Bharat Thakur

Bharat Thakur


We just call him Bharat. He spent 14 years of his life as an ascetic having been raised by his guru in the Himalayas; and returns to the world ranking at #90 in the Forbes List most successful businessman in the Arab world.
He has several products in the market and has over 200 yoga centres in different cities in India and abroad, and he holds art exhibits of his paintings attended by royalties. Known to be the yoga teacher of the Bollywood stars, Bharat to me is simply this roaring energy who showed me the stars within.
It was around 2014-15 in Bangalore, when I was invited by a kindred friend and colleague to meet Bharat. Both she and her husband are devotees and her sister-in-law works with Bharat's team.
As in most gurus, the waiting is a pattern. They are unpredictable moving targets and known to be walking contradictions; but I was prepared for it, so nothing surprised me nor upset me. Some people in the audience started complaining, even when there were programs going on while waiting. I carried no bags of expectations, so my shoulders never hurt in the waiting.
He finally arrived. Or rather, a grand energy arrived. I do not go by reputation, when meeting masters, I go by personal experience. I listen to my body, like an x-ray machine and scan the feel of the air around and within me. It did not have to be anybody's truth, but only of my experience.
He was authoritative and confident, yet I could sense his deep compassion in seeing the weight of the heavy muddy river, hardly flowing in front of his eyes. He was rolling up his sleeves to get to work, when one person in the audience lost it from the waiting and started blaming him. What happened next with that chap who attacked him with his impatience, is an entire blog on its own. It was a happy ending, I assure you. Not painless to the ego, but ended gently. I don't want to get you worried.
Intense and passionate. These are the words that pops out of my head when thinking about Bharat. You don't apply or express interest to participate in his intense meditation exercises, he chooses you in a slightly dimmed room looking at your sahasrara. Hundreds were there, though I surely hoped to be chosen, I had no high expectations, lest even get a glance from him.
Unexpectedly, he walked towards us during a snack break and held a conversation. I told him about the work of my parents back home, running a meditation center for free and his smile was ear to ear. I felt his delight, like that of a child, who was just, hours ago, seemed like was about to bite someone. I felt his joy in knowing there are others out there, passionate and serious about the same things he has devoted his life upon.
Many were silently asked to move to other side of the room, and many more to return to their chairs and sit at the back. I did not know, what it meant. Did I make it? My thoughts wondered.
The next thing I knew, I was in a vigorous rebirthing like breathing exercise with a few others, and my whole body started numbing, I couldn't move my fingers anymore, and my hands started swelling. It felt like close to a near death experience, many opted to give up and stopped the panting. He was charging us on, at times I felt like he was challenging us to just stand up, leave and give it all up - unless we really wanted it and know he is there for us, as he always assured us all.
Stuffs like these, I thought shouldn't stop me. I've climbed dark cliffs in the middle of the night in the Himalaya, how can sitting on the floor with hundreds of others with a master present, scare me now. I was almost motionless, with arms and legs cramped in paralysis, except my chest rising up and down breathing harder and harder..
If I die, I knew deep inside me, I am not in trouble. It was just a deep knowing. Everything will be fine, in this life or the afterlife, I thought. .
And then, he walked close by me, came closer as I could see his feet, at this time my head was already glued on the floor, like I was an electrocuted bird buzzing on the ground. Rolling my eyes up a bit, though I can't move my head much, he waved his hand over me in the air, and slowly my body relaxed, and the swelling dropped in a heartbeat!


That was it! I thought the graduation ceremony was over, until not everyone made it to the next round. More people were chosen to move to the other side again. Did I make it through? I once wondered.
This time, we were just sitting on a lotus posture, doing a "shambavi mudra", and I saw him and his assistant devotees walk around touching people's forehead. That was nice, I thought, until I started wondering why Bharat's voice (It was the most sweet, gentle and deeply loving version of his voice this time) was now behind my head giving me instructions on what to do. I had no time to be excited, as I had to pay a lot of attention lest I get it wrong.
Before long he pressed his thumb hard in between my eyebrows, I thought my skull would swallow it. Then lo and behold, decades of meditation did not prepare me for that grand fireworks of geometric sparkling pattern whilst my eyes were closed. After awhile, it morphed into a nebula looking milky way that almost resembles a single human eye. I thought I left my body to take a tour in the galaxy. I told him what I saw, and he simply gently roared in brief laughter. "Yes.. yes.." he said.
Days and weeks after that, the sensations lingered on. Until it slowly faded away when I did not continue my practice. What really stayed with me, was the awe of meeting someone who could see through you and help you see within you.
The amazing stories of his devotees are endless. It sounded like the modern tales of Shirdi Sai's. One would not easily see age old tradition in this modern spirit walking the material world, but not of it.


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