A PILGRIMAGE TO RISHIKESH
Mataji Vanamali
Mataji Vanamali
Of interest to Spiritualists would be our meeting with Mataji Vanamali who Steve described as a living saint. We visited her at her home/ashram (Vanamali Gita Yogashram) next door to the leper colony that she helps to maintain. A number of miracles have happened around her including sacred vibhuti ash appearing on her locket of Shirdi Baba, her Ganesh statue drank milk and there’s the story of the apport of a statue of Shiva that materialised when her brother Vanamali Gita Yogashram put his hands into the waters of the Ganges.
I would probably not describe Mataji Vanamali as a ‘living saint’ but she was certainly a lovely lady with a tremendous insight into Indian philosophy. I believe she has memorised all of the Bhagavad-Gita and she certainly had a tremendous grasp of the English language – who uses words like ‘effulgence’ in everyday language?
Mataji Vanamali gave us an interesting talk about the Bhagavad-Gita and spoke of similar things to Sivananda who I mentioned earlier – saying how we need not need to be a mendicant and seek seclusion in the caves and forests but that we can attain the divine as a householder.
When the time came for questions I was keen to ask her what the Indian take was about the afterlife. She appeared intrigued when I explained I was a Spiritualist medium and I asked “In our work we endeavour to prove that the personality survives death. I know that Hindus believe in reincarnation but I have also read about, for example, Brahmaloka,” I said. And thinking about my earlier experience in the temple of Maharaj-ji (Neem Karoli Baba), asked: “And can some of the holy men and women continue to help us after their death?” (Brahmaloka is defined in the Encyclopaedia Britannica as “that part of the many-layered universe that is the realm of pious celestial spirits.) |
Mataji Vanamali replied that Brahmaloka is just one aspect of the after death state. There are seven planes above the earthly plane and seven more below. But none are as important as the earthly plane itself for it in only in this world that we attain liberation. Life on earth is a divine opportunity. And yes, many of the gurus and masters opt to remain in the astral worlds and are able to communicate with and help their devotees on earth.
I have abridged her reply but nonetheless it was clear and succinct. A good answer I felt that corresponded very closely to my own conclusions that I have written about in my book “What to do when you are dead”.
Continue The Pilgrimage ...
NEXT: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Abandoned Ashram |
