My Master and Spiritual Friends

I have taken kriya yoga initiation in October 2010 at Rishikesh, Kriya Yoga Ashram and It’s been a decade of my spiritual journey. I am trying to look back and see what all happened these years (2010- 2020) in terms of my spiritual growth, my association with master, spiritual friends and managing a Yoga Trust.

I wrote my first article about my initiation experience and titled it as “Wise Master and Stupid Disciple”.

After coming home from Rishikesh, I started to practice meditation with a lot of intensity and longing. In the beginning, I could not figure out the position of my chakras (energy centers) and it was like a blind man walking in the dark forest. After few months of regular practice, I started to identify the exact position of centers and felt very delighted as if a blind man got a walking stick :-) During this period and also later, I used to read all kinds of spiritual books, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Yoga Vasishta, Tripura Rahasya, Thirumandhiram, Avadhuta Gita and many other books.

Spiritual Syllabus

When I read books during my early years of meditation, I could not grasp most of the content. But now, I understand these books are similar to School Syllabus. One should read them as you progress in the spiritual journey because your perception of reality keeps changing with your practice and you read them with a new understanding.

According to me, for the first 2 years, one should stick to Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. Yoga Vasistha can be read between 3 – 5 years of practice, Thirumandhiram can be read between 5 – 7 years, Tripura Rahasya can be read between 7 – 10 years, Avadhuta Gita should only be read, after 10 years of practice just because Dattatreya says in his Gita, “Who is meditating, What is meditation?” :-) If you read this at the beginning of your spiritual life, you would miss the whole point.

My Master Per H. Wibe, a realized being from Norway wrote a very simple book of 40 pages titled Yearning of the Soul. I call this a magic book, because whatever spiritual doubt you might have, you will definitely find an answer in those 40 pages. I always wonder how he achieved that feat :-)

God is NOT about Knowledge

Even though I was never a reader, once I took initiation, I became a voracious reader who wanted to consume all the knowledge of God like a hungry monster through spiritual books. Being a mind, I used to think spirituality is about knowledge like rest of the material aspects. It took me quite some time to understand that, It is not possible to establish yourself in reality through bookish knowledge. When I read the books, there comes a false sense of understanding and I call it as “Intellectual Realization”. The moment I come across a tough situation in real life, I would lose my understanding and behave absolutely normal.

I came to a conclusion that reading spiritual books is not about knowledge, It will only give us inspiration to practice. I think Spirituality is similar to science subject. We have a theory and we have a practical too, so that one can do the practicals and confirm the theory themselves. If you don’t do the practicals, all you end up is with theory. It might be helpful to tell people and they might treat you as subject matter expert but you don’t have the necessary experience to confirm it with 100% confidence. If I have to give an anology, you have read many cooking recipe books written by master chefs, you know every ingredient that makes the dish. But, you never cooked the food and never tasted it in your whole life.

Now, I understand why my master never gives any speeches and always insist his students to Practice and Realize truth as their own experience. Then, it becomes a permanent reality and one will never lose it, no matter whatever situations arise. During this period, I used to ask Master too many questions, what is this? what is that? . He would answer, “Few questions are better, focus on your meditation”.

Am I Spiritual?

Because of my intense meditations, I could say, I have developed a certain intuition where I could understand things very clearly. Being a curious mind all my life, I question everything and anything. It is hard for me to believe anything. I was 32 years old when I took initiation. I have felt a great urge to learn Kriya Yoga after reading Autobiography of a Yogi. I know, 90% of the kriyabans would agree with me on this :-) .

I was surprised about intensity of my meditation because never in my life, I have taken god seriously or thought of the possibility of experiencing god in this very life nor I can call myself a devotee. I hardly visited temples on my own except with my friend Giri on couple of occasions as a trip. I looked back and was trying to find out if there were any spiritual related incidents in my life. One day in my meditation, I remembered few incidents out of nowhere which I forgot.

First incident happened when I was 7 years old. One morning, I woke up from my bed and I forgot my name. I tried to recollect my name but could not do so for long time. I remember this incident very clearly in-spite of such a long time, because I was in absolute silence when I woke up. I could only understand that now as I have experienced silence during meditation and could relate to the incident that happened when I was 7.

Second Incident happened when I was 14 years old. I used to draw a five pointed star again and again on my notebooks. I could not understand the significance of it while I was doing it nor I have learnt it. It was involuntary for me. I even forgot about it. During one of my meditations, I have suddenly remembered it. I have read in the books that spiritual eye which is the source of creation, appears as a bright star during samadhi state (deep meditative and thoughtless). I remember the lines from Bible where Jesus said, “They saw the star and they were over joyed”. He was referring to the spiritual eye and Yogis who saw it in deep meditation.

Third Incident happened when I was 28 years old. I am not sure If I could call this a spiritual incident or mere coincidence. I was never interested in spirituality and I am not a book reader at all. My elder sister Latha is a voracious reader and she would spend all her money on books. She gifted me a book out of nowhere and that book is “Autobiography of a Yogi”. Once I started reading, I could not put that book down and rest is what you call History :)

Back to Rishikesh

I was a regular at Rishikesh meditation retreats during 2011-12. Master used to conduct 14 days retreats and most of the participants were his European disciples. Very few Indians came to those retreats except me, Piyush and Amit. By this time, we three became close to each other. The four of us including master spent a great deal of time together at nearby coffee shop and Rishikesh kriya yoga ashram. Most of the conversations were normal topics, sometimes spiritual too. We used to joke and laugh a lot. Vanisha came later but I never interacted with her when she was at Rishikesh. We became close only after she started working as retreat co-ordinator.

The Uno

Most people know me as the first Indian disciple of master. This is not true at all. Master started conducting Indian retreats since 2008, I joined in Oct 2010. There were many Indian disciples of master but I could say, I am the first Indian disciple who got close to him and wanted to help him in whichever way possible.

The Duo – Piyush and Amit

Piyush and Amit were friends from their college days. Both were alumni of IIT Kharagpur. Piyush did his MS in Statistics and Amit is a mechanical engineer. I got very close with them in couple of retreats. Three of us have one quality in common, we could laugh at anything and everything. No topic is serious for us, We even laugh at our meditation, god too. During this time, Piyush decided to focus only on meditation and took up an online job. He stayed for few years in Rishikesh Ashram and then in Dharmashala. He understood that realization doesn’t happen in few years and Later, He cracked ISS (Indian Statistical Service) civil services entrance exam which is similar to IAS and joined central govt as Deputy Director. Amit used to work at ONGC as mechanical engineer, but due to the hectic work schedule, resigned his job and started his own factory Tao Motors. He is making electric auto rickshaws now.

The Trio – Three Gunas

Once me, Piyush and Amit were coming from the coffee shop and master stood at ashram entrance. Looking at three of us, He said, “three gunas are coming”. I asked master, which of us are Satvik, Rajasik and Tamasik. He smiled and said, “All three are important” but didn’t answer my question. We three laughed and agreed Amit is Rajasik because of his busy activity. Piyush and Me are left and we both are contending for tamasik, not satvik.

I have been a very playful, jovial, witty, compassionate guy but I have one problem. I get angry very fast. I could compare this to a cobra who can hiss at a moment’s notice when it feels threatened. I tried to control my anger many times, but it’s involuntary for me. My best friend Waseema also told me many times, “Naak pe Gussa”. It means, “I got anger on my nose”.

In 2015 , we went to Varanasi for a retreat. Amit suggested master to visit Lahiri Mahasaya home. We took a boat on river ganges and reached the place. Lahiri Mahasaya house was locked and no one is living in that place. The shopkeeper near the house told us that a priest will visit every day in the evening to conduct Puja and will open the door. It was evening and we were waiting for the priest.

The Priest arrived and opened the door. I asked him to allow us inside, But he rejected us. I got very angry and started arguing with him. My face has turned red with anger. Master saw this and asked me to calm down, But I could n’t. I was not able to digest the fact that, the priest is not letting us inside. The priest came out of house after finishing the Puja, I again begged him and in a way threatened him too . He would not listen. Master warned me this time. I was not happy but as master said, I unwillingly let it go. By now, you should have understood who was Tamasik. :-)

Love from Self to Self

Master always used to thank me for all the support I am rendering related to website, trust and other practical issues. I used to joke with him, “Who is helping whom? Self is helping the Self”. Then, once in email he signed , “Love from Self to Self”

Whenever master assigned me a task related to ticket booking, website changes, hotel booking or any other practical task. I would just finish it very fast. He is always surprised and complimented, “I complete the task very fast”.

The Spiritual Seekers

In November 2011, Master expressed his interest to teach Indian students in other cities. I could not understand why he wanted to visit other places. Students can come to Rishikesh, if they are interested to learn kriya yoga. He insisted that we should conduct retreats in other cities. Master asked Piyush to look for a retreat place in Bangalore. Piyush who was at Bangalore during that time found a place called Smriti Nandan and we conducted our first retreat there in March 2012. After this, we started to conduct retreats in many places.

During Sept 2013, we conducted a retreat in Bangalore. Gururaj, Pavan and Vighnaraj got their initiations. Master told me that, “He is very happy to initiate some sincere students in the retreat”. Vanisha who got close to master by now, started helping us to conduct retreats at Aurobindo ashram, Delhi. Later, we conducted a retreat in every place where there was a Aurobindo ashram, Be it Ramgarh, Pondicherry, Haridwar. By 2014, I understood the reason why master insisted to conduct retreats at these places. Many sincere seekers got their initiations through these retreats. They would have missed if master didn’t visit their cities.

Kriya Teaching India Trust

Master asked me to register a trust formally as we started to conduct regular retreats. Master and Piyush were in Hyderabad for a retreat in March 2013. Master suggested to use the name “Kriya Teaching India Trust”, but I din’t like the name. I thought the name is too plain and simple. I wanted to register it as “Kriya Yoga Gurukul”. Master being who he is, simple, humble, silent without pomp insisted to use the name, Kriya Teaching India Trust. Me and Piyush registered the trust in April 2013. I am the Managing Trustee and Piyush being the General Secretary. Later master asked me to include Amit and Gururaj in the management board. Even though all of us are on management board, it is all namesake. The one, who is driving everything is Master :-)

For the first few years, trust was in financial loss. We spent a lot of money on advertisement in newspapers, google, facebook, classifieds. As master was from Norway, we also had travel and hotel expenses. But later, we dropped newspaper ads, classifieds as the results were not great. We only used google ads since then. Master would always tell me, “Best way is word of mouth”. Trust financial situation got stabilized after sometime. Master never took any money from the trust for personal reasons. He would just come, teach and go home.

Dharmashala – The Most Funny Retreat

It was May 2013 and Piyush was living at Dharmashala in a remote village far from the city. Master asked him to look for a possibility of conducting a retreat at his place. The village had only 10 homes. Piyush somehow managed to speak to the village elder and did make-shift arrangements. To our surprise, many people registered for the retreat including some european disciples. We stayed in their homes just like guests. One house is for meditation, one house is for dining and other houses are for staying :-)

The village was on a very steep hill. Everyone has to walk up the hill to reach the place. I lived my whole life as a hermit. I would hardly go out as my business was online and I have always worked from home. I was not used to walking like other people. I had a very tough time walking up the hill and I became a laughing stock for everyone because of my inability to walk up the hill. Seeing my plight, Master teasingly said, “Everyone in the heaven is laughing at you”. As I was witty, I replied, “Ok master, At least I am providing entertainment to their boring heavenly life”. Every one laughed.

South India Ashram

During the period between 2013-2017, Master felt an urge to build an ashram in South India. He felt that sincere seekers would need a place to meditate in isolation for few weeks. He looked for couple of places in the outskirts of Hyderabad and Bangalore. But, it never got materialized. Yes, the finances were an issue but we thought we could somehow pool the money. Our problem is something different. We don’t have a dedicated personnel to look after the construction and maintain the place later. Master was considering Amit and Piyush, But they got settled down in their jobs. I have my own business, so I am not the right candidate to manage the place.

I have convinced master that our retreat model is the best. Managing ashram is not a joke. It consumes a lot of energy. I have observed Rishikesh Ashram and Pyramid Valley very closely. There would be all kinds of problems related to finances, people and many other practical things. Our model is simple, we can rent any place in any city, stay for few days, pay them rent and say Good Bye. No strings attached and freedom to choose any place we want, if we don’t like the existing place..

The Picture Problem

Once in Rishikesh, I had to take pictures of master for the website. For some unknown reason, Master is not at all comfortable taking pictures or videos. I could understand his plight when people insist to take group picture during the retreat. He has changed a lot during these years. Earlier, He would not even allow me to maintain photo gallery on the website. Vanisha convinced him to record videos. He would never do it wholeheartedly. He would always pose in the picture that resembles a King with his left hand on his knee. I always loved his pose.

The Past Life Bug

In Bhagavad Gita, chapter 6, verse 42, 43. Krishna says, “If a human being practiced yoga and could not make it in this life, would come back again and start from where he left off.” This verse has struck a thought in me and I kept thinking about this for a long time, If I had a merit in my past life?, Can I make it in this life?

One day, I had an overwhelming experience during my meditation related to this longing and I questioned my qualities, my nature, my attitude and I was worried that I might not make it. I started crying vehemently and was feeling very sad. I used to meditate at night and the time was 2 AM. Suddenly, my phone rang and It was a call from my master. He consoled me in many ways and convinced me that I could make it If I continue to have the same longing for truth and intensity in my practice. After the phone call, I started to think, How does he know I was crying? Then, I concluded, He is capable of watching my meditation from anywhere. Not just mine, any disciple who meditates with intensity. He being a part of the Silence/Source, watching all our meditations is not a surprise at all.

Master says in his teaching, “We have to go all the way, however long it takes”. I have concluded that there is no point in lamenting about past life or qualities or merits. The possibility is in the present, Here and NOW, neither past nor future. Master writes in his spiritual efforts that it took him 19 years to get realized and the minimum time to achieve this marvelous feat is said to be 12 years.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a 15th century Bhakti Saint from Bengal says, “O my Lord! When shall my eyes be decorated with tears of love, flowing constantly while I chant Your holy name? When will my words be choked up when uttering the holy name? And when will all the holes of hair on my body have eruptions by the recitation of Your name?”

When I read statements like this, I do long for such a beautiful experience. I sometimes wonder, what it means to be a realized being, the bliss, the state of being, the calm composure. the union, the equanimity, transcending the dualities of life such as pain and pleasure, like and dislike, good and evil.

Where is the Flower and it’s Fragrance?

My longing and craving for realization is such, I would look for spiritual experience in the form of silence now and then. It happens to many seekers in the path, I used to bug my master about silence and he would patiently answer me, “If you want to have a flower, seed it, protect it. All stages of the flowering plant are perfect, be it root, shoot, branches, leaves, bud and then flower. If there is a problem in the process, flowering will not happen”. Even though I understood what master said, My mind still thinks, It is all okay master but “Where is the flower?” and “Where is the fragrance?” :- )

Karma and Dharma

As I have read many books, I came to a conclusion that Karma is nothing but our thought process, our tendencies, our likes, dislikes. our cravings, our pre-conceived notions. The present life of a being is a result of those past life tendencies. Our future life will be the result of our present tendencies. Paramahansa Yogananda says, one can escape all these tendencies good or bad, If a being succeeds to establish themselves in their true nature.. Then, all the tendencies will be stored as a memory in the cosmic self and the being will be absolutely free of them.

If I have to use an analogy, Imagine you are riding a gaint wheel, which keeps on moving and which never stops. As long as you don’t jump out of it, you keep going round and round and round. If you succeed to jump out of it, then you are free from the circular rounds.

In a retreat, I asked master about Karma. I wanted to understand how it works. He simply said, “There is only Dharma”. Dharma means the eternal truth. In Hindu traditions, this is been referred as Sanatana Dharma. Most people think Dharma means doing the right thing. According to my understanding, the only right thing to do is, to realize one’s true nature.

What is our true nature? It is been explained in these statements – Tat Tvam Asi ( You are ONE ) , Aham Brahma Asmi ( I am Brahman or Divine ). In another words, You are Divine but you Forgot. One has to strive all their life to attain the divine nature also known as self-realization which was lost. There are many paths to achieve this and every path is acceptible. Once a being establish themselves in their divinity, there is no Karma for that being. The Game is OVER. He or She is referred as Jivan Mukta, Liberated being Alive.

Gautama Buddha calls Dharma as “Dhamma” because Pali was the language which was spoken during his period.

House Warming

It was Feb 2015, I have built a new home. My business partner and best friend Waseema with the help of her husband took care of everything including construction and interior design. I have invited Master, Piyush, Amit, Gururaj and Vanisha for the ceremony. Master, Piyush and Amit made it and stayed at my new home for couple of days. We conducted a retreat in Hyderabad during this time with the help of my dear friend Sampath who calls me elder brother out of love and respect. I felt very happy and delighted as master has graced the occasion.

Bhaava – The Feeling

Once in a retreat, me, Piyush and Amit were discussing the saints feeling towards God. We discussed about Meera who considered Krishna as her husband. Akka Mahadevi considered Shiva as her husband. Ramakrishna would consider God as his Mother Kali, Jesus Christ would consider God as his Father. The topic diverted from God to Master and our feeling towards master. Piyush and Amit readily agreed themselves as obedient disciples of master. I could say Gururaj, Kalyan, and Vighnaraj had a similar feeling towards master. I have a feeling of friend towards master. I have a great love for him and whenever I see him, I feel like hugging him. I am a very independent guy with liberal ideas but for some reason, I just can’t say “NO” to master even If I don’t agree with his views.

Vanisha used to take great care of master in terms of his nourishment and well being. She is always concerned about his food and health just like a mother would worry about her children. For this reason, I could say she has the feeling of mother towards master. I asked her once and she confirmed this. I teased master once in Varanasi while eating some oily breakfast. I said, “Master, Did you ask your mother if you can eat this?”. He smiled :-)

Meditation Retreats

Piyush, Amit and Vanisha played a major role in identifying places for retreats and conducted them gracefully. Later, Gururaj joined the team as co-ordinator for Bangalore retreats. Pavan and Anil who were friends with Gururaj started helping us. Shantu did accounting for Bangalore retreats. After sometime Vighnaraj and Kalyan too helped us to conduct retreats as program co-ordinators.

Rajan conducted retreats at his home town Nashik. Vanisha with the help of Ramgarh and Delhi participants conducted retreats at Goa, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Ravi from Delhi helped us to conduct retreat in New Jersey. I have always provided back-end logistics support for the retreat programs but was never in the forefront. Master used to tease me that I work from my Hyderabad cave :-)

I have always attended Bangalore program at Pyramid Valley as it’s close to Hyderabad. I became close to Bangalore team, Gururaj, Pavan, Anil, Vighnaraj and Kalyan. At times, I used to stay at Gururaj’s place to spend some quality time with Master. Gururaj’s mother and his wife Namitha would treat me with lot of love and affection.

Master, being a European would not eat Indian spicy food much. He prefers boiled vegetables with salt and pepper. Gururaj’s Mom used to joke with me that she will serve me master’s food. She knows very well that being a Hyderabadi, I eat only spicy food. I answered, “Aunty, I will better run away from your place”.

Quality vs Quantity

In one of the Bangalore retreats, there were very few participants. I lamented about this to Master. He smilingly said, “Even If there is one participant, I would gladly teach”. I could understand the essence of master. He is not worried about the total number of people attending the retreat. He always looks for sincere seekers. He feels happy in the retreat when he finds those kind of people.

Master’s Teachings

Master’s teaching starts with a simple phrase, “Hello Everyone, Please close your eyes”. That is it. No Words, No Sermons, No Speeches. From the very first moment, He is teaching his disciples,

• Be deeply inside, what you experience is because of Life, It is not my Power.
• The breath is directly connected to the Life, Be your Breath
• No one is Above, No one is Below
• Creator is enjoying his creation through his creatures
• His favorite statement is, “You just Practice”.

Master mentioned in one his books, “Kabir in the Light of Kriya” that his longing for truth in his early days was similar to that of Kabir’s sayings. It is been said that Lahiri Mahasaya was Kabir in one of his past lives. Bhagodas, a close disciple of Kabir remembered all his sayings and compiled them which is popularly known as Kabir Bijak. This incident reminds me of another event when Ananda, chief attendant disciple of Buddha also remembered Buddha’s teachings verbatim which helped to propagate Buddhism after Buddha’s death.

I could compare master’s teaching style to that of Zen. It is about being in the essence without words. This method of teaching first happened between Buddha and his disciple Maha Kashyapa who is one of the ten disciples. When Buddha touched a white flower and smiled, It is said that only Kashyapa understood the meaning.

There is a similar incident that happened between Lahiri Mahasaya and one of his eminent disciples Swami Kebalananda . He says, ” To be with him, even without exchanging a word for days, was experience which changed my entire being”.

The Beauty of Kriya Yoga

I think Self- Realization is neither easy nor hard, It’s just tricky. If one can succeed to hop the mind and get inside, you will be in Silence. But the problem is, to hop the mind, the device you have is mind itself. Lahiri Mahasaya says, “Mind is nothing but your Breath”. If one can observe the breath with attention and focus, be the breath, you will get back to your source.

Kriya Yoga is said to be the most favorable option for the present generation because of the following reasons.

• You don’t need to be an ascetic
• You don’t need to have any knowledge of scriptures
• You don’t need to worry about your thoughts
• You don’t need to follow any rituals
• You don’t need to worry about your diet
• You don’t need to worry about controlling your mind

All you need to do is, practice your kriya yoga techniques regularly with a longing in your heart. Just like an iron object gets magnetized when you keep rubbing it with a magnet and becomes a magnet itself by losing it’s iron nature. When you keep touching Silence in your meditation, You slowly get acquainted with the quality of Self, Someday, just like the iron object, You too will become Self by losing your duality.

Shyama Charan Lahiri said, “Banat, Banat, Ban Jaye”. It means one will become, in the process of making.

Per Harald Wibe says, “Through the practice everything is improved; the present, the past and the future. All connected in the level of no-duality, in the Being”

The Norwegian Muni

I would call my master a present day “Muni” because of his whole attitude towards spirituality. He never gives speeches, always answers disciple’s questions in simple words with understandable examples. He maintains silence most of the time. He always insists his disciples to practice and asks them to focus on the essence without words. He writes, “Words are not able to express the truth, beyond one’s description, We find a new level of silence and truth”.

The conversation style between two individuals in Puranas and Tantras always fascinated me. The way, they address each other with various names, their features and qualities. I find it very beautiful.

When I hear the names Narada Muni, Shakya Muni I feel very good. Gautama Buddha is known as Shakya Muni because he belonged to Shakya clan. In a similar manner, I wanted to call my master “Norwegian Muni” because he is most of the time in silence (Mouna) and he is from Norway. Muni is someone who practice Silence without much talking.

Master once lamented that I started calling him “Master” and every one in India is calling him “Master” since then. His european disciples would call him with his first name “Per”. Being an Indian, It was hard for me to address my Guru as “Per”. In norwegian language, “Saint Peter” is known as Per. Actually, I wanted to call him Gurudev, but he din’t like it. I should have tried calling him “Mr. Wibe” instead of Master :-)

The Love of Disciples

Disciples would shower so much love and affection on master wherever he goes. Some would gift him shawls, sweets, dry fruits, chocolates, biscuits and fruits. Gururaj, Amit, Piyush, Vanisha, Anil and Kalyan would take care of his personal needs when he is at a retreat. I remember Gururaj and Piyush shedding tears when master took flight back to home. Piyush used to sign the emails for master as “Your Little Child”.

Piyush, Amit and Vanisha helped master to edit his books. Yearning of the Soul, Kabir in the light of Kriya and Christ Parables. Gururaj and Vighnaraj helped master to update the website design. Kalyan Chakravarthi edited some videos and articles. Gururaj with the help of Peacock Murali printed the books.

God vs Mobile Phone

Master and Me stayed at Vighnaraj’s home during a Bangalore retreat. We took the apartment lift to go down to the parking lot. Vighna, after touching his pockets exclaimed loudly, “My Phone” and immediately pressed the lift button to stop the lift. He ran so fast to collect his phone from home. Master listening to this said, ” I wish, the Phone was God”. I laughed listening to this comment. It was so true, If everyone can remember god in the same manner, they think of their mobile phones every few minutes, one would achieve it in no time.

Deviation from the Path

It is quite common to loose our focus while walking the spiritual path which is long and at times tiresome when we don’t get the desired results . Apart from this, there could be many reasons for deviation such as family issues, work related, mood, lack of interest or something else. I too got deviated many times over the years and could not practice every day. Retreats are always helpful to get our inspiration back.

It was August 2017, My meditations were very intense and I took a decision to focus myself on meditation completely leaving the work. I spoke to my business partner Waseema to take over the business and run it with the help of her son. Waseema thinks very high of me and convinced me that I should keep working and she can’t replace me. I gave it a thought and concluded that I need to make a lot of money and retire soon.

I started three different projects related to Cyber Security, Gaming and Blockchain. To my utmost surprise, all the projects were a disaster one after the other. I have lost seven crores ($1 Million) by 2020. During this three year period, my meditations hardly happened. Even If I did, there was no intensity. As the saying goes “Man Proposes, God Disposes”. After losing the money, I have completely lost interest in new business and started focusing on my meditations again.

The deviation might happen to the best of sincere seekers in the path but there was one exception. The name of that exception is Kalyan Chakravarthi from Bangalore. This guy might skip his breakfast, lunch and dinner but would not skip his daily meditation. I am not sure about myself and others, but Kalyan will make it some day for sure just because of his steadfast determination and longing. If Life allows, He wants to run to a nearby forest and meditate whole day in solitude :-)

Babaji’s Cave, Dunagiri, Uttarakhand

After Ramgarh, Himalayas retreat, Master and Amit went on a holiday. They went to visit Babaji Cave, Dunagiri as it was nearby where they were staying. This is the same place that was mentioned in “Autobiography of a Yogi” where Lahiri Mahasaya got his initiation and Babaji built a beautiful palace. It is been said by Yogananda that Lahiri Mahasaya was King Janaka in one of his past lives. The Palace was King Janaka’s home.

Master liked the serene hills, Babaji Cave and again visited Kukuchina village, Dunagiri with Piyush and Prashanta. He wanted to find a place to conduct meditation retreats there. Luckily, Master found Joshi Guest House. The Babaji cave retreat has become very popular and many disciples have shown their interest in participation.

The Eight year long wait is over!

Online Teaching was first proposed by master in the year 2012. Master, Amit, Piyush and me have brainstormed it many times but nothing concrete came out of those discussions. During a Pondicherry retreat in 2015, Master and Amit started working on the document. Amit told me, “It was fun most of the time, they would write one paragraph and would go for a walk or coffee”. After finishing the document, Amit asked master to publish it on the website. He replied, “I will let you know, We are not in a Hurry”. The online teaching was published after five years in the year 2020 because of the Corona situation.

I reminded master about this recently and He said, “At the age of 70, I was not in a hurry. I am a slow guy!”. Master was born on 31 May 1945 and He was 70 years old in 2015. I replied to master, “Noah built Ark at 90, you were 20 years younger”. He laughed at my comment. :-)

Selfless Efforts

When I look at the Photo gallery of kriyabanservice website, I feel very happy. I could see the tireless efforts of Master from the past 10 years. He took 12 hours long flight every few months from Norway to reach India. Even though, He was between 65 – 75 years of age during the period of 2010- 2020, He would travel in economy and never complained about the fatigue.

He stayed in different places and hotel rooms for many days leaving the comforts of his own home. He survived on spicy Indian cuisine leaving his European food habits. He could bear the heat of Indian sun leaving the cold winters of Norway behind. In the span of 10 years, He conducted over 100 retreats all over India and covered all the major cities. Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ramgarh-Himalayas, Dunagiri – Babaji Cave, Nashik and few other places.

Many sincere seekers got their initiations all over the country. These sincere aspirants are the people who drives Master to overcome his travel fatigue and teach. The joy of spending time with his loving disciples and the pleasure he feels when he initiates a sincere student is what he always craves for.

It is my sincere wish that he stay healthy for a long period of time and deliver his disciples from duality.

A Poem for Norwegian Muni

How can I tread this ocean of existence?
You are my navigator

How can I cross this forest of troubles?
You are my map

How can I walk in darkness of ignorance?
You are my lamp

How can I get closer to truth?
You are my guide.

Whom to thank for this lovely gift?
Ofcourse Life, Ofcourse Life

Thank you for being with me, time and again.

What did I achieve?

It’s been a decade and I would question myself, What did I achieve with ten years of meditation?. Well, I would answer, nothing much except my Perception towards Reality. These are the things I have learnt on the way….

• God is not about Knowledge, It is about Experience
• Stop worrying about Past and Future
• Whatever is supposed to happen will happen
• Patience is a Virtue
• Let the candle called “Longing” keep burning