Param Pujya Kakashri once spoke the words, “Pragat prabhu ni orkhan to chhe, chhe ne chhe ja, gaiya ja nathi, gaiya ja nathi, gaiya ja nathi” – “We have the association of the manifest form of God, He has not gone, He has not gone, He has not gone.”
Guruhari Pappaji Maharaj manifested on this earth on Bhadarava vad Chhath (1st September 1916).
Shreeji Maharaj has explained in Vach Amdavad 4 that even though it appears that God takes birth just like a normal Human being, He simply manifests in a human form, and although it may appear that God dies like a normal human being actually He only becomes un-manifest in the human form.
Gunatitanand Swami rhetorically asked, “When the satpurush becomes un-manifest (in the human form) does He stop caring for His devotees? The answer is that He never stops caring for His devotees”.
In the same way it may appear that Guruhari Pappaji is not present today in the Human form, but He will always be with us spiritually. This is what is meant by pratyaksh, that is, for those who have attained Pappaji Maharaj as their swarup, if we keep Him then He is always alive within our heart, mind and soul. After Pappaji left His corporeal body, once Dr Neelamben asked a sadhak how they felt now that Pappaji was no longer here? The haribhakta replied that he missed Pappaji but right from the start he had made it a habit to keep Pappaji from within, that is, the sadhak had kept Pappaji as pratyaksh. Pappaji Maharaj once had said that we should make our stithi (spiritual level) such that it makes no difference whether Pappaji is here or not.
In the present day, Guruhari is working through His swarupo, the satsang seniors and He is constantly with us in the form of shaswat (in an eternal ever present divine form). There were two school friends who were spiritually inclined, when they grew up one joined an ashram and attained spiritual powers whilst the other became Pappaji’s bhakta. After a number of years the friends met by accident, whilst talking the friend with the spiritual powers said to other that he could see someone with him, a presence that was guiding and protecting him. So Pappaji’s bhakta invited his friend to his home. There he had the murti of Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj and so on, but his friend went straight to Pappaji’s murti and said it was Pappaji that he could see always with his friend.
This is the divine vision that we should keep, however we often let our minds wonder elsewhere and we let our crude nature get the better of us such that we lose that vision. A haribhakta in his final hours called his mother in the middle of the night and said, “Look Pappaji and Sonaba have come, can you not see them?” His mother replied that she could not see them, to which the haribhakta replied, “They are always here but you do not know how to see them!”
It therefore should be our goal to:
- Feel His presence and bliss from within at every moment (in the form of pratyaksh)
- See Him right here and right now (in the form of shaswat)
In this way may we all experience the joy of pratyaksh Pappaji at every moment, and as per Vach II 48 where Maharaj says that there is no reason for Him to take re-birth but He would like to make reason so that He can stay in midst of such bhakto, may we keep Pappaji Maharaj by adhering to His principles and teachings such that Pappaji always stays in our midst.