai for my exam. I asked Ravi ji, if I can meet him in person and Guruji agreed. I was so excited to meet Guruji in person for the first time in my life. When I finished my exam in Chennai, I contacted Guruji to meet him in person but Guruji said that he is not doing well Healthwise and we can communicate over video call. When I came back to Delhi, I had a video call with Guruji which was no less than a face to face experience. When I went to Chennai, I bought a pair of Padukas (Sandals) and wanted Guruji to wear them once, so that I can bring them back to my home and keep them as representation of Guruji. I told him about this on video call and Guruji asked me to hold the Padukas in certain way. Guruji did something (which I don't know) but I closed my eyes in reverence. Then Guruji told me that I can now use them. What I think is that Guruji granted my wish and wore those Padukas through his Subtle body. I keep those Padukas in my worship area and pray to them as if I am praying to Guruji himself. Those Padukas are dear to me as the Padukas of Lord Rama were dear to Bharat. I have not made any noticeable spiritual progress till date even after having the best Guru, the best Mantra and the best Guru Lineage in the World. I plead my Guruji and the Guru Parampara for forgiveness for being the black dot in the shining lineage. I learnt about the physical demise of Guruji this Guru Purnima, when I wished Guruji for Guru Poornima over the email. The chances in spiritual progress for a sinner like me were very low already and it now gets more thinner with Guruji's absence. Guruji never asked for any Guru Dakshina and even if he had asked for it, what can I give to him when he is already complete in all senses. Although I am useless, I still request Krishna ji, Santosh ji, Jayanth ji etc. to let me know if I can be of any use to the Manblunder cause. Jai Sri Mata.
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Ramesh Purohit
September 13, 2024 10:09 PM
आज 4-5 वर्षों पश्चात् मेनब्लण्डर ब्लाग किसी कारणवश खोला तो श्री रवि गुरुजी के निधन की दु:खद सूचना प्राप्त हुई । मैं अवाक् और स्तब्ध रह गया । दस वर्षों पूर्व जब मैं " श्रीविद्या रहस्य " पुस्तक लिख रहा था, तब आवश्यक मार्गदर्शन समय-समय पर उन्हीं से प्राप्त हुआ । यही नही, मेरी साधना के प्रारम्भिक वर्षों में मैं ने श्री महागणपति मंत्र साधना, तर्पण, वाञ्छाकल्पलता, श्री सम्पत्करी साधना, महा वाराही मंत्र साधना , मातङ्गेश्वरी साधना, माँ ललिता महात्रिपुरासुन्दरी साधना, त्रिशंकु, नवावरण पूजा एवं अन्य अनेक पूजा - अनुष्ठानों हेतु उनका मार्गदर्शन मुझे प्राप्त हुआ । माँ ललिता उन्हें अपने चरणों में उन्हें सतत् रखें, ऐसी मां ललिता से प्रार्थना है ।
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