Kalavati was proof that you chant a mantra to purify yourself, to be more spiritual. It doesn’t matter how much of a believer or non-believer you are; how staunch an atheist you are – sooner or later, faith will take its place in your heart, as if it owns it, which it does.
The first time I came back from Australia in December 2000, I went and met Kalavati. She was living in the same old, run-down place. I said to her, “You shouldn’t be living under this tin roof. Please allow me to build a decent home for you. You can have your own washroom.” There was a little space there, and I said, “We can manage something here. You can even have your own air conditioner.”
“No, no, I don’t want an air conditioner,” she said. “My children would not let me have it. Besides, who is going to pay the electricity bill?”
“At least let me get you a water cooler. I can take care of the electricity bill.”
“No, I don’t want it. I won’t live here.”
“The best I can do, then,” I said, “is to give you the money and you can build whenever you wish.”
“Okay,” she said, “I will let you know.” But a year passed, and she did not take up my offer. I called my mother, and said, “I promised her something, but she wouldn’t take the money at that time, and the room is still not built. I’ve given my word; I’ve made a pledge, and I want to fulfill it. So I am sending you the money – just give it to her: Say, ‘Put it in the river, I don’t care. But you have to do something with it.’”
At my mother’s bidding, Kalavati finally accepted. I went to meet her on my next visit again. And I remember, when I bowed for her blessings, she gave me a hard slap on my back, because she was in her bhava . She would never do that to anybody, for the record. She said. “Sit,” and made me sit. She chanted her mantra and came into her sentiment. Her body started shaking a little, and then she gave me a solid blow on my back with her palm again. At that time, I felt I had been given something special. You know how sometimes you have an experience that only you can comprehend, and is almost impossible to describe? And at that moment, I felt all those years that I’d been doing Shiva’s chant – I used to do many kinds of Shiva sadhanas – I had received the fruit of it all.
Soon afterwards, Kalavati stopped cleaning people’s homes. She ceased working altogether; she would just remain in that one room, chanting all day and all night. That was her life, and with each passing day, she looked younger. I have hardly seen such a glow on anyone’s face, as I have with hers. The radiance seemed to shine from within her skin, and under her matted locks, her face was utterly beautiful – to that, I am a witness.
Without any pain, or suffering in her last days, she slipped quietly into the other world.
This is what mantras can do when you chant them with reverence.
There comes a time when you go beyond the Vedas and all kinds of tapas . Firmly established in your devotional sentiment, you become one with the Divine, says Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. 1 Besides, he says, the one who has found a vast lake of fresh water no longer has any need of small springs here and there. Such becomes the state of one who has surrendered to the Divine Will. 2
The glow on Kalavati’s face was not just out of sadhana, it was of bhakti and goodness. She was completely illiterate, and picked the simplest mantra, because that’s the mantra her guru had given her. She would go and see her guru once in four or five years, because she did not have the money or the time to travel; she did not do her guru’s darshan more than five or six times in her entire life. But she never stopped chanting that mantra. Om Namah Shivaya was not what she uttered – it was what she had become. That’s the power of sound, of devotion, faith, of mantras.
To do my job properly, I have shared with you everything that I have done or known about Gayatri sadhana, now it is up to you to take it forward in your own life. Based on your temperament, mindset, circumstances, lifestyle and so on, you can choose what appeals to you. Be patient. As associating with a trained singer or a concert pianist does not make you an expert musician, simply reading my books or getting initiation from me won’t do much at all. At the end of the day, it is your own practice alone that will help you sail across.
I can only do two things, both of which I do sincerely, to the best of my abilities. One, share with you all that I know. Two, pray for you.
I offer this work to you.
1 vedeṣhu yajñeṣhu tapaḥsu chaiva dāneṣhu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣhṭam, atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti chādyam. The Bhagavad Gita, 8.28 . Yogis who know the secret of leaving this world peacefully (Krishna expounds in the earlier verses) go beyond the merit gained from the Vedic rituals, austerities, sacrifices and so on. They merge in the Supreme Consciousness.
2 The full verse is yāvān artha udapāne sarvataḥ samplutodake, tāvānsarveṣhu vedeṣhu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ. The Bhagavad Gita, 2.46. It also means that a large source of water can serve the same purpose as many small sources of water. Similarly, many small pleasures of the material world are automatically fulfilled for the one who realizes the Supreme Truth.
APPENDIX
In this section:
Gayatri Sadhana with 36 steps with transliteration and translation for quick reference while you do the sadhana
Arrangement of pots
How to make fire offerings
Sadhana Steps – The Comprehensive Method
1. Bathe
Chant the following mantra while putting the first mug of water on you (or when you step into the shower, if you are taking a shower): Sanskrit (Devanagari) Sanskrit (IAST) गंगा च यमुने चैव गोदावरी Gaṃgā ca Yamune caiva सरस्वती | Godāvarī Sarasvatī | नर्मदे सिंधु कावेरी जलेस्मिन Narmade Siṃdhu Kāverī संनिधिम कुरु || jalesmina saṃnidhima kuru || Translation I invoke the holy presence of Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri in this water.
2. Put on fresh clothes
3. Enter the sanctum sanctorum or open your altar
Gently tap on the floor with your left heel and say out loud, “Om Hrim Astraya Phat !”
4. Purification
Once inside the puja griha , you begin by purifying yourself and the energies around you. Use your left hand to take a bit of water using the spoon in your vessel and put it in the right one. Chant the following mantra:
Om apavitrah pavitro vā
Sarvāvasthāṁ gato api vā
Yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣaṁ
Sa bahya abhyantaraṁ śuciḥ
Sprinkle the water in your hand above and around you.
5. Self-Purification (Achamana )
Water is consecrated and drunk three times while performing achamana . It’s done three times to purify you at the emotional, mental and physical level. To purify you in your waking, sleeping and dreaming state. To purify the three modes of material nature, that is, goodness, passion and ignorance. To infuse you with knowledge, existence and bliss (sat-chit-anand ). To ignite your potential, kinetic and creative energies.