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Spirituality is not always a display
of a sound spirit in a sound body.
Manav Dayal was in his mid-eighties and was suffering from severe
diabetes.
He was lying on a bed, looking weak, so his first words to me seemed
to come from somewhere else:
'I knew you would come today. I have been awaiting you. Come to
my place. Stay with me. Eat with me. Sleep in the same room as me.
And you will become like me.'
Needless to say, his words were indeed surprising to my Western
ears. At the same time, I knew that these words were not meant
personally for me alone; they could just as well have been spoken to
you, dear reader, if you had the good fortune to be at this place at
this time. Then again came his fragile voice, reciting spontaneously
flowing poems in streams of consciousness. Devotees entered the room
with food, prasad. They offered it to him with tremendous reverence.
He ate lots of it with strange pleasure, while his voice continued
this wonderful song of words. But now these fragile melodies were
rhythmically mixed with loud burps coming from his stomach. Yet now,
in this intoxicated state I find myself in, I cannot tell the
difference between a burp and God's voice.
I have to continue
the story about Manav Dayal. I went to his ashram in Hoshiarpur, and
at that time, I met so many beautiful beings! It could no longer
just be a lucky projection of my own beauty:
Shabdanand,
Lahori
Pandiji, Sita,
Captain Lal Chand, and many others were just passing by.
The talking Picture
A devotee from Hyderabad, Suresh Babu, arrived in the ashram. He
was in his thirties, a successful family father and businessman. He
was also a passionate wildlife protector and photographer. He shared
many wonderful stories with me. In his childhood home, there was a
painting of Faqir Baba.
When he, as a child, passed by the painting, it often came alive, and
Baba Faqir spoke to him through it. For the young Suresh, this was
neither strange nor magical. It felt so natural that he never even
mentioned it to his parents. He also sometimes sought help from the
picture, and Baba Faqir never failed to provide useful advice.
Suresh mentioned that Faqir in the picture even sometimes told him
fairy tales. However, when he reached puberty, the painting suddenly
stopped coming to life, and no matter how hard he tried to revive
his old mentor and friend, nothing happened.
After the painting stopped
coming to life, Suresh developed a burning desire to travel to Hoshiarpur to meet the successor of Faqir Baba, Manav Dayal. Some
years later, his desire was fulfilled, and Manav Dayal became his
guru in physical form.
The Ugly Master
Manav Dayal Suresh now told told me, 'I was— as you are now—staying together with Manav
Dayal in his private room. One night he came out of the bathroom,
coughing and with almost no clothes on. My first thought was: My
dear GOD... is this my Guru? Is my Guru that ugly? I cannot even
look at this sight. Why is he so old? Why can I not have a young,
beautiful Master? Full of doubt and sadness, I went to sleep. In the middle of
the night, I was awakened by something pulling my arm. I looked up
and saw a divine being of light so radiant that I could not contain
the beauty. It was such an intense beauty that it felt like pain. I
cried in terror:
'Oh Shiva! Go away!! I cannot look at you. Such extreme beauty is
not for a human to absorb.'
The being smiled teasingly and asked, 'Do you find me beautiful
now? Am I beautiful enough for you?' 'Yes, yes,' I cried,
'You are too beautiful!'
The next morning, Manav Dayal's first question to me was: 'Do you
find me beautiful?' 'Guru Ji!' I replied, 'You are too
beautiful!' And I fell at his feet in gratitude...
Give me all your money!
Shortly after arriving at Manav Dayal’s Ashram, there was a large
gathering with several thousand people coming to celebrate him. This
occasion is called Guru Purnima. All over India, people travel to
visit their Guru to pay him respect with flowers and love. The place
was really crowded. Manav Dayal called me over and said:
'Give me all your money!'
What was this?! Had I ended up once again in a spiritual commercial
trap? Despite all the doubt, I gave him my money belt. He took out
all the foreign money: dollars and traveler's checks. And, to my
terror, he also took out my passport. Then he handed back the money
belt—now containing only a few hundred Indian rupees.
'Trust me,' he said with a smile.
One hour later, as I was walking around in the Guru Purnima crowd,
my money belt was stolen.
Then Shabdanand came: 'Manav Dayal calls you.' And yes... I
had to laugh... With a mischievous smile, Manav returned my passport
and money."
I put it all in my pocket and
disappeared into the crowd of celebration.
This was the last money ever between
me and Manav.
Manav Dayal/I.C. Sharma lived until
recently with his devotees in a peaceful Ashram in Punjab.
I stayed with him for five month.
He never asked me to do anything for him.
He just gave - gave bliss - gave food - gave shelter.
He has now left his body.
Manav Dayal was a
Professor of Philosophy in the United States before
he in 1981
was appointed as head of the Manavta Mandir Mission by Faqir Baba.
Both Manav Dayal and Faqir Baba had close contact to the American mystic
Edgar Cayce. Manav Dayal has among many books written: Cayce, Karma and Reincarnation. (Look at amazon.com)
Here he makes a kind of New Age synthesis of Cayce Western
approach and the Eastern tradition of Radha Soami.
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