TV Channel

Part 1: Satguru Rakhovālājī Hamārī: Devotion, Protection, and the Bhajan Tradition We are on page 201. This is the bhajan “Satguru Rakhovālājī Hamārī”. It says to the Guru: please be my protector. I have come into your shelter, into your protection, so please take care of me. This bhajan draws on the traditions from the Purāṇas, with different stories that describe the relationship between the devotee and either God or the devotee and their guru. The first story is of a young boy called Prahlāda, a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu, of Hari. He is a boy of complete devotion, but he has a father who is a rākṣasa, a demon obsessed with being the king of the world, who wants everyone to worship him instead of Hari. His son does not think that way, and the father spends much time sending him to different schools for retraining. Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī—and He will protect you. The boy goes towards a pillar, and as he comes close, he realizes it is not glowing red hot but is covered in tiny, benevolent red ants—not the fire ants of Australia’s eastern coast. And so he embraces the pillar. The story has a backstory: the demon king had been cursed because of past misdeeds when he was close to God’s gates. But God promises to come and release him from this curse each time. As the boy embraces the pillar, it splits open, and an incarnation of Viṣṇu emerges, known as Narasiṁha. The father had taken a boon that he cannot be killed by a weapon, cannot be killed in daytime or nighttime, and cannot be killed inside or outside—almost making him immortal. This form of Viṣṇu catches the king on the doorstep of his castle (neither inside nor outside), at dusk (neither day nor night), and then holds out his claws because the Narasiṃha incarnation is half lion, half human. He asks, “Are these weapons?” and the king replies, “Well, no.” Then the Lord releases him from that body and from the curse. But the story in this bhajan is really about the boy and devotion. I quite love this story. It is gory and a little unpleasant, but that is not why I love it. What I love is the idea of the boy approaching that pillar and being open to seeing it as those little ants. Not that we all go and embrace glowing hot pillars, but what I find is often when we have our own issues, problems, or things we need to go through, in our aversion we avoid them. And often when we turn towards those things that are most challenging and look them straight on, we see they are not quite as bad as we thought. For me, that is part of faith: having faith not just in God or the Guru to protect you, but having faith in yourself to be able to deal with the situation, to go through it. If you have just taken a mantra, to use the strength of that mantra to go through your practice. I find that a really powerful story to think about how we deal with things. The second story is of an elephant. It takes place on an island. The elephant, because of past egotism as a king, has been reborn as an elephant. He is the king of elephants, a great beast, traipsing through the jungle with a whole herd behind him, and he comes to the water to drink. In the water is a terrible alligator, and it grabs him by the foot and drags him down. They fight, spiraling around in the water for a hundred years. The elephant, believing he is the greatest and strongest, will win; the crocodile does not let go. Eventually, the elephant plucks a lotus from the water’s surface with his trunk and offers it to Viṣṇu, to Hari. At that moment, it is said, Hari comes in an instant, leaving his vehicle, the Garuḍa, the giant bird, and comes down to save the bhakta in need, the devotee in need. I also find this quite a beautiful story, the idea that often it is just about letting go, accepting other people’s help, or accepting that something is there. If you just ask, then the Guru will give you the answer or the help you need. Or maybe just change the way you are thinking about something for a moment, and it can all change, and you are back up on the surface. The third story is of Queen Draupadī—a very long story. I don’t want to go on too long or we’ll reach the end of satsaṅg. In brief, she is in a hall with some nasty fellows, and as they try to disrobe her, Lord Krishna continuously covers her with cloth. Again, it is this idea of being protected. The fourth is of Mīrābāī, a devotee in the Rajasthani tradition, a princess who did not spend much time in the castle but spent all her time in her temple to Lord Krishna. Her family was obsessed with the idea that she should spend more time enjoying the treasures or pleasures of the realm rather than praying to her God. In time, her mother-in-law tried to poison her, and through her devotion and trust in God, that poison was turned into nectar. But the last bit of this fourth stanza is the one that for me is really important, and it says: Ese Bhakta Anantubādhi Abukim Merībādhī. “That type of devotee you are always saving, continuously saving,” says the writer of the bhajan. Who is holy Gurujī on the left-hand side of the altar, bottom row? Swāmī Mādhavānandajī writes this bhajan. He says, “That type of devotee, you are always saving. Now it’s my turn.” For me, when we are on a spiritual practice, part of making it work is actually believing it is now our turn. When you sit down for meditation, believe now it is your turn—that you will have a meditation, that you can meditate, that you can go into that peace, that it is yours. Not in a greedy or attached way, but just feeling worthy and open to that experience happening. Now it is our turn to actually be here in this room, be in the program, embrace it, and embrace all the energy and vibration that is there. We are here because we were brought to this point at this moment, and then just to open that and take everything out of it. Now it is your turn, when you are stretching in a yoga posture, to let your body and allow yourself to feel worthy of stretching a little bit further. Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp. The last bit is the writer of the bhajan offering it to his guru. In this case, Swāmī Mādhavānandajī is offering it to Mahāprabhujī. So, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jai. Now, a little of what I was talking about before: Indian traditions, yoga traditions, and the wisdom of yoga are passed through lineages known as paramparās. Within our tradition, Viśvagurujī is the holder of that wisdom, which has been realized from within him but also passed down through a lineage of masters who had that same realization. When we look at the altar here in the āśram, it expresses that lineage. On the left-hand side at the bottom, closest to Gurujī, is his Gurujī, Hindū Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Mādhavānandajī Mahārāj. He was from Rajasthan, from a village called Nippal. In Rajasthan, we have our main ashram; you can see a picture on the wall in the shape of Om. That is Gurujī’s big ashram and project, something unfolding in the desert that is quite amazing to visit and be part of. I was lucky enough to be there for a long time, as were many people here. About 100 kilometres from there, in a small village, Holy Gurujī had his āśram. You can visit and stay there, immersed in a vibration that is quite special and serene, especially in the mornings and evenings. There is a river bed next to the ashram, which rarely runs because it is a desert area. During the monsoon, when there is enough rain, it starts to flow. But even when dry, it has a certain personality or space that is quite special, right next to the ashram. Holy Gurujī’s Gurujī is in the middle of the altar, bottom row. That is Mahāprabhujī, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Mahāprabhujī. Mahāprabhujī is the source of many of these bhajans that I was singing earlier. He is like the centre of the āśram and its prayer. We were singing the first two prayers, prayers to Mahāprabhujī. Mahāprabhujī is from a village called Kāṭhū, Bāṛīkāṭhū, in the Nāgaur district of Rajasthan. There are two very special ashrams associated with Mahāprabhujī. One is in the middle of the sand dunes, a place known as the duna, or fireplace area, where he spent his time in austerity, sitting by a fire in a small room and doing his meditation again and again. The other āśram is more in the village, known as the bāgīcā, or garden. There he spent a lot of time in a hut, engaged in his practice, but also giving wisdom to the local villagers. There are still villagers in the area who knew Mahāprabhujī, who were there with him. He left his body in 1963, having lived for 134 years. He was very famous as a bhajan singer and writer. I had the pleasure of sitting and talking to some of them some years ago. They described the scene when Mahāprabhujī would have satsaṅg and start to sing. They said that when he would start to sing spontaneously new bhajans, someone among the devotees who were close to him had the duty of being there with a pencil and paper, writing them down. They were careful because they were never sure if he would sing the same bhajan again. When you go into those bhajans, as we touched on a few this evening, and see the wisdom inside them, you can imagine him suddenly expressing this incredible wisdom in song, just on the moment. For me, the idea of such a treasure that he may or may not sing again, and then writing it down and having it—those bhajans are now printed in the bhajan books of Mahāprabhujī, which we have as a treasure to sing, to learn from, and to share. That wisdom passes on through the paramparā, through Holī Gurujī and through Viśvagurujī, who explains that wisdom to us. Similarly, with Holī Gurujī, people in the areas where he used to stay in his āśrams would tell stories of him singing. I mentioned before about programs where the singing goes from dusk until dawn. Some tell me that when Holy Gurujī would start to sing in the evening at dusk, people would not rush to come because they knew he himself was going to sing continuously until dawn. He would sing bhajans without a book, all from memory. Śrī Śrī... Siddhis, or powers of yoga, or perfections—one of the ideas within yoga is that as you perfect yourself and the techniques, certain powers or qualities come within you, things beyond normal thinking. He... To the left, as we look, of Śrī Devpurījī is Śrī Alakhpurījī. Śrī Alakhpurījī is the source of our paramparā. Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam, Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam... At Viśvagurujī’s feet, and getting that wisdom through him that is transmitted through all of that lineage to us now. Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jai.