Oneness

If you want to understand the concept of Oneness, walk into an ice cream parlour. Whilst you might be amazed by the multiple flavours, the pralines, the choco chips, the berries etc. etc., you may want to look beyond these delicious adulterations. You might want to sense and taste their common denominator. The Milk is the base of all these ice creams just like the aatma is the base of our existence. He looked beyond normal perceptions and so could separate the milk from its various flavours, textures, processes and other ingredients. In the words of the three musketeers - "It's all for one and one for all."

Gurudevonline.com presents the pods of enlightenment, an audio biography of one of history's greatest saints.  'The Guru of Gurus' podcast series is comprised of 24 podcasts that present aspects of the mahaguru's life, philosophy, supernature, and mentorship.

Make some aspects of his biography into aspects of your biography.

If you have a question related to this podcast or need spiritual guidance, write to us at answers@gurudevonline.com. You can also read about Gurudev's life and philosophy on his website - www.gurudevonline.com

Transcript

Just because he could feel the aatmic commonality with other life forms did not mean that others could. It took him years to bring us to speed and manipulate our minds to think in that manner. He was truly a master at work. 

Oneness

In my opinion, the aura of a person influences others. The radiation of Gurudev’s aura enveloped and balanced the aura of others around him. His presence, to some extent, heightened other people’s consciousness. This could be interpreted as love, provided the word ‘love’ is looked at through an unemotional lens. His translation of love was twofold: Feel for the other and serve. 

Krishan Mohan ji, was a colourful man who was interested in learning spiritual practices for the use in business. Can you believe that? Seva was not even at the back of his mind. Yet, he went on to become a great guru who served countless people in hinterland Bengal with a focus on Durgapur.

 Krishanmohan ji: Shivratri was near and Guruji was in Shivpuri. Guruji asked me, “Son, can you tell me what are your personal expenses?” I said “Guruji, may be Rs. 2000 to 2500.” This was in the year 1978. He asked “What do you spend so much money on?” I said “Drinks, meat, movies etc. These are my hobbies. Every fifteen days, on one Saturday, I do no work and only have fun”. He said “Son, give this money to me”. I immediately put my hand in my pocket to give him the money. Since it was Guruji asking, it was no big deal. Guruji said “I do not need the money. I want you to do seva. I’ll give you my blessings. If you bless someone and heal them, then what is wrong in that. If you touch someone and he heals, what do you lose? When someone approaches you, just do this much. If you can, use this money to offer cups of tea to the visitors, and if possible feed them food too.”

His philosophy was simple. His methods direct. His teachings jargon free. A school pass-out and a PhD. could understand his teachings. I never heard him recite shlokas or refer to the scriptures. He disallowed spiritual theoretics. He wanted knowledge to be gained from within.

In my earlier years when I knew almost nothing and felt totally inadequate in spiritual knowledge, he said that he would ensure that I know 95% of what he did. I am grateful to him for all that I have learnt and realised, though I am not sure that I can ratify his arithmetic as yet! But then there is always tomorrow, and then there is also Rajpal ji.

Rajpal ji: When Guruji adopted me, he had told me to follow certain disciplines—about the things to do and not to do. He asked me, “What do you want?” I was quiet. He asked me, “Do you want to go to heaven?” I said, “I do not know. I am deeply attached to Lord Shiva, and I want to meet him”. He said, “I will make you meet him. There are a few rules which you must follow.”

I said, “How? Is there a way?” He replied, “God lives inside every human being. We call him paramatma; every man has an atma (soul) inside him; parmatma means the supreme aatma. So, if you want to please God, please the smaller Gods in human form.”  

“How do I do that,” I asked. 

He said, “Every human being has a problem, pain, disease; you must work towards removing these troubles, and alleviating their pain. These people will give you their blessings. When so many aatmas are pleased by you, then even God will take notice and meet you”.

 What Gurudev probably meant was that when you reach the level of aatmic consciousness, though you are aware of who and what you are in the physical world, you choose to identify with the divinity realised within. 

He reversed the normal perception of seva by glorifying it. By making us realise that we were serving not the person but the aatma within, he made people see its immense value. The service by the self of the self in another, made seva deeply aspirational. Though oversimplified, the idea appealed.

 Bakshi ji, who I would call khushmezaaz or happy-go-lucky, is a senior disciple from Shimla. He brings to you a few echoes from the mountains and closes with an Urdu couplet. 

Bakshi ji: Guruji used to say, “Even if you serve one person sincerely, you will be considered great.” He used to say that “this 108 or 1008 is nothing, but the number of times you serve men and women then you will also achieve that amount of greatness.” You must have served lakhs of people, so it will be Sri Sri 108 then it will be considered as the number of times you have done seva. This is what he would say. 

“Hazaron saal Nargis apni benoori pe roti hai badi mushkil se hota hai chaman mein dedavar paida”

Hazāroñ saal nargis apnī be-nūrī pe rotī hai 

Hazāroñ saal nargis apnī be-nūrī pe rotī hai 

Badī mushkil se hotā hai chaman meñ dīda-var paidā 

chaman meñ dīda-var paidā

Nargis is the name of a beautiful flower that resembles an eye but has no sight. Being benoor or without vision, it cries for thousands of years. It takes an eternity for a being or a Deedavar to arrive who has the insight to see beyond and open others eyes to reality. 

Gurudev made it his mission to collect his disciples who at the beginning were like Nargis the flower, unable to project their vision beyond the normal. Like a deedavar, he helped them gain deeper insights and look beyond themselves. Lectures on oneness and universal consciousness are dime a dozen and tools to impress. His simple examples and short advisories were meant to make deedavars out of us. His formula for change was once again seva. 

Surender ji and Guddan ji from Kanpur were dedicated to the cause of their guru and performed seva for decades.

Guddan ji: We must perform spiritual seva. For instance, every Bada Guruwar, we must to remove the public’s problems and sorrows. Guruji’s main point was that do as much seva for all living forms as possible. 

Surender ji: What she has said so far are Guruji’s teachings which is to serve others. If you cannot, then at least ask them about their well-being and they will be happy. 

Influenced by Gurudev, Surender ji, his sisters and their mother made seva the central theme of their lives.

Giridhar Lalwani adds a little bit of farm and animal culture to Gurudev’s seva. 

Giri ji: He used to feed cattle, animals with his own hands. I saw him doing this at the farmhouse. He used to do everything at the farmhouse-cows, buffaloes, monkeys, deer. He used to love feeding people who were really needy. Another thing he used to love was participate and ask us to participate in helping the poor perform the ritual of Kanyadaan. That was the best part about him. Also helping them with the wedding expenses without anybody knowing. Mostly, he did all this secretly. 

That’s what he wanted to tell us that, “You should do seva with your own hands. You should make people do seva but you should do it yourself also.” He also said if you can’t do seva physically, you should with your tongue also, which means you should always be sweet. That is also seva. Be nice to everybody by not being harsh and shouting at anybody.

He used to say that everything lies in seva. Then he also said that ann daan (giving food) is the highest kind of daan. That is why he used to ask us to do ann daan, langar; the more ann dann you do, the better. And jal seva, which is giving water to the thirsty. This is what he would teach us. He also tell me that vastra daan, which is clothing the deprived is very essential. Clothing the poor, feeding the hungry and quenching the thirst of the thirsty is very important.

Let’s turn the mic to another contemporary, Nitin Gadekar from Mumbai. His concepts have always been unique.

Nitin ji: Somewhere deep inside I knew that there was some connect. It is not just for show. Why should he? I mean Guruji does not need me; I am nobody that he needs to put me there or do me any favour. So, I did take it very seriously for 25 yrs. Whenever I did seva, I did it with all my heart. By I did I mean what Guruji made me do. May be that was sitting at the sthan seva. I have also done lot of other sevas like shoe seva or cleaning utensils etc at Gurgaon over the years. I feel that there is no difference between one seva and other. 

This was a brilliant remark. I am witness to a strange phenomenon. While many people sat on the gaddi and did seva of healing, there were others who worked in the kitchen, at the shoe stand, or served tea and snacks to the visitors at the sthan. Strangely but surely, the spiritual advancement of almost all these people was concurrent, no matter what the form of seva. Many of the ladies who did seva in the kitchen got Om’s and other graphics in their hands and also attained spiritual powers. The sthan treated all at par. That was my takeaway. 

Whilst on one hand he glorified seva, on the other hand he unglorified personal significance. Over to Pradeep Sethi.

Pradeep ji: A very remarkable vision which I had one afternoon when I went into my room. Bada guruwar was going on; I was tired and I slept for about an hour, and I got a vision that I was sitting down in the sthan and doing seva, and all the people who are coming, all the devotees who are coming, they are not touching my feet. I am touching them. It was a message that I am the servant. 

Krishan Mohanji refuses to stay out of the humility frame. He adds

Krishanmohan ji: Two people came and touched my feet. I was surprised seeing this. Guruji was sitting in his room. I was with few people from Durgapur. I went inside to meet Guruji and told him about this incident. He said, “Son, this is happening only because I want it to. You focus on seva. You do seva. People will find relief through your seva.” This condition he laid for his disciple was that you should never draw attention to yourself. He would just tell me that “Son, you are doing your seva properly. I have been keeping a count of your mantras as well. Just keep doing seva.”

He communicated to us all that we should be grateful to those who allow us to serve them. It was after all they who gave us the opportunity to improve our self-reflections and our roops. It was they who helped us avoid the snakes and climb the ladders on our spiritual journey. He recommended humility versus vanity and asked us to dress, talk and walk like the commoners we were. The message was to enhance the divinity internally and express humility externally. 

Suresh Kohli who hails from the little hamlet of Sunet in Himachal Pradesh, shares his views on what seva meant to him. 

Q: I want to ask you few questions which go beyond the physical aspect of what you have told me. It is very easy to say that he did seva and this, that, and the other, but what was the real value that was achieved by doing this seva?

Suresh ji: The best thing about seva is the blessings of people. There is no comparison, no value for a blessing. Blessing cannot be purchased and the blessing cannot be forced upon. It is an automatic voice of the inner recesses of the heart of a person. “May the supreme power bless you”. There is nothing compared to this blessing and this is the reward of seva. Desirelessness. There is no desire for doing seva. It is only seva, seva & seva.

For Gurudev, seva was not something he owned as his doing, choosing to view himself as a conduit instead. He always attributed his own seva to his guru, Buddhe Baba, and said that, ‘He does, I don’t’. Taking a cue from the mahaguru took us beyond the scope of karma. From ‘I do’ to ‘It happens’. Not taking ownership helped us to expend our stored karma and reduce new additions. It was only when we gave up ownership of the positive that we could give up ownership of the negative as well. Thus, adding a ladder to the journey. 

The Durgaporean, Krishan Mohan ji, returns to provide an amazing insight into the concept of seva. I am witness to his indulgence in the subject and he serves as if there is no tomorrow. He spends 20% of his time on commercial work and the rest of his time in serving people who stroll in for help daily at the sthan.

Q: When Gurudev gave you seva, did he give you any training of how to perform the seva?

 Krishnamohan ji: One word uttered by him was far more powerful than thousands of mantras – “Focus on me, do your seva and whoever you touch will be healed”.

 Q: So, what you are saying is that when you concentrate on a person and use your spiritual energy, some energies activate within you and are transferred to the patient whom you are treating? Is that right?

Krishnamohan ji: The truth is that when I’m doing seva I focus on Gurudev, and his power directly transfers to the patient or passes to the patient through me

 Q: What did Gurudev teach you?

Krishnamohan ji: He told me that within every being lives the paramatma and I see that paramatma in the form of a guru. Gurudev used to say do not judge a person based on good or bad. Simply serve. I followed Gurudev’s instructions and did seva. I never judged. I only saw my Gurudev in every person. I saw the paramatma which is the eternal truth.

 When Gurudev had just started doing seva on the instructions of Buddhe Baba, two men came asking for his help. He intuitively sensed that they had committed some terrible deeds in the past and he was unsure on whether he should or should not cure them. And then he heard a voice in his head which said, “You have to serve whoever comes to you without judgement or favour” And after that, he did just that and asked us all to do the same. 

Santoksar, is a place of significance in the life of Gurudev. It is here that the elusive Buddhe Baba instructed him to go back to the Grihasth Ashram for that is where his spiritual growth would happen. This ended his ascetic tourism and sent him back to family life. 

Gurudev told me once, how in the ancient times, the great Rishi Vishwamitra would wash off his sins by swimming across the Santoksar lake in Amritsar, doing the mahagayatri Mantra which was his own creation. That taught me a trick of life. I learnt that if the great Vishwamitra could wash off his sins then so can anyone else. It was not the swim, it was not the mantra, it was the concept of ‘I am NOT the doer’. I do not expect to wash away any sins but I did learn the philosophy. Your deeds are your deeds, good or bad, only if you take ownership of them. 

To return to the subject, Praveen ji who runs the sthan in Amritsar, shares.

Q: Gurudev had meditating at Santoksar Lake?

Praveen ji: Yes.

Q: Please describe that area for us? Where is it? Can you describe it?

Praveen ji: It is near the Golden temple. It’s 5 mins distance from the Golden temple.

Q: Ok and where did Gurudev sit for meditation?

Praveen ji: Yes. There is Santoksar Gurudwara, a temple and a Shivling. It was all together. In 1994, during the insurgency, they separated the temple and the Gurudwara. There is a shivalay there. It is an old Shivalay and there is a peepal tree under which Gurudev meditated. He had meditated there for 40 days.

Q: Did he tell you anything about that place?

Praveen ji: In 1985, I started seva at the sthan. Guruji told me “Take mud from the spot where I meditated under the peepal tree and keep it at your sthan. Keep the mud at your sthan. You keep doing seva. It will benefit a lot of people immensely.” I am doing seva since 1985. People come and Guruji is showering his grace on all of them.

A soundbite from Ravi Trehan ji follows – 

 Q: Do you get messages from Guruji in your dream or non-dream state?

Trehan ji: You have asked me a very specific question. I interact with him through messages. This is done in the aatmic form. Another medium through which I interact with him is through flashes that comes to your mind. If someone comes to me and asks me for help, I give them solutions in a semi-conscious state. However, after 5 minutes if he tells me that I have given him so and so solution, I would not remember it but their problems get resolved. These are the messages that comes as flashes; they radiate through me if I can use that word. So, I am made a medium at that time and he is the doer who has given the message for somebody and that message has gone to that person in a state of awareness but I do not know what that message is or whether it is passed on or not but his problem gets resolved.  I have had experiences like these on numerous occasions. This is not done by Ravi Trehan. This is called Guru Kripa. These people have faith and are associated with this sthan. Guruji would state that he would look after the welfare of the people associated with his sthans via the people who were in-charge of the respective sthans.

To do seva as yourself or to do seva as a representation of that great power was a subtlety most of us learned to understand.

Suresh Sharma ji from Kotla in Himachal, lets us in on his learning. 

Q: When seva took place, there must be many patients like 40 – 50 people, who would be coming there to treat themselves like in a week or in a month?

Suresh Sharma ji: Yes. If I say “Let me heal you”, the person does not get healed but when I invoke Guruji, the person gets healed. If there is a person who is not in a condition to be cured, we just pray to Guruji and he gets cured. During the subsequen visit, he informs us that he got healed on his previous visit.

Often, faith in the self is a version of faith in the guru or a higher power. When you attribute a practice to the higher power, you are telepathically inviting the indulgence of that higher power. I personally treat it as a constant and do not need to remind myself on a case-to-case basis. But we all have our own ways to practice something similar. 

 Service before self may sound like a cliché but it was his motto! He said umpteen times, “You do my work and I will look after yours”. I must have experienced this several times, as have most of my guru bhais. Gurudev cared a lot more for those who immersed themselves in the service of others rather than those who looked and sounded profound. 

Coming up next is a story that proves my point. Bittu ji recalls how he earned his Guru’s regards.

Bittu ji: On 19th of April, Guruji set up camp at Kullu-Manali. Because of Guruji’s blessing, I had the opportunity to travel with him almost everywhere he went. One night he told me to get ready as we had to go to Kullu-Manali for a few days. At that time, I made a request to him. I told him that with your blessings, I have travelled to so many wonderful places, far and beyond. We had a person named Puranji who lived with us. His wife Kanta and his daughters Bitto, had never travelled anywhere and they always wanted to go on a tour with you so this time, please take them. 

His camp which was to last for 7-8 days went on for 10-12 days. Then Guruji had some other work here for 4-5 days. One evening, Guruji returned home in a Gypsy car. He gave me the car keys, told me to get the car serviced, get my clothes and be ready because we were leaving the next day. I told him that I would get the car serviced but would not accompany him. He asked me, “Why? Do you have some other work? Is it because you have no money?” I said, “If you are with me, then we will never fall short of money.” Then he asked what the problem was. Then he told me to at least service the car and return, which I did. It 6.30 or 7.30 pm and I was in the small room seated on a divan. Guruji was leaving and asked me, “Have you got your clothes?” I said, “No. I have not.” “Why? I told you to!” I replied, “I also told you I was not coming along.” He said “I’ll take you to Lahol Spiti.” I stood my ground. Then he got angry that despite his insistence, I refused to budge.  

He got ready to leave the next morning at 4 am. I went to Guruji as he was leaving, bowed my head. He touched my head, our eyes met but he did not say anything. He left. I did not go because Guru puja was a few weeks later. I had duties. At that time, we would request people nearby to give us rooms to accommodate our guests. We would put up tents, take permissions from the police and other small taks. Guruji arrived at the location. He did not utter a word. I bowed to him. He did not ask me anything. He had faith in the fact that if we would get things done smoothly. Everything was done by him only but he had kept us to check on the surroundings. By Monday morning, the function had ended and the visitors had left. It was Monday morning. Guruji was dressed and resting on his bed. I went in to serve him a glass of lassi. He took the glass from the tray and kept it behind him. In an instant, he got up from his seat. I can’t even describe to you how tightly he hugged me. He must have kissed my forehead almost 100 times and in his happiness, he said to me, “Bittu, name any place in this world that you want to visit, and I will take you there! I knew you were staying behind for Guru Puja but I was provoking you. He asked, “The real god is one who visits your guru’s sthan. If they leave happy, your guru will be pleased. They must be happy. We exist because of them. Service to God is serving those who visit your guru’s sthan. That is true service.” 

I visited Dr Shankarnarayan to ask him a few questions –

Q: What was the kind of percentage of people who got fully cured or partially cured in say about a couple of sittings in your experience?

Dr Shankarnarayan ji: There are people who got very good results and some of them may not have but some people did. What I learned, I will tell you my interpretation, I used to tell people that the person who comes to this, place even if would not get the result, he gets the confidence to go with the problems like I myself am an example. I tell people in Bangalore that now that you have come here and the problem is not solved, you are going to leave the problem boldly and without any fear. That is one thing that has happened to everybody. Even Guruji used to tell me, “Whoever comes here does not leave empty handed!” 

My spiritual journey started at around the same time as Suresh Prabhu’s. Gurudev said on many occasions that Suresh would become a significant public figure and people would listen to him all across the globe. Since Suresh did not even possess a passport at that time, he and I were left wondering how? A decade or so later, we were wondering no more. Suresh is amused by his own rise in political stature. For him it was and will be a whodunnit! 

Suresh Prabhu ji: Guruji’s way of getting seva done from you could be in various forms. Like Konkan, where Guruji got me elected 4 times to Lok Sabha. We are doing lot of social work there. It is positively impacting the lives of people. They may not know it that I’m directly responsible nor I’m trying to publicise it. This is a seva which has impacted and in fact Guruji always used to say that you should not be seen to be doing seva on your own and that’s why he used to be very inconspicuous. Even at times I have seen Guruji saying that “I’m not the one he is the one that is Guruji”.

Q: Pointing to someone else…

Suresh ji: Yes, he was always pointing to someone saying that he is Guruji.  I mean I don’t know any other spiritual person who could be, not even want to take the credit for something that he has done. Today, even in politics where we take credit for something which we have not done. But here is the person who is not willing to take credit for things he was directly responsible for.

Q: When you are working in the government, it is always a very complicated issue of, you know, marrying spirituality with politics. Have you ever found difficulty in doing that?

Suresh ji: Absolutely correct. There are 2-3 elements to being in the government and particularly being a cabinet minister is that there is too much of power, huge power. Finally, when you sign on a paper, it is the Government of India signing it because there is no authority above it. Final order of the cabinet minister is the final order of that ministry. So, you have to be very careful about use of that power. Because power is like fire-you can cook the food or burn the houses. We have to be conscious. Thanks to Guruji, the power never went into my head. I hope not. I never abused power. I never troubled anybody. In fact, to some extent, I will give you some examples. Sometimes the final authority for termination of the service of an employee for some fraudulent act lies with the Minister. Not always, sometimes, depending upon the quantum of the punishment to be awarded. So, every time such issues came to me, I used to call that person and understand from him. There was one person whose pension was to be stopped as per the recommendation of my officers. I called that person to understand what exactly he had done. So, he was one of the junior officers and he couldn’t have prevented it nor he could have been party to it. I said it is not right to stop a pension of a person for an offence which he has not committed really. He may be directly responsible because of the chain. You see government is a chain of hierarchy. You have so many people working, so you are part of a chain. Anyway you could be held responsible vicariously. I said this is not right. I kept Guruji’s thinking in mind that seva is something which you can do. Another thing is policy that you make can impact positively not just few people but millions of people. One example is, again thanks to Guruji’s blessing, is the Electricity Act which we brought to the Parliament. When we brought 80,000 Mhz of installed capacity to 4 lakh Mhz. Five times more. Thanks to only one Act. So that Act, people do not know that I am getting more electricity today than before because of that law. This is the power of policy and only because I was sitting in that position that I could be instrumental. Being responsible for doing it. But I could think about it. So Guruji’s way of getting seva done from you it could be in various forms. 

Suresh’s story has always been a reminder to him that he is not the doer and that realization has kept him spiritually fit and humble. He tries to justify his destiny by using his office to be of help to as many as he can. The combined sentiments of gratitude and self-growth have shaped his political nature. He has been blessed with a wife, Uma, who is a huge support in his philanthropic efforts. 

Next, let us head to Toronto for a chat with Lal Saab

Lal ji: Guruji used to tell us, “Son, these people who are waiting outside in queues for 7 and 10 hours,” there used to be big queues, 3.5 kilometer long queues; never-ending queues, “I’m taking their tests so I can reward them. Without tapasya, nothing happens.” I do the same thing in Toronto. People have to wait for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I don’t drink tea or take any coffee break. Taking a break means it will cost these people waiting 15 more mintues. They don’t come to see me. They come because they have problems. They come to get their problem solved. Nobody calls me for no reason. The reason they call me is because they need Guruji. 

The secret of spiritual seva is not as elementary as curing symptoms of a disease of a particular organ. It goes much deeper, beyond internal organs to internal existence. It is the collaboration between the two spirits of, both, the healer and the healed. The process is the editing of the trends of faith. 

Rajpal ji explains nicely and simply what Gurudev explained to him. 

Rajpal ji: “When people come to me, they say they have a sickness has not been cured even after multiple treatments and medications. What I do is to rewrite their fate. Cut. And the sickness is over. Because I am a guru.” I said, “Guruji, won’t God be angry with you? You change, erase and rewrite God’s will. Guruji, won’t he be angry with you?” He replied, “He is very pleased.” I said, “You spoil his work. He should be angry with you.” He said, “Son, he is pleased when when I cure his fever or remove his illness.” I asked, “Guruji, who are you talking about?” He said, “God, obviously. He is the one who is inside all human beings. I please him. I remove God’s illnesses. And he has given me this stature, tposition of a guru, along with an authority. I use this authority. I am the only one who can check it, not even the God can, because I am a guru. I rewrite destiny! If I don’t, the sick will not get cured.”

 Very often his concepts were difficult to understand at face value. Bhagwan or divinity or whatever the westerners call God is whose troubles I cure and that pleases him. He has given me the status of a Guru and the authority to cure him. 

Though these words sound absolutely uncanny. If you dive deep, you will realise that the healer, the healed and the authority for the power of healing are all the same.

When the monkey at the farm complained of loneliness, he found him a mate. When a calf urinated near him and drops fell on him, he said, “After all she is also like one of our kids and so there is no issue.” 

When spirits came to him for help, he did as he would for any human being. So, even though he never spoke about oneness or any scriptural jargon, he lived it. All religions were his, all life forms were his, all God’s and Goddesses were also his. 

Reaffirming the oneness of existence, Surinder ji from Chicago was deputed to Gurudev’s fold by none other than Guru Gobind Singh, one of Gurudev’s spiritual associates. An uncanny story, coming up.

Surender ji: At my place, mostly a lot of Gujarati’s come, some Punjabis, and some Americans. And some Muslims from Pakistan. One girl asked, “Can I pray? can I do my namaz here?” I said, “Yes of course”. Because, one time, Guruji really showed me. This was before Shivratri about 4 years ago. He woke me up and I saw him doing namaz in front of my kitchen. 

Q: In the dream? 

Surender ji: No, you can say dream. But when I woke, I saw my body lying on the bed, and I was watching him in the kitchen. Guruji was doing namaz. So, I asked him, “Guruji, you were doing namaz?” He said, “Millions of people pray to me like this!”

I said, “Guruji you did it facing the north. I think Muslims do it facing the south. He replied, “Pray in whichever direction you like. I am everywhere. How does it matter?” Then suddenly, I thought this is the best dream ever. I saw Guruji doing namaz in front of my eyes. 

Q: Have you ever … the 10th guru that you used to see before you met Gurudev? 

Surender ji: It was Guru Gobind Singh ji. 

Q: When you saw him in your dream what was it like, I mean was he sitting on a horse…

Surender ji: The last time I saw him in my dream, he was dressed like Shiv ji. He had a lion’s cloth on, no turban on him, on his side was a kamandal, and he had a Rudraksh necklace in his hand, not in his neck.  That is how I saw him the last time. Guruji told me one day about the dream. He said, “Son, Guru Gobind Singh was Shivji’s roop.” That is exactly what he told me. 

Q: Did he look like he did in the picture? 

Surender ji: No, not at all. His hair was tied up. He was not wearing a turban and he had a tiger skin, just like Shiv ji. And he was sitting cross-legged. To be honest, he was facing the west. 

Q:  And did he, was he wearing a bare body or what was it?

Surender ji: He was bare bodied, yes. Just like Shiv ji, you know, exactly.

For Gurudev different religions were like the fingers of the same hand; the hand of realisation. The hand that pushed you up and held you back from going south. Gurudev identified with and was associated with all the saints who became the essence of these ‘isms’. Today, we do feel connected to the super server called Param Aatma. We may not be perfect at the walk but we are way past the talk. Join us in this philosophy and ensure an enriched afterlife!

To sum up in the words of Shri Ravi Trehan

Nazar aaye jalwe khuda ke har shaqs mein mujhe

Nazar aaye jalwe khuda ke har shaqs mein mujhe

Aur Har shaqs nazar aaye mujhe khuda ki tarah

Har shaqs nazar aaye mujhe khuda ki tarah

While rendering selfless service to people, I may perceive God in every human being that I come across. And in every human being I should see the reflection of God himself.