I went inside my home and began to sleep.  But I could not get my sleep.  My mind was wondering about the illumination that appeared from the top of guruji’s head and the way in which his body was lifted from the ground.  I was struggling to find an answer.  But I also knew that it is not possible for me to get the right answer as my exposure to the external world is extremely limited. Whatever my guruji is teaching is totally new to me. But for the advent of guruji into my life, I would not have comprehended anything about what guruji taught me all these days.  I am a transformed person only because of guruji.  Otherwise, I know that I am incapable of grasping these subjects.  I do not know when I began to sleep. 

When I woke up in the morning, it was already bright. I should have been late at least by half an hour. It was my habit to get up before the dawn.  I thought that I could have spent more time thinking about guruji, before going to sleep.  When I woke up, I felt that some energy has been infused into my body.  Each body cell of mine started functioning with more vigour.  I felt that  my mind was totally blank, with absolutely no thoughts.  The whole world appeared to me very tiny.  Hitherto inexperienced happiness, was overflowing deep within me.   I was confident that I am not the same person as I was before.  The night’s sleep might have transformed me.  I went out to see guruji.  He was not there in the verandah.  I ran towards the river.  He has finished his bath and was coming out of the waters. I apologized to him for having gotten up late.  He did not say anything.  I ran home and retruned to the river for my bath.  When I finished my bath, guruji was drying his clothes on the rocky bench.  He then walked towards Ganapati temple. 

“Can I light the lamp and offer flowers to Ganapti today?” I asked him.

“Why not? Why are you asking this? Having begun this practice, you have to do it daily as long as you can. Light the lamp now, offer flowers and offer bananas to him.”

I did as he told me.  Till I finished my rituals, he was standing in the same place.  When everything was done, he started walking towards the river bank. The river bank is very long and tidy and it is a pleasure to walk on the sand with barefoot.

“Do you feel any difference in you today?” asked guruji.

I was startled for a moment, still I replied, “Yes guruji”.

“You are born to become a spiritual person.  The day is nearing. As I have said, it is my duty to develop you up to a stage, beyond which, you will be taken over by someone else.  From now on, every step you put forward will be towards God.  You are sure to achieve phenomenal success because your mind remains pure and uncorrupted, generally not seen in men of your age. It is only in the mind, God has to be realized.  When I reached this place, though I was asked to go to your place and meet you, my guru has not briefed me further at that time. I meditated on him yesterday and got further instructions.  Whether you like it or not, you are going to be one of the best spiritual gurus in the world.  There are very few Self-realized persons on earth today and you are going to be one of them.  I have transformed you to the best of my abilities and according to the instructions given to me. Spiritual energy was infused to you in three stages.  On the first day, your bad energies were eliminated and your entire system was cleansed. The next day you have been infused with high potent prana, which will awaken your kundalini energy in the days to come.  Yesterday night, pure spiritual energy was infused to make your mind remain pure always.  If the three step process was not initiated, it will take years or even lives to realise God” guruji gradually began unfolding the secret of his mission.

“I know you have observed my meditation yesterday and you could have observed two things.  One is the light above my head and two, the floating of my body.  I know that you were watching me.  One can achieve anything through the power of meditation.  I told you earlier that God is in the form Light.  When you establish proper commune with God or His agents, you can observe the illumination in you.  If the illumination is not there, then you are not communicating with God.  It is not necessary that you should always be in commune with God.  Many times, in deep stages of meditation, you can also communicate with His agents.  These agents are those who have merged with Him and out of compassion, God asks a few of them to be in touch with a select few in earth to give them finishing touches for their liberation. When they enter your body, your head gets illuminated.  But it is not an easy job to establish commune with them.  In due course all this will be taught to you.  This illumination is due to the purification of consciousness.  Light of God is nothing but pure consciousness and this appears when Shiva and Shakti unite at the top of the head.  With regard to lifting of my body from the ground, there is a mechanism by which the body is made light to mitigate the gravitational force, making it possible for the body to stay afloat.

“Now you are a blessed child of God.  You have to begin your journey from here.  Spiritual knowledge is unlimited.  We may have to leave this place when the time comes.  May be you may have to leave this place for good or you could also return.  It is not known at this point.  May be it will be revealed to you directly. Therefore, Shankaraaaa, let us commence your spiritual journey without further wasting our time.  Time is always precious.  When you feel that twenty four hours are not enough for a day, it means that your quest for learning has begun” guruji completed.

“Guruji, I do not know anything. I will do whatever you ask me to do.  But I find distinct changes both in my body and in my attitude.  I am not able to explain my mental state.  Only thing I know is that it is full of unknown happiness. I don’t even feel the hunger now” I said.

“You have been infused with fresh prana.  Prana forms your causal body.  Spirituality is tougher than all your worldly activities. You have to have both knowledge and experience, one supplementing and supporting the other. Spiritual knowledge without having personal experience is of no use.  Personal experience can be gained only by vigorous practice. The more you practice, higher will be the level of your experience.  Practice means both physical and mental.  Physical practice is yogic postures and mental practice is meditation and the one without the other becomes futile.

“You should know where to begin your practice.  First you have to have complete spiritual knowledge. Knowledge includes knowing about creation, sustenance, dissolution, annihilation and recreation. These are the five primary acts of God.  Understanding how He carries out His five acts is knowledge.  God is one and He is not many as many of us think.  Giving shapes and forms to God is an act of self-deceit and contrary to reality.  The second aspect of God is His omnipresence.  He is present in you, in me and everywhere.  It is wrong to say that God is an embodiment of purity alone.  Impurity also originates from Him.  If someone says that God is the embodiment of purity alone, then he has to establish the source of impurity and he cannot do that because God is one and not many.  God is the source of all energies and these energies are worshipped as demigods.  For example, fire is worshipped as god Agni, air is worshipped as Vayu, etc. Everything originates from Him and finally absorbed unto Him.  Between the time of creation and absorption, a man creates his own karmas and leads his lives accordingly.  His life does not end with this life alone.  There could be many more lives and such matters are decided by his own actions and not decided by God.  When you become the cause for all your actions, how could God help you?  God does not induce anyone to act.  He is only a witness to all our actions.  Since you are the cause for your actions, your prayers to God are not answered.  If God begins to answer the prayers of everyone, His act would then be considered as an act against natural justice. God will never act against justice.  He is embodiment of justice.

“Similarly, God can be realised through different ways. But the prominent among them are Advaita or non-dualism and Trika philosophies. Advaita says everything is God and Trika says there are three aspects of God, Shiva, Shakti and man.  Whatever the philosophy you adopt does not matter, but it is important that you understand any one of philosophies thoroughly. You will be taught both Advaita and Trika in due course.  Once you are sure of your knowledge, you have to begin your practice of contemplating God.  It is enough if you are able to traverse ninety percent of your path.  For the balance ten percent, you will be attracted by God like an iron piece to a magnet or a calf towards its mother.  But, remember that traversing this ninety percent is a tough job to achieve.  You can even become a billionaire with the kind of efforts you put in. But you will not have eternal happiness if you indulge in materialistic life, which is not going to be the same always.  Your fortune and happiness fluctuate from one end to another end like the pendulum of a clock. You do not have eternal happiness.  Eternal happiness, which is also known as bliss dawns on you only if you surrender yourself to God.  Without surrender, you cannot ever attain Him”. Guruji stopped when my mother appeared on the verandah of our house, signaling the time for lunch.

Guruji got up, as he mentally knows the time.  He has to finish his lunch before noon.  Suddenly my intuition told me that I also should follow the footsteps of my guruji.  Whether I like or not I have to pursue the path of spirituality.  I cannot confidently say that I am too happy to pursue a spiritual life now.  I had planned for my life in bits and pieces and I had not given any final shape till now.  I wanted to get married and live a peaceful life with my wife and kids, though I know that it is difficult to get a girl of my choice.  I do not have any qualifications that a bride looks for in a man.  First, I am not earning. The produce of my land at the most will make us lead a comfortable life and surely not a luxurious life.  It is difficult to draw a line between comfort and luxury.  I always believed that it is one’s personal requirements that decide the boundary of comfort. Now, I know for sure that there is no way I can think about worldly life.  My only concern is my mother.  I never allow her to strain herself.  At the most, she has to do the cooking.  Many times I help her in cutting vegetables, cleaning utensils and sweeping and mopping the floor.  We have to buy fire woods to cook.  Fire woods are not sold in ready to use condition.  We buy as logs and cut it into pieces.  There is a place in the rear of the house to store these fire woods. They cannot be kept in the open air as rain will dampen them.  As and when I have time and energy, I cut the logs into pieces and make them to dry in the sun.  When they are completely dry, I carry them and neatly arrange in the backyard of our home. 

We never buy vegetables and fruits.  We grow almost all the vegetables.  We have coconut, papaya, guava, lime, banana, mango, jackfruit and pomegranate. I am always in the habit of eating fruits after my dinner.  In case I am hungry between my lunch and dinner, I have some fruits.  Mother serves an extremely delicious food.  Whenever I overeat, I always take a nap.  If one wants to be active, he should neither overeat nor under eat. Occasionally, I used to overeat. My guruji eats very slowly.  He never rushes through his food in a hurry.  He eats very little.  He consumes more of vegetables and fruits.  With curd, he winds up his lunch. Till his next day’s lunch, he lives only on water.  Possibly this could be reason for his perfect health even at this age. 

Guruji always takes a walk for about ten minutes after lunch.  But his pace of walk will be very slow. I have also heard that one should walk one hundred steps after each meal, but nothing more or less.  These one hundred steps help in digestion.  If one is not able to walk these hundred steps, he can sit in vajrasana for a few minutes. This also helps digestion. Guruji generally uses the time between his lunch and nap to impart knowledge.  I thought he is going to continue from where he had left. 

He began an entirely new chapter. “Marriage is a sacred institution.  It is not merely about sex and procreation.  It is all about love of the highest order.  A man with a man or woman with another woman cannot develop the kind of love that a man and a woman develop.  The love between them is not only sacred, but also aesthetic. A true love between them will be explicit, as they will have no secrets between them.  Getting married is not a deterrent factor for spirituality. If both of them begin to pursue spirituality, they can easily attain the highest goal. 

“Scriptures advocate marriage.  They even prohibit certain rituals if one is not married.  In fire rituals, wife plays an important role. From adulthood, one moves to family life and from family life one moves to live in forests and finally both husband and wife renounce everything in favour of their children and become sanyasis. If a couple decides to beget children, they should follow the spiritual path only, after they are on their own legs.  If they beget children, their primary responsibility is towards children.  If they fail to protect their children, they fail in their duties and accumulate tons of bad karmas.  If one fails to perform the prescribed duties, he or she becomes a sinner.

“As commonly understood, sex is not a deterrent factor in God realization.  Scriptures have prescribed certain days on which you can indulge in sexual life.  Beyond the prescribed days, if they continue to indulge in sex, though it may not be a sin, surely it is a hindrance to spirituality.  The problem with our society is either they do not take it or if they decide to take it, they take it beyond all permissible limits. One apple a day keeps the doctor away.  Unfortunately, either we do not take apples at all or we take more than one apple.  Either way, it is not good for health.  Moderation is the key word in spirituality.  Both excess and deficit are not conducive to development. 

“You should be ripe enough to get married in another four or five year.  The choice is yours and you can take your own decision at the appropriate time.  When we are indecisive, time will give us a solution.  We are all bound by time.  Those who are bound by time, always undergo changes.  We age with time.  We do not remain the same ever.  God alone is beyond time and He is without modifications.  Time will give you a solution for your marriage.”  Guruji prepared for his nap.

(to be continued)