Salvation in Kali Yuga. Swami Vankhandi Maharaj: Interviews, Satsangs, Teachings, Parables
time, it was already dark. And I decided that since I had climbed so high, I would stay here. I made a fire and sat all night under a tree.
Sat like that for forty days. Gathered firewood for the night fire.
Question: Maharaj, you mentioned Rishi Markandeya. Is this the famous ancient sage? You said he’s still alive. Where did you meet him? What was the nature of your relationship?
Maharaj: Markandeya is a great rishi, a yogic ascetic, a tapasvi. He usually doesn’t meet with anyone. He grants his darshan to very few. He came to me once in the Himalayas, at the place where I sat by the dhuni. He then told me to go into samsara and live among people.
Such yogis can appear in various forms and guises. And often, even if people see them, they still don’t recognize or realize who they are. In ancient times, great rulers and rajas held large yagna ceremonies to which they invited holy sages. Markandeya also came and conducted such yagnas. He could come in any form. Not everyone could recognize him.
I saw him only once. Only once did he give me his darshan, during which he inspired me to go into samsara.
There is a place called Rishikand in the Himalayas. He lives there. People try to reach there to see him, but he doesn’t show himself to anyone. Sometimes he might meet a simple village person somewhere on the road, but they won’t even understand who is before them. But those who try and specifically seek to meet this rishi cannot see him.
There are situations in life when we meet holy people. For example, I once met Jesus in a cemetery. But this always happens unexpectedly, it’s not predetermined. It happens when Divine grace descends upon you, you don’t expect it and don’t think about it. It’s always a surprise and unexpected. If you try specifically, it won’t work.
Meetings with saints do happen. One baba came to us here; he didn’t approach the dhuni, and went straight to the temple. He entered the temple and came out after some time. He held a katori with prasad in his hands. Some saw him, some didn’t. It depends on how fate favors you. Someone might later say that a baba came to us, we drank tea with him, ate potatoes. And someone else will say: «I didn’t see anyone.»
I don’t have any specific connection or relationship with Markandeya. Markandeya is a holy rishi from Uttarakhand who has been granted immortality. In past yugas, rulers and rajas invited him to large ceremonies and yagnas. When the Pandavas held the Ashwamedha yagna, Lord Krishna himself sent Bhima to deliver an invitation to Rishi Markandeya to participate in this ceremony. Krishna instructed Bhima: «Go and bring Rishi Markandeya. Just don’t bother him with talk, spend time with him in silence.» Bhima went to Rishikand. There in Rishikand, he found Markandeya and was surprised to see that he lived in a pasture, raised goats, cleaned goat dung, and ate right there under a shed. Bhima said: «I’ve come to invite you to Hastinapur.» Night had already fallen, it was too late to set out, and Bhima stayed overnight with Markandeya. In the morning, they prepared for the journey, and here Bhima was surprised to see that the holy man didn’t perform his morning ablutions but set out as he was, unwashed. He wore only goatskins for clothing. They walked all day and stopped for the night in Ranibagh. And in the morning, the story repeated: Markandeya got up and, again without washing, set out on the journey. On the third night, they stopped in Mirath, which is near Hastinapur. Here in the morning, Markandeya washed once. When they arrived in Hastinapur, the holy rishi went to the river and washed for a long time and very thoroughly.
Bhima approached Krishna and expressed his displeasure: «I think this man isn’t holy at all, he’s just pretending. I spent three nights with him, and he never washed. Only in Mirath did he deign to wash. And as soon as we came to Hastinapur, he immediately started washing himself thoroughly.»
To which Krishna replied: «Well, Bhima. Then I ask you to return to those places where you stayed overnight with Markandeya and bring soil from each of these places.» Bhima obeyed, went back and brought soil from all three places where they had stayed in separate bags. When they opened the first bag with soil from Rishikand, instead of soil, there were pearls and diamonds. When they opened the second bag, they saw it was filled with pure gold. When they opened the third bag, there was silver. But this silver already had a slight tarnish. When they opened the bag with soil from Hastinapur, from the place where Markandeya had washed most thoroughly, all this soil was teeming with worms and insects.
And then Lord Krishna said to Bhima: «Why wash where your earth is pearls and diamonds? Why wash where your earth is all pure gold? But silver with black tarnish already needs to be cleaned. And earth teeming with worms needs to be washed off every day.» This was the teaching Lord Krishna gave to Bhima. And since then, the sages-munis have called the mountain where Markandeya lived Hiramoti (which means «Pearls and Diamonds»).
One whose body and mind are soaked in dirt needs to wash and clean off dirt constantly. But one whose mind is pure, holy and righteous can well do without ablutions. God, after all, looks into your heart; he doesn’t look at the body. When the mind and heart are pure, dirt on the body doesn’t play a big role.
Take Barahi Baba, who lived in our ashram. Did he wash? He didn’t wash at all. But his body never emitted a bad odor. A common person living here, if they don’t wash, will start to smell unpleasant after two or three days. But this didn’t apply to Barahi. Barahi didn’t even pay attention to what he was wearing.
God looks inside you, he sees your mind and its state. If the manas is pure and full of holiness, then God doesn’t care about your external appearance – God doesn’t pay attention to this. The body is temporary and transient. The heart should have purity, the mind should be calm, pure, and bright.
Barahi always pulled some rags over himself, but even these rags didn’t smell. And he didn’t smell of sweat. Yet, often it happens that someone sitting nearby smells of sweat. Barahi had a pure manas, and he didn’t pay attention to the external world. He was pure inside.
For saints in the Himalayas, the process of ablution happens differently. There’s crystal clear air and fresh wind there. It’s enough to open the door, go outside, breathe fresh air, and you’re already clean, as if after a bath. After all, you can wash in different ways. Some wash off the dirt accumulated during the day with water from a bucket or under a shower, while others, if there’s no running water nearby, make do with simple wiping. The body is cleaned with grass or a wet cloth.
In the Himalayas there’s a lot of snow and you can wash with snow. There’s such purity there that this is enough. The body doesn’t get dirty. If you approach a saint in the Himalayas, you can catch the aroma of roses or mountain flowers emanating from him. This is the natural smell of his body.
In samsara, people care a lot about body cleanliness but don’t monitor the cleanliness of thoughts in their head. They dress the body in beautiful clothes, pour perfumes over it and think they’ve gotten rid of dirt. But their mind and thoughts are full of impurities. But God doesn’t look at your body, he looks at the manas. The manas should be crystal clear. Lord Rama said, «I am with those who are pure in soul.»
So yes, I met Markandeya. He honored me with his grace. He gave me darshan and said: «Now go into the world, bring goodness to people in samsara. And do seva.»
He meets with few people. He walks the earth alone.
But other saints came here to our ashram. Vivekananda came here to our ashram. Although no one recognized him. While such people are among us, we might not suspect anything, and only later, when they leave, comes the realization of who it was. Information comes during meditation, dhyana. Vivekananda lived here with us for three days. He, like everyone else, did seva, cleaned paths of leaves, swept.
Swami Vankhandi in his young days, archive photo
How and why such darshans happen is a mystery. A mystery that’s not easy to uncover; it can’t be described in words. Such phenomena