Chapter 51 - Meeting with Sukhanand Swami at the well of Loj

Meeting with Sukhanand Swami at the well of Loj. 

Suvrat said:- 

About fifty disciples of Ramanand Muni, the incarnation of Uddhava, were staying at Lojpur headed by Muktanand Swami. They all were free from worldly attachments. 1. 

Once, one of those disciples named Shukanand came there at Lojpur to the well to take a bath. He saw Him, the godlike celibate absorbed in meditation. 2. 

Saluting the devoted sadhu, he said, ‘O excellent one, where have you come from? And where do you wish to go?’ 3. 

Sri Nilakantha said:- 

I have come from North Kausala. Left for pilgrimage, I am going around holy places, and now I have come here. Please tell me which sampradayado you belong to and who is your teacher. 4. 

After hearing all the questions, Sukhanand said: ‘there is a famous powerful sage in this region, named Ramanand Muni. There are thousands of his disciples, sadhus as well as householders. 5.  

Among them Muktanand is the chief of the sadhus. With him, and myself, fifty other sadhus are staying here. 6.

Today, I have come here to take a bath, and to my good fortune seeing you sitting here, I have approached you; O the most religious one,  engaged in self-discipline and worthy of respects by Yogis. 7. 

Our senior sadhu is a famous yogi, also the most honored person. He is desirous of meeting persons like you. And even being a sadhu, he is fully devoted to Shri Krishna. 8. 

By order of our guru, he is staying here along with us to serve persons like you. He is worthy of respects by all. 9. 

Please come to see him, O self-disciplined one; and if you do not come to our place he himself will come here. 10. 

Meeting of Shri Hari with Muktanand Swami. 

Suvrat said:- 

O king, hearing these words from him, the great religious celibate said to him: ‘I know, it is the real aim of a pilgrimage to meet such a famous yogi like him. 11. 

O sage, usually I do not enter in a city or town. Travelling through forests I spend my days under some fresh tree every time. 12. 

But I know, that to visit such a great yogi is the fruit of all pilgrimage and penance , so I will come with you to see him., 13. 

Saying thus, he immediately arose from his seat and went with Sukhanand to Ramanand Swami’s hermitage. When he arrived there, Muktanand and other sages arose from their seats to greet him. 14.

They saluted each other and were seated accordingly. All of them were astonished to see him. 15. 

Suvrat said, O king, due to the merit of penance, his figure was shining brightly, giving delight to eyes as well as mind. Looking at him, good natured and calm, they began to guess about him variously. 16. 

‘O, we have seen many religious, saintly men and yogis on this land, but we have never seen or heard of a yogi like this in our times. 17. 

Because where this severe penance, and where this young age for playing! Surely, he is not a common man but some deity. 18. 

Whether he is Sun, Moon or god of fire, or Kumara (Kartikeya son of Shiva), in human form ? Whether he is a liberated soul from the other world or austerity incarnate! 19. 

May he be any of them, by our good fortune, today we have seen him, the pre-eminent ascetic. If we serve him, our Guru (Ramanand Muni) will be pleased. 20. 

Saying thus, they came forward to serve him. Muktanand welcomed him and offered services suited to a guest. 21. 

The eminent celibate by his own judgment considering them as selfsubdued and well behaved, a rarity in Kali age, accepted them as worthy of his company. 22. 

Then to test the leading ascetic Muktanand, the young yogi asked him modestly, as if out of curiosity; 23. 

Shri Hari enjoys company of the ascetics; Muktanand’s answers to Shri Hari’s philosophical queries. That is : Form of Jeev, form of Ishwar, form of Maya, form of Brahma and form of Parabrahma 

Thereafter Shri Hari wanting to test him and to know how much knowledge Muktanand is possessed of, he began asking ‘O great sage, you must be knowing the tenets of scriptures and you are respected by virtuous people as well. Please answer whatever I am asking about. 24. 

I want to know accurately and clearly the nature of the Self, the God almighty and his power Maya; the Brahma– pure consciousness and the supreme consciousness (Param Brahma). 25.

Suvrat said:- 

Question asked by the celibate was very subtle. Then Muktanand Muni began to answer it as he had learnt from his Guru’s words. 26. 

Muktanand muni said:- 

Muktanand Muni as learnt and heard from guru Ramanand swami began answering and said: ‘The one who spreads through three bodies including the gross one, which is visible from hair on head, down to the nails of the feet; and acts variously through the sense organs and mind inside; Known that he is the (individual) Self (soul) unborn, eternal, permanent, whole, illuminating (the entire field), he is in divisive and possesses such other qualities (neither wetted nor dried etc),. 27 - 28. 

O celibate, the god almighty is omniscient, spreading through the three worlds and the residing deities like Virat and other two. He creates, sustains and destroys the world. He is the truth to be known from the scriptures. 29. 

Maya is without beginning. It is Consciousness and Ignorance together. Maya is the field of the soul’s birth (and death cycle). It is the power of Shri Hari, darkness, the ignorance in the form of cause and effect. It is known as constituted by three Gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas), it is unborn, and said to be ignorance. Such a maya is overcome by those who take refuge in Shri Hari. 30 - 31. 

Truth, knowledge and eternity, whole, undivided and imperishable, is the abode (and the body also) of Vasudeva. It is said to be manifest and unman-fest. (Akshardham). 32. 

It is Brahma that is ascertained by all, as pure, eternal and immutable. It enlivens Maya etc. It is the support of all. 33. 

He is known variously as Narayana, Vasudeva, Vishnu, Krishna, and he himself is Para-Brahma, he is self-willed, self-luminous and undeceiving. 34. 

He is the omniscient, true-willed, giver of fruits of all actions, controller residing in heart. He possesses all powers. He is the lord Almighty (the Supreme person). 35. 

Immanent by his power, remains unrelated, controller of Time, Maya and others. He is the original cause of all causes. 36. 

He is called Paramatma, Param Brahma, and the Supreme Lord. He is the object of worship by all spiritual seekers. 37. 

Thus I have answered, as I have heard from my guru; and according to my intelligence as well. Our great Guru the Master knows the clarification in details. 38. 

Our Master actually visualizes these forms (of the Lord) and by his own power can exhibit the same, to the sincere spiritual seekers. 39. 

Speaking thus, the leading Sadhu and disciple of Uddhava (Ramanand) rested. The noble celibate was also pleased to hear his words. 40.

Considering him to be upright, humble (undeceitful) and virtuous, the celibate said to him, ‘O sage, certainly you have answered my queries clearly and correctly. I have no doubts in that. 41. 

O sage, I have asked this question to many learned men while travelling through the Tirth’s but no one of them has been able to explain properly as you did. 42. 

I am really very happy to meet you today. Behavior of all of you indicates that you are correctly following the precepts of Shastras. 43. 

Muktananda also said to him that: I have also seen many more Sadhus here, but have not found a single one like you! 44. 

In asking such hard questions, and moreover to understand the answers, this causes the greatness of your own intellect above all people.’ 45. 

Nilakantha, knowing them to be well behaved virtuous sages, he lived with them for some days, and all the saints served Nilkanth Varni with faith. 46. 

In Prakrit or Sanskrit language scriptures, nobody could surpass him in discussions, in quest and answers about spiritual science (Brahmavidya). 47. 

Witnessing his super-human intellect, all of those discriminating sages thought it not to be a normal human intellect. 48. 

They all were surprised; they could not figure out his divine qualities, they served him as god in human form with love and faith. 49. 

Listening to the auspicious delightful stories of the beloved of Radha (the mistress of Raas)with great respect; together he engaged himself in penance with senses restrained. 50. 

Thus ends the fifty-first chapter entitled ‘Meeting with Muktanand and other sages’ in the first Prakarana of Satsangi Jivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 51