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Govinda
USA
176 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 06 2012 : 12:15:02 PM
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Greetings All,
This is my first post and I thank you for allowing me to join your forum. I saw this sub-forum and wanted to share my brief experiences with a very high, loving soul. His name was Sri Sant Keshavadas. Jai Gurudeva!
I began my sitting practice during my 10th grade in high school, through my study of the Korean martial art, tae kwon do. We were taught Seon void meditation by Master Kim (Korean Zen Buddhist sitting). As a boy of 15, this was quite overwhelming!!! My mind was quite jumpy at that adolescent age and I honestly, had little to no ability towards one-pointed focus or internal concentration. The Void was beyond my capacity to even comprehend, as it still is even now (hehehe), and I was severely challenged to empty my restless mind and become wholly centered and internally silent. 
As I began to gain some insight into my own interior existence and core of being, I had been exposed to TM, various schools of Nam (mantra japa) and so on...I was formally initiated into the Kriya Yoga of the SRF, late in 1979, after graduating from art school.
While I had been sitting in deep meditation for over five years, wandering many paths, I longed for a one-on-one relationship with a Sat Guru. Admittedly, I sought Shaktipad form a Master soul and a glimpse into the Eternal Tao. Anyway... I was blessed to meet Sri Sant Keshavadas in early 1980, in Boulder, CO. I saw him speak at the University of Colorado and was blown out of my socks! His aura was magnificent and showed the most intense turquoise/azure blue and royal purple.
For 3 short days, I was in his sage-like presence. I was electrified by his vibration! I wanted to share a brief ecstatic experience he initiated within me, and in retrospect, how this changed my life forevermore.
One the final evening of my brief association with Santji, we were in the home of an Indian doctor. Satsang had been inspiring and while I not a Bhakti, I am a Jnani, the magik of the spiritual vibe shattered my and stilled my mental angst. I am a musician. A flutist, primarily, but I play various drums and a few stringed instruments. I had brought my silver and bamboo flute for his Holy blessings.
As I offered him my instruments for his Dharhan, he leaned forward and said, "Jon, I shall call you Govinda from now on." Being a rather conceptual character, I immediately replied, "Shouldn't it be Govinda Das, Santji? Aren't we each servants of the Supreme Godhead?" His smile was beatific! He chuckled softly and then, after a moment or two, became quite serious looking.
"For those of us who are used by the Divine to carry out His work, it is most important to remember that we are merely His servants. Ego pulls on Sad Gurus... more than anyone can imagine. Divine intoxication can be overwhelming for some and this can create delusional thinking. Humility is the greatest gift from the Supreme Spirit, for in many ways, we do not even exist apart from the Holy One. Still, the mind and the body are vessels which hold the truth of being for a few passing years. We are more than this, we are eternal. But for you, my child, it is important that you realize that you are God."
"You seek yourself. Do not be so in love with the Divine, that you cannot recognize that Divinity as your sole being and the being of all that exists. Do not allow any separation between who you are and what is most Sacred,for they are One and the same. God is everything and far beyond any form, all at the same single moment. Remember this! Within you is the entirety of the cosmos and you are the initial cause, your soul is infinite, as well as the transient effect of your material incarnation."
He then smiled lovingly and asked me if I had been initiated yet. I proudly announced that I had been routinely meditating for more than 5 years and had been initiated into Sri Swami Yogananda's SRF and received the weekly written lessons. He then surprised me a little bit. He became quite stern and stoic for a few moments. He than said,
"Just who is doing the meditation? Who is seeking God? Who are you, Govinda?"
I was quickly thinking of some clever existential retort but I never got to speak a single word. His penetrating gaze froze my mind into utter silence! Then he leaned forward and looked straight into my questioning eyes.
He then simply said these profound words to me,"You have been blessed by the gift of Kriya Yoga and have been chosen to ascend to your truest nature, your deepest spiritual being. Yes, you have learned the method... but tonight, I give you the living reality behind the methods."
With that, he placed his right hand on the crown of my head. Instantly, my mid was filled with the purest white light. It was so blinding I dissolved in it's effulgence. The AUM vibration was rumbling loudly within my head and I was wholly swept away into an ecstatic trance state. The breath was pulled out of me and I was no longer aware of who I had dreamed myself to be, lo those many earthly years believing myself to be my mind, thought process and organic material body.
Moments later, I lost consciousness of being myself at all. I was awareness itself and I had no name, no self, no form... yet, I was within everything. I was unified with God and I was temporarily emptied of my ego-self. I knew without thought, that I was flowing within the current of Spirit and was re-absorbed into the Sacred Web of I Am that I Am. For the dawning of the blinding light of the Omniself, was seen clearly through these sentient eyes. I awakened to perceive my core identify as the same as the Unified Field of Being. It was a peak experience, a total whiteout, to say the very least! 
A few hours later, when I had returned to my "normal" consciousness, I felt drunken with the Light. High from the music of the Sacred Word. One of the last things Santji told me was his first encounter withe Sri Sri Babaji Maharaj, the fully awakened Mahavatar. Santji said that it was He who chose to find me, He who sent him (Santji) to me. And also, He who awaited my return to His Sacred company.
I planned on going to India and seeing Sant Keshavadas but because of my own samskaras and unique personal destiny, I never left America. I wrote him once and he even wrote back himself.
He sweetly wrote this message, "My dearest Govinda, if you wish to come to India, I will receive you with much love. If you wish to know God, then I must say one important thing to you... wherever you are is India. Whoever you meet in this life, regardless of appearances, is the Guru. When you discover this Sacred Truth, you will be free. You need not go anywhere to find God, Guru or Samadhi, as you are That. You are Divine. Tat Tvam Asi. Know that I am always with you, child.
Your humble servant, Keshavadas."
I never saw his mortal body again but we are united in spirit and it was through his initiation, that I finally met my beloved Gurudeva, Sri Sri Babaji Maharaj (in November of 1981). And that's another story, altogether, but of course. And just recently, after more than 30 years, I met my effulgent Savior for the second time, early in May of 2012. Since then, I have been re-kindled within the Sacred Fire, so to speak.
All in all, I have walked many roads and practiced many spiritual traditions. For myself, I find more similarities than differences, but that's just how I perceive things. "Truth is One, paths are many". Right?
Be it Kriya Yoga, Surat Shabd Yoga, Taoism, Zen, Gnostic Christianity or Sufism... all paths lead to the same summit of conscious-awareness. All roads lead to the here and now. This single moment caught within the illusion of the time-space-continuum. This truly is the only moment... and we are the eyes of the Divine, witnessing our own reflection, everywhere we gaze. We are truly blessed to be alive in this pivotal time! May all of our hearts unite to heal this planetary body, hurtling through empty space.
Thanks for reading my introduction to this fine community. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti... 
Your extremely humble servant, Govinda |
Edited by - Govinda on Nov 07 2012 11:19:26 PM |
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AumNaturel
Canada
687 Posts |
Posted - Nov 06 2012 : 12:31:41 PM
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Welcome Govinda,
wonderful story, a pleasure reading, and hope you enjoy the ayp forums. Thank you for your sharing and introduction! |
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Steve
277 Posts |
Posted - Nov 07 2012 : 12:51:50 PM
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Welcome Govinda,
Thank you for your beautiful introduction and sharing. Very inspiring and heart-warming. Please know it is much appreciated.
Love, Light and Joy,
Steve  |
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Ananda
3115 Posts |
Posted - Nov 07 2012 : 1:00:47 PM
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Beautiful dear Govinda You are most welcome to the AYP forums...
Love,
Ananda |
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kami
USA
920 Posts |
Posted - Nov 08 2012 : 1:24:24 PM
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Thank you Govinda, for this mind-blowing story _/\_
Welcome to the forums. Look forward to more from you.
Love,
kami |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Nov 08 2012 : 4:47:58 PM
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thank you govinda!
I really enjoyed reading this!
love
josh |
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Govinda
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - Nov 08 2012 : 7:00:09 PM
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My new friends,
You are all most welcome, but it is I that should be thanking you fine folks. You are most open and loving. I appreciate the kind welcome and the warm embrace.
I hope I did not come off as one who seeks the Light from outside of himself, forever in search of Shaktipad from an external source, as that was certainly not my intention. Initially, I was admittedly, desiring to re-create this peak experience through the dharshan of other highly evolved teachers. And with a few other Masters like: Swami Amar Jyoti, Sri Swami Satchidananda, Joshu Sasaki Roshi and Pir Valayet Khan... I had some very profound and highly transformative epiphanies.
Especially with Swamiji Satchidananda, he was very good friends with Sant Keshavadas, and on some significant level, helped to free me from my own dichotomy. In fact, on Guru Purnima Day in July of 1981, Swamiji singled me out from a crowd of hundreds and encouraged me to fully immerse myself with the Divine in-dweller. He invited me to look within and not without. For he acknowledged that I had begun to understand that there are no real separations between the transient and the Omniscient, the relative and the Absoluter, the individual and the Sacred. I respected him so much for his grace. I walked into the formless and never looked back. So, off I went and the journey never ends.
I had found a bizarre contradiction within my own Sadhana, for I was trying too hard to grasp the ungraspable. My desire to merge with the Divine had kept me partially blind to the reality that already existed inside of myself. I gradually began to find that the Guru who resided within my own heart, was the closest and most accessible of them all. This became more and more clear, the deeper I digged into my own consciousness, and naturally, cultivated my own awareness from within.
While I did have some meaningful and inspiring lessons learned from my association with the practice of Surat Shabd Yoga (as taught by the Radhasoami Faith/Sant Mat)and my romance with the Sufi Order... it had become plain for me to see that I was destined to travel the Pathless Path and embrace the Methodless Method.
But I wanted to share my short and sweet association with the highest living person I have ever known. Well, in the ordinary 3-dimensional, existential sense and notion of "living person" (one embodied within the material illusion of the time-space-continuum). I think we all have spirit guides, angels and Ascended Masters guiding and blessing our journey from the the beyond/within.
Besides, how many times do we need to have the ecstatic immersion, the transcendent merging with the Omniversal presence? Is not the absence of time, which facilitates our clarity of vision? I believe it is only when we stop our mind long enough to release our desire to hold onto the Truth, that we are nearest to it. Perhaps my involvement with Taoism and Zen Buddhism is partially to blame... but I honestly feel that when we surrender even our ambition to touch the Absolute, we discover how very, very close it was all along the way.
Also, I do not mean to sound as if I do not continue to train myself and practice Kriya techniques, as well as Surat Shabd Yoga and Zazen... these I do often. But the emphasis is no longer one of attainment or acquisition, it is one of remembrance and integration. When we all begin to see that only ONE being pulses within the heart and soul of all sentient being, the journey begins to shift in parameters.
Each of us learns to free ourselves of the madness of clinging to our "spiritual" conceptions. Does this not just reinforce the mental barriers and psychic membranes, which effectively keep us apart from the Infinite Spirit, the wholeness and singularity of the Godhead?
Our capacity for reasoning and deduction plays no significant part in our awakening, rather, our intuition guides us directly into the fulcrum of awareness itself. We find the empty vortex of the Omniself, glistening like a jewel in our hearts. We interphase within the central and most quintessential aspect of our being, all being and that insubstantial force which initiates quantum fluctuations.
We fill the Void with love and are blessed by the Gnosis that we are indeed That. Tat Tvam Asi. Yes, we are That, each and every one of us.
Namaste All, Govinda |
Edited by - Govinda on Nov 08 2012 11:30:14 PM |
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chit-ananda51
India
127 Posts |
Posted - Nov 12 2012 : 9:21:49 PM
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| Thanks for sharing. Wonderful realization of infinite awareness. |
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vijikr
United Arab Emirates
413 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2012 : 02:43:19 AM
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Namaste Govinda,
Warm welcome to forum and thank you so much for posting your journey experience and I hope to hear more of your experience and also from others as this makes me go ahead and do my sadhana apart ofcourse to hear such great experiences it helps beginners like me its like food for thought and to take our journey further.
Great Journey and experiences.
Love N Light
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nirmal
Germany
438 Posts |
Posted - Feb 26 2013 : 10:52:56 AM
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Dear Govinda,
Thank you for such a beautiful and inspiring story! It gives me hope that I might find a good Kriya yoga teacher since mine left me! And to
have actually met the Mahavatar Babaji!!! I have been praying to him,
as well to all the Ascended Masters for some time now. You are a very fortunate man indeed!
in God's love,
nirmal |
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Govinda
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - May 15 2013 : 4:26:15 PM
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Hello there folks,
Seconds before the current of Shaktipad was gifted by Santji. My friend Krishna took this picture 33 years ago, in Denver Colorado.
Om Shanti, Govinda
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Edited by - Govinda on May 15 2013 5:50:38 PM |
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BillinL.A.
USA
375 Posts |
Posted - May 15 2013 : 8:49:09 PM
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You sure didn't look apprehensive. Did you have an idea of what was coming?
I'm very jealous of your hair, me being bald and all. |
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Govinda
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - May 18 2013 : 11:55:32 PM
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@BillinL.A.,
No, I was not apprehensive in any way. I was actually feeling a little drunken from the high energy coursing through me. Sri Keshavadas had this incredible aura about himself and his shakti was more than palpable, it was almost overwhelming! I've never met any human being with so much spiritual juice (and I've had the Darshan of many well-known Gurudevas, Roshis, Sants and Pirs, each one unique unto themselves). Seconds later, he would place his right hand on my crown and in so doing, act as a direct catalyst for my very first taste of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Such a sweetheart! I never saw him again, after that evening.
And truthfully, I kind of did have big expectations, after all the reading I had been doing and the romance of the Sadhu's epic journey... but I was not quite able to understand at that point in my life, that the release of such an Omniscient force was something I could endlessly find again and again, by the grace of the Master's effulgence, humming along deep within myself, as often as I allowed myself to shift my conscious-awareness to that innate central fulcrum of energy.
But this pic always reminds me of the force of pure Bhakti. Love of God is the most powerful human feeling I've ever encountered. I am personally a Jnani but I've been deeply inspired by the Bhakti of many great saints: Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Sri Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Anandamayi Ma, Sri Sitaramdas Omkarnath and many, many others. Opposites do indeed attract.
Tat Tvam Asi, Govinda
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Edited by - Govinda on May 19 2013 03:28:48 AM |
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BillinL.A.
USA
375 Posts |
Posted - May 19 2013 : 08:05:59 AM
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Thanks Govinda. |
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kami
USA
920 Posts |
Posted - Jul 18 2013 : 08:21:18 AM
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Govinda,
Wanted to share this - while I have never met Sant Keshavadas, I'm astonished to find a connection with him. Having started a book written by one of his disciples just today, I became drawn to find out more about the master. And, to my utter surprise, he is the founder of my favorite temple near my hometown in India. This is the utterly magnificent Bhagavad Gita temple, with all 700 verses etched in 3 languages on black granite around the perimeter of the grand sanctum that houses the ~40 foot idol of Krishna manifesting his Vishwaroopa (Cosmic form) (11th chapter). I never miss visiting this holy place, spending the day meditating or walking the grounds in silence. The main deity there is another huge statue of Krishna as Vittala (Sant Keshavadas's Ishta), and a temple dedicated to Gayatri Devi. In the beautiful gardens, the sacred rivers of India are depicted as Devis, spouting water from their celestial pots.
Of all the powerful temples in this area (and there are many), I've been inexplicably drawn to this place for the last 20 years.. Until today, I had no idea that Sant Keshavadas built it.. And he was a devotee of Babaji as well.. Sri Guru Babaji works in mysterious ways!!
Perhaps it is my karma, but the gurus I'm powerfully drawn to have left their bodies, Sant Keshavadas now one of them. Sometimes, this is saddening.
He has written thousands of bhajans in my native language, Kannada - will have to do with them and his books for now..
Thank you again for sharing. |
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Sant Keshavadas
