Shree Hari instructs saints to travel around various villages.
Shree Hari instructs saints to travel around various villages.
Suvrat said:-
‘Then Shri Hari, asked the commoner devotees to return to their own places. They bowed down to Him and departed with their wives and children. 1.
Swami honored Mukund, Muktananda and others with respect and asked them to stay with Him. And O king, he asked the other ascetics to go to various towns in delegations and teach worldly people. 2 - 3.
Shri Hari’s visit to Kalavani.
Then, He advised the natives and the king to continue to tread the path of dharma. He then returned to the place named Kalavani followed by His disciples. 4.
O King! There, he dwelled in the house of Jivanasarman. The local devotees of that place attended to him with devotion. 5.
Meghaji, Lakshman, Bhimaji Raghunath, Ambaram Yadav, Jayaram and others attended to him with devotion. 6.
The wealthy merchants headed by Parvata Bhai along with their followers Rajabhai, Jeevaraj, Unmatta, (Ghela Bhai) Mulaji, hruda, Khoda, Vasta, Narsimha, the two brothers Jetha and Jutha, two devotees sharing the name Krishna, Madhava, Amba, Kesava, Laksmana, Visrama and many others attended to Him. 7 - 9.
The women devotees Tejasvati, Magha, Fhulli, Hira, Jivantika also attended to the Lord. 10.
Due to the grace of Swaminarayan, these and thousands of other devotees also achieved success in meditation and had become proficient in all yogic skills. 11.
In a short period of time they achieved excellence in yoga equal to the state of accomplished yogis practicing yoga by steps (for long), but only by the grace of Shri Hari. 12.
Thus devotees and even some children became experts in the control of their breath; even they could now sustain their body and abandon it at their free will. 13.
When the free willed Lord of the people made the entire gathering of devotees to realize their own selves in their meditation, it surprised everyone. 14.
Those men and women in hundreds and thousands who attained the Samadhi state instantly were sitting in separate rows. 15.
O King! They were sitting in different postures, like Siddhasana, Padmasana, Vajrasana, Virasana, Shavasana and Svastikasana. 16 - 17.
In the highest degree of deep meditation, all of them were in such a motionless state, that they looked like the idols made of wood or stones. 18.
Lord Swaminarayan woke up some of them from the meditation after three hours, some after six hours and some at the end of the day. Some of them were asked to hone their meditation skill for two days, some people for a fortnight, some for a whole month and some for two, three or four months. He would then awaken them by just calling out, or by a glance, or by telepathy. 19-21.
Divine experience in the state of trance.
But some of them were so much overwhelmed with joy of meditation that they did not want to return to the worldly life, even though He summoned them. 22.
But as the Lord was a great powerful Yogi, and being the indwelling ‘self’ in all being, he would use his powerful yogic powers and compel them to return to their senses in no time. 23.
Everyone who was awakened from the meditation started narrating to the people assembled there, about what they saw in their Samadhi state. 24.
Some of them narrated the wonderful Brahmapura Aksaradhama, some told about the Svetadvipa and some about the divine abode of Vishnu (Vaikuntha). 25.
Some described the divinely exuberance seen in Goloka. Some told about the abodes of the gods, demons and others and their activities in the three worlds. 26.
Some recalled the realms of the Primeval Being and the Prakruti (the primeval substance) and their affluence as they saw in the meditation. 27.
Some of them expressed what they noticed about the divine abodes of Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha and their prowess and prosperity. 28.
Some people told in the assembly that they had visualized the twenty-four elements of the creation, their abodes, their presiding deities and their splendour distinctly. 29.
Some of them narrated about the holy fords of Shri Hari in three worlds and some of them described the spheres beyond ‘Lokaloka’mountains. 30.
Some of them narrated about the infinite universes being created, sustained and depleted respectively by Brahma Vishnu and Shiva; and their enormous opulence. 31.
Some of them told about the wonderful sight of those innumerable universes and the activities of gods, demons and humans going on therein. 32.
Some of them described enormous creation of the universe and others the internal composition of their physical body (anatomy). 33.
Some related about the topography of the globe they had seen and the entire gamut of constellation in the sky, O king! 34.
Shree Hari talks of the practice of Yoga.
Swaminarayan, after hearing their accounts thus, examined the maturity and immaturity of each one involved in yoga. 35.
Swaminarayan helped those who were below the state of attaining perfect Samadhi, through the appropriate way of stabilizing the mind for a long time. 36.
He taught some of them to contract and expand the breath and in turn the arteries etc. (The Nadis). 37.
He guided some of them to draw the vital breath and consciousness from all the organs and converging them in the eye or on the finger tip. 38.
The life force thus fixed in a particular part, the body becomes inert (unconscious) and experiences no pain even from burns or injuries. 39.
Lord Swaminarayan taught them some more – Fixing the vision in one eye, turning it inwardly and turning the other outwardly without winking, and to repeat this act alternately with the other eye, which is a unique exercise of the eyes called Akshiyoga. 40 - 41.
He taught some of them to turn both their eyes towards the inner self and to attract the vital breath from all parts of the body. 42.
To some he taught to turn vision outwardly without winking of the eyelids and to attract the vital breath. 43.
Fixing the vital breath on one of the six plexus in the body, he made them hear some of the various inner sounds. 44.
Fixing of the vital breath on one of the plexus he made them hear the sound of Pranava (AUM) and made to count those sounds. On awakening them, He would ask them how many Pranavas they heard. 45.
He made the devotees pass the vital breath through the passages of Ida (Left nostril), Pingala (right nostril) and the Susumna (the central Nadi) and to traverse all along the realms of the sun, the moon and elsewhere in the cosmos. 46.
The souls suffering in hell got liberated immediately as they heard the sanctifying names of Shri Hari uttered by some devotees, being sent to the abode of Yama (God of death) in their Samadhi by His will. 47.
Just as a king releases prisoners when he is crowned an emperor, Swaminarayan liberated souls entangled in hell even asHe adorned the seat of the preceptor. 48.
O sinless one, thus He made them achieve perfection in every aspect of Yoga without practicing the means of Yoga. 49.
By His divine splendor they all became sagacious and highly accomplished Yogis. Entering the bodies of others, they were able to know the latters’ thoughts. 50.
Staying in the body of others and arresting the movement of their vital breath, some of His disciples were able to show them the abodes of Lord, as would be done by Shri Hari Himself. 51.
Thus anyone inspired by Shri Hari was able to lead others into Samadhi state and to awaken them from that state. 52.
Thus the compassionate Lord resurrected the tradition of Yoga, which was lost in the course of time, by exhibiting His divine excellence. 53.
This news of the mystical yogic feats were being talked about in every house, town and the city, and made the listeners feel blessed, O king. 54.
By merely sitting in the assembly in front of the devotees,He taught various skills of entering their inner selves through Yoga. Holding their hands, He led and showed them the celestial realms with their effulgence, which they desired to visualize. 55.
Thus ends the eighth chapter entitled ‘Shri Hari exhibiting miraculous Yogic accomplishments’ in the second Prakarana of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan,,also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 8
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