Siddharth: You spend most of your time sitting by the fire. Do you also communicate with the fire?
Maharaj: Yes, of course. It has an element of Divine consciousness. This is Agni-Dev. If I offer it refreshment, it accepts it. If you simply place an offering in the temple, it remains untouched. Offer refreshment to the fire in dhuni, and the fire eats it. In our temple we do not offer sweets to the Deities. We offer prasad to Agni Deva through the medium of dhuni. If the sweet prasad is left in the temple, then the ants eat it. Some dedicate their puja to fire, some to dhuni. It doesn’t matter to whom you do puja. You can dedicate puja to a tree.
Siddharth: Maharaj, you already know many Russian people, have met with many. Is there any message you could pass on specifically for Russians?
Maharaj: I have already conveyed all meanings and messages to Russian people – both during my trips to Russia and here, sitting in the ashram. Do nama-chintan, do seva, look at everything from the position of love and compassion, treat everything with kindness and love. One who has love in their heart is capable of much. God comes where there is love. A bee sits only on the flower that is filled with honey-bearing aroma. Ishvara comes only to one whose heart is filled with love and bhakti. He comes to no one else.
Maharaj, 2015
Third Conversation: Practice
The next day, again around noon, Maharaj was sitting with devotees and talking about something mundane, and then fell completely silent. We sat nearby, with the recorder ready – in case there was still an opportunity to talk with Maharaj once more. The silence continued, and then I gave a sign to the translator. She addressed Maharaj like this: «Can we have another satsang?» He replied, surprisingly, that throughout this time, nothing but satsang had been happening. This indicated that satsang was perpetually ongoing in his presence, even if it’s not obvious. After all, the word satsang itself translates from Sanskrit as «connection with Truth,» «communion with Truth.»
However, Maharaj still allowed us to put a lavalier microphone on him to answer a few more questions.
Siddharth: Is repetition of the Name the main thing you recommend? The main sadhana for everyone?
Vankhandi Maharaj: Even Tulsidas wrote many years ago: when Kali Yuga comes and humanity becomes mired in sin and sinks into the darkness of ignorance, the spiritually seeking person will have only one path left – to keep attention on the Divine and repeat God’s Name. The Divine Name will become the only ray of light, the guiding thread that will lead a person to the pure shore of Truth. Tulsidas called the repetition of God’s Name adhara – the foundation and core of human spiritual practice. Otherwise one cannot stand firm.
What matters here is your attitude towards this practice. This sadhana will only work when you invest spiritual fervor, love, and firm faith into this process – shraddha, prem, and vishwas. These three components – the heat of your heart, love, and faith – ignite the spark, activate the Name, infuse life into It and fill It with power. The Name comes alive, gains power and immortality. It becomes the Name of Paramatma for you.
And then, on the wings of this Name, you either fly to freedom or achieve the fulfillment of samsaric desires and aspirations. That’s up to you. Whatever goal you set in your sadhana. If you want worldly happiness and success in samsara, the Name will give it to you. If you want mukti, It will help you attain mukti.
Someone from the gathering: And what if you want both?
Maharaj: It doesn’t work that way. You can’t catch both birds with one hand. I said yesterday that if you have tea in your glass and you want to drink milk from this glass, you’ll have to pour out the tea.
Siddharth: On one hand, I realize that mukti is most important for a person, that it is the only true goal of human existence. But on the other hand, I still have some unfulfilled worldly desires. I still want something from this world although I would prefer to be liberated and as soon as possible. What would you recommend in this case?
Maharaj: If you truly want to attain mukti, then the Name you repeat will gradually remove all other desires from your life to clear the path for mukti. Such is the power of Its influence. A Name written on stone can move that stone and work miracles with it. By the power of the Name «Rama» inscribed on stones, Hanuman was able to build a bridge across the sea to Sri Lanka.
The Name is beyond time. Time erases and devours everything, but the Name remains.
Mahatma Gandhi left life long ago, but his name lives on. The whole world knows and reveres Gandhi. He was born in a simple family and was an ordinary person. But all his life, on the advice of a saint, he repeated the name «Rama, Rama.» It never left his lips until the end of life. It was this Name that helped him show such persistence in struggle, endure many privations, maintain tyaga12. He achieved his goals and now the world repeats his name with great respect.
That’s why I say that the Name you repeat carries a powerful charge of energy. Take, for example, murti, a stone or clay idol. It has no energy. But in its Name there is energy. Murti is an inanimate object. It doesn’t eat or drink, but when you direct your consciousness toward it and repeat its Name with fervor, love and faith, the murti opens up and enters into interaction with you.
This is how Ramakrishna Paramahansa acted. In one hand he held a laddu sweet and offered it to goddess Kali, in the other hand he held a sword. «Either Kali will come to me and accept the offering, or I plunge the sword into my neck and take my life.» He himself put himself before such a harsh choice. It was not a game or simple threat. Thus he had paved his way to interaction with Kali, to the sight and knowledge that came from Her. He was actually ready to die, to take his own life. And Kali came and accepted his prasad.
This is the uniqueness of human beings – they possess inner strength, will and the ability to concentrate consciousness on the Name. The Name comes alive and manifests its energy.
Siddharth: So, we choose the Name that attracts us and begin to repeat It. But do we need to prepare for this beforehand, perform any special rituals connected with this?
Maharaj: There must be purity and love in the heart13. That’s all. This is the main condition. And where and how you repeat the Name doesn’t matter.
Hanuman transmitted the Name «Ram» through every cell of his body and could himself catch the vibration of the sound «Ram» at a distance – in every word spoken by someone, in others’ thoughts, in phenomena and things. Although even he could make a mistake. Once a man was standing on the road, relieving himself, and in complete detachment was repeating the Name of God, Rama. Seeing this, Hanuman became indignant and kicked the sinner. After some time, he came to God Rama, and found him sitting and rubbing his bruised side. Hanuman sympathetically asked what happened. Rama replied: «Well, it was you, Hanuman, who kicked me!» Hanuman