The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter -XII

Sri Dayananda Saraswathi visited Kashi, he was come to this land to give lectures on Aryasamaj, he gave speeches against the deities of Hindu and several scholars remained silent.  There was a debate in Gauri Kund and many scholars were defeated in the debate, Dhayanandswaraswathi proclaimed that there is one supreme spirit and He has no form, his organization had similarities of Bhramasamaj in Kolkata, many were becoming disciples of Dayananda Saraswathi.  He established Aryasamaj in Varanasi.  Many spiritually devoted people felt deeply hurt, came in the hermitage of Thrailanga Swamiji and revealed their distress against Aryasamaj and their disrespect towards Hindu deities, after listening to their qualms Swamiji wrote something on the paper and send to Dhayanandasaraswathi, after reading the message Dhayanandhasarasaraswathi disappeared from Kashi.

Somewhat like this incident happened to Umacharanji as well. He was working in a pharmaceutical company in Munger, his office mate was Mahendralal Gosh found some error in accounting and some money was missing, both of them were terribly upset about this because these two were in charge of finance.   Umacharan has the prime responsibility on the finance, they conducted meticulous search and it continued for three months, but there was no fruitful result.  These two-person jobs were at a risk, leaving work with a black mark and taking part in pilfering money around six hundred rupees both will earn stain in their lives.   Those days six hundred rupees was big money, he wanted to get rid of these troubles and returned to Kashi. He was quite confident that Swamiji will guide him in this matter, Swamiji asked him ‘ Child, you came here to find out the missing money, you and your friend Gosh are the same, you have sent two drafts worth 300 and 200 to two companies, and the receipts and acknowledgments are in the file, and the remaining hundred rupees Gosh will find out.” Umacharan returned to Munger and found the receipts in the file for 500 rupees, the hundred rupees which they found while rigorously searching in a box by Gosh, he was beaming with joy. Gosh said ‘You are fortunate to become a disciple of Swamiji, I will definitely visit Kashi with you, with all my hearts I sincerely prostrate before Swamiji ten thousand times.”  There were numerous disciples of Thrailanga Swamiji narrated his supernatural activities and there are several books describes the glories of Thrailangaswamiji.

One day the sacred city Kashi woke up with terrible news that Swamiji decided to embrace Samadhi, Panchaganga Ghat crowded with people, there are numerous Siddhapurusha, Yogis, saints and holy men arrived in Kashi, but none of them were taken Samadhi while living, it was  on 1887,  Shukla paksha Ekadashi day,  Swamiji sacrificed his mortal coil and attained Samadhi.

The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter -XI

Bhavanicharan Vachaspathi, who was severely ill with infection/black fever, he was tormented mentally and physically, he was advised by his neighbor and arrived at Thrailangaswamiji's Hermitage, Vachaspathiji made regular visits but he had to return without any communication with Swamiji, it continued for several days, once Swamiji asked the reason for his visit. Vachaspathiji poured out his troubles, after listening he advised Vachaspathiji to prepare a spirituous energy drink and consumed, advised him to visit Swamiji on a regular basis, he was repeated the same treatment, it continued for a month, Swamiji asked him to clean the surface and repeated the routine.  One day, Vachaspathi was asked to clean the place where Swamiji passed urine in large quantity, without any hesitations, he cleaned the entire place and went to take a holy dip, after that, he prepared the spirituous drink and consumed. Next day the same thing repeated with an order of Swamiji not to visit Mutt anymore, Swamiji assured he will get completely relieved from black fever in four days and it happened for real.

Umacharanji after returning from Kashi, he immersed in spreading the glories of his preceptor in his native village Munger, people were thrilled to listen to the supernatural powers of Swamiji, there were several people excited to meet Thrailangaswamiji, people were so devoted at the lectures of Umacharan, notes which were dictated by Swamiji himself.   Soon Umacharan received an instruction from his preceptor to stop spreading glories of Swamiji, Umacharan observed silence.  Later he forgot the instruction of Swamiji, he was persuaded by two close friends and arrived in  Kashi,  with his two close associates Yadhunathbhagji and another one is Srikrishnaprasanna Singh, but immediately after arriving the Mutt, Swamiji raged at  Srikrishnaprasanna Singh and spoke, ‘ You are  pride swollen, treating yourself as the incarnation of Lord Krishna, and wanted people to venerate you and touch your feet, you are too haughty, not hesitate to spread leg before twice-born, therefore your future is in darkness. You have only one quality; you are good in giving lectures, Puris made will dip in burning ghee to cook, it keeps making noise until it gets cooked well, once it gets cooked it will stop its noise, that is the state of you,”  Srikrishnaprasanna kept silence after listening to the unsympathetic yelling of Swamiji, he did not argue or responded at this.  Swamiji looked at Yadhunath and said ‘ You have read many scriptures and got yourself confused, your mind is not calm, the mind needs to be calm then only you will attain Mukthi, you have come to get Dheeksha from me, I will not make more disciple, Dheeksha to an undeserving person is sin, disciples are not willing to follow the instructions of the preceptor, then preceptor has to take care of those unfinished work, because it is the duty of preceptor to take care of the wellness of his disciple, I do not want to get myself into this sin,  therefore you go to my disciple Kalicharan and get Dheeksha.” Umacharan was stunned to know the real nature of his associates, if they were true they will talk about it, they kept quiet for all the remarks made by Swamiji.  Yadhunath realized the glories of Swamiji who is omniscient; he is aware of past, present and the future of a person. Later, Srikrishnaprasanna got Deeksha from a preceptor and built an Ashram in Dhashashvamedha Ghat and worshiped Goddess Annapurna, but the Mutt is in a pathetic state.

The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter -X

There was Sri Ramkamal Chatterji lived in Kashi, his small son of 5 years broke his bone while climbing stairs, those days there was no famous doctor for bone treatment in Kashi, therefore doctors advised taking the child to Kolkata.  They brought the child in Kolkata and doctors advised immediate operation should be performed; it is difficult to say anything, there is a chance that the child may lose its life while operation, Chatterji Babu panicked at the remark of the doctor. If the child is not going to live even after the operation, then there is no use of performing such operation, the couple was extremely disappointed and returned to Kashi.  One of his neighbors advised the couple ‘ Please  take your child to meet Thrailanga Swamiji, he is a supreme ascetic, pray to him all your troubles will go away, compassionate grace of a saint is enough to restore the life of lifeless, ’  Chatterji made up his mind, if he gets the blessings of the Swamiji, definitely his child will regain his health.  Next day, the couple took holy dip in Ganga and went to meet Swamiji, they were disappointed to see the atmosphere in the hermitage, Swamiji most of the time observe the vow of silence, he shows gestures to visitors to go out of the hermitage, Chatterji found it difficult to put forward his plea before Swamiji, he was not disappointed but he regained confidence after meeting Swamiji,  In this manner, Chatterji babu and his wife visited Swamiji several times and returned at the gesture of Swamiji.  One day, Swamiji asked Chatterji about their purpose of a daily visit to Hermitage, instantly both the couple fell down at the feet of him, they could not control their sorrow with tears overflowing he described the state of the child, Swamiji compassionately looked at the child, he gave a handful of mud and instructed Chatterji, to make a paste of the mud and apply on the place where the child find painful, the child may suffer from severe fever, but nothing to worry, once the fever is down, he will feel extremely hungry, at that time feed him whatever available at home and he will be completely alright in two days and it became true.

The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter - IX

The next morning while going for a bath in Ganga, Swamiji said ‘ Umacharan, meet me today night. I will clear all your doubts.  After that, you will not find the need to meet me in my hermitage.”  That night Umacharanji met Swamiji in the hermitage, he fed Umacharan with the offerings of Lord, he instructed Umacharan with few spiritual practices and concluded that with these practices he can attain self-realization and the realization of Bramham as well. Swamiji asked him to do the practices on regular basis, Swamiji took a seat and said ‘ Umacharan, today onwards you are bound by Upasana. Hence you have to strictly follow the practices on regular basis.  If you made any fault in this, I will be responsible to bear the fruit, if you did not get time in the day, do it in the night, if you did not find time in the night, do it in the midnight, but the performance of duty is essential, nothing will work otherwise if you make any fault in the practice, I will get the intimation,”  Thrailangaswamiji went into silence for some time, like he was immersed in the past,  Swamiji continued ‘ God has created human and instilled all the truth and virtues, therefore he can perform all the task of Supreme spirit, today I will make it clear for you. Then you will understand soul and supreme soul are ‘One’, there is no difference between them.  He resides as soul and intellect in the human brain, there is no ‘I’ concept, all that is ‘supreme spirit’.  There is no ‘I’ and there is no ‘mine’ as well. It should be remembered always.” Swamiji went into deep silence.  After some time Swamiji said ‘close your eyes, when I call you, then open your eyes.’ Swamiji also went into trance, it was not clear how long that state continued, Swamiji said ‘ Umacharan, open your eyes and tell me where are we.’ Umacharan realized that they are not in the chamber, Swamiji and he was in the shore of Ganga, Swamiji was seated on a cot which was covered in white and crisp cushions and clothes’ Swamiji asked to touch the waters of Ganga, Umacharan realized it was water, he moves away from water and sat near Swamiji, he said ‘ Close your eyes once again, now open your eyes and tell me where are we.’ Umacharan found he is seated with Swamiji in the same old chamber in the hermitage; Umacharan startled ‘how did it all that happen?’ Swamiji said ‘ It is nothing to get surprised when human understand the nature of self, he can do all that he wants, I have shown it to you to increase your belief, firm devotion and faith.

The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter -VIII

One day Umacharanji while conversing with Swamiji, asked ‘ Baba is it possible for me to envision Lord in this life,’  Swamiji said ‘ with the intense faith and practice, and the grace of preceptor, one can attain supreme Lord. You want to envision Lord?  Rishis, Sages and deities yearn for this, nothing to say about human.’  Umacharanji became too emotional, he took hold of Swamiji’s feet, and asked ‘ Is it possible for me?’  Swamiji said ‘ Today night I will fulfill your wishes. Now you can leave home.”  Umacharanji was too excited so he reached the hermitage early in the evening.  Swamiji took him to his small puja room at the right time, he took a seat and told Umacharan ‘ Go and do darshan of Ma Kali in the next chamber.”  Umacharanji entered the chamber, he prostrated before Ma Kali and silently came out of the chamber, seated near Swamiji, ‘Did you see Ma Kali, you want to see her here.’ Umacharan said ‘ Yes’ he thought how can he bring that idol here, is he going to show real Ma, Umacharan said ‘ It would be a great fortune for me to get darshan of Jagathjanani/Bhavatharani, it will be the piousness of thousands and millions of births.” Swamiji said ‘ Now you be seated silently, do not get excited, or do not speak anything’ after saying this Swamiji immersed in meditation for an hour, after that Swamiji said ‘ Ma Kali, kindly come to this chamber.’ Umacharanji saw a beautiful young lady all dressed in magnificent clothing, adorned in the gem and golden ornaments arrived in the chamber where Swamiji was seated, she had supreme radiance in that light Chaithanyamayi, Vishwamangala,  Jaganmatha appeared in real form.  Umacharan was terrified and lost his voice, his eyes widened with awe, the idol kept in the chamber became lively, Umacharan became silent, Swamiji said “ Umacharan, go and see the idol in the next chamber, check that is there or not, go and check and tell me right now.’ He went to check the idol in the next chamber, but it was missing, panic-struck Mukherji ran out and cried out ‘ No, there is no idol of Ma Kali.”  Swamiji said ‘ Sit silently, do not get excited.’ Umacharan noticed that the lively Ma became an idol and standing close to Swamiji,  Umacharanji with the permission of Swamiji, took the dust particles from the feet of Ma Kali and smeared all over his body, when he touched the feet of Ma Kali, it was not an idol, it was soft and supple like human feet, Swamiji said ‘ Look at Ma Kali, so that your heart will get contented.’ Later Swamiji told ‘ Ma, please take your seat in your chamber.’ She walked out like a beautiful young maiden and went into her shrine, once again turned into an idol; Umacharan had several doubts in his mind.  He asked ‘ Maharaj, how can an idol turn out full of life?, all that I have seen is true?’  Swamiji asked ‘How is your body moving?’ Umacharan replied ‘In the human body, there is a divine soul which makes us move.’ Swamiji replied “ It is Siddhpurusha and holy saints instill the presence of supreme soul in the idol with their several years of Tapasya, therefore these idols listen to us, walk to us, talk to us and do all that like a normal human.’ 

The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter -VII

 Next day, as usual, he had to follow Swamiji for a bath in Ganga, he had a unique style of bathing, he remains in the water for two hours, sometimes he dives underwater and vanishes for some time, Mukherji has to wait on the shore till Swamiji finishes his bath.  That day after finishing bath Umacharanji dried the body of the Swamiji with a towel and they returned to the hermitage, Swamiji took a seat and asked Umacharanji to sit near him, once the visitor's crowd was over, they have started the process of Dheeksha, Swamiji detailed the procedures to Mukherji and whispered Beejakshara in the ears of Mukherji, Swamiji said ‘ Umacharan, I am going to give you some instructions, you should follow them sincerely, talk only what is required, do not waste time on unnecessary talks, it damages your body, does not hate anyone, respects all the religions, people who believe in different religion will attain Mukti through their beliefs in that religion, the only difference is duration to attain Mukthi, people of all the religion and belief attain Mukthi, whoever worship Lord with intense devotion and faith would definitely achieve the presence of Lord, none of the incidents in our life are surprising, human with intense faith, knowledge, wisdom can perform supernatural activities, the purpose of creation of humans on Earth is not to enjoy sensual pleasure and consuming the meal, we are enriched with supernatural powers of the supreme soul, Lord has given this immense strength to humans to elevate them in a higher  spiritual state, none is aware of utilizing those immense powers or do not know the method, people easily get dejected if they did not get what they want, ultimately becomes a non-believer in God.   This universe and its living beings were created by the Supreme Lord, he is all-pervading.  God-realization should be achieved with supreme intellect and wisdom, search for God required intense faith and belief, He will definitely attainable to the true spiritual seeker and this is the process of the creation of the linage of the disciple.  The preceptor will not search for a disciple, he is brought towards the preceptor with a power of supreme spirit, disciple getting to know the immense powers of preceptor and became a sincere servant of him, it was Preceptor who took hold his disciple at the instruction of supreme spirit, like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda, Vijayakrishna Goswami and Satheesh Mukherji, Gahaninath and Nivriththinath, Mahathmaji and Vishudhdhanandhji, Maharishi Ramana and Paul Brunton.  If a preceptor committed a fault in choosing his disciple, ultimately all those wrong deeds of a disciple should be borne by the preceptor.

The walking Lord of Varanasi – Sri Thrailanga Swamiji

Pranams at the lotus feet of Swamiji!

Chapter -VI

Umacharanji sincerely agreed to follow whatever his preceptor thinks good for him, he promised to follow his instructions with intense faith and devotion. After silence for a few minutes, Swamiji has given detailed instructions about the process of Deeksha.  The third day of the month Magh, on the star Pushya Lunar eclipse day has chosen as auspicious to get his body purified before receiving Deeksha, Swamiji asked him to donate some ingredients to a twice-born during the hours of eclipse, after that he takes dip in Ganga and seat on the sanctified place, he should recite the Manthraupadhesham given by Swamiji as a part of purification process.  Umacharanji had a doubt that why a noble Brahmin accepts charity during eclipse, normally charity during eclipse was given to Chandala, it is difficult to get a noble Bhramin to receive charity during eclipse, Swamiji smiled at the dilemma of Mukherji, and said ‘During eclipse, one twice-born will come and ask for charity, you give all that I have written and given in advance. ’ Umacharan was too happy to see his problem resolved, no need to search for a noble-Bhramin, Swamiji has already arranged for him.  Umacharanji impatiently waited for the Lunar eclipse day, on that day he arrived with the ingredients for charity, but there was a huge crowd on the river bank, he stared here and there waiting for a Bhramin, soon arrived a Bhramin asked for charity from Mukherji, after receiving the charity he disappeared in the crowd.  Umacharanji took a dip in Ganga, seated on a purified place and started reciting the hymns advised by Swamiji.  The next day he arrived at the hermitage and told Swamiji that he has sincerely followed the advice of him, Swamiji said ‘you are purified,’ after this Swamiji gave lectures on disciple and preceptor for a long time, ‘Tomorrow you will receive Dheeksha followed by customary rite.’  Later Mukherji saw three saints were discussing very important matters with Swamiji, and he was trying to convince these saints, Umacharanji could not understand anything, after some time, the three saints left the Hermitage.  Immediately the downpour started, Umacharanji requested permission to leave to home,  Swamiji said ‘ Not now, sit here in silence,’ downpour followed with thunder and lightning, streets were flooded with water, Mukherji waited for two hours, but there was no end of downpour,  Mukherji thought Swamiji will give shelter in his hermitage today, immediately Swamiji said ‘Now you can go home.” Mukherji was shocked to hear the instruction of Swamiji, the downpour is too heavy and the streets were flooded with water and pitch dark everywhere,  Mukherji kindly said ‘ Baba, let the heavy downpour stops, I will leave immediately.” Swamiji said ‘ Leave right now.” Mukherji could not disrespect the order of Swamiji, so he left the hermitage with intense fear, on the way he met Mangaldas.   Mukherji said ‘ I was thinking of going home once the rain stops, but Swamiji asked me to leave right now, there is heavy water logging and rain continuing, it is too dark outside, don’t know how to go home.” Mangaldas said ‘ Do not worry Bengali Babu, just remember Swamiji’s name and keep walking, If Swamiji advised doing this, there must be some reason behind this too, otherwise he will not say so.”  Once again he came back to Swamiji and touched his feet, immediately he moved towards the dark flooded streets, water reached up to his knees, and all these waters were rushing towards Ganga, it was pitch dark, nothing is visible, he felt something unique, rain is continuing but none of the drops falls on him, he felt the water up to the knee, while moving forward, a man arrived from another street with the lantern, Mukherji felt relieved after seeing a drop of light in the darkness, he wanted the person with lantern stop for him, but nothing is audible to that person due to heavy rain, Umacharanji increased his speed of walking, so that he can be with the person with the lantern, but surprised to see that they maintained the same distance even though he increased his speed of walking, it was impossible to reach close to the person with the lantern, Mukherji felt anyway he is getting enough light from his lantern and ways are clearer now, only there is knee length water is bothering him, finally, Mukherji reached home, but he could not find the person with lantern, he remained shocked for a moment, instantly he remembered the grace of Swamiji.  Once again Mukherji reverentially remembered Swamiji and went inside the house.