The Master Fisherman

Baba Ram Dass in one of his later lectures wrote something extraordinary about Maharajji when he was addressing the Satsang in the United States. He said, "Maharajji is the Fisherman, I am the worm, you all are the Fish". I borrowed the title for this chapter from that statement. It's totally true. Maharajji handpicks his devotees.

Even now, he is the sole proprietor of what I jokingly refer to as 'Maharajji Lila Inc.' - a non-physical non-profit phenomenon that has helped shape the world to the better as we know it and he himself is the CEO and the head of Human Resources and in fact takes care of all the more important functions of this metaphysical company. Of course, he has millions of beings working for him and his cause from all across the planet. What is his cause you may be wondering? - Sankat Mochan - The Alleviation of suffering and the general upliftment and welfare of mankind.

When he was in his body, the stories of how he attracted devotees almost everywhere he went are innumerable, but presently from his non­ physical point of view, he makes sure he examines a person's incarnational trajectory and hands out invitations. After he left his body, the book 'Miracle of Love' compiled by Ram Dass was in my perspective a great invitation to the English-speaking world. Hundreds of thousands have gained 'Darshan' through this book and thousands more continue till this day. In India however, besides the books and literature, there's also a huge number of temples and ashrams and his presence here is very big, but still he somehow remains hidden from the mainstream. Many people have heard of him, but few are truly devoted to him relatively.

The more I get to know his Satsang, the more I understand how different the paths are that he lays out for a prospective devotee to find him. In the west, the extraordinary heart opening speeches of Ram Dass played a key role in the curiosity developing about Maharajji, not to mention the book 'Remember, Be Here Now'. Some were attracted to Ram Dass and wanted to find the source of his inspiration and found Maharajji like that. Some get his darshan through pictures alone and end up coming all the way to India as a result of the feeling they got. For some seeking success they hear stories of him and come to his ashrams or temples looking for 'the billionaire's guru'. Others come by the association of fellow devotees.

One of the peculiar ways in which he chooses to give out an invitation is through dreams and synchronicities. Ram Dass mentions in his book 'Miracle of Love' that Maharajji expects a significant amount of effort before he reveals himself and gives 'Darshan', this is true till this day, but also some who I've become devotees without any effort. The keys are in his hands. Whatever the journey the individual takes to come into contact with Maharajji, once he reveals himself and gives 'True Darshan', the seeker is hooked! They've come home!

Like the poem from Rabindranath Tagore suggests, once you've experienced the reality of Maharajji there's no going back and also there's no way of really explaining to those who haven't. All they see is an old man in a blanket, yet they can sense that the devotee who hangs these pictures has a certain sweetness in his voice when he sings, a certain delicacy in her art when she paints, a distinct aura of intelligent humility radiates from the devotee of Maharajji, however Maharajji himself is just a two-dimensional picture on the wall through their eyes. I spent 10 years knowing him to be a 'dead holy man' each time I saw his picture.

Once he does reveal himself to an individual fully, it's astonishingly overwhelming beyond anything we can imagine to say the least. One who gets darshan of Maharaj Ji simply has no frame of reference to hold in relation to what one sees. To understand that a Being of such power and majesty exists among us and is alive and available can come off as quite a shock to the newcomer who doesn't know what to expect. Maharajji himself said:

"TO SEE GOD ONE YOU MUST HAVE SPECIAL EYES, OTHERWISE YOU CANNOT BEAR THE SHOCK"

To me it feels like Maharajji is talking about himself All throughout his life he was deceptively humble about himself and never claimed to be anything, but this humility is an unmistakable trait of a Deity. He never claimed to be the Avatar of our age unlike a lot of people who did (it's only me proposing that he is in this book). Every time he performed a miracle or an act of divine majesty, he simply said

"I DO NOTHING, GOD DOES EVERYTHING"

In my understanding of the world, he who claims to be anything spiritual is close, but isn't quite it. He who claims to be enlightened is missing the point of enlightenment. He who claims to be an Avatar, simply lacks the humility to be one hence isn't one. Maharajji claimed nothing, hence is a candidate for all of the above.

Coming back to the master fisherman, he knows exactly what he's doing and how much of himself he'll reveal to whom. There are many levels of understanding Neem Karoli Baba. I'll just mention a few broad categories:

• Distant acquaintances by association as in people who know him as the guru of someone they admire like Ram Dass or Krishna Das or Steve Jobs or a close friend.

• Beneficiaries of his infinite grace by virtue of being in one of his 'power spots' (people who live in Nainital, around the ashram in Taos, or in Vrindavan, in Neeb Karori, etc.. who aren't actively his 'devotees' but are in the vicinity of his canopy of love and divine power

• Quiet admirers of him who are probably part of another religious or a spiritual movement but admire and respect him nevertheless.

• Semi-Devotees who consider him their 'one of their gurus' and have his picture on the altar with a bunch of other deities or saintly people and just appreciate and hold him in their hearts.

• FULL-ON devotees of Maharajji for whom 'He is the light and the way' whose whole lives more or less revolve around him as he is our SatGuru, our muse, friend, focus of devotion and worship, guide and also deepest most sacred aspect of inner beings.

• Of course there's also the highest form of Devotees like Sri Siddhi Ma and Sri Jivanti Ma who are Avatars of their accord and the magnitudes of devotees in India and other countries who dedicate their lives to doing his work by writing about him, being in the ashrams and taking care of them, consecrating his murtis, doing his aartis, and are presently the embodiment of Maharajji in his physical absence.

Anyway, one thing that I have understood is that the frequency of his 'darshan' can only move up and not down. Every day that one spends in his presence, things only get more and more mysteriously graceful. They don't necessarily get easier, but things do get very magical and more and more of our experience is filled with love and universal perspective.

There are many theories about how Maharajji chooses his devotees and why, but the truth only he knows. In my case, I suspect that I've known him in a past life and had forgotten but in this life he pulled me away from my forgetfulness and reminded me. Some say that they've known him from several different lifetimes, some say that he is nothing but a very pure reflection of themselves, others just call him 'Baba' or 'elder' and leave it at that. Besides reciting the Hanuman Chalisa and Sunderkand, a devotee also wrote what's known as the 'Vinay Chalisa' in the Hindi language as a forty verse prayer to honour Maharajji's Human Incarnation. This is the English Translation

A remarkable story of the origins of this prayer is that when the devotee first presented it to Maharajji, he immediately tore it up, what a profound thing to do. He perhaps didn't want such an open statement of his divinity considering how humble he is. However, the other devotees found a way to pick up the pieces of this torn paper and then glue it back together to preserve this prayer. There have also been other instances of people making collections of his miracles and presenting them as a book or an article and Maharajji immediately threw the manuscripts into the fire or tore them saying things like "do you want to bring disgrace to my name?" How peculiar.

To conclude things, if Maharajji chooses someone, and their heart and being is open to receive him, they'll know it without an element of doubt. One can run, hide or delay the process, but the Fisherman always catches his fish and releases them into his private ocean.

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