The Divine Master

By Dr. Braj Sinha

The Divine Master seeks to articulate the supremely rich deep spiritual message of His Holiness, Sri Brahmrishi Gurudev, one of the most prominent exponent of ancient Indian spiritual wisdom in the modern era. The book off ers a succinct insight into the supreme transcendent spiritual truths propounded by Sri Brahmrishi Gurudev for the specifi c p

• Language: English
• Publisher: Authors Press
• Release date: Mar 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781643147161

Dr. Braj Sinha

Dr. Braj M. Sinha, Ph.D.; D.Litt., is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he arrived at McGill University in the year 1986 as the first Head of the Department of Religious Studies. An internationally known scholar of the religions of India, Dr. Sinha has authored many books, articles, and research papers, which have been published by eminent national and international publication houses including Brill, MacMillan, and Sage among others. He has presented scholarly works and delivered invited lectures at the eminent centres of higher learning and research in Africa, Canada, Europe, India, Mexico, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. Recipient of many recognitions and honors, Dr. Sinha was awarded the prestigious George Ivany Internationalization Award and has served as the President of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, a consortium of ninety-plus of the most eminent universities, educational institutions, and research centres from Canada and India.

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Copyright © 2022 by Braj M Sinha

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 978-1-64314-715-4 (Paperback)

978-1-64314-716-1 (E-book)

AuthorsPress

California, USA

www.authorspress.com

Preamble

The Divine Master is a record of my inner dialogue with the Divine Master, Brahmrishi Sri Gurudev. They are dialogues that have taken place in many ways and in varied contexts –some in visions, some in dreams, and others within the deepest recesses of my soul and conscience. The Divine Master has sanctified all these dialogues with His presence and voice. Sri Gurudev bestowed on me the task of becoming a conduit, a receptacle, a medium, and nothing more. His commandment to write came clearly and unambiguously in the presence of others on several occasions in Toronto, in New York, in Los Angeles, and then again in San Francisco in the later part of 2015. I returned home from these precious moments spent with the Divine Master, wanting to start the process of writing.

I told myself that I have to write about the Master’s life and teachings. He has called me His Tulsidas. What a great honor, I felt, not realizing that my ego was peeking through the outer shells of an assumed humility. I am going to live up to it, I promised myself. Yet, I was faced with the challenges of juggling between my professional responsibilities and the Master’s divine commandment to write. During the year 2015-2016, the University of Saskatchewan had given me the privilege of a Sabbatical Leave to conduct professional work and research here in Canada, the USA, and India. There were research projects sitting on back burners to attend. There were requests from Universities in India to deliver lectures and provide help and guidance in their academic engagement with Canada. Additionally, life got a bit difficult with several family bereavements in the year 2016.

I had found umpteen excuses to tell myself that I had many good reasons for not being able to do what was most important – to write what I was commanded to write. However, the real reason was very different. I had entered into a phase some call a writer’s block. Whenever I got an opportunity, I sat in front of the computer screen, fingers on the keyboard, thinking and wanting to say something, but nothing would happen. Hours, days, and months passed. There was vacuity and a dreadful silence within.

Sri Gurudev had said – Sinha Ji will do the work of God and God will do his work. He had said – you start and I will finish. He had said –you ask and it will come. I wanted dearly to do His work, but I could not move a step further. I was not even able to start. I was asking, but He was not responding. Sometimes it felt as if I was moving three steps forward and five steps backwards.

Frustrated and confused, not knowing what I needed to do and what I could do, I fell in the deep recesses of dark nights of the soul-filled with self-pity and doubt. I can not do what He wants me to do. Maybe He does not want me to do it either. What is He doing? Where is He? Why is He testing me? Why has He forsaken me? He said – I will be with you always. Where is He hiding? – these thoughts kept haunting me.

Deeply anguished and confused, one day I called my guru Bhai (divine brother), Sri Sampat Poddar Ji. I opened my heart to him. I confided in him all my doubts. I told him how hopeless the situation had become. My mind was empty; my pen was stagnant. I was not receiving any guidance, no direction, and no intervention. Sri Sampat Bhai, in his usual unshakable faith and total conviction responded – "Bhai sahib (Brother), it will happen.

You just have to call on Him sincerely with full devotion and faith. He is with you always. You need to open up your heart to Him. Pray and speak to Him – tell Him your plight, ask for His help, seek His blessings".

That night I went into my Prayer (Puja) Room, bowed at His feet, while tears were rolling from my eyes. There was complete surrender. I let my ego melt. I realized I wanted to write, I wanted to do it, and I wanted to become the author depicting His glory and His wisdom. Words came – you are just an instrument. You do not say anything. You do not write anything. Open your heart to Him and He will speak to you. Let it be His doing, not yours.

I went to bed that night peaceful and serene; the room filled with His Divine Presence. I felt that a bright light was surrounding me. I felt Sri Gurudev’s Divine presence in His full glory, majesty, and loving compassion. I bowed to the Master and as my eyes were closed, I heard the deep voice of the Master: I am here with you now; ask me whatever you need to ask and I will answer. I have chosen you to bring my words to my children. Tell them my stories; tell them my thoughts. It is not you; it is I, who will speak through you.

This was the beginning of the dialogues that commenced between the Divine Master and me. These dialogues took place on various occasions and in different forms: sometimes in dreams and visions of the Divine Presence, sometimes deep within my soul, inspired by the words that He had spoken, the talks that He had given, and the musings that He had shared through private talks and blessings to small groups of devotees. Sri Gurudev’s words came prompting me to be the scribe to all that He wanted me to narrate. What follows are Divine narratives, dialogues with the Divine Master, our beloved Sri Gurudev, who has graciously sanctified our life with His Supreme Love and Compassion for which I remain eternally grateful.

In humble service of the Divine Master.

Braj Sinha

Acknowledgment

The Divine Master is not my work. It is a collaborative work entrusted to me by our Master, beloved parampujya His Holiness Brahmrishi Sri Gurudev, who in his unseen ways plans and executes the task that he bestows on others and confers on them the blessings and joy of feeling useful and serviceable to His will and designs.

The Divine Master, our parampujya Gurudev, in His all-knowing incomprehensible ways assembled a team of dedicated individuals with varied expertise and skills to provide their most valuable help and assistance to me in this task. Not all of their names and their contributions can be acknowledged in this short space. However, some names do need to be mentioned as they stand out in their dedication and commitment to bringing this project to a fruition in the manner the Master wished.

I express my sincerest acknowledgements of deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the following: To my beloved wife Manju Sinha for keeping me motivated and constantly ensuring that the Divine task is completed to the very best of my abilities. She read every word of the book as it was shaped by the Master and His inspiration. She kept me totally focused on the task of being the conduit of the Master’s thought and inspirational utterances and exhortations.

To Sri Sampat Poddar, International President, Vishwa Dharma Chetana Manch, my spiritual brother, a friend, philosopher and guide, for his faith in me, and for all his attention to finer details of the project on the way to its completion. From the very beginning, his unwavering support has been the backbone of this project and a beacon of light that has lighted the path that I have travelled.

To Sushri Prabha Bhandari, International Women President, Vishwa Dharma Chetana Manch, my spiritual sister, kind, compassionate, loving person, whose commitment and dedication to the Divine Master is unparalleled. She has always been there, constantly providing all the help whenever needed, without ever raising a question. To her I express my deepest gratitude.

To Mrs. Evelina Poddar, a meticulous teacher and connoisseur of English language and literature, for her deep devotion and hard work in setting highest literary standard that I could only aspire to live up to. Every iteration of the book, and there were several on way, she read methodically, made valuable editorial suggestions, and made appropriate revisions in timely fashion despite heavy demands of her professional and family life.

To Mrs. Nalini Karna, for her painstaking editorial work, attention to details, important suggestions for revisions etc. which certainly improved the quality of the manuscript in a way that deserves acknowledgment of sincere appreciation.

To Ms. Susanne Harmanns for her kind help in manuscript preparation and copy editing incorporating changes and revisions. Her help in this matter is of immense value.

To the Core Committee members of the publication team including Sri Mahendra Daphtary, Sri Rahul Sankhla, and Shrimati Nitu Sankhla I remain ever grateful for their tremendous help and support. Without their help, the book Divine Master could not have seen the day of the light.

Sri Mahendra Daphtary diligently kept the flow of the information, timeline, photographs etc. His systematic organizational skills have been of great value to the completion of the project. Sri Rahul Sankhla and Shrimati Nitu Sankhla have taken care of every aspect of the production of the book. Their commitment and dedication, their silent, unassuming and self-effacing sense of service to the task entrusted to them by the Divine Master, our beloved Sri Gurudev, must remain a source of inspiration to all of us.

To the great team of SCPL Design, Bangalore, India for their high level of aesthetic sensibility and scrupulous professionalism in production and printing of The Divine Master.

To Mr. Krishan and Dr. Nutan Chahal, for their generosity, enthusiasm, and keenness in providing necessary funding for the publication of the book. I greatly admire their wonderful devotion to Sri Gurudev and their commitment to the task of bringing Sri Gurudev’s Divine Message to the wider audience around the world.

With eternal gratitude to all involved in making my dream of The Divine Master translate into a reality.

Braj Sinha

Ashirvachan

"The life we live is a gift from God;

The way we live our life will be our returning gift to God."

Life is a Divine Gift that must be lived in pursuit of spiritual excellence while fulfilling the duties of worldly existence. As you navigate the journey of your life filled with challenges and opportunities, it is your responsibility to ensure that you do so in a manner that your life becomes an example to future generations. In pursuing the exemplary life, I ask you to ensure that your ultimate spiritual destiny remains your primary goal in life.

The book The Divine Master presents dialogues with me with the objective of explaining and presenting my teachings of essential spiritual messages to spiritual seekers of the present age and the future generations. The path of spirituality knows no boundary of gender, age, religion or nationality. Spirituality is a dynamic journey in life, a path that frees from all bondages.

Some sentences start a life and some lives start a sentence. I hope that the readers of this book will find it helpful in meeting their worldly needs and pursuing their spiritual journey by imbibing the messages in their life and learning to ‘Live Life with Life’.

May Divine blessings make your life filled with sweet fragrance of eternal Divine Love!

Guruji

Tel: [phone]. Telefax: [phone], Mobile: [phone] Email: [e-mail], Web: www.sribrahmrishiashram

Service to Humanity is the best work of Life

Chapter One

The Gift of Love

The Divine Master stood there in His blazing lustre; my eyes were fixed in a hypnotic gaze. Love emitting, His enchanting eyes, filled with compassionate love, were piercing through my soul and saturated my heart with inexplicable warmth. I stood motionless and mesmerized. The gaze became intense. My heart was throbbing with joy at the glimpse of Sri Gurudev; my soul recognized Him as the Supreme Divine Lover. Pure, sweet, joyous Love surrounded me like the fluffy velvety blanket of care and comfort. I could not take my eyes away. In the contours of the Divine Master, tall and majestic, I saw the supreme Lover, the Lover of all, the embodiment of compassion. Sri