When the basic principles that guide an experiment are right, then the results of the experiment have to be satisfying. Erudite writers of venerated scriptures have not written unfounded exaggerations. The enlightened men of yore chose to present the essence of their experiences in the form of scriptures; there is no possibility of baseless hyperbole in their statements. What is required is that the basic, tenets must be properly understood, and then experiments must be conducted firmly based upon those. If this process is not followed and the results are not as good as expected, then surely the fault has to lie in our own methods and interpretations.
Need For An Example:
In present times, simply stating principles cannot convince. None would be satisfied and would follow the path of spirituality unless the claimed results are authentically demonstrated in reality. So there is an important need to present an example here, an example of a person who treaded this path and rose to great heights. We choose a person about whom every stated fact can be verified. (There are several so-called great men of the past about whom their followers associate many great stories and amazing incidents. But of these narrations how many are really true cannot be verified.) We present the example of an extraordinary personality, during whose life several exceptional incidents unfolded which were witnessed by others as well. Each such incident can be independently verified by anyone to get convinced of its authenticity. His whole life span was a living proof that spirituality is a pure science and that its accomplishments are in no way inferior to the achievements of material sciences.
This great personality was Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya, the founder patron of Pragya Abhiyan and Yug Nirman Mission. Glimpses of some divine potentials, endeavours and achievements of this seer sage of our times have been cited in some of the following chapters of this book. Here we outline the biography of his spiritual journey.
The eighty years of his life are akin to a book of eighty pages, each page of which is a shining illustration of the application of science of spirituality and its outcomes. The regal path he treaded upon can be an inspiration for millions of others. Anyone can achieve great heights in this world and beyond by following him, and can reach glorious goals of human life. Here we shall mention only those few facets of his life that illustrate relevant facts, principles and experiments.
Incarnation of Spirituality:
The important part of the story of Acharyaji’s life begins when he was 15 years old. While he was praying in the early hours of auspicious Vasant Panchami day (the 5th lunar day of spring season by Hindu calendar), a divine human being (his guru in this life) appeared before him in a sublime form. His divine being appeared within a bright aura of light. The young boy was totally scared to see the spectacle, but the divine human form assured him and said, “I have appeared before you now to guide you in this life. I have been with you in several previous births. In your long journey of multiple lives you have proven your worthiness and so you did not have to go in search of light. Instead, the light itself has come to you to provide guidance.”
The young boy was still sceptical. He began to wonder whether what he was seeing was a ghost or just an illusion of his mind! The divine being understood the boy’s confused state of mind and did something so that the boy’s realizations would arise from within. He was asked to close his eyes and watch his previous births. Entire lifetimes of previous births in the past 700 years were shown to him. In each of these births he had followed the path of spirituality and each birth was one step forward to prove his worthiness. There were about ten lifetimes in this period, of which three were of special significance: those of Kabir, Samarth Guru Ramdas and Ramkrishna Paramhans. All these lives followed the same path guided by the same light, even though the methods adopted kept changing depending upon the requirements of the prevailing times. Though this vision was just like a day dream, its effect was as if it was all real and true. The boy attained realization and was convinced.
A question now arose in his mind, what was the purpose of this birth of his? Before he could ask, his guru himself began to elaborate. The entire plan of this lifetime was laid out before him, right up to his death. To attain the strength and capability necessary for the plan he was instructed to follow specific guidelines for 24 years. In this period he was told to live on rolled bread (roti) made from barley and buttermilk only, for self- purification and strengthening of will. He was also told to play an active role in Indian freedom movement while continuing his sadhana.
This was the unexpressed aspect of his penance. For the expressed aspect, he was told to weave his life with the tenets of Upasana, Sadhana and Aradhana. All the needs for his livelihood were already available to him from ancestral property. Whatever charity and good deeds he did in previous births returned back to him in the form of heirloom in this birth. This provided him a good opportunity to devote the entire life to Upasana, Sadhana and Aradhana.
Upasana literally means “sitting near”; as sitting near the fire makes one feel warm, similarly upasana of God, if practised sincerely through pure heart, generates a subtle proximity with divinity. The devotional practices of upasana are meant to experience the proximity and light of divinity and prepare the inner being for a complete surrender to God. Acharya Shriram Sharma practiced upasana of Gayatri – the primordial force of Supreme Creation, the Goddess of divine intellect and spiritual evolution, with complete mental engrossment and devotion. He merged himself and became one with his deity, like a rivulet with a river, like firewood with fire, like a drop of water in the vast ocean. With his perseverant dedication he achieved oneness with God.
The second effort was sadhana – the process of refining oneself through self-restraint. His efforts for self-cleansing were akin to washing of clothes by a washer man, or trimming of gardens by a gardener, or training of wild animals by a circus trainer. He adopted the principle of strictness towards self and kindness towards others. He waged a war to subdue the passion for materialistic possession, the attachment towards dear ones, and the obsession towards establishing self-importance. He combined this process of purification and improvement with sustained efforts to gain wisdom. He continued this sadhana of acquiring virtues and discarding base tendencies all through his life.
The third aspect of living a spiritual life was aradhana – the selfless service of the society and kindness and benevolence towards others. He whole-heartedly devoted his energy, his time, his influence, his talents and personal resources for upliftment of others. The tenet of aradhana has two aspects. The first one is to uplift the downtrodden, to assuage others’ pain, and to never let an opportunity to help and comfort others go by. The second aspect is to cultivate virtuousness and root out evil tendencies from the society. For these, creative endeavours as well as a constant battle against evil needs to go on hand in hand. Like his sadhana, Acharyaji strived all his life to enhance his aradhana for creating an enlightened society, a new world.
Spiritual lives have always been cast in this mould of upasana, sadhana and aradhana. The dual aspects of penance (tapa) for self-cleansing, and yoga with righteousness have been their characteristic. Acharyaji’s whole life was also directed towards this path. He adopted the process of self-study (swadhyaya), company of noble beings (satsang), pondering over illumined thoughts (chintan) and contemplation and reflection (manan) all his life. This process expanded his wisdom to start activities relevant to the present needs, to garner support for his mission and to guide his endeavours to their goal.
Because of the attention he paid to details and the extreme care he took while planning, he never failed to attain what he set out for. It wasn’t that he never faced obstacles. Whenever righteousness begins to grow, evil raises its head and tries to subdue and hurt those who side with it. But when goodness stands firm on its grounds, badness has to recoil back. Acharyaji also had to face innumerable trials and tribulations, but he overcame them all. These refined his personality that shone like gold refined in fire.
Call from the Himalayas:
When Acharyaji proved his worthiness through his long and sincere penance, and proved his resolve, bravery, restraint and discipline in difficult times, divine blessings showered upon him from subtle worlds and gratified him. His divine guru who came to him in his adolescence, took notice of his achievements after 25 years and decided to bestow upon him a large portion of his own powers as boons. He called upon Acharyaji to visit his abode in far and remote regions of Himalayas.
Acharya ji visited Himalayas three times. He was asked to travel to Kailash-Mansarovar region in Sumeru mountain ranges within the boundaries of Nandanavan Valley–Uttarakhand. He was introduced to great rishis of Himalayas, who in astral bodies even now are carrying out their penance in the divine caves of this region. He was provided with provisions and a place for shelter in this remote area.
In these visits Acharyaji was explained what steps he would need to take to fulfil the needs of creating a new era. He was told when and in what form would divine cooperation help him to attain success, what kind of efforts he would need to put in personally, and how would the task of searching out higher living souls be done. He was also assured that in every difficult situation divine assistance would be there to help him.
The Grand Plan of Creation of New Era:
The divine rishis bestowed upon Acharya ji with the following future activities –
- Establishment of two prime centres for changing the era on the banks of holy rivers Ganga and Yamuna.
- Launching a search for refined and purified souls, and awaken and prepare them for creative endeavours.
- Creation of a great organization that would spread the message of era-changing in people’s conscience.
- Creation of religious establishments throughout the world that would act as centres for reviving the era of truth
- Organizing a big conference of all the divine souls located, to introduce them with each other and define a way ahead for them.
- Making scriptures and literature written by rishis easily available to all.
- Extensive creation of literature for the new era and their translation and spread in other languages.
- Designing and running a training course curriculum for creators of the new era.
- Clarifying basic tenets of spirituality and integrating science and spirituality in a constructive way, thus convincing modern day intellectuals and scientists about the relevance of spirituality.
- Reviving the science of Gayatri mantra and Yagya from oblivion and to re-establish the dignity they deserve.
- Reinstate the tradition of Vanprastha Ashram.
- Establishing the dignity of Ayurveda the ancient system of Indian medicine by the great rishis Charak and Sushrut.
- Spreading the consciousness of new era to all parts of the globe.
- Make preparations for Pragya Purascharan to refine the sublime atmosphere and environment.
These were the fourteen activities that Acharyaji was asked to actively pursue. He was also asked to gather support and resources for these with sincere efforts. Though, due to the influence of prevailing times, human mind today is enslaved by base and lowly tendencies, the seeds of greatness and high ideals are never completely destroyed. Even today great souls live upon the earth. The only task was to search for them with determination. This effort was akin to the efforts of divers who search and bring out glittering pearls from the deep seas. Such a daunting task had to be accomplished by the combined efforts of Acharyaji and his guru.
The whole plan of Acharyaji’s multifaceted illustrious life may be divided into three stages. The first stage was to develop a strong and resolute personality – chiselled and illumined by spiritual glow, by practising upasana, sadhana (including the super- sadhana of twenty-four Gayatri Mahapurashscharans) and aradhana.
The second stage was implementation of mission-based reformative and constructive programmes according to the fourteen-point plan.
The third stage comprised of activities that are being carried out in the realms beyond human perception. In these the adversities of the invisible world are being turned to favourable. He is working to save the earth from wide spread disasters and save humanity from total destruction. The Yug Sandhi Purashscharan sadhana – of awakening collective consciousness – initiated, inspired and guided by him would help in creating an ambience of enhanced spiritual energy suitable for changing the era for a brighter future for all. In his subtle and astral forms, he is also influencing and motivating awakened beings all over the world to participate in the innumerable activities for the creation of a new era.
Acharyaji shed the sheath of his physical body on 2nd June 1990 and has now become active in his subtle and causal bodies. In his direct supervision the first two stages of his life-plan were successfully accomplished. The experiments he conducted upon himself and upon the society bore two results. The faith of common masses on the principles of spirituality was re-established, and the seeds of righteousness and virtuousness that he planted in the society began to grow and spread. In the last five years of his life he had reached the pinnacle of the sadhana of suksmikarana. Some of the aspects of this sadhana of his have been touched upon in Chapters 8 and 9. His immense power is now on the verge of creating huge perturbations that would destroy the current dilapidated structure and would build a new society and a new world.
The foundational principles of spiritual progress that were integral part of his eminent life should be followed by every aspirant of enlightened ascent. Some of these are highlighted in the next Chapter.
Source: What is Spirituality ?
