Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 29

Yuktheshwarji and his disciple Mukundlal Gosh had Dharshan of Babaji.  There was a disciple Kalikumar Rai of Yogiraj, he used to visit his preceptor regularly, unfortunately, Kalikumar Rai’s boss does not like this habit of him, his boss thought all the saints are making fool of people.  He tried many times to put off the spiritual interest in Rai Sahab, but his faith and devotion to Yogiraj had never changed.   He regularly visits Yogiraj and serves him.  One day Rai Sahab’s boss followed him and arrived at the house of Yogiraj, he sat on the last row of the devotees,  he arrived with a firm decision to expose the wickedness of this saint, he sat there and keenly watched at Yogiraj.   Mahashay asked his disciple “Would you like to watch a movie?” everyone agreed to it, Lahiri Mahashay asked to put off the light in the chamber, asked the disciples to sit in a circle and one person should close the other person's eye, Lahiri Mahashay asked, “ Could you vision anything?” Everyone said “ Yes, we could see a beautiful woman in red saree standing under the Gajakarnna plant,” Mahashay asked the boss of Rai Sahab “ Do you know this woman?” he said “ Yes I know her, I am ignorant leaving my beautiful wife at home, I was chasing this woman.  I am ashamed of my wicked sense.  Kindly forgive me and give me Dheeksha and bless me.”  Yogiraj said, “ If you can leave all these illicit relationships for six months, then I will give you Dheeksha.”  He could control his sense for three months, not more than that.  Once again he started chasing the prostitute for sensual pleasure, within a month he passed away.

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 28

Yogiraj had several disciples and these disciples had their own disciples, and many of them attained the highest of the spiritual state.  There was Panchanan Banerji who was one of the prominent disciples of Yogiraj,   had a disciple Varadhacharan and he had disciples Kaji Najrul Islam, and Subhashchandra Bose.  In this way, the succession of Yogis goes endless.

Yogiraj’s disciple Ramdhayal Mazumdar had a disciple Sant Seetharam Omkarnath.  Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj elaborately mentioned about all these saints in his work.  There was a shrine built in Puri in the name of Lahiri Mahashay by Bhupendra Sanyal who attained Dheeksha without visiting his house in Kashi.  Bhupendra Sanyal heard about Mahashay and admired him dearly, he sincerely prayed with all hearts.  One night while he was in deep sleep, Lahiri Mahashay appeared in his dream and gave Dheeksha to Sanyal.  In this way, though he did not receive Dheeksha personally from Lahiri Mahashay, with his intense faith and devotion he attained Dheeksha from Mahashay in his dreams.   Later when he arrived in Kashi, he asked Dheeksha from Yogiraj, Mahashay said “I have already given Dheeksha to you. So there is no meaning in giving Dheeksha again.”

Yogiraj had a nephew Tharaknath Sanyal, once he became severely ill, with the grace of Lahiri Mahashay he regained his good health, he was so surprised to see the supernatural powers of his uncle,  One day Sanyal said “ I want to meet your preceptor.” Sanyal thought if the disciple had these much divine powers, then the preceptor must be supreme in Yogic skills, he wanted to get maximum benefit out of the visit, Yogiraj said “ I asked my preceptor to visit, but he is not willing to do that,”  Yogis are visible only to a very few truly ascetic and pious people, Tharaknath Sanyal did not get Dharshan of Babaji, but a non-believer in Moradabad attained Dharshan of Babaji. 

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 27

There was a mysterious incident happened to photographer Gangadhar.   Mahashay’s disciple Kalikumar Rai wanted to have a photograph with Mahashay, they made to sit Yogiraj in the middle and took a photograph.  The next day after washing the negative the photographer found the photo is fine but Yogiraj is missing.  There was another photographer who came took several shots not to repeat the previous mistake, and he too found that Mahashay was missing in the photograph.  He understood the supernatural powers of Yogiraj and bowed down before him.  He cried and said, “ Maharaj, kindly forgive my mistake, and let me have your picture.” Yogiraj said, “come tomorrow.” Later the photographer managed to get the picture of Mahashay that is widely circulated among the public. 

Once Yogiraj played a trick to his wife Kashimoni Devi, after giving Dheeksha to his wife, they rarely meet each other in the house, they do not spend together in a room,  all the household responsibilities were taken care by Kashimonidevi.   Yogiraj will be always with his devotees and disciple in the ground floor of the house.  One day he came up to meet Kashimonidevi, she shouted at him “ You are too busy with disciples and devotees the whole day, you have never bothered about me or children,  never known about managing affairs of the house, and the work taking place, etc..” seeing her angry, Lahiri Mahashay disappeared from her sight.  He said, “Look at this, are you seeing anything?” Kashimonidevi got really anxious; she did not expect that he would disappear like this.  She begged for pardon and requested him to appear before her.  Yogiraj produces noise from the corner of the room or outside, and continued to play this trick for a while, Kashimonidevi felt uneasy and asked him to appear before her.  She started crying thinking about she had committed an unpardonable mistake to her husband.  Soon Yogiraj appeared before her and said “Leave all the bondage to material things, and always yearn for supreme consciousness, once you attain the supreme bliss, you will never feel for any outward happiness or desire.  Do not worry, soon a disciple will come and give you money to run the house smoothly.” 

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 26

Lahiri Mahashay’s disciples experienced many times that their life was saved by the mercy of their preceptor, one family was coming to visit Mahashay in a bullock cart and on the way the main part of the wheel was broken, the bullock cart got stuck on the ground, it was an isolated place famous of thieves, devotees cried for help and prayed to Yogiraj, soon their bullock cart started rolling from the place, everyone was surprised at this event.  As soon as they arrived in the home of Mahashay, they narrated the mishap, devotee felt Gurudev is not giving attention to the trouble he had gone through to reach so far, so he continued to describe with all his energies, Yogiraj said “Don’t you see, you are sweating, and you did not understand who brought you here.” 

Once a lady arrived to meet Yogiraj, she heard the splendor of Mahashay from her friends, that day onwards she started admiring Yogiraj and had a great belief in him.  While talking she said “ Gurudev, will you give me a photograph of yours? I could not make a visit to you quite often. I would be happy to worship your photograph.” Yogiraj gave a photograph and said “ If you keep this photograph as protective armor, it would do that job, or it would remain photograph always.”  After few days an interesting incident took place, there was a heavy downpour, streets were flooding, she was reciting scriptures, she was sitting close to the daughter-in-law of Mahashay, there was a photograph of Yogiraj near to them.  Suddenly deafening noise of thunder and lightning made the lady shirked out of fear “ Lahiri Mahashay, kindly protect us.”,  lightning appeared too close to them but both of them were miraculously escaped.  Later she said that they were experiencing an ice wall surrounded by them while the lightning appeared close to them. 

Yogiraj used to have amusement with his devotees, Dr.Chandramohan De, a young graduate of medicine arrived to get blessings from Yogiraj, they were talking about many things, finally, Yogiraj asked: “ How did you declare a patient died?” Dr.Chandramohan said, “ when the pulse beat stops we declare dead.” Yogiraj stretched his hands and asked to check his pulse beat and asked him to tell dead or alive. Chandramohan checked the pulse, then he checked the heartbeat, he went to pale, he shrieked out of surprise “It is a super miracle.” Yogiraj asked him to write a death certificate, Chandramohan said: “ I have no problem to follow your orders, but you are alive and speaking.” They laughed at the wit of Mahashay. 

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 25

Lahiri Mahashay had a disciple Kevalanandhji who always had the mercy of his preceptor upon him.  There was a servant named Ramu at Lahiri Mahashay’s residence, he was blind, Kevalanandhji used to think that Mahashay always showers his mercy upon his devotees, why he is distant to Ramu? He always stands behind Mahashay and fanned him, once Kevalanandhji asked Ramu “ When did you become blind?” Ramu said, “ Maharaj, I was born blind.” Kevalandhji said “ You please request Guruji to restore your eyesight, if you attain the blessings of Guruji, you will be able to see the world, people around you and deities.’  The next day Ramu reluctantly spoke to Mahashay about this matter, Mahashay said: “somebody had played a trick on you and put me in trouble, I do not have that skill to restore your eyesight.” Ramu said, “You are my Lord, if you bless me, I will be able to see the world.” Lahiri Mahashay asked him to sit close and touched his middle part of the eyebrows and said “recite Ramanama for another seven days concentrating on the middle part of your eyebrows.  God will give you the eyesight,” After seven days Ramu regained his eyesight and he could able to see his family, Gurudev, and people around him.  Later Guruji said, “continue to recite Ramanama all through your life.”

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 24

Dr. Govardan used to conduct tours to various places while he was at work, whenever he visited India, he immediately arrives Benares to meet Lahiri Mahashay.  Mahashay asked why he is taking the pain to meet him often; Dr.Govardan narrated his work requirements, and revealed his yearning to meet him on a daily basis, Yogiraj kept silent.  Before conducting a trip abroad, once again Dr.Govardan arrived to meet Lahiri Mahashay.  Later, Dr.Govardan had the opportunity to meet his preceptor on daily basis as he was wished.

Pranavanandhji who was one of the railway employees, an ardent disciple of Lahiri Mahashay also had the same experience, he achieved greatest heights in spirituality with the blessings of preceptor and hard work, he used to conduct practice till midnight, he attained the fruit of immense bliss, one-day Pranavanandhji spoke to Yogiraj “Guruji, I want to meet the supreme spirit, my restlessness will not stop until I witness,” Yogiraj advised him to continue his practice, after several months he met Yogiraj and said “ I am not interested to work anymore, I want to take up Yoga and spend all my life in search of superconsciousness,” Yogiraj said “ Apply for pension and do as you wish.” Prananvandhji said that he had started working in Railways a few years before, and there is no proper reason to retire from the work, Yogiraj said, “tell any reason whatever comes into your mind.”  Another day Pranavanandhji applied for pension, the doctor asked for the reason for retirement, he said he is having pain in the spine and creates hindrance at work, without any further inquiries, the doctor sanctioned his paper for the pension.  After retirement, he spent most of the time in practicing Kriya Yog and meditation and he became one of the famous Siddha Yogi and he wrote the famous book ‘Pranava Gita’.

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 23

Lahiri Mahashay had a disciple named Abhaya from Kolkata, she conceived eight times and each time she had lost her child.  She conceived for ninth time, she decided to go to Gurudev and earnestly pray for the well-being of the child, she was anxiously waiting to go to Benares, she came with her husband in Howrah station, found that the train is leaving, they had to get the ticket and cross the long way of platform to board on the train, she stood near the ticket counter praying to Yogiraj, she prayed “ Gurudev, kindly stop the train. I cannot wait to see you.” Surprisingly, the engine started the wheels roll down, but the train was not moving from an inch.  The driver, guard, and passengers got out of the train and watching this miracle, soon a stranger came to Abhaya and said “ Sister, please go and board the train, I will bring your tickets. I am also going to Benares,” Abhaya gave the money to the stranger and went to board on the train, soon the stranger rushed to her gave the tickets through the window, because the train was started moving.  No one did understand what’s happening.  Abhaya and her husband prostrate before Guruji, Mahashay said “you could have come by another train; otherwise, you should have left home early.”  Abhaya started crying before Guruji, Mahashay said “ I understood the reason behind your visit. You will have a girl child, during the early hours of labor pain, keep an earthen lamp lighten and keep it carefully, make sure to fill the lamp with enough oil  so that it keeps burning till the next morning.  Don’t let the lamp go off without oil.”  As predicted by Guruji, Abhaya delivered  a beautiful girl child; she was with a lady in her room to take care of her in that night.  During the midnight the light of the lamp became low and low, two ladies were fallen asleep, suddenly the door got wide opened, two ladies were stunned, there the ladies saw Lahiri Mahashay, he said “I have cautioned you, but you were failed to follow it, the earthen lamp is going to go off, pour oil on the lamp immediately,” Abhaya rushed to fill the lamp with oil, she looked around for Lahiri Mahashay, but there was no sign of him.

Yogiraj Sri Shyamacharan Lahiri Mahashay

Pranams at the lotus feet of Yogiraj!

Chapter – 22

Krishna Ram was one of the devotee and  close associate of Lahiri Mahashay, they both used to go to have a dip in Ganga, one-day Yogiraj said “ tear-off your clothes,” he repeatedly said to Krishna Ram, he could not understanding anything, soon one brick fell at the feet of Lahiri Mahashay and wounded badly, Krishna Ram torn off his clothes and tied the wounds, Krishna Ram said “ Gurudev, if you know that the brick is going to fall on your feet, you are aware and you could have moved away, why did you stand in the same place and got yourself hurt.” Yogiraj said “ Son, It is not like that, if I stand away from the Prarabdhakarma, definitely, it would make its way to come back, so it is good to receive the fruit of Karma as it comes.”

Yogiraj used to give lectures on scriptures to his devotees and disciple while giving lectures he found some difficulties in continuing, later it was not audible and found difficult follow the lectures and people started staring at each other’s face.  The next day there was a tragedy happened in Japan, it was reported in the newspaper that an aircraft sunk in the ocean and many people have died.  Lahiri Mahashay took great care of his disciples who had intense devotion and faith in him.   He was always been with them in their difficult times.