Maharajji's Disciples Stories

In the book Shri Hans Raj Maharajji and The Dawn of a New Consciousness

there are 130 pages of stories from Maharajji's disciples.

One common factor characterizes all these accounts — i.e. the perfect confidence these disciples have in Maharajji. This confidence, which is the basis of harmony with the Master, joins hearts and beings, and makes the divine energy of the Guru manifest itself more strongly in their lives. And this divine energy of Maharajji not only helps them to live a harmonious life, but above all, leads them from darkness to the light of divine consciousness.
Here are just some of Maharajji’s countless leelas, countless because at any time every day, things which could be considered extraordinary happen in our relationship with Maharajji.

In the mentioned book there are many more.

The Path of Ananda  (Prem Baba, Brazil) 

(Only the second part of his story is here, for the whole story see the book)

When I came the second time one year later, I came alone. When I got there, I met a friend who spoke English and who was already there. When I arrived at the ashram, people told me that Maharajji had left for an unknown period of time. He would probably come back after five days. I was disappointed as fifteen full days with Maharajji would be impossible.

I went for a walk. As I passed Manoj Bardwaj’s shop, picture of Maharajji hanging there attracted me. Manoj and I talked together and when he told me that Maharajji might return after fifteen days I broke down and was very very sad. I thought that all that telepathy had only been a big ego trip for me. Manoj felt that I needed help, so he took me by the hand and we went for a walk. Manoj said, “Maharajji is a Saint, he is omniscient, he knows you are here and he will not fail to give you his darshan.” We walked for two hours. Coming back we passed the ashram and then people told us that Maharajji had just arrived. Then Manoj and I laughed and jumped about like kids.

The following morning I was able to talk with Maharajji. He spoke about the need for initiation. And when he initiated me I felt that I had received a great transmission of power. When he touched me I had visions. From that day on, my life has changed very much. The first year after the initiation there was a cleansing of my ego.

The second year was much calmer. In 2002 I came to India again. On Mahashivaratri, 12^th March 2002, I received a samadhi experience. I had experienced samadhi other times, but always when motionless, however this time I was in ecstasy and went to Maharajji. He then gave me powers to start giving satsangs and told me how to initiate people with the Guru Mantra. From that moment Maharajji’s work in Brazil become more structured.

In 2003 I told Maharajji that so many people were coming, that I had more than a hundred students and more were coming, the work was growing and people from many parts of the world were coming.

“A hundred, two hundred, a thousand, that doesn’t matter. When you connect your heart to my heart I will be always there, and when this heart to heart connection is there, my grace flows through you to everybody,” he replied.

We are building an ashram one and a half hours outside Sao Paulo. There is a big temple where we do meditation, spiritual practices and shamanistic work. The different aspects of our work come together there. I asked Maharajji if I should continue with the different kinds of work, he said, “Yes, keep doing it,” and he gave the name for the ashram, “Sacha Mission”.

From the moment I met Maharajji he has fully supported all my initiatives and that is being revealed as a real blessing. He only gives and does not want anything in return. Everything I need I receive directly from him.

The Searcher of a Miracle (ShantiMayi, U.S.A.)

I remember a man who came to the ashram many years ago during my early days with my Guru. He was seeking powers vicariously, can you imagine, vicariously? He was such a strange and wonderful teaching …One day in the late afternoon, I was sitting under the big central shade tree near Maharajji’s house. It’s a nice place to sit, from there you can see everything going on in the ashram. As I was sitting there, the afternoon siesta was slowly awakening. Everything was silent, calm, as life again began to stir. It is a very special time, something like freshness, or sunrise, or another chance.

After some time in the cool and quiet, two American boys entered the ashram. They were brothers. They also had this same fresh energy, new, young and ready. We were happy to see each other. They had been coming to the ashram almost daily. They filled their young hearts with the grace of the Master and continually returned for more. We sat together, talking about the mountains and the Ganga, while awaiting the evening darshan of Maharajji.
Then, all of a sudden I felt an extra presence in our conversation. I looked up and there stood the strangest sight I had seen in a long, long time. There was a man staring at me (as far as I could tell) from behind a pair of grungy specs. His glasses were so dirty that I could hardly distinguish the pair of eyes behind them. I got caught for a moment, fascinated: how so much crusty film could cling to those glasses without the man’s notice. How could he see? Then, on a double-take, I was aghast to see that these specs were severely cracked as well. To discover this was almost like falling into another dimension.

I must have been staring at him for a long time with great wonder. He waited for my attention to shift. Then, in a very direct, yet indirect way, he said (almost as though he was with the FBI), “Do you know Hansraj Swami?” “Why, yes,” I said, “he is my Guru.” “Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” said the miracle man, altogether disregarding the answer to his question. “I am an author.” he said. “I have been writing a book for a long time now. I have travelled all over India. I have met so many Mahatmas, great Saints, Gurus and I am writing a book about all of them.” I began to wonder how he found the paper with the pen. I was already convinced that he could not see. I looked at the boys, they looked at me blank-faced. Silence. “Well, I am making a collection of chapters on the supernatural powers of these yogis along with the miracles that they have produced.”

The boys and I sat very, very still. Perhaps he would forget that we were there. Surely Maharajji will come out soon. My thoughts were now directed toward him. I entered the silence of my heart and sat with my Guru. This was always my way to remain in the temple of my being.
A voice entered the sanctuary shattering the silence. “I want to put Hansraj in that book I’m writing. I’ve been coming here for a long time and I still have not seen any miracle from him.” That’s strange, I had never seen that man in the ashram before. To see the Guru is a miracle. It is a rare panorama of oneself. The miracle man continued, “Have you seen any extra-special-unusual powers from that Hansraj?” “Well, yes, I have seen so many things.” He perked up, “What have you seen?” My heart began to open wide as I looked over the many powers that my Guru had shown to me. There was so much. Maharajji never took credit for anything that happened around him. He is too honest and simple. Maharajji always said, “I only depend on God, not on anything else.” So, to credit Maharajji with something he himself would deny may be tricky business. Maharajji had himself indicated to me to be still about such matters, about him and in myself as well.

Again, I got lost for some time, sitting in my heart, thoughts wandering to the image of my Master’s feet. How can one release the secrets that the Guru has entrusted to you just for the sake of a miracle seeker who wanted trickery, melodrama, another excuse to look in another sensational direction? My heart was so tender toward my Guru who had never encouraged me to look outside myself for the workings of wonders. By his direction he had shown me the wonder in the common. This, few ever have the grace to see.
I looked at the miracle man and said softly, “He has placed my eyes in my heart.” “W-h-a-t-? What did you say?” He pushed closer to me to get a better look, to hear better… “What did he do? I’ve never seen him do anything.” I whispered directly, filled with reverence, “Have you ever met anyone who could see through their heart?” “Where did you s-e-e this? What did he d-o?”

Then, all of a sudden, I saw Maharajji himself shining in the eyes of the miracle man. There were my Master’s sparkling, clear eyes, radiantly gazing at me from behind those cracked grimy specs. There he was, touching my heart in another way, through another filter. This time he had appeared to me as a man who refused to listen, who could not see. One who wanted to report to the world in his book the power of the saint. Something that he surely could not comprehend. Then, I realized there was the Guru, in his compassionate way, glancing at me from behind those specs. To me he was everywhere. It was by knowing the Guru in everyone that the “concept of other” vanished. Now, again, I saw him here. If the miracle man was not careful, he would fall into my heart. It was wide open for him; I saw Maharajji in him. He would be lost in my heart, not able to find a direction. No way out.
“Huh? What? Eyes in your heart? What does it mean? I don’t know what you mean. Did you ever see him make a miracle? I never saw him do anything.” There I sat and all at once I realized that the brothers had disappeared. They were taking tea. I saw that the ashram was again buzzing in its low tea drinking tone. Life was now well stirred by the early evening tea.
I caught wind of the swamis speaking among themselves, “No… Maharajji would not come out today, he was too inward now. He only wanted silence.” This I could appreciate. I too had been sent so deep inside myself. I was a lucky one. I had been taking Maharajji’s darshan for the past hour. I had been sitting at his feet taking his teaching. I had been fortifying his love in my being and receiving the understanding that only he could transfer to me, from heart to heart.

The boys sat down with me once more. The miracle man again dropped by before leaving on his way. Still looking perplexed about what I must have said, he looked at me as though he would ask… Nope… Silence… Auhh… Then, he took a camera from his shirt pocket and asked, “Can I take a snap?” The boys were beginning to get upset with this fellow. I whispered to one of the brothers, “Look at the strap of the camera.” The strap was dangling in front of the lens. Of course, he didn’t notice the blind spot, he would get no picture at all. The boys smiled as if they were seeing something very delightful, the miracle man missed it completely as he released the shutter. He couldn’t see two inches in front of his nose, how would he find a miracle? We could see that he thought that the smiles were for him, the joy of getting our photos taken. It satisfied the miracle man. It satisfied the boys. I, too, was satisfied, completely.
Sticking the camera into his pocket, he was leaving the ashram. Now he was again in pursuit of a miracle, something unusual, something that would make him a hero vicariously. Something he could see. Unbelievable, some power yet to be proven, something… Some thing. As he faded into the distance, I could see clearly that he missed the gate on the way out, “I can’t find the gate.” “Whoops, wrong way.” The long way around. “What did she say? By heart? Ahaa, doesn’t matter.”

He Adopted Me at First Sight     (Swami Raman Ananda Giri, India) 

I am an old bird in this game of spirituality. Actually my spiritual history started in 1963 and I have been with different Gurus at different times. My previous Guru was Poonjaji. His full name was Hari Vanshlal Poonja (known as Poonjaji). He was the nephew of a great saint of India, Swami Ramtirth. I had learnt about Poonjaji accidentally. I used to stay in Raman Maharishi’s ashram in the south. Before that I had read about him, and there I accidentally learnt that he was in Haridwar. So I rushed to meet him. After that when he shifted to Lucknow, I shifted with him. So I used to be with him, in fact I lived in the same house and many times I cooked for him.

During that time, many devotees came to him. As the years went by, I learned that some of them also went to Laxman Jhulla, and they used to talk about Maharajji. So this led me to ask Poonjaji one day,

“Is this a new saint who has come here?”

“Don’t you know him?” he replied. You say you have been to Rishikesh many times. No, he has been there for many years.”

So this was at the back of my mind.

After Poonjaji had left his body, I was sick, and when I recovered after about a year, I came to this place, Laxman Jhulla. Indeed, four years ago one of Poonjaji’s devotees, a lady, had built a house here in Laxman Jhulla and had then invited me to stay there whenever I wanted to stay in Rishikesh. So I made use of that offer, and came here.

The very next morning, I went for a Ganga bath, and after that, I learnt that this was Maharajji’s ashram, so I came up here. When I arrived, Maharajji had already gone into the temple as usual to pranam to the murti of his Guru and many people were waiting outside in the hall for him to come out so that they could bow down to him. I was one amongst them. When Maharajji came out of the temple, he saw me from a distance; because as it was the first day, I was standing at a fair distance from the temple door. But he spotted me as soon as he opened the door, and he came straight to me and said,

“Maharajji, where have you come from?”

I dropped my walking-stick and falling at his feet, I replied,

“I have been with Poonjaji for many years and before that I used to be at Raman Maharishi’s ashram in the south.”

Then he left everybody and said,

“I’m going to tell them to open a room for you to rest, and they will serve you food in the room at lunch-time.”

So he did that. After that, I started coming here every morning from my residence which is about 1,5 kilometres up the hill and I have his darshan whenever he goes to the temple.

Ever since, I have been going more regularly to the morning ritual, Sacha Baba has been giving me his darshan very frequently during the kirtan. What happens is all because of Maharajji’s grace, this is how I attribute it. People who do not know this thing may think it is because of my surrender, my devotion. No, I take it that it is his grace, it is his kindness that allow me to have this darshan. What happens is that during the kirtan, when I am fully immersed in it, when I feel that somehow or another, at one stage in the kirtan, that I am dissolved inside — you may say that my identity as a person, as a sadhu, as a man finishes and I feel as if I am dissolving inside — then a loud shout spontaneously comes: “SACHE !” then I find Sacha Baba giving me a vision of himself, his darshan. Whether my eyes are closed or open does not matter. I get a direct vision of him.

One day I went to Maharajji and told him,

“Maharajji, when I get Sacha Baba’s darshan, I feel so dissolved within myself. I feel so weak, as if I have been beaten to death.”

“I know you get Sacha Baba’s darshan,” he replied, “but when this is happening, don’t close your eyes, keep them open.”

Since then I have been doing that, and I don’t feel exhausted. I don’t feel as dissolved as I used to.

So I come here every day. In winter I go away to the south to other places. But this year Maharajji has told me that I am not to go away during the year, even in winter. I am to stay here.

God Comes to Those Who Go Alone (Gargi, Germany)

Once, I clearly saw that the karma with the man I had been with for many years was finished. I asked Maharajji from inside to separate us. He did that for me. I could see in a very precise way how and why I had been attached to this man for such a long time. One morning Maharajji came out of his room, left his attendant behind and asked me to hold his hand and accompany him through the ashram. On the way, he said to me, “God comes to those who go alone!”

The Miracle Room (Jyotiananda, France)

In summer, Maharajji usually goes to the temple very early in the morning before the temperature gets hot, and the one or two Europeans who are there in summer clean his room at that time. It so happened that one morning at around six o’clock I was alone to clean my Master’s room. I had not been feeling well those last few days and that morning I was very tired and weak. But I would not miss the opportunity of cleaning my Master’s room.
While doing so, of course my mind was constantly on Guruji and I was so happy to be there doing that work. I was especially happy, because I had his room all to myself and I was aware of this great privilege. My heart started singing as I thought of being in the room of such a great being, a realised Master who has dedicated his whole life to helping humanity, foreseeing disasters of all types and averting them when possible, showering blessings upon thirsting hearts everywhere so that they may draw closer to God, and doing everything possible so that the Kingdom of God might soon come down to the Earth. And as I cleaned, I started feeling better and better, happier and happier. I felt stronger and was able to work normally. Then this thought came to my mind, “It’s a miracle room! My Master’s vibrations are making me feel so well and happy!” This thought that it was a “miracle room” was constantly in my mind like a leitmotif and it made me feel so happy.
After around half an hour, Guruji came back. He stood there for a few seconds and then he informed me that he was going out of the room again and that I could continue cleaning. I was so surprised because Guruji had never done so before. We usually left when he came back. I was very grateful for I knew that he had read my thoughts and so had decided to allow me to benefit a little longer from his “miracle room”. So I spent ten more minutes cleaning. When Maharajji came back, I still had not finished, but I had to leave this time. This made me understand that it was not the cleaning of his room that interested Maharajji, but the blessings that it could bring to his disciples. For days after that I still felt the effects of the “miracle room”.

God Is Fire (Radhikaprasad, India) 

One night in October 1995, a few days before the celebrations of the anniversary of his enlightenment, Maharajji appeared in my dream. He stood on the back verandah of his room. Anitaji, the Mataji of the ashram stood on her verandah. When she saw Maharajji she walked towards him to pranam. Then Maharajji asked her,

“Anita, will you go into the fire with me? Will you die with me?”

“Yes Maharajji. What you want I will do, everything,” she answered.

Then Maharajji took her hand and walked with her to her verandah. There on her verandah was a very big fire with many burning coals. Maharajji lay down on this fire and said to Mataji:

“You come and lie down too.”

She lay down on the flames. The fire could not touch the bodies of Maharajji and Anita Mataji. They were both totally safe.

For me, this dream meant that Anitaji will complement Maharajji in the spiritual field: one represents the masculine aspect of God and the other, the shakti, the feminine aspect.

The next morning I told Maharajji my dream. He told me to give a speech about my vision at the celebration which would take place a few days later, when all the disciples would gather there. I protested and explained to Maharajji that I was unable to speak before such a big crowd but he insisted. In the days that followed I tried to put down what I had seen in my dream on paper, but all in vain. When the day came to speak in front of everybody I was very nervous.

Nevertheless when I began with, “Namaskar Maharajji, Namaskar to all ...” my nervousness left me. I told the people present everything that had happened in my dream. If Maharajji had asked me again to tell this story in front of everybody, I would not have been afraid anymore. With Maharajji's grace I would have overcome this fear.

He Has Exactly the Same Powers (Janardan, France)

In Febuary 2001, when I was in India with Maharajji, I left the ashram one day to get the book Shri Guru Gita which deals with the importance of the Guru for a disciple. This search led me to different bookshops in Ram Jhulla and then near the Shivananda ashram. It was at this last place that I saw the book “The Miracle Of Love” by Ram Dass on a bookshelf in a bookshop. I had neither seen this book nor heard about it, but I was attracted to it in a certain way. Nevertheless, it was quite expensive compared to other books, and that made me hesitate. The shop assistant, who was a good businessman, sang the praises of the book, and stated that it had sold very well everywhere in the world and also in India. I listened to him and went away with the book.
Once I had bought it, I did not even open it. When I went back to Europe, I put it away without even leafing through it and then I forgot about it. Several months later, while putting my things in order, I saw it and decided to find out what it was about.
I was then fascinated to see how the saint Neem Karoli Baba worked so many miracles in the lives of his disciples and those who came to consult him. As I was so astonished, a voice from within, speaking about Maharajji Shri Hans Raj, my Guru, immediately and distinctly told me,“Your Master has exactly the same powers !” I was very surprised at this revelation especially because I had never heard anyone speak about any miracle at all worked by Maharajji. Besides, one of his close Indian disciples who my friends and I know very well, had told us one day that Maharajji does not like to make a show of miracles, or even speak about them. So when I had this revelation, I spoke about it with two of my friends living in the same town as I, for I was puzzled.
It so happened that the following year, I went to Rishikesh with another friend and we learnt that the disciples now had the project of writing a book about Maharajji and the Sacha Lineage. As I was asked to help for the interviews of the disciples, that was when I got to know the wonderful accounts they were telling about what happened to them in their relationship with Maharajji. I finally understood! I understood that what the voice had revealed to me about Maharajji’s powers was true.

Serving Me Will Be Your Sadhana  (Rameshji, India)

One day one of my fellow disciples who was in charge of the fire ceremonies invited me in a challenging way,

“Ramesh, if one day you come to the fire ceremony hall, I will let you see a God.” I neither accepted nor refused the invitation. I had never gone to those rituals since I had come to the ashram. Strangely enough, a few days later, Maharajji saw me on his verandah and asked me if I wanted to go to the fire ceremony which was going to take place. I told him I did, and he said I could.

So I went and joined the group that was getting ready to perform it. The ritual started, and I allowed myself to be transported by the vibratory atmosphere. Then suddenly, I saw myself levitating and raising my eyes, I saw a huge God whose head was lost in the clouds. I could not help exclaiming, “Ah! Ah !” several times and could no longer control my body.

When I came back to myself, I was totally astounded by what had happened. When I saw Maharajji, he told me never to go to that ceremony again, nor do japa or any other meditation. According to him, my sadhana consisted in only serving him. This was enough to bring me to the goal which had been fixed for me. I told myself afterwards that it was probably Maharajji himself who had been behind my brother disciple’s invitation in order to make me understand that my path was not to be found in classical rituals and practises.

The Golden Sun Master (Nicolas, France)

Once, in a vision I had in India while I was in deep meditation, our Master Maharajji appeared to me first of all in his present physical form before suddenly becoming a very big, golden sun, which was majestic and shining. This Sun-Master who had miraculously appeared in front of me covered and penetrated the whole Earth, which I had myself transported psychically, through visualization, to the higher planes to contribute to its purification through the contact of Great Divine Beings.

Maharajji and the Dutch Nun (Len, Holland)

I have an aunt who is a nun in the Catholic Church. She has a very understanding nature, but when I announced to her one day that I was about to leave for India and spend six months with my Master Maharajji, she did not appreciate it at all. “How is that? A Guru? While we ourselves have a religion!” Those were her remarks.
Nevertheless, I left for India and once I was with Maharajji, I kept up regular correspondence with her. I related to her in detail all that was happening to me and in general in the ashram. In this way the habits and the life in the ashram became familiar to her and interested her deeply. After all, she said to me, she did not see much difference between life there and life in her own Catholic monastery.
After the six months, I returned to Holland and visited her. On this occasion, I showed her pictures of Maharajji, Sacha Dham ashram, the people who were living there and the Ganga, etc. One of the pictures of Maharajji in particular, pleased her.
“Could you give me this one?” she asked.
“Of course, it’s yours!” I answered.
And she put this picture near Jesus, on her altar.
After having worked for five months in Holland, I returned to India for six months. In her first letter, my aunt explained to me that even though she didn’t write often, she thought of me every day, especially because the picture of my Master was on her altar. And, she added, she was very grateful to Maharajji that he took very good care of me.
One afternoon a few months later, I was sitting on the verandah in front of Maharajji’s room, when Swami Midhaji brought me a letter from my aunt (I received all my mail at the address of the ashram). After the news, she wrote,
“Oh yes, I forgot to tell you before, but your Guru has become my spiritual guide. I ask him everything and he always answers me in my heart.”
I was so touched that I couldn’t hold back my tears. At that moment Maharajji opened his door. He looked at me with a big mocking smile so I stood up and started to speak to him about my aunt, but he did not listen and continued his way. Just before he disappeared around the corner of the verandah, I called out loudly,
“Maharajji!”
“Yes,” he answered and turned to me.
“Maharajji, you have many Western disciples, don’t you?”
“Yes, many!” he said with emphasis.
I understood that Maharajji took care of all of those who were in the hearts of his disciples. This story is all the more remarkable since Maharajji left his room that day at a time when he never usually went out. He had certainly known of my aunt’s letter from the beginning.

A New Start to My Life (Arvind Bramachari, India) 

Four years ago I was a common person and never thought about God and his power. I was very selfish, and although several times my family tried to teach me to turn to the Almighty and serve Him, I never listened to them.

One day, when my parents were with Maharajji, they told him about all the problems they had with me. Then he called me to him. He spoke to me about himself and I understood that his life was truly divine. This conversation had a profound effect on me and I became less selfish and became interested in spirituality.

Indeed, when I met Maharajji, I was very much touched by his love. However, although he told me to stay at the ashram, I refused. That night in a dream I saw that someone shot me, but suddenly Maharajji came to help me and saved my life. This dream had a great impact on me, and then and there I decided to come to Maharajji. I am very happy with him. I think he’s God.