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By Shivi Verma September 2012 Shivi Verma comes back uplifted after an encounter with Dadashreeji, a direct disciple of Mahavatar Babaji The opening sentence of the letter inviting me to profile Dadashreeji, a master living in the outskirts of Mumbai, had a mystical appeal which was hard to dismiss. The appointment was on the auspicious Guru Purnima day.As I readied to meet him in his ashram called Shantikshetra Premagiri Ashram near Karjat, I envisioned a huge building somewhere in the foothills of the Western Ghats. The picture of a big white-pillared structure, populated with scores of milling disciples, making a beeline to bow before a grave and important-looking man crept up in my imagination. After an unimaginably long and exhausting journey lasting up to four hours, I met Mitra Shankh, Dadashreeji’s disciple at the Neral junction. Soon the car had left behind the settlements and was bumping along the snaking road at high speed, in the interiors of uninhabited, untamed terrains of hilly wilderness. After almost an hour we reached the destination. I stepped out of the car. Green hills, an overcast drizzling sky, and the earth bursting with unruly vegetation welcomed me cheerfully along with two other disciples. There was no tall edifice insight. Vast swathes of green but rocky and uncultivable land surrounded the area. “Use all the resources to uplift or improve yourself. When all your efforts end, allow me to work on you. You will witness that transformation you needed for long.” -Dadashreeji A narrow pebbled path led to two huts, lined one behind the other on an isolated patch of earth. Behind the bigger hut was a small tent (presumably a makeshift kitchen) were a few women disciples in ochre robes pottered about. The road ended there because tall hills blocked the passage beyond. Explaining the remoteness of the ashram, Shankh said, “Dadashreeji chose this place over others because it is divinely blessed by his guru, Sri Mahavatar Babaji. Moreover the difficulty of terrain ensures that only sincere seekers come to meet him.” We moved inside the bigger hut, called Dhyaan Manthan Kshetra, which was round in shape. A life-size portrait of Mahavatar Babaji hung on the wall. Mitra Parna, Dadashreeji’s follower, began to relate to his master. “We all go to temples to experience spiritual bliss. Unfortunately the feeling of calm and equanimity ceases the moment we step out of it. Dadashreeji empowers people to maintain that inner peace and awakening even as they interact with the material world. Initially, he wrings this inner transformation by meeting and interacting with people. As people meet him they flow with his natural wave of simplicity and discover a life without the binding of rules, teachings, techniques, and tools. Later on depending on the eagerness and inclination of the disciple, he is initiated into advanced spiritual workshops.” Mitra Shankh added, “Dadashreeji provides guidance to all in three ways. He imparts Life Sutras which cover all aspects to boost the growth of the seeker. He also transfers knowledge and energy through a process called Bodha and finally teaches Mitra Yoga, an ancient yoga to unite with the divinity. It is not mentioned in any scripture since it was lost in time.”After a small introduction I was led into the smaller hut called Shakti Peetham, where the master sat. Contrary to my imagination, I was startled to see a young man sitting on a small chair and looking up with the most benign eyes I had ever seen. The look in my eyes was not lost on his disciples who had ignored my questions about Dadashreeji’s age. The objectivity of a journalist was put severely to test as I began to ask questions. It was difficult to ignore the silent but divine resonance that emanated from him and pervaded every atom inside the room, changing the alchemy of the human mind. As for the Master, he himself was a picture of perfect calm and stability arising out being linked to the Source. How old are you? I am 34 years old. But even if you come to see me 20 years hence I’ll look the same. But you can call me Dadashreeji. Are you enlightened? It is difficult to say that because to admit it would mean that I still have the ‘I’ left in me. I do not possess any sense of the ego in human terms. Can you explain it further? Though I can talk to you right now as normal as a person should to another person, my vision is not linear anymore. I can go to any plane of existence, draw my references from there, and speak through it. If the universe is all places between 1 to 100 then my consciousness can take me anywhere depending on the necessity of the time. But that has not prevented me from leading the life of an ordinary human being. I have a wife and a young son, and I easily relate with him on his plane of comprehension. How did this happen to you? Though I am a medical doctor by profession, I was an atheist. I was a science-oriented person and doubted the existence of supreme power at play behind this worldly projection. Yet at the same time I could not help but marvel at the intelligence that lay behind the faultless design of the human body. In the year 1997 I came across the scripture called Das Bodh written by the Maharashtrian saint Samarth Ramdas in the 17th century. The modest Shakti Peetham, where the master sits Das Bodh expounds the themes of discrimination between the true and the untrue and provides methods on how to function and excel in society from a place of deep spiritual understanding. Reading Das Bodh made me consider the possibility of a Supreme Intelligence sourcing this unfathomable yet magnificent world. Inspired, I began to meditate daily. As my meditation increased I gradually began to have visions of saints, historical figures, deities, and eventually of Mahavatar Babaji. Babaji revealed to me my past lives on this earth. He told me about my mission in this life and is constantly in touch with me ever since to help raise human consciousness. A doctor’s place is considered close to God. Why did it not satisfy you? While doing an internship in a hospital I was struck by the limitations of a doctor in relieving human suffering. There was this 14-year-old boy whose father was jailed for burning his wife to death. He was homeless and penniless with three sisters to look after. His aunt gave him some fruits to eat but he decided to sell them in order to make money for livelihood. Unfortunately, the same day he met with an accident and broke his arm. Inside the hospital his sisters would sleep under his bed as they had nowhere to go. I felt I could heal him only physically, and painfully fell short of the knowledge required to mitigate his emotional and circumstantial suffering. Though I do not practice the medical profession anymore I am still a doctor. Spiritually, I heal lives completely. I heal the soul. Why do people suffer? Human misery is due to karma and the soul’s desire to willingly undergo certain hard lessons necessary for its evolution and eventual liberation. The atonement of bad karma can happen in several ways. A person can decide the mode of atonement and willingly undertake a penance. The experience of pain during suffering cleanses the accumulated sins and deep prayers to God gives relief, provides answers, and removes suffering. Prayer has immense power. Apart from that, virtues like not hurting others, kindness, nonviolence, helpfulness should always be practiced to grow spiritually. Often prayers go unanswered. Why does it happen so? When people pray or come close to Him they are stepping from a negative space to a positive one. Due to this all the good karma that they had created in their past and present lives begin to ripen and people begin to get desired results. But God does not work beyond the laws created by him. When they have exhausted the good karmas and prayers stop getting answered, it is a clear sign that they have to shift their consciousness and take it to the next level. Nothing ever happens to people for their downfall. The laws of existence are meant either to support you or to aid you in your growth. A long period of unresponsiveness from God means that the devotee must take his understanding of God to the next level. Why are we born? We are born because the soul willingly takes on a life form that will help it to learn and perfect lessons it had not learned in previous births. It is purely an act of free will. Though there are other planes which are far better than the earth, with greater life expectancy, yet the learning over there can take thousands of years to complete, whereas on earth, the karmic repercussions come faster and the evolution to happens faster. There is much crime on earth. Do you mean souls decide to be born as criminals? Does crime help in growth? Negativity exists for the sake of balancing and supporting life. The minimum balance exists in the ratio of 75:25. Even in Satyuga where there is 75 percent goodness, 25 percent bad shall exist for the sake of balance. Many inferior souls wait for thousands of years to be born and fulfill their lustful desires because the earth has to be supportive of their actions. In today’s time earth supports the activity of inferior souls because it is dominated by them. Therefore, if you do bad, you get good results materially these days. But at the same time this is an excellent time to grow spiritually for good souls, even though they exist in small numbers. There are souls who shall not be transformed even if God appears in person before them. That does not mean that the laws of karma do not act on them. The fate of terrorists is a reminder to all of them as to what happens if they carry on with their ways. Still, the possibility of inner transformation can never be ruled out even in their case. This period, specifically the