The Spiritual Student!

When I was in 10th (standard) grade, I used to ask my mother “Who are We” in essence? What is God exactly? Why is the world like this? I have only found intellectual answers but I am confident to find actual answers soon….

Earlier, I believe when I was 13-14 years old, I was wondering, who is the “I” that is present in me that is laughing and joyful currently?

After “I (Rohan Chitale)” will go away from this world, there will be someone else in the world thinking about how happy he/she is!

His/her feeling, thoughts will be different. But his knowledge of “I” will be the same.

Therefore, I started investigating what is this thing called “I” in essence?!…
I could not come to any conclusion intellectually. Later, I figured out that it is not an intellectual matter but requires profound direct perception of “What Is” instead of just speculating or talking about it.

Back to the story…

My mother’s father (My maternal grandfather) Mr. Mukund Mone was competent in philosophical matters, had command over Sanskrit and he used to read the great book called Dnyaneshwari and also Bhagwad Geeta. My mother asked me to go to him and get all questions clarified.

Coincidentally, my maternal grandfather was staying with us during that time. So after a deep discussion with him, he asked me to read Bhagwad Geeta so that I can find answers to all my questions.

Following that, I started reading a small Marathi Booklet with Sanskrit Shlokas and was little bit satisfied. But the author of the translation, not being enlightened himself, could not elaborate on the hidden Yogic meanings of the great Shlokas in Geeta. That’s exactly what happened when I read the Bhagwad Geeta “as it is” and so on. I am sure the authors weren’t enlightened but just intellectuals who offered translation and stories. These books didn’t create much impact.

After a year passed, when I was in 11th and 12th grade, I casually picked up the book that was placed inside a small cupboard (brought by my mother long time ago) called:

Dnyaneshwari – The masterpiece for eons to come….bar none!

(For reference, the Dnyaneshwari I read was Mamasaheb Dandekar’s Dnyaneshwari in Marathi)

After reading hundreds of genuine spiritual books, articles, materials and sayings until now, I can definitely say that “Dnyaneshwari” is indeed something special and unique!

No one in the family read this book that was lying there for years…Somehow, I picked up and prayed to the greatest saint to shower his grace upon me and guide me in this rather incredible and mystical path. Considering the fact that, I had started all my education in English school, (although, the plus point was, I had taken Sanskrit for three years and used to be on top of that study. My pronunciations and recitation of Sanskrit Stotras was mostly flawless.) it came as a great surprise that, I could very well understand what the author was pointing to (Not totally- as that can only happen after one is enlightened).

I remember very well that every day after college, I used to go to my room, lock the door and read…most of the time it was for 3 hours or more. I don’t remember the exact days but I feel after 3 months, I completed reading everything from preface to end!

After I started reading this gem, I soon realized that this is what I was searching for…But when I came to the 6th Adhyay/Chapter of Dnyaneshwari, I was severely shocked….so much so, that it had a staggering impact on me. It changed the whole course of life for me. Initially, I thought this is impossible. I couldn’t share this feeling with anyone because no one could comprehend it. I was sure this was beyond any ordinary person’s vision, dream or imagination.

……From 2011 to 2016, I never listened or to be precise I could not listen to any Bollywood music or follow the path of mundane people. I used to travel 60 kms every day for college (11th and 12th grade) to Sangli from Bhilawadi and come back home again. That time, I used to listen to nice Sanskrit Stotras, great Marathi poems written by the saints and study its hidden meanings whenever I found time after the study routine. But after this period, everything is balanced.

I understood that spirituality can be followed in daily routine and by giving only an hour for this quiet sitting session. It is also advisable to not do only spirituality but to focus more on daily work so that the remaining time can be utilized better for family and spiritual work.

After finishing Dnyaneshwari, I smiled and bowed down to the legend of the legends! (16 year old master Dnyaneshwar Maharaj and his knowledge was and is absolutely unearthly….Incomparable to anyone of our times or the past). After that, I read the “Amrutanubhav” (which was even more mind-blowing) by Dnyaneshwar Maharaj (translated by Vishnubuva Jog Maharaj if I remember correctly).

……Other sudden impact: Earlier in life, I was vegetarian but somehow due to force from some family members and family friends when I was a kid,…..I started eating non vegetarian dishes. This turned out to be my favorite food whenever going out for dinner with family…

This continued until I read these greatest of the writings and suddenly realized…This is what I want to pursue in life. It was such a deep feeling that I became passionate about Spirituality and I decided from that time on…This quality of living is my highest priority of life.

Deep sense of passion automatically arose inside me to find out all questions by myself and not to satisfy for mere words or continuing reading same material for thousands of times again and again….

I did NOT and cannot believe that only the great ones are born to find this Truth about life…This is only an “escape phrase” written and said by people who have wasted all their life in reading endlessly…or doing “Guru Business” or just making a show of spirituality and doing everything outside (such as creating groups, doing social poojas, yadnyas etc)…! But never sitting quietly to observe the immense flow of thoughts inside.

I wanted and still need direct experience to satisfy my quest…This is like eating a nice Chocolate cake…We cannot ever be satisfied by listening to what others are describing…”This is a great sumptuous cake”…..But until I eat it myself and directly experience it, I cannot fake the happiness and feeling of contentment.

Therefore, the real search started within because of the Grace of the Supreme and to my utmost surprise, my total attraction for eating non vegetarian food absolutely vanished as if it was never there…!! I did not leave it. The attraction left me automatically. I still feel astonished…

After that, I have lived for 6 years in the USA for my bachelor of science in Marketing, Global MBA and Digital Marketing job but Never Ever did the thought of eating non veg, going to pubs, having drinks arose inside me. This all is definitely and most certainly not my achievement but just the Grace of the divine and the masters who kept check on me.

I was so sure about this that no friends, family members and colleagues could move me away from my decision. This does Not mean I didn’t participate or engage with friends…

I went out to mostly decent places but remained untouched by their vibes. I did not hate anyone for what they were doing (I just accepted the world as it is and said its really nice the way it is!). I have a deep conviction that humans are just instruments that are moved by a divine overwhelming force in whatever direction the supreme wills!

Because of this, there should be No room for either Pride or Guilt…as made famous by the great Saint, Ramesh Balsekar. This conviction of Ramesh Balsekar makes life really easy because “Whatever Happens” we can say quite confidently, ‘it could not have happened the other way”!! Everything is predestined….

After reading Dnyaneshwari, surprisingly and in most astonishing ways, I started to find out very rare books of Spiritual materials from Upanishadic times to 21st Century. Sometimes, I used to come across such books by myself, some unknown people also sent me books after asking them or some family friends (having library in their homes,) used to give me great books like: The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhamsa Yogananda etc…

As mentioned here previously, I was keen to find out whether I can develop the qualities mentioned in the 6th Adhyay of Dnyaneshwari. But the path was so difficultly explained that one would wonder whether all this is practically possible in this age…! And to my surprise again, Yes this all was possible!

I found out about a great tradition of mystics going all the way back to the Great First Guru, Lord Mahadev. From him came the highest form of Yoga called by different names:

Mahayoga (The greatest of all Yogas), SiddhaYoga, RajaYoga etc etc…All pointing to one kind of Yoga…

Without planning anything, we watched the documentary of Pratibhatai Chitale regarding her experience of doing Narmada Parikrama. Therefore, while casually searching on YouTube related to Narmada Parikrama, I found out about Shri Jagannath Kunte and therefore, ended up buying some of his books on Spirituality mentioned in the “book list” at the bottom of this page.

From these books, I came to know about the Mahayoga Shaktipat Deeksha work being done by Vasudev Niwas, Pune (Mahayoga Deeksha = Transmission of Spiritual Power from an Enlightened Master or Guru to awaken the Kundalini Energy in human beings without paying any money and without requirements of being from certain religion, gender, nationalities or sects of society). I want to point out one great thing that has happened because of Jagannath Kunte’s books. It has basically made genuine places like “Vasudev Niwas Pune”, reach the common masses.

Because of this natural happening, I came to know of the “easiest” yet the highest of all paths to begin on the Spiritual Path.

Later on, genuine Enlightened Master pointed out to me that, enlightenment or the path of Spirituality is much beyond only having special experiences and doing Parikrama etc. Real thing is in undergoing complete transformation of the mind and its compulsive drives and not in having mere divine experiences.

Therefore, even after having this Shaktipat Deeksha, one has to do daily Sadhana or Personal Observation of “What Happens Within” to find out about genuine spirituality. For this, no other book or information is as succinct as Dada Gavand’s book “Intelligence Beyond Thought”.

A Yoga where the seeker just sits in a comfortable posture without any stress on body. Closes eyes and just observes what happens inside. In this path, after the Master’s grace the awakened Kundalini shakti/energy starts its purification process and takes the seeker ultimately towards enlightenment. Daily “Sitting” or “Baithak” (in Marathi) is needed.

Awakening can happen suddenly after master’s grace for some great men or it can be a slow process depending on the destiny of the individual (That’s what I learnt…Not my knowledge).

For doing this, NO “money”, “programs”, “engineering” or “courses” are needed!!!

I have personally found no other description of what “Sadhana” is, better than the one provided by Dada Gavand in his book “Intelligence Beyond Thought”. This book has all that one needs to know about Sadhana to start the search.

One has to just sit calmly with eyes closed and observe everything that happens inside until the eyes open again and one can start daily work…! Is there anything simpler in this world than this?!

Therefore, I thought, it will be great if I share the list of genuine spiritual books written by real enlightened mystics so that seekers like me don’t fall for any fake person with millions of disciples and conducting immense money business that is entirely unnecessary, irrelevant and deadly…..ultimately, for both the gurus and confused disciples.

Thank you for reading! Now time to have a nice Coffee.