The furnace in which our entire world was disintegrated and which aided the process of purification of our soul, pride, ego, emotive mind, intellectual mind began in 1952 and lasted until 1965. Bapa instigated various incidents which granted me several spiritual experiences and also led to my lok, bhog, déha, paksh, vasna, swabhav and anga to become totally dissolved. My mayik indriyas and antahkaran were transformed, they became amayik, divine, and full of conviction for God. Ever since Bapa granted Dadubhai the experience of sakshatkar, he believed Yogiji Maharaj to be a pratyaksh swaroop, and began to proclaim this, but there were many who opposed strongly. Once one has become firmly devoted to pratyaksh swaroop – His word is the bond, the rest should be disregarded. One who makes such a resolution finds that he becomes free of impurities such as lok, kirti (fame) etc. etc. Dadubhai and company – the whole Tardev mandal were experiencing the effects of ferocious maya which was wild and totally uncontrollable. This experience which began in 1952 lasted until 1965. We only survived this attack from maya through the divine strength and guidance afforded us by Swamibapa. Otherwise, not even the mightiest or bravest muktos would have been able to withstand these attacks. It must have been our Patidar traits, Bapa’s divine strength together with a previous bond with Maharaj, which we must have had, which allowed us to pass through this experimental furnace unscathed. It was definitely Bapa who helped us survive these episodes of our lives.
This all stemmed from the sankalp Swamibapa must have made back in 1925 before he came to Shashtriji Maharaj, that this time he wished to create a Brahm-niyantrit Gunatit Samaj. We only realised this in 1966 when the separation of the sanstha had started. Every incident so far had been a part of His great plan; we recognised this fact when the great segregation of the Swaminarayan movement took place. Bapa had instigated the incidents to break up the sanstha that He Himself had built, in order to accomplish His sankalp of bringing about a majestic Brahm-niyantrit Gunatit Samaj. At that time, Dayabhai Meghani visited Swami Bapa in Bochasan and asked “Swami, should we now send all the santos and benos back to their own homes?” Swami said “No. I have toiled for 40 years for this accomplishment and they are the fruits of my labour. You must take care of them.” Meghani came to Vidyanagar and relayed this to me.
In 1960 – 1961 a yuvak approached Bapa and asked “Bapa, you have said that the word of Swaminarayan will spread throughout the universe, that not even a leaf will remain untouched and that each haribhakta will have one lakh followers. However, presently as soon as we have accumulated a few thousand devotees, you seem to instigate just one incident in such a manner that they all seem to abandon the satsang. The devotees which numbered ten thousand before such incidents dwindles to only ten! When you went to Mombasa for the installation of the deities, so many devotees gathered, then you instigated the incident regarding Vakilsaheb and at arti time there were only two devotees present; Becharkaka and C.T. Patel. Why are you doing this?”. Bapa said “My first priority is to train fifty-one leaders – through them the satsang will spread.” This shows that whatever the great divine swaroop undertakes to do, He does it with precise calculations of all the consequences in mind. After the segregation, Bhatt Saheb went to Gondal for darshan of the deities and was not allowed into the temple. A haribhakta said to Bapa “Muktos wishing to do darshan should not be turned away from the temple. Why were Bhatt Saheb and his father refused the darshan? “. Bapa said “Why did he go there anyway? If he was refused the darshan then he should not insist upon it. The Indian Government may fail in its mission, but Shreeji Maharaj (meaning himself) will never fail to achieve whatever He wills. Whatever happens is for the best. “
We can see today that everything did work out for the best with able leaders (ékantikos with Sthiti ) in both factions – i.e. lead by Pramukh Swami on one side and Dadubhai on the other. Bapa created a Gunatit Samaj with ékantikos heading the various areas. Madhav Swami in Bochasan, Gnan-swaroop Swami in Sarangpur, Tyaag-Vallabh Swami in Atladra, Hariprasad Swami in Sokhda, Aksharvihari Swami in Sankarda. Mahant Swami, Doctor Swami in Amdavad etc. etc. In each case – they have continued to spread that word of Swaminarayan just as Bapa had done.
Let us return to the year of 1963. Bapa summoned Dadubhai and Pappaji to Shastriji Maharaj’s chamber and said “Let us set up a separate fraternity for the benos”. At that time the benos such as Jyotiben, Taraben, Hansa-Didi and Deviben who intended to devote their lives to God were living in Tardev. I asked “Where?” Bapa replied “Build a place of residence on the plot of land you own in Vidyanagar.” I said “But Vidyanagar is a university town, full of mischievous roguish, youths. Benos will have to spend their wholes lives there, and I feel that no one will accept this”. But Bapa insisted on Vidyanagar as the site. I added further “Bapa, at present you are here and if you asked us to build it in the jungle, we would do so knowing that You will lead them to the highest spiritual status. But what will happen when you are no longer here?” Bapa said, “Will a satpurush ever cease to exist? He will be here for eternity – thus build it in Vidyanagar” and we all agreed to build Gunatit Jyot on the plot of land I owned in Vidyanagar.
In November 1963, a shibir was held in Ganeshpuri, so that benos could practice being in communion with God and develop their own independent techniques of doing so. We gave discourses on the Vachnamruts selected by Bapa. Nearly the whole Bombay mandal attended and there P. Ben initiated all those benos who had decided to devote their lives to the service of God. Everything went so smoothly, it was as if God had intended it to happen.
After this a second Sadhna Shibir was held at Varsova in which I had been inspired to write on the subject of “What code of conduct should be followed by those who intend to dedicate their lives to the service of God?”. Discourses based on this topic were given and a book ‘Anoopam 5’ containing these discourses was also published later. The benos put these principles into practice and by 1966, P Ba, P Ben, P Kashiba, Jyotiben, Taraben, Hansaben and Deviben having mastered the techniques, had become so accomplished that they were able to guide others on the spiritual path.
In 1966, P. Bapa started a remarkable spiritual feat which no other spiritual leader had ever had the courage or determination to do. This was the obliteration of a sanstha for which He had toiled all his life. He instigated the segregation process (Vimukh Prakran) and caused the sanstha to be divided. No one had ever dreamt that this would happen, let alone that Bapa would instigate it Himself.
Bapa split the samaj into two factions; those whose lives were predominated by mahatmya and those whose lives were predominated by swadharma. The former were the followers of Dadukaka and those santos, benos, grahastos had formed a habit of running to Bapa every time some incident occurred affecting their déhabhav etc. They ran to Bapa for comfort and consolation and Bapa could not continue his work of purifying them. Hence Bapa instigated the Vimukh Prakran to restrain them from approaching him but placed them under the supervision of ékantikos whom He had personally coached. These experienced ékantikos looked after them and through katha, varta, darshan and samagam did not let them stray from the spiritual path.
Bapa only allowed the segregation to occur once the construction of Gunatit Jyot had been completed and the benos had moved to Vidyanagar. Although maya had been throwing tantrums for the segregation since 1952, Bapa had restrained it. Maya had been boiling and bubbling and now like a volcano it had erupted! Bapa used this opportunity to test all our followers and if they passed he would begin the task of purifying their inner beings. Each follower was tested on his or her fundamental vasna, man, swad, snéha, lobh and kam which is the cause for a rebirth to fulfil that vruti. Each of the benos were tested in this manner via their relations. In these tests, those benos who remained firm in their decision to dedicate their lives to God, stating they would do so under the guidance of P. Ba, passed the test and Bapa began the task of purifying their souls.
Santos too were tested to ascertain that they did not get involved in malicious gossip under any circumstances whatsoever, as per Vachnamrut G II 60. Those that passed these tests were placed under the guidance of P. Hariprasad Swamiji and P. Aksharvihari Swamiji with P. Dadukaka and Kantikaka as their guardians.
Bapa tested every grahusta haribhakta individually. He used their closest counterparts to test their weaknesses. If the grahastos did not abide strictly by Vachnamrut G II 28 and G II 46 – then they would surely fail by taking abhav and would participate in gossip. For example, Vallabhdas Sakaria father of Anoopam Mission, England was asked to write maliciously regarding P. Ben and then to sign it. Vallabhdas refused and remained firm in his decision saying that Maharaj has strictly prohibited it. He said that he did not intend to go against Maharaj and thus be exiled. Hence, he became even closer to Maharaj and is experiencing inner tranquillity, peace and bliss. Those that acted steadfastly and firmly according Swami ni Vato 4-140 (Chapter 4, Verse 140) have found that Maharaj and Yogi Maharaj have granted them inner peace and tranquillity and have now been established as the leaders of various mandals.
The mandals of P. Saheb and P. Haribhai followed the same principles and abided by Bapa’s word without getting involved in any kind of malice. As they remained firm and forthright in their belief, Maharaj did not allow obstacles to hinder their sadhna and Saheb established the first brahmgnan college in Vidyanagar for bhaios.
The benos moved to Gunatit Jyot Vidyanagar on June 1st, 1966. For the benos to attain the highest spiritual status, become ékantikos who were beyond prakruti-purush and live in this world as chaitanya-mandir, they must pass the tests of lok, bhog, déha and paksh just as Kaka, Pappa, Ba, Jyoti, Tara, Kantikaka had done before them.
* Shida agad padhra
* Rank agad rank
* Vanka agad vanka
* Turvanga agad chawanga
As the benos were humble Bapa was straightforward with them, and made their sadhnas easygoing. Bapa allowed a close bond to be established between the benos and Pappa, Ba, Ben, Kashiba, Masiba, Foi, and Maniba who were supreme ékantikos. This was particularly advantageous during their difficult period when incidents regarding lok, etc. took place. They were guided by the experienced ékantikos and remained humble and passed through this period un-hindered.
Between 1966 and 1970 the benos continuously did the following:-
* Mahatmya-yukta Seva
* Japyagna and Dhoon
* Katha varta
In this way the benos continued to do katha varta, japyagna, seva, prayers and meditation under the guidance of the ékantikos. This prevented the ferocious maya which was wild and totally uncontrollable to enter the grounds of Gunatit Jyot. The benos’ prayers acted as an armour and shielded them from the maya. Even the bravest and the most courageous would have found it difficult to stand up to the tests of lok, bhog, déha and paksh but Madhuben, Saviben, Dayaben, Shobhnaben, Dhamiben, Kusumben, Lilaben, Jayuben, Induben and Hemaben sailed through these turbulent times. They are now experiencing the peace and tranquillity and guiding others through the same process.
In 1975 Paduben arrived. In her sadhna she concentrated upon the first commandment of the Sanjivani Mantra. She practised the following: Shyam ni murti ma nirantar rut rahiya karo – and lived accordingly and found that she had no sadhna period at all. She experienced the inner peace, bliss and happiness from the first day. She pioneered the techniques of the Padmamarg Sadhna. Following in her footsteps, Mayaben completed her sadhna in only three months – this became known as ‘Sadhya Sidha Sadhna’. A clear way forward was now conveniently accessible for those who sincerely wished to devote their lives for the service of God and God-realised saints (as per Vachnamrut Kariyani 7).
For those who strive to accomplish their goals, the Sadguru-A are always at hand to help; they do so by praying, conducting maha-puja, giving personal guidance, katha etc. giving the sadhak strength as per Vachnamrut G II 63.
All novices who joined Gunatit Jyot, adopted the techniques of ‘Sadhya Sidha Sadhna’ and have completed their sadhna totally unaware of any problems. They are experiencing peace, bliss and happiness from the start. Just as the sun rises and the darkness disappears. They remain submerged in the murti of God and if an obstacle arises, they would start to do japyagna until they regained their state of equilibrium. Hence they are not even aware that their déhabhav; lok, bhog, déha and paksh have been dissolved and replaced by divine entities. They are on a royal, divine path, enjoying peace, bliss and joy just as Bapa had promised us at the Temple of Dadar in March 1965.