GURU PUJA SPECIAL EDITION
him farewell. However, when his body was being
taken for cremation, Saint Kabir happened to see
him on the way. People narrated the entire
sequence of events to Saint Kabir. On listening to the
whole episode, Kabir smiled and asked them to
keep the body of the so-called deceased
Padmanabh near him. Sheikh Taqi retorted, “But,
what will you do when he is already dead?” Kabir
said, “No, he is not dead. The poor fellow could take
his breath up, held his pranavayu there, but could
not bring it down.”
Saying thus, Kabir pressed some nerves of
Padmanabh's brain. By doing so, he brought the
pranavayu down. In a few seconds, Padmanabh
regained his consciousness. He instantly got up and
surveyed around to gain acquaintance with the
surroundings. He was surprised to see Saint Kabir
sitting beside him and asked, “How did I come here?
Where was I?” Saint Kabir caressed him with
fatherly affection. Padmanabh recalled everything.
He understood what happened to him and who
brought him back to life. Repenting for his mistake,
he fell at the feet of Saint Kabir and begged for
forgiveness. Thereafter, he followed the path of
sadhana (meditation based on Brahm Gyan, i.e.
Self-Realisation) and realised the futility of hathyog
practices in attaining the real goal of life, i.e.
establishing in the Divine Self.BRAHM GYAN IS
NOT IMAGINATIONOften we get to see that, in the name of
meditation, people are made to sit and asked to
“look within themselves”. In the literal sense, they
are asked to take a flight of imagination in the inner
world and travel wherever their mind goes. Well, as
per the enlightened saints and all authentic texts of
wisdom, this definition of meditation is condemned
and rejected outright. Swami Yogananda's words
are worth quoting in this context– “If you imagine
something very strongly, it becomes visible as a
hallucination, having no intrinsic reality. You should
understand the difference between imagination
and Self-Realisation. The essential proof of Self-Master (Aurobindo). Sri Aurobindo soon blessed
them with the Supreme Knowledge of Self-
Realisation. When their inner beings bathed in the
magnificence of the radiant Divine Self, they took a
deep sigh of relief, as if their birth-long thirst had
quenched! That day Sastry realised the beauty and
magnanimity of experiencing the Inner Self, which
none of his 'extraordinary' siddhis could provide
him!
BRAHM GYAN IS
BEYOND HATHYOG
This incident relates to the times of Saint Kabir,
the Satguru of his times, who is famous even after
decades for his classic writings. Once, an inquisitive
named Padmanabh approached him with the desire
of attaining Self-Knowledge. He attended the
discourses and found the method of Kabir to be very
dull and monotonous. In his quest to find something
quick and enchanting, he sought the refuge of
Sheikh Taqi, who was quite famous among people.
Even rich and affluent people used to pay visit to
him.
Padmanabh found the setup and surroundings
much appealing. He, therefore, decided to seek
knowledge from Sheikh Taqi. When he placed his
request to Sheikh Taqi to teach him meditation,
Sheikh Taqi agreed. While instructing him, Sheikh
Taqi gave him a thick book based on hathyog.
Padmanabh started practicing the hathyog kriyas
and mudras religiously, in accordance with the
instructions given in the book. For many years, he
kept on practicing those kriyas. One day, while
doing those hathyog kriyas, he took a loud breath
and in the next instant he was still. His body seemed
to become unconscious. When he did not come back
to his senses for long, people thought he was dead.
Even Sheikh Taqi considered him to be lifeless. And,
thus, it was decided to perform the last rites to bid
30 AKHAND GYANETERNAL WISDOM JULY 2019