Salvation in Kali Yuga. Swami Vankhandi Maharaj: Interviews, Satsangs, Teachings, Parables
a shadow of fear in Vankhandi Maharaj. And this is a sure sign of a paramhamsa and maharaj who truly has nothing to fear because everything belongs to him, moreover – everything is him. The word «maharaj» translates from Hindi as «great king,» and Swami Vankhandi is indeed a maharaj: all his behavior is always regal and filled with the authority of inner strength, which is distinctly felt both when he, smiling like a child, jokes with devotees, and when he strictly gives them everyday instructions. And when he, illuminated only by rare flashes of fire, sits in the twilight by his dhuni, leaning on his staff and staring intently at the glowing coals, he resembles some king or rishi from ancient sacred Scriptures – perhaps even Indra, the king of gods himself.
Question: Maharaj ji, tell us about your life.
Vankhandi Maharaj: My life is before your eyes.
Question: Tell us the story of your life! What happened to you in the past?
Maharaj: I don’t even recall the past. I don’t remember it. What was has passed. What’s the point in digging through the past? Let the past go, and one should look to the future, feel it, and move forward. Of course, memories sometimes come flooding back, but I don’t hold onto them, don’t savor – what happened exactly where and when.
Vivekananda left behind memories, described his travels, life experiences. Rajneesh said that one who walks the path of yoga doesn’t look back, doesn’t get fixated on what happened in their past.
The life of yogis is so complex and difficult that not everyone can trace this path. For some, it’s completely inaccessible. It’s like climbing up a sheer cliff. After all, life’s story isn’t connected to just one of your births. A person’s life story can only be understood in combination with their other lives – like a link in the chain of many rebirths. Experience gained during one birth isn’t enough to grasp the entire meaning of one’s existence.
Rama said: «You will know God when God Himself manifests in you as Knowledge and the meaning of all that exists.» If the meaning of words and phenomena is inaccessible to you and you don’t see clarity, harmony and rhythm in them, turn directly to God, and by His grace He will manifest in your heart and reveal all meaning to you directly.
There are fruits that can be picked and eaten immediately, in their natural form, as nature created them. And you can process them, change their structure, and they will still be edible, but this will be a completely different, unnatural product, with different quality as a result of artificial intervention. So it is with knowledge. You can receive it directly from God. The road has been shown to you. Here it is. Go straight along it, don’t turn aside. And it will lead you to the goal. Or you can make yourself dependent on others, seek help from intermediaries, subject your consciousness to processing, but this will be a different experience, a different quality of knowledge.
People fear death most of all. People are ready to spend hundreds of thousands of rupees to extend their existence even for one day. They go abroad seeking treatment for what is incurable. But what is our life? Two days! One day we come, another day we go. And these days are predetermined. So what is there to fear! Nothing can be changed anyway. Neither the date of birth nor the date of death. Not even for a moment.
Those who fear death and die in fear are doomed to wander through various circles of hell, reaping the fruits of their karma. Those who don’t fear death are either reborn in a human body or go to heaven, enjoyably tasting the fruits of their righteous life.
A person gripped by fear can’t concentrate on anything. Fear blinds their eyes. They don’t even notice their children. The fear of approaching death paints terrible pictures before their eyes. Death, just before the end, appears to them as a frightening figure with a sword, in clouds of smoke and flame. Consciousness becomes clouded. A person in such a state can’t even recognize themselves. Their mind wanders in darkness.
Those without fear don’t see such pictures before death. After all, we create fear ourselves, it’s a product of our consciousness. Fear can make a person lose the gift of speech or lose the ability to recognize relatives.
A person leaves life with the baggage of values they formed during life – what they held onto, what they believed in, what they prayed to, that’s what you die with.
Mahatma Gandhi in childhood was afraid to be alone in a room, afraid to move from one room to another without a nanny’s accompaniment. Until he received wise advice: to constantly repeat God’s Name – Rama. One who constantly keeps their attention on the Divine Name fears nothing. Mahatma Gandhi followed this advice all his life, achieved perfection in this practice and lived to the end of his days with God’s Name. In the hour of death, «Ram-Ram» became the last thing that came from his lips.
Now, we live in a free country, and still, people grab firearms in moments of danger. Gandhi lived in times of colonial slavery and violence, yet he walked everywhere without any fear with just a staff. He went to England and spoke freely before the English, wearing only a dhoti. Fear forever left his life.
There was a time when Nathuram Godse threatened Gandhi with murder to his face. And Gandhi, who had a small child sitting on his lap at that moment, calmly responded to the threat: «Wait, let me remove the child from my lap, then shoot.» When the real hour of murder came four years later, and Godse put several bullets in his chest, Gandhi managed to say «Ram-Ram» and departed to the other world.
Maharaj in Russia, july 2024
Fearlessness is a great gift. An even greater gift is to free others from fear. And to live so that birds and animals aren’t afraid of you. This is a wonderful criterion. If birds and animals aren’t afraid to approach you, it means there is no fear in you. Only a coward emanates and instills fear. A person free from fear doesn’t transmit fear to others. One who threatens, frightens and inspires terror is deep down a coward themselves and full of fears. If you try to intimidate another, it means you can be just as easily intimidated.
If you turn off the power button, all devices stop. If you turn it back on, everything will work again. Humans also have such a switch. The button of dharma and adharma.
Everything in the world has its opposite. Truth-falsehood, dharma-adharma, sin-virtue. Each phenomenon is balanced by its opposite. If there is happiness, there is sorrow, if there is harm, there is benefit. That’s how the world is arranged. The pinnacle of dharma is kindness, love and compassion. Kindness is the foundation of dharma. It nourishes dharma. One should love everyone, even the smallest bug, ant, animals, birds. A mosquito shouldn’t be killed, it should be pitied and understood. How much harm can it do? It takes away a drop of your blood, that’s all…
The Ramayana says: «Whoever has come under my protection, even the biggest scoundrel, I will forgive him, not reject him. Even if he is a thief and robber, I will take him under my protection and responsibility. You cannot betray the trust of those who seek your protection.» If a bird, insect, forest creature has come to you for protection, they must be protected. Dharma is based on kindness and compassion. Sin is based on ego and self-love. And, without God’s help, a person can’t eradicate their ego. Only when you turn to God, bare your soul through concentration, repentance and love, and God penetrates your consciousness and becomes part of you, does enlightenment, purification and rejection of ego occur. Only God helps a person atone for sins planted by self-love. Only God can root out human ego, free His devotees from the burden of self-love and ignorance.
It was excessive ego and self-love that caused Ravana’s death. The King of Mathura, Kamsa, was also destroyed by ego and self-importance. Even in the recent past, the British had to leave India forever, and the reason for that was their immeasurable ego. After all, initially, when they governed the country sattvically, benevolently and fairly, no