ALCHEMY
By Us͟hā Ravindra Bijoor, Loṇāvalā, 29-05-2021
My Sadguru, HH Swāmī Parijñānāshram III, the 10th Mat͟hādhipati of our hallowed Shrī Chitrāpur Mat͟h was a perfect mystic, who transcended all the differences and limitations of caste, creed, religion and faith. In fact, it would be incorrect to say that He was a perfect mystic as the word ‘perfect’ falls too short in the realm of spirituality to describe Him and His unfathomable personality.
It is very difficult and an arduous task for a common person to recognize and understand an enlightened mystic as the gross personality of such a Master is highly unpredictable, incomprehensible and almost impossible to grasp from His outwardly superficial behavior, as it is purposefully well designed to break through the assumed bondages created by the social influences on the minds of the sādhaka-s.
With His grace, through the spiritual techniques and tools specifically devised by Him, He used to initiate and guide sincere and determined sādhaka-s towards attaining the ultimate truth of the existence. Many a times, His methods were subtle and unseen, but thoughtfully crafted to eradicate the weaknesses of body and mind and the disparity of thought and action process in life. Specifically, He used to encourage and instruct new sādhaka-s to adhere to discipline of mind and body, by being earnest in observing same time and place for japa etc. so that they would be able to benefit from the divine positive vibrations sustained at that place of sādhanā through which they would achieve progress faster.
Though one and all would receive His love, compassion and blessings as His grace, His spiritual initiation and guidance to each sādhaka was purely subjective and onwardly different at each juncture in the life of the sādhaka, depending upon the stagewise progressive transformation achieved by the sādhaka.
Swāmījī’s interaction with laity and sādhaka-s varied as per their psychological attitude, physical chemistry, level of intelligence and assimilation of the body-mind-emotion-energy combination. Citing a reference, once being a silent spectator, I saw Swāmījī giving different answers to different people regarding questions raised on the subject of the ‘Bījāks͟hara’ AUM. When I placed my inquiry at His holy feet about why different answers were given on the same subject to different people, He said that one can and should explain the stars in the sky with the nursery rhyme ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ to small kids, whereas, as the kid grows, graduates and post-graduates further in life, only then he can be imparted with the knowledge and information regarding the intricacies of the sky, stars and astronomy depending upon his capacity to assimilate and understand the subject.
Swāmījī strictly discouraged sādhaka-s to reveal and regale the spiritual experiences or milestones that a sādhaka experiences during his spiritual sādhanā, to obliviate the possibility of the sādhaka developing any kind of superiority complex or spiritual-higher than thou ego, which according to Him would not only hinder spiritual journey but defeat the very purpose of being on the spiritual path of self realisation. However, as per the experience of the sādhaka-s, Swāmījī seemed to know each and every experience or the pertinent milestone occurring with each and every sādhaka during sādhanā and the sādhaka would be stunned when Swāmījī would mention the exactness of it only to instruct the sādhaka to put it behind and proceed in further sādhanā.
Swāmījī was always ever present to take care, nurture and guide the sādhaka-s on the spiritual path and also in their personal and family life, so that their spiritual journey could be advanced in an unhindered manner. In this regard, His graceful visible and invisible presence was always there when needed which has been experienced by various sādhaka-s. Swāmījī was constantly aware of the difficulties and problems of every sādhaka without being informed about them and silently acted upon to solve them as his vigilant focus was on the wholesome development and transformation of the sādhaka and He used to firmly instruct the sādhaka-s to abide by the guidelines prescribed by Him regarding the spiritual practices.
We all were extremely fortunate to have witnessed such a Sadguru amongst us in our lifetime. The essence of our gratitude and reverence at the holy feet of HH Parijñānāshram Swāmījī III will always fall short of words and remain unsaid.
As Parama Pūjya Swāmījī still continues to graciously guide us, on the august occasion of His 75th birth anniversary, with sas͟hṭāṅga praṇāma-s at His holy feet, I humbly say that He IS an enlightened Guru, a Yogī, a Mystic, an embodiment of Guru Tattwa, who fearlessly appeared to be full of contradictions just to help sādhaka-s to step beyond the ‘Nāma-Rūpa’ concept and take a leap towards ‘Advaita’ in an experiential manner in search and attainment of the ultimate ‘Ātma-Tattwa’ or self realisation.
Yes, He IS an Alchemist.