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This sadhak introduced me to Bhaktaraj Maharaj by my surname, Thakurdas and also told Maharaj that my grandfather had lived in Indore. Maharaj told me to sit on a nearby chair and then enquired about everyone. When I took his leave, he told me very affectionately to come again. Thereafter, whenever Maharaj visited Mumbai, I used to meet him for his darshan. After a few such occasions, he began to make me sit on his bed by his side. I used to get very tense to sit by the side of a holy person. I used to tell him, “Baba, I will sit down in front of you.” However, he would make me sit by his side saying, “I want to talk with you. Lately, I am a little hard of hearing.” He would thus make me sit by his side for 1 to 1-1/2 hours although he didn’t intend to talk about anything in particular.
One day, Maharaj came to my house from Anna’s place. The moment he entered he said, “I feel like having come to my own home.” He changed his clothes, went into the bedroom and lied down on the settee. He chatted for a while with the people who had come. He had tea and snacks and then he left. Another day, I received a message that Maharaj was going to come to my place with about 30 persons. The whole house was filled with people. That day, Maharaj offered spiritual guidance to the sadhaks continuously for nearly an hour. One sadhak close to Maharaj said that he had never heard such a continuous discourse from Maharaj. Thereafter, there was lunch for about 60-70 persons.
My wife and I had once gone to Dahanu to meet Anna. Bhaktaraj Maharaj and his disciples had also come to Dahanu at the same time I was sitting with Anna in his room. Anna went out, welcomed Bhaktaraj Maharaj and then came back to his room. Maharaj had come to know that I was at Anna’s place. From time to time, he was enquiring, “Thakurdar has come here, hasn’t he?” After a short while, he said, “Thakurdar is not to be seen anywhere! Someone said earlier that Thakurdar has come.” One of his disciples replied, “Yes! He has come but is sitting with Anna.” After some time, Maharaj said, “Please inform Thakurdar that I am remembering him.” One of his disciples couldn’t contain himself any longer and said, “Maharaj, why are you repeatedly referring to him as Thakurdar. His name is Thakurdas.” Maharaj raised his voice a bit and said, “I never say anything wrong. If one wants to reach Thakur (God), one will have to do so after opening this very door.” However, Maharaj thereafter began to refer to me as Thakurdas.
Maharaj had once come to Mumbai and was staying at the residence of one of his disciples. Maharaj was also accompanied by a group of his disciples. The disciples began to sing bhajans in the presence of Maharaj. Maharaj was to leave for Nashik at midnight. After 11 at night, the people got more engrossed in the bhajans. I reached there around 11.30. Maharaj called me near him. I sat down very close to Maharaj. Around 10 minutes to midnight, Maharaj asked me to sing one of my bhajans. I sang the bhajan: ‘Veda laagale naamaache | Naama nirguna niraakaara |’ After the bhajan was over, Maharaj got up to leave for Nashik. All the disciples stood up. In a moment, Maharaj took out the garland around his neck and garlanded me with it saying, “You are worthy of this.”
First Namamrut cassette – My first cassette of naam or chants titled ‘Namamrut’ got recorded. All my bhajans have spontaneous reference to myself as ‘Bhanudas’. Therefore, some of the sadhaks, including my elder son, suggested that my name should be indicated on the cassette cover as Parampoojya Shri Sadguru ‘Bhanudas’. I said that mere ‘Bhanudas’ was enough since I didn’t like a birudavli – indications of spiritual excellence – before my name. My son said, “It is necessary since otherwise, apart from the sadhaks who know you, no one else will know about the state of your mind.” Just then the rich fragrance of 4 Square cigarettes spread in the room. Anna had left this world a few years ago. He used to smoke 4 Square cigarettes. Believing that this was an indication of Anna’s consent, the words Parampoojya Shri Sadguru were added before my name. We received the recorded cassettes suitably wrapped and packed. Since Anna was no longer living, I felt like dedicating the first 5 cassettes to Bhaktaraj Maharaj. One sadhak went to meet Maharaj and handed over 5 cassettes to him. Maharaj saw the cover and said, “Ah! You have done a good thing. It was very necessary to add Sadguru before the name.” As Anna had done, Maharaj had also given his consent to the birudavli.
Once, I was talking to Maharaj and I could notice that he was very much delighted. He told me, “Internal sadhana has now begun. This will go on non-stop for the rest of your life. Hence, there is no need for external sadhana. Now you can initiate others into naam.” Although Maharaj had indicated that I had attained the Guru’s privilege of initiating others into naam, I have till today not initiated anyone into naam. However, I have motivated hundreds of people into chanting naam. I was being invited more often to give discourses on Adhyatma-Vidnyan and the response from the people was also getting better rapidly. Whenever any of the sadhaks who came to me or when any of my relatives or acquaintances met Bhaktaraj Maharaj, he always used to enquire whether I continued to give discourses. I noticed that I was becoming more and more famous. I also realised that the people who attended the discourses got overwhelmed at that moment but this was temporary and soon reverted to their original state of mind. I can’t tolerate greatness. My goal was not personal fame but spiritual upliftment and welfare of the people. Therefore, I stopped giving such discourses and instead decided to publish books which people could read again and again, understand the subject and imbibe it for daily living.
When I phoned Maharaj thereafter on one occasion, he enquired whether I continued to give discourses. I told him that I had discontinued the discourses and decided to publish books. He responded immediately, “That’s really nice! Today, the world needs Adhyatma-Vidnyan. These books will become very well-known.” As a matter of fact, I had never told Maharaj that I was presenting the subject of spirituality from a scientific viewpoint. However, I have not the slightest doubt that I have his blessings even for publishing the books.
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