Author: Katyayani Chowdhry
Read the original interview in the Awakening Times magazine here.
The Golden Path is a living tradition of teachings that expresses purity and non-violence in thought, word and action.
Mohanji is an enlightened being who is an exponent of this revered tradition. Albeit reluctantly, he embraced the elevated status of becoming a Guru himself post-enlightenment, having been coaxed to do so by the Masters of the tradition.
Unpretentious, unassuming and disarming, he connects to your heart the moment you lock eyes with him, even for the first time, eroding any unfamiliarity in less than a moment.
âI know him! From before!â you might find yourself smiling unwarranted, when you meet him. Well, at least thatâs how I experienced him when we first met only about three months back.
In an interview that followed over email, he shares his deep insights into everyday affairs of the mundane kind, the kind you and I may struggle with, (or not), in his signature style: simplicity.
I hope this conversation I had with him, affects you in some way that is positive, and even more importantly, helps you, as it did me, to drop some of the unnecessary baggage we accumulate over years in life. We donât really need it after all…
1/ Enlightenment doesn’t come easy, so it is believed in eastern traditions. Did you do sadhana over a course of many lifetimes before this one? Who was your Guru, what lineage do you follow? How did your sadhana build up to your present birth and enlightenment?
Mohanji: First of all, I do not consider myself or I do not like to call myself as enlightened, because these are all boundaries and frames which people give to people. I would like to call myself as another being, as another incarnation in this world, with a mission and a purpose with clarity,
That is more or less about it. I always believe that my contribution to this world is more important than what I am or what I have collected from this world. So, in that context, what I am giving to the world has more value than what I have taken or what I am. Whether I am enlightened or not is not so important.
Coming back to the question,what can lead to enlightenment? BEING ONE UNIT, that means you have a body, you have a mind, you have an intellect, you have an ego, you have a spirit- all these should come together as a total unit. Usually we have our mind scattered all over; a mind filled with desires, a mind filled with memories, past, guilt, fears â all lead to a state where you are completely scattered. That is the opposite of enlightenment. So bringing it all together: body, mind, ego, spirit, intellect- then you become one unit- you are reaching a level of stability. Stability is what we call enlightenment. Itâs like graduation.
Once you are stable in that mode, then you are stable for ever. This is a journey from a scattered state to a state of being one unit. Once a person becomes one unit, then the expansion begins from within. Itâs like the embryo inside the egg becoming the chicken. The embryo expands and fills the space inside the shell, and then it breaks it to come out as a new life. So, this way a person becomes one unit and incubates inside and expands outside and begins a new life. So, this is the journey we are all walking, all of us are going in that path.But we are bound by several things around us- our families, our limitations, needs, desires, possessions. Because of all this, we fail to understand what we are here for. We get stuck with all this, we think this is real and what we actually are is unreal. There is a silent factor which sits in you. So, the journey is from a unit to the universe and that is exactly what I have been travelling through.
At a very early age, the reason for my existence came to me as a question – Why am I alive? What is my job here? What am I supposed to do? This question was very deep and painful for me. I needed an answer for it and I started wandering alone. I did not have any Guru at that time, I did not follow anybody. I had some reading experiences like everybody else, but apart from that, no particular Guru.But when I came to the Himalayas, I was enchanted. The primary feeling was that nobody really worries about who you are, whatâs your position, whatâs your possession. You donât need anybodyâs approval. Everything you are is fine. No need to prove that you are somebody. All these things attracted me because mostly in the world that we live in, we need to keep a social status, certain class or positioning. That is very heavy most of the time. Most of us donât even know that we are struggling to keep a position in the society. All these things were not really my cup of tea after a while. So when I came to the Himalayas for the first time, I felt that âOh! Here I am freeâ. That is where it all started and I started meditation, more of contemplation, more of Manana than Dhyana and then I reached the spine. I was sitting in Vashishta Cave when this thought came âGo to your spineâ. Then I was aware of my spine for a long time.
Then I evolved into a state of 360 degrees where I could expand beyond the body. So, that was the time when I was actually becoming one unit. The whole journey was from a scattered state – of not understanding, not knowing what you are, what you need- to a state of you being one unit and nothing matters. So that was the journey… From there on, people started getting attracted to me and my teachings and it started growing. I did not do anything consciously to make a mission grow or create anything. I did not even make a conscious effort to make a âMohanji Factorâ in this world. When you become a unit, you donât have any agenda of your own. Then the Supreme Consciousness uses you as it is appropriate in the world. So that is exactly what I was doing and it was all spontaneous. I did not plan anything. I had no agenda and still have no agenda. The growth, the development, the meditations, the kriyas– they all came spontaneously and naturally, because when you walk in a track- like you are travelling on a road- there are places that you will see on both ways, whether you like it or not. In that way, people came, situations came, meditations came, kriyas came â I just delivered them as an instrument. I still remain as an instrument, I donât want to make any claims, I donât tell anybody I am a Guru. I never talk to anybody as a Guru. I do not claim to be enlightened. I do not have any particular kind of discipleship or any order of initiations and stuff. I have guided people so that they find something attractive or something that suits them- so that they practise it. Thatâs how all this is happening.
So to answer your question again in summary, Enlightenment is a state where you come to realise that nothing belongs to you and you belong to nothing. That state happens to you at some point of time in your pursuit.
2/ Could you share with us the most significant experience that has led you to this present state. What does being in this cosmic state actually mean and encompass?
Mohanji: There are numerous experiences. At a certain point in time in my practice- my practice was basically being aware of the spine – it was more or less like the awareness, the Bodh aspect. So, I was in a continuous state of awareness- whether I was working or I was doing things, I was always aware. At that point of time, in the early 2000s, I had a very compelling thought: Why am I important? Why is Mohanji so important? Are you this Mohan factor? So that was a very demanding thought which needed an answer.Then it so happened that I completely tilted so much that I staggered for my stability. If not âMohanjiâ, then what next, what else? So then the thought that I am so-and-so got diluted. This âMohanjiâ is only a mind factor and it started becoming lesser and lesser important and that was called a Dimensional Destruction– the dimension that I was used to as âMohanâ, as a social and karmic being, as somebodyâs son, husband, father, employee, employer- all these factors became insignificant because everything was connected to this one factor called âMohanâ. When this one factor started diminishing and then got eliminated, all factors associated with it also became insignificant. You can call it detachment, but an effortless detachment. Detachment when spontaneous is powerful. Detachment when done consciously- it is painful. So, in this situation when the dimensional destruction was happening, detachment was spontaneous and in a very fast pace. You are disintegrating into an empty space where you are not at all important, you do not exist.
So that was one of the most compelling experiences I could think about and it existed for a few months. I could not practise anymore and I didnât know if I was on the right track, obviously I didnât know who to ask and I was feeling that this whole thing is breaking up. It continued, but it started stabilizing- looking outside- I only saw myself in everybody and I had no boundaries or barriers anymore. I did not care whether somebody respected me or criticized me, because, âIâ didnât exist first of all. Itâs like you are criticizing thin air, how would you feel?! Or you are respecting thin air- itâs almost like that.You just donât exist. You do have a form but that form is for a purpose and that purpose is usually to convey a message or something to be done in the society or something to be delivered. As long as the purpose exists, that form will exist, apart from that I have no other need or greed or necessities in this world.
Another problem with it was that along with it may come a bit of intuitive power- you may tend to see stuff of people, you may tell people what they are and they may disagree with you. So I realised that silence is very important at this stage. At this stage, you shouldnât speak; you should be silent and just exist as a non-entity. But this was the time the Mohanji Factor also strengthened – that was the challenge. Because if I have to convey a message to the world, I have to have a name and form otherwise people wonât value you. Numerous people talk from their intellect and people donât appreciate it or people donât take it seriously. But when you are talking from a state of absolute non-existence, it is a powerful way of expression. At the same time unless you have a name and a form and an image to recognise, there wonât be any people listening.
The purpose is to convey and you must maintain that. But it is a challenge that you must not get attached to even that. You need to be away from all that and at the same time you have to be that. It was challenging in the beginning, later on I got accustomed to it. And then the websites came, the functions came… all things just happened. There are few other experiences also but this is the most predominant experience which I can possibly talk about because this can happen to anybody â from a state of being scattered into a unit. At some point in time, you will completely disintegrate, you will not care about your form, your money, your wealth, your possessions, your positions, and you realise you have no existence even. So that is a very big challenge and I am 100% sure that every master, who is called a master, has gone through this process of disintegration. How long will it last? I donât know, I think it will last as long as you donât resist.
So, usually what happens is that you will be clinging on to the form you are familiar with, yourself, this is my body, this is my mind, this is my name, this is my form, this is my wealth, these are my possessions, this is my position, these are my people, etc. The âI” will be very strong in the beginning and you resist breaking it up, but if you donât resist and it naturally dilutes itself, then I think it will be very fast and very quick. The process will only take time as per your resistance or if you are blocking that progress. So this might be useful to the world. You have to walk through a lot of thorns before you reach the roses- this is part of the journey. If you are afraid to walk through thorns, you will not find the flowers.
The Mohanji Foundation, set up in 17 countries across the world, is an embodiment of Mohanjiâs vision to help build a more compassionate human space. It offers selfless service in many areas, such as providing free meals and medicines, orphanages, old age homes, shelters, relief, etc.
Kriya is offered by Mohanji for those who are eligible and apt for it. It is a practice that has long been preserved and protected by this tradition; ensuring the flow of grace from the Masters through initiation by the Guru.
Please visit www.mohanji.org.
Maitri Healing is a system of energy healing, available to all, those who are sick or suffer blocks, children and pregnant women, individuals or groups, available in person or via distance.
Mohanji is the source of healing in this methodology, his grace is invoked to remove karmic blocks at the causal level by the healer, as the healed allows it to flow unimpelled.
For more info, please contact healing@satsangs.mohanji.org.
The Himalayan School of Traditional Yoga- HSTY, propagates yoga in its traditional form, as codified by itsâ progenitor Maharishi Patanjali. It helps you to recede to your simple, natural and original state.
For more info, please contact yoga@satsangs.mohanji.org.
Mohanji Youth Club is open to all between 18-30 years of age. It engages in activities that are motivated by selfless service and love, and passion for compassion.
For more info, please contact youth@satsangs.mohanji.org.
Awakening Yoga Nidra is spiritual method offered by Mohanji for inner cleansing and evolving spiritually. Besides this, there are also retreats and pilgrimages available throughout the year for detoxing, purifying and grace transfers.
For more info, please reach info@satsangs.mohanji.org.