Developing Spiritual Emotion for the Guru.

How His Holiness (H.H.) Bhaktaraj Maharaj (Baba) developed spiritual emotion for His Guru through service to Him

 

What is spiritual emotion?

Spiritual emotion is the replacement of the ‘I’ (that is the existence of oneself) in one’s life with the awareness of the existence of God or the Guru. It is an intense awareness about the existence of God or the Guru in any form. When we have this feeling while carrying out everyday activities, it is referred to as spiritual emotion (bhav) towards God or the Guru.

For some, spiritual emotion is difficult to understand intellectually as it really has to be experienced. Later in this article, we will see some examples that demostrate the true meaning of spiritual emotion.

Intense devotion or deep love for The Lord is the way to receive The Lord’s grace. Similarly, when one has intense spiritual emotion towards the Guru, one is automatically graced by Him.

“Of the various efforts that one can take to awaken spiritual emotion unto the Guru such as sincere prayers, expressing gratitude, constantly remembering the Lord by chanting* His Name etc., rendering service unto the God is extremely important. Serving the Guru to the best of one’s ability is the only true way of serving God. By forgetting one’s self and serving the Guru, one can feel true spiritual emotion and Bliss. Even though one goes through tremendous hardship in serving the Guru’s manifest form, one gets the feeling that God Himself got the service done. This is how one can develop spiritual emotion from serving the Guru.”

We can gain a better understanding of the attitude of serving by observing His Holiness (H.H.) Bhaktaraj Maharaj (Baba)’s servitor attitude towards his Guru, Shri Sadguru Anantanand Saish. Dinkar was H.H. Bhaktaraj Maharaj’s name before His Guru renamed Him.

• The Guru would require hot water for His bath after waking up in the morning. So Dinkar would wake up at four or four-thirty in the morning, warm the water and wait for his Guru’s awakening. As soon as the Guru would get up, Baba would serve Him tea. Baba would continue to serve Him the whole day and return home at 1.30 or two o’clock in the morning only after the Guru told him to leave. Thus, Dinkar would sleep for only two or three hours everyday.
• When serving His Guru, to prevent himself from falling asleep, which would cause a lapse in his service, Dinkar would literally stand on his toes.
• Once Shri Saish went to visit Haribhau Lambhate, one of His disciples. Dinkar accompanied Him to Haribabu’s house. While he was there, Dinkar thought “Since the Guru lives in this house, everything should be neat and tidy”. Dinkar would wake up in the night and remove the contents such as sugar, rice, lentils, other food grains, etc., and clean all the containers in the kitchen, without disturbing anyone. Then he would refill the containers and keep them back in their respective places. The people in the household would realize only the following morning what Dinkar had done. As a result, Dinkar spent many sleepless nights, yet he would be up to serve his Guru the following day. Once as he was washing a pot, scrubbing it with ash, he was graced with a vision of Lord Shankar (Lord Shiva) in the ash.
• When the Guru would sit down for a meal, Dinkar would eagerly serve Him. Even if His plate was full of various items, he would not forget to add a papaddum (Indian food item), rice vermicelli and a delicious pickle. After serving the Guru His meal, Dinkar would remain standing on one foot and would sing devotional songs (bhajans) until the Guru finished His meal. Whenever the Guru told him to press His feet or to sing bhajans, Dinkar would continue to do so for hours at a stretch, until the Guru told him to stop. Sometimes he would press His feet or sing bhajans all night long.
• Once when the Guru had gone downstairs to refresh Himself, Dinkar, as usual, dusted His mattress, cleaned it and spread out the bed sheet meticulously, without leaving a single crease. Then Dinkar went down to give the Guru water to wash His hands and feet. After the Guru had finished, he returned with Him. On his return, Baba observed that two or three tobacco leaves were stuck to the bed sheet. Dinkar was very upset about it. After a while, when he led the Guru to the bathroom for a bath, the fragrance of roses emanated all over the place. Haribhau’s mother noticed that the Guru’s mattress was strewn with rose petals. So, she said to the Guru “Baba, just see what he has done”. In reality, since Dinkar was accompanying the Guru he could not have strewn the petals. When talking about this later, Bhaktaraj Maharaj said “The Guru must have done that realizing the distress I underwent due to inefficiency in my service unto Him.”
• Once when bathing in the River Narmada at Sahastradhara, Dinkar realized that he had not brought a change of clothes for the Guru to wear after His bath. Thinking that he had failed in his service to the Guru and unable to face Him anymore, Dinkar wanted to end his life. Just as he was about to jump into the river he heard a voice. “You fool! Do you think you will complete this destiny by giving up this body? Surrender your body unto the Guru.” Realizing that Dinkar was about to jump, Ramjidada (H.H. Ramanand Maharaj), Haribhau, and the other disciples tried to stop him. Hearing that, the Guru shouted, “Dinu what are you doing? Come here at once.” Only then did he turn back and run. He fell at his Guru’s feet and sobbed uncontrollably.

From the above illustrations we can witness the devotion, spiritual emotion and love with which H.H. Bhaktaraj Maharaj served His Guru, Shri Sadguru Anantanand Saish. We see how eager He was to serve His Guru at all times to get maximum benefit and grace from Him.

* If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting (repetition or constant remembrance of) God's Name as per one's religion. (Seekers at the initial stage should chant the Name of the Family Deity (Kuldevata) or the divine principle as per their religion; refer to Issue 3 section: Clarification of Doubts for a list of the Names of God in various religions. Seekers in the advanced stage of spiritual practice can refer to Issue 124, section: Message to Seekers to determine the appropriate chant for them.) If one is already doing some spiritual practice, one can complement it with chanting.