That Art Thou: Discourses on the Sarvasar; Kaivalya and Adhyatma Upanishads

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When I was asked to help out with the Sanskrit text which appears in this book, I had no idea that I was being invited to set out on a journey…

Perhaps it was the serene, unearthly atmosphere of the Lao Tzu Garden, charged by Bhagwan's Presence; the Stately, meditative trees, friendly ducks waddling through the walkways, which made these timeless upanishadic times come alive.

As I started listening to the audio cassettes one by one, Ma Yoga Taru's raw, enchanting voice singing those ageless chants of the Upanishads reversed the time track and once again I was transported into the early seventies, when Bhagwan actually conducted these meditation camps.

These camps were a love affair! All the people who had gathered were Bhagwan's lovers and beloveds, who did not care much for growth or spirituality. In the Sixties Bhagwan used to travel extensively throughout India, always staying with people who invited him. He would chit-chat with them, listen to their woes, and shower love on their hearts thirsty for love. Every member of the family would feel that Acharya ji as he was called in those days was one of them, their very own. So for all people who attended the camps, it was a case of their very own. So for all the people who attended the camps, it was a case of their beloved turned God! The camps were conducted in a very informal and friendly manner.

Bhagwan would choose to speak on one Upanishad, which is the most precious treasure of ancient Indian wisdom. First he used to speak in Hindi, and later in English for Westerners, who had just started to appear in the meditation camps.

There were three sessions of meditations each day. The morning session would begin by his discourse, followed by dynamic meditation. These discourses happened on the open grounds of one of the hill stations like Mt. Abu or Matheran. These were the first days of his most dangerous and bold dynamic meditation, which he courageously introduced to the repressed, traditional Indian audience. So he would sit through the entire meditation now persuading, now provoking people to shed their age-old conditionings. He was even heard shouting Hoo! Hoo! to encourage the participants. People painfully threw out their unconscious garbage, and the compassionate sky above would absorb all the poison that human civilization had imposed on human beings.

The meditation would end after forty minutes, but the devils let loose out of the Pandora's box would be active even after that. The hills reverberated with the mad shrieks and Hoos throughout the day!

Akiran meditation was conducted at 3.30 p.m. in the afternoon. This meditation was very popular with the Indians. Bhagwan would again come for this session exactly at 3.30p.m. Dressed in a Spotlessly white lungi and a shawl casually thrown over his shoulder, he would sit on an ordinary cane chair, covered with a bed sheet. And that chair would become a throne! He would sit there majestically, watching the people sing and dance around him with great love. They had never seen God, but they would shower all their bottled-up emotions on one god that was sitting before them. After one hour, he would leave the premises as quietly as he had come.

As the dusk descended on the hills, preparations for the evening sessions would begin. Every session would be preceded by some devotional singing. The organizers would request some one from the audience to sing, and he or she would oblige. It was often out of rhythm, out of tune, but who cared? Their hearts were already tuned with their beloved. The day's work had a made their hearts sensitive and vulnearable, and as the darkness deepened, Bhagwan's seductive voice would delve deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Upanishads.

The last night of meditation, called tratak dhyan was absolutely out of this world! Bhagwan would stand on the platform, his arms spread out like wings, looking like an angel just descended from the sky. He would ask people to look at him without blinking their eyes, while jumping and shouting "hoo hoo" at the same time. There was such a magic in the air with Bhagwan standing against the black sky! The two flames burning in his unblinking, magnetic eyes would encourage people to shout and jump more and more vigorously. When the whole thought process stopped, the mass of their energy rose to a crescendo, and then he would invoke the divine energy to come down to meet this peak. And a great uproar used to explode into the electrified atmosphere.

And he would slip away quietly into the night.

He has been doing this for years: bringing new methods of meditation to fit the modern man; creating the thirst of high values of life.

Then, and then only, you turn inwards and set out on a new journey, till you yourself arrive at a point when you dissolve in Him. And you experience what the Upanishads have been saying.

That Art Thou!

Ma Amrit Sadhana