Exclusive interview with
Dr Umesh Dayanandan
Newsletter Team USA
March 27, 2025
“Mohan was a very simple, shy, silent boy.”
Interviewer: Hello and Welcome Dr. Umesh. Really nice to have you in the USA. Welcome to the country.
Dr Umesh: My pleasure, thank you very much.
Interviewer: We wanted to talk with you regarding your association with Mohanji, as we have a lot of devotees of Mohanji in the USA who would really like to know more about his childhood days and how you first met him, how you guys grew up together. Also, we would like to know more about your recent association with Mohanji and what has been your experiences. But let’s go to the childhood days. When did you first meet Mohanji?
Dr Umesh: Well, I met Mohan for the first time when I was a 14 year old boy. I came to Cannanore in the year 1979 and took admission at Chovva high school, which is the present day Kannur, Kerala. Mohan was studying in this school in the 9th standard.
That’s when I first got to see him and somehow we got along very well. We were seated on the first bench. That was a short period of time where we got to know each other. There were a lot of other students who we were friendly with. Then we moved on to the 10th standard and that is the time I got closely associated with Mohan. Here again we got to sit on the very first bench in the classroom just under the teacher’s nose.
He was on my left and I was on his right, and we had a couple of other friends, Salvaraj and Yogesh, who were seated on the same bench on the left extreme.
Mohan was a very simple, shy, silent boy, not at all outspoken, but he was never a troublemaker. Although we used to have a bit of our moments because I’ll take his pencil, he’ll take my rubber, and then, you know, there’s a bit of an elbowing and squeezing of the neck and all going on at that time, as would happen in every school and age among children. So that went on and we became very close, and I was one of his friends. Rather, I would say, I was the only friend probably who would listen very silently to whatever he tells me, because I was very fond of him for some reason, and he was also very close to me.
What I noticed in Mohan as a child, which I had mentioned earlier also was that, he used to constantly blabber something. I couldn’t understand what it was, but I didn’t want to disappoint him. It was something that he was trying to express to me all the time. Now this was not some sort of a foolish muttering or prattling but rather well formed words. So, I kept listening. I would say “Yeah”, “Yes, of course”, “Yeah” but I can’t remember what exactly it was. It was probably the infant Mohanji stemming from of his spiritualism; it was the Mohanji in him that was speaking at that time in his own way at that age. So, that was something that he often kept repeating.
Mohan was actually a friend of everyone because whenever a classmate is coming, sometimes children are late, and sometimes they go to the washroom or whatever. Everyone would look at that boy or girl and comment something. But I don’t remember anybody commenting against Mohan. Mohan was a silent, good boy, not a troublemaker, and he was a friend of everyone. He smiled at everyone, everyone use to say, Mohan is coming, and he used to come and sit beside me. He was dressed in a half-sleeved shirt and pants, with the books in his hand and his hair was like it were well ironed and kept with a parting on the right, I think so at that time, and that was how he was during those days. He was quite studious; I had those memories very sharply. After school we used to go quietly, and we used to come quietly too. We were very studious. We were never involved in any kind of mischief making, while the whole class was a big chaotic situation at that time.
“We were quite good in studies.”
Interviewer: Was there a reason you guys were on the first bench?
Dr Umesh: It was probably because we were small in size and quite studious, while all the troublemakers were the back benchers. We did our homework, class work, listened to the teacher attentively and were well mannered. Tenth standard was the only time that I got to know Mohan as a child. He was just another ordinary boy as I was, and after that, I think I went for my studies and he pursued his studies. Whatever we did, we parted ways and that was the only time in life that I met him and was with him. It was in the ninth and the tenth standard when we were 14 and 15 year old teenagers.
Interviewer: So, did he have any specific favorite subject or favorite sport or anything that you would remember, that you both enjoyed, a hobby or anything.
Dr Umesh: I don’t think Mohan was into any sports activity. I was into singing, but Mohan was a bit of a literary person. He used to write a lot and I sometimes shared my notes with him. He used to give me his notes as well. We used to share our pencil and rubber and that’s when you know, sometimes we had a bit of a tiff.
When I need my pencil and can’t wait to have it back, he used to raise his voice and say, “Can’t you see me doing something”! And I would lose my patience and then he’ll elbow me, and I’ll elbow him. He will squeeze my neck and all that went on at that time. So that’s how we were as teenagers. But otherwise, I wasn’t into any sports and neither was Mohan.
Interviewer: Any subject that he liked most amongst, you know, physics, chemistry, biology, all the school subjects that you recall.
Dr Umesh: We all had the same kind of subjects; I wouldn’t say that I was a topper, or that he was a topper. We were quite good in studies. So, every subject was quite all right. There was no particular favorite. And we had very good teachers, who I think the groups of students are still in contact with. Many of them passed away. We respected our teachers very much at that time as students and we are in contact with some of them even now who are still alive but aged.
Interviewer: And this was which school?
Dr. Umesh : This was Chovva High school in Cannanore, North Malabar Kerala. I came from Saint Patrick’s European high school Secunderabad which happened to be one of the best schools in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in those days. I and my brother Rohit studied in Chovva High school. In fact Chovva high school happened to be quite far from the place we stayed.
I don’t know for what reason in spite of having other schools in the near vicinity and closer proximity from the place we stayed, we had to take admission at Chovva high school.
And in fact, during that time, my dad’s elder brother, Dr. Madhavan, who was a cardiologist, and Mohan’s father, Dr. P.K. Namboodiri, orthopedic surgeon, were very close friends.
In fact, Uncle and Auntie always spoke to me about their friendship and acquaintance.
When Uncle passed away and I had gone to give my condolences to Aunty, she again mentioned about their long friendship and association with my dad’s brother Dr. Madhavan, as they were colleagues at that time. My father was a mechanical engineer and father’s brother was a doctor.
“Mohan, after school, did a bit of a wandering on his own.”
Interviewer: So, did you guys used to meet each other, socially, apart from school, like after school or something?
Dr Umesh: In those days it was to just go to school like a good boy, take the bus and come back home, and Mohan also did the same thing. But Mohan had other weird ideas too. After school, he did a bit of a wandering on his own, taking the bicycle and going to the beach and sitting there in a very secluded, lonely area.
It was a scary and frightening place to be. He sat there and gazed for hours together at the Arabian Sea and spent some time all by himself watching the slashing waves sending spray high up into the air as they battered the coastline.
This was later brought to the notice of the elders and Mohan had been discouraged and warned not to do so, but he continued for a while, as he found some sort of happiness and peace of mind in observing the Arabian Sea and the loneliness. It was a place where nobody would go, probably drug addicts or some other miscreants would be loitering around. I would not dare to go there myself, but Mohan as a teenager took a cycle and went there.
Interviewer: He didn’t pull you in?
Dr Umesh: No, because I had pressure from home. I was being constantly monitored and I wouldn’t risk myself to join that adventurous journey. Mohan probably wanted to go there alone and be there all by himself. He was having a different view which I didn’t understand, and the blabbering that I was talking about was probably the infant Mohanji in him that was trying to say something to me. That’s what I feel, looking back at it. It sounded a bit incoherent to me at that time, but he was definitely trying to convey something.
He was talking something well formed but it was impossible to understand and I was too naïve. I mean, we were 15 years old at that time and he was trying to explain something, and I couldn’t get head or tail of what it was all about. I didn’t want to disappoint him.
So I kept saying, “Yeah, yeah, you’re right, you’re right, you’re correct”. I kept nodding my head and agreeing to it, but I just couldn’t understand anything. I must certainly admit one thing, that he was otherwise not a loquacious person in any sense. He hardly spoke to anyone.
I seemed like someone who was his appointed audience on demand. He was my best friend and I decided to actively pay attention to whatever he spoke.
If I have to look back and ponder for a moment of those bygone days and then realizing who he is today: I can proudly say, I had the great honor and privilege to be the first person on earth, to give him a hearing, to be his first and foremost follower, without any anticipation of any sort of blessing in return. It was without any motive or expectation but sheer friendship and true unconditional love for each other. It was without doubt foreordained and predestined.
I remember at that time, a child from the school committed suicide and uh that was a very big shock. Everyone was talking about it for days together. So, I just happened to casually ask him. “Mohan, why did that girl commit suicide? What happened”? So, he thought about it for a few seconds, and said, “Just leave it, just leave it. Don’t think about it”. But then it bothered me. I kept on asking him again and again and he said , “People make their own destiny and call it fate”. Now this was something I could not understand or comprehend. I said, “Oh………, is it!”
I went back home and kept thinking about it. I wondered what sort of a philosophy was that! So, the next day when I came back to school, the first thing I asked him was, “Hey Mohan, can you explain what you meant by that statement of destiny and fate! What did you mean by that? Can you explain!”
He said, “You better stop thinking about it, you won’t understand if I explain”. It was, as though I was speaking to a very intellectual person and I’m nothing, and I thought to myself, okay, forget it.
Soon afterwards, that thought went off my mind. So, there was something in him that was taking shape and form as the spiritual master that was in the making. I’m sure none of us ever expected and thought at that time of Mohan becoming a global spiritual master.
So, that was how he was in those days. He was a very silent boy, otherwise. He wouldn’t talk much to anyone, but he was a friend to everyone. I’m pretty sure he certainly found a good listener in me.
Interviewer: Dr Umesh, do you recollect any other classmates who studied with you and Mohanji and would you want to say anything about them?
Dr Umesh: Before speaking about other classmates, who studied with us during that time, I must make a very special mention about one girl in particular and that is Surya.
Surya is the one who initiated the process of searching and finding out each one of us, after several years of school. She undertook the task of uniting and gathering the whole lot of us in the year 2017 if I’m not mistaken. My brother Rohit was also very actively involved in this process.
I remember Surya as a very straight forward, sincere and outspoken girl during our school days. She was quite a bright student and had been very popular among all of us. She used to lend her notes to other students to copy and finally when she needs it back, there used to be a bit of an argument and she used to get scolded for lending her notes.
I used to meet Surya whenever I go to stay at my dad’s younger brother’s house in Chovva. They happened to be Surya’s neighbor.
The last time I met her and another classmate Anil was in 2012 in Kannur.
It was at Mohan’s father’s funeral ceremony that myself, Surya, Mohan and Moti met up once again and we clicked pictures.
To mention a few of our other wonderful classmates are Manjula, Supriya, Sharmila, Chandana, Rita, Jalaja, Sulekha, Sudha, Anil Krishnan, Riyaz, Murali, Rajmohan, Harish, Pradeep, …….and the list goes on.
It’s sad to note that some of the students who studied with us do not value friendship as much. But someday I hope, we will all have a grand nostalgic get together reminiscing our childhood experiences, sharing memories of the bygone era and strengthening our bonds of friendship.
“He was a friend to everyone.”
“Sarvothama, Vasundhara, Namo Namah“
Interviewer: You mentioned that you met him after 40 years or so, after high school?
Dr Umesh : After High school, I went my way and he went to his way. I lost contact with him for almost 37 years.
One day, my brother showed me a picture and asked me, “Do you know this boy!”
I said, “Well, this is P K Mohan”. My brother said, “Do you know who he is today!” I said, “What do you mean by who is he?” My brother said, “He is Mohanji”.
I said, “What?” “Oh my god!” “What is this?” “It’s so funny”. I told my brother, I want to see him, and I was in Bangalore, I stay in Bangalore. Mohan was also staying there and I went to see him with my brother. And that’s when I first met him after more than three and a half decades.
Then, of course, there were a lot of physical changes in both of us.
We were now in our fifties, but we felt as though we had just completed high school and behaved in the same manner as we were in our school days. It all felt like school just got over a few years back. We hugged each other and greeted each other. Then we sat down and we talked a lot about ourselves. We had food at Mohan’s house and it was a great reunion bringing back a lot of memories we cherish.
Interviewer: This was 2018?
Dr Umesh: This was 2018, if I’m not mistaken, yes. I think so. 2018 or 19 something like that, yes. So that was a great meeting after so many years with the same feeling, with the same vibes.
Interviewer: Wow! Since then, how has your association been with Mohanji? I know you have had several experiences you have shared, but if you would like to reshare also for this group, that would be great.
Dr Umesh: We have had a very close association just like the days we had in school. We address each other by our names. I call him Mohan, he calls me Umesh.
I don’t need an appointment to see him. I can just walk in at any time. He has told me that. So, I don’t ask him to call the pharmacy and take an appointment if he wants to talk to me, he can access me at any time. A fact we decided when we met again.
We share a lot of personal matters, feelings, funny jokes, and all sorts of jokes, we sometimes make fun of each other and we enjoy that. So, that is how our relationship is even now.
But as a very spiritual person, what I found in Mohan now, is that I can confide in him, whatever problems or unpleasantness or difficulties, be it whatever, he gives some kind of a guidance and a solution and a very assuring and comforting response to any sort of crisis, or state of mind or thought that I have that disturbs me. So that is really great.
With the liberty of having him as a very close friend, I can access him at any time and there are times when I have called him up in the middle of the night and said “Mohan, I’m feeling very disturbed for some reason, can you give me a solution”!
And he listens to everything that I have to tell and he tells me what to do and how to go about that. So, he has been there as a great moral support for me. I don’t know what Mohan is preaching, whether it’s just spirituality or something else or some kind of Mai-tri healing that he was talking about. But I know for sure and I understand that there is something very special, very unique and very divine in him.
So, I’ve confided a lot of my personal stuff with him and he always says, “Don’t worry, I’m with you”. That’s one thing he reminds me often. “I’m holding your hands, Umesh. I’m always with you, even if I don’t call and speak to you, you can be rest assured, I’m holding your hand and walking with you”.
I would like to share a very personal experience that I had.
I always wanted to talk to him about something which I felt I should. But then every time, I hesitated. One day I decided, “Come what may, tomorrow I’ll call him first thing in the morning and talk to him.” But that night I went to bed as usual and early in the morning around 5 am, I had a dream. I was walking into a kind of open arena where a lot of people were seated, and there was Mohan, on the stage addressing the crowd. There was somebody with me, one of a known person, it was either his wife Devi or one of our classmate or somebody I knew, I don’t remember.
And then Mohan calls out to me and says, “Umesh, this is for you”. “I’m going to tell you something”. “This is for you”. I’m quickly telling the person with me, “Can you just listen to what Mohan is telling because I might forget. Please listen what he’s saying.”
What he said is: I can very clearly remember that he lifted up his left hand from where he had been standing, with the palm facing towards the sky and he said “Sarvothama”. Then he made a gesture bringing both hands together depicting a mudra sort of pose and said, “Vasundhara”. Then again, he did the traditional Namaste by holding both hands together and said “Namo Namah”,
“Sarvothama, Vasundhara, Namo Namah”. He said it three times.
What I did in my sleep is that, I took my mobile phone which was beside me, put on the recorder and I repeated it myself. I still have the recording saved on my mobile in my sleepy voice. A sort of thick voice when one suddenly wakes up from sleep.
So, the next day I called him up, and told him about the dream. I said, “Mohan, you came in my dream telling me this”.
I searched on Google and I could not find a mantra like this. I could find Sarvothama, I could find Vasundhara, I could find Namo Namah, all individually and not as one mantra.
The word Sarvothama means, the “best of all”, “Supreme”, “The highest”. It signifies the Creator. In the dream Mohan was lifting up his hands and giving all the glory to God Almighty.
Vasundhara meaning, “Rich lands”, “Goddess of wealth and prosperity, “Goddess Lakshmi’. “Bhoomi Devi”.
Namo Namah means to bow down in respectful obeisance and true devotion.
He told me to repeat this mantra as many times as possible during the day and not repeat it after sunset.
I diligently practice chanting this mantra every day and that has made a very big change in my life. It has given me a feeling of assurance and confidence in myself and helped me overcome a lot of obstacles in life.
When we were classmates we used to call each other as “Ada, waa da, poda”. Which means “Abbey, aa bey, jaa bay” a typical way school children talk. But now, I found a guru or a messenger who can speak to God.
A feeling that there’s somebody to attend to you, listen to you when you have problems and have to go through distress.
“My association with Mohan is unconditional.”
Also, very recently, I went through a very, very bad patch in life and I wanted to meet Mohan in person.
In fact, we have always been in contact and wherever he goes he calls me up because he takes my treatment. So, I keep telling him about the medicine he needs to take. He carries a personal kit with him.
So we met in Bangalore at his house. When I went there, another classmate of ours was also there from our school days. His name is Moti. I was telling Mohan my problems and Mohan said, “You do one thing Umesh, go and meet one particular person, a priestly man and let me know what he has to say.” Incidentally Moti knew that person very well, so Moti and I went and met him.
Thereafter I was guided to see another godly man and that meeting made a drastic change in my life.
Mohan had advised me to meet this saintly, pious person several years back. He had talked about him a few times but I somehow couldn’t make it earlier.
However, in my very first meeting with this holy man Balettan, who has a temple in his house, he told me that I need to go and take blessings from my ancestral family temple deities.
So, these visits brought about very drastic changes in me. It led me back to my mother’s family temple, which is the renowned Mridanga Saileshwari Temple at Muzhakunnu, Kannur and Pazhassi Raja’s Sree Porkali Bhagavathi Temple in North Malabar. So, I went there, took blessings and also visited the temple that belonged to my father’s family and life further changed after that.
Everything started slowly. So, that’s what Mohan did. He guided me step by step by putting me on to the right path and everything started to fall into place. These goddesses are our family deities (Kula Devata), which I neglected.
I had to definitely go and bow down and take blessings, even if I did not spend any money for Pooja or whatever. It was absolutely essential to go and take their blessings.
So after going and visiting these temples a major change came. I could renovate my house, which I could not do earlier. I could make other payments which I needed to make. I could work on my property, land and those sort of big, big changes came.
What is evident here is that Mohan gave guidance which nobody could give. Mohan told me exactly what had to be done to rectify these problems which were surrounding me, and for that Mohan has got great intuition.
Mohan is truly a messenger of God. Mohan has got some power to see through. He has the power of intuition or some sort of an insight, which is the reason that I could get these things sorted out. It may be karma, it may be clearing of past life, whatever. It may be something that I had to overcome and get sorted here or something that needed to be rectified. I don’t know at what level or whatever, but Mohan could see through it.
I could feel a glimmer of hope, a subtle indication, right from the beginning when I got to see Mohan after 37 years and the optimism that he shared with me at the very first meeting. “Don’t worry, I’m there”, something like that, you know, patting my back.
It’s a great fulfillment and fortune to have known Mohan and to be so closely associated with him. I hope he can reach out to the masses all over the world and give his message of happiness, well being, healing and spirituality that he has been preaching.
I wish many people can benefit from that.
My friendship, love and association with Mohan are absolutely unconditional. I have been treating his entire family and I hope to be serving auntie, Mohan, Devi, the little one Mila in my capacity as a friend, as a doctor, whole heartedly.
Mohan has spoken very openly about it and told the whole world what I’ve been doing for him. I consider it as a great blessing for me. I’m extremely happy to have met him in whatever great enlightened position that he’s sitting today, I am proud to say that he’s my great friend. We have arguments, we crack jokes, we criticize and quarrel as we used to during our time as classmates in school. We are still the same.
Interviewer: I know he has a lot of interest and belief in homeopathy. What could be the reason for that in your opinion?
Dr Umesh: Probably he has a greater insight from his spiritual aspect, that homeopathy is a system that has no side effects. None of the homeopathy medicines have ever been banned, and it has stood the test of time for almost 300 years, which he probably can perceive. He has seen it, through his own experience as well. I’ve treated him for various conditions.
Interviewer: And lastly the mantra you shared can it be used by anybody else or was it a very customized mantra for you?
Dr Umesh: I believe he could have told me this mantra directly in person during one of our several meetings. Indeed we meet quite often. But the fact that he had to come in my dream and tell me was something extraordinary and unimaginable.
I believe that it is a mantra that is meant exceptionally for me or my state of affairs. But at the same time, he never told me not to share with anybody.
I would want to tell the whole world, please chant this mantra if you wish to do so. It has come from a master. It’s a great message. It has probably great meanings. I keep repeating it throughout the day before sunset and in the morning after my bath every day. Not a day have I missed out unless I am flying and I am seeing a tremendous difference after reciting this.
I know there are a lot of people out there who are waiting to meet him in person and talk to him, but are unable to get an appointment because of his busy schedule. But he knows about it. When time comes, he will call all those people personally. He has touched several people personally and many have been blessed.
In the past, I’ve been to Astrologers, which is part of our custom when you go to a wedding, when you build a house, when you do something new, start up a business etc. None of them could give a concrete solution but Mohan could see something that had to be corrected. After I did all this a world of change has come. I’m feeling confident. I’m feeling very happy. I’m feeling very healthy. I’m feeling very positive. So, these are all the points that the world should know.
See, people find it very easy to criticize every enlightened person, including Swami Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadguru, Mata Amrithanandamayi. All these people are messengers of God. They have been criticized. It’s very easy to criticize. People love to criticize and talk rubbish. I wish they really get to know what these people are doing for the society, their purpose and how many lives have changed.
Mohan has come into this world, not by accident but by divine providence.
Interviewer: Do you have anything else to share before we conclude our interview.
Dr. Umesh: Well, nothing, as I said, I cherish our friendship and relationship, as a doctor, as a friend, as a classmate, and he is just the same when he was 15 and now when he is 60. We will always remain together, God willing, as we are today. Thank you.
Interviewer: Thank you very much. Dr. Umesh
Dr Umesh: It was really a pleasure to talk about my friend Mohan. Thank you.
English