A Chill Pill for Mental Wellness
The light of spiritual wisdom and joy can lessen the darkness of anxiety, frustration, failures and other problems…
“Cancel Air India and go to London by British Airways or some other carrier,” devotees requested Pramukh Swami Maharaj while he was in Gondal, Gujarat. “Air India isn’t safe right now.”
Flight 182, an Air India jumbo jet, exploded in mid-air on June 23, 1985 because of a bomb placed by terrorists. The entire crew and passengers perished. Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s Air India flight to England, UK, was on July 10, 1985. Many Air India flights flew empty because the terrorists threatened more bombings. People were afraid to fly the airline.
“No,” Pramukh Swami Maharaj replied. “Harikrishna Maharaj (the small image of Bhagwan Swaminarayan that accompanied him everywhere) is with us. What have we to fear? We send devotees to Akshar Deri here in Gondal when they have problems, so should we not believe in the Akshar Deri? We will pray at the Akshar Deri and fly by Air India. Nothing will happen. Bhagwan Swaminarayan is with us.”
This was Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s spiritual chill pill. It made him ever fearless and cheerful. Anxiety never touched him.
“People say they have a headache, but I have never had a headache. I don’t even know what it feels like,” he once shared. Though in later life he had serious ailments, he was always mentally well. It came from his spiritual wisdom.Just as light emerges from the sun and water from the clouds, similarly, mental health blossoms from spiritual health.
“There is no alternate path,” say the Purush Sukta and Shvetashvatar Upanishad, “Nānyaha panthā vidyate yanāya.”
In Vachanamrut Gadhada-II 60, Bhagwan Swaminarayan echos this when Muktanand Swami asks him the following question,
“Maharaj, in this mundane world, various types of troubles and disturbances arise. Amidst these, what should devotees of God understand so that they experience happiness within?”
Muktanand Swami seems to suggest this question is relevant to devotees of God only. But Bhagwan Swaminarayan hints that troubles come his way, too! Indeed, from a worldly viewpoint, it must have been tough running the new sampradaya that had rapidly grown around him within 25 years of his arrival in Loj, Gujarat: six large mandirs, two million devotees, and five hundred paramhansas.
The following is a compilation of just some of the problem’s Bhagwan Swaminarayan faced.
There had been multiple attempts to unseat him, imprison him, and take his life. Jealous elements maimed and murdered many of his sadhus and made life intolerable for others. Devotees were persecuted and excommunicated from their own families and communities. He took them into the satsang family and looked after their social needs. There were famines, droughts and plagues through which he needed to guide and feed his people. Even his own health was fragile. He barely survived several lengthy illnesses and miraculously bounced back as though he were never sick at all.
They sabotaged his peaceful and non-violent sacrifices (yagnas without killing animals) in Jetalpur and other places. They threw away the vegetarian food he prepared to feed thousands of guests in nearby lakes.
He revealed Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar (Hari-Lila-Kalpataru, 7.17, Verses 49–50), but that was even tougher for many of his sadhus and devotees to swallow than his own supreme divinity. Later, he wished to install his own murti at Vartal mandir with the name Sahajanand Swami, but that was opposed by Muktanand Swami, the person asking him the question! Just three months after asking it on August 14, 1824, Muktanand Swami tried to prevent him from installing his murti on November 3, 1824, at Vartal mandir.
For Bhagwan Swaminarayan it was deja vu: almost exactly 22 years earlier, in October–November 1802, Muktanand Swami rebuked him for inspiring spiritual visions (samadhi) in Mangrol. Then, on November 5, 1802, Muktanand Swami had a vision of Ramanand Swami who rebuked him! Then Muktanand Swami composed the famous arti that ultimately immortalized him: “Jai Sadguru Swami, Sahajanand dayālu balavant bahunāmi.”
Yes, Bhagwan Swaminarayan had certainly seen his fair share of problems, from outside and inside the sampradaya. How did he cope?
“I will answer that question in the manner I myself behave,” he replied to Muktanand Swami. “That is, [I maintain] unbroken awareness that my own atma is distinct from my body, awareness that every physical object is perishable, and awareness of God’s grandeur. By these three, no troubles disturb [me].”
In other words, when you realize that you are a atma (spiritual being), you will also realize that physical loss is not a great loss. When you realize that physical objects and people are inherently short-lived, you will also realize their destruction or death was not unexpected. When you realize that you have the all-doer of the universe (Bhagwan Swaminarayan) in your life and in your atma, you will also realize that you have won the highest lottery in the universe. You will enjoy spiritual self-esteem, gratitude, and amazement. (Vachanamrut Kariyani 8. Please read the last paragraph. It’s truly amazing.)
When you feel anxious or depressed about something, swallow the above pill to brighten your day. It should be taken at least once a day, with a glass of bhakti (devotion). It is a 30 second introspective meditation that has no side-effects.
The darkness of anxiety and depression are additionally fought with the light of wisdom and joy.
“It is the nature of the world,” said Pramukh Swami Maharaj. “Life is like riding a camel — up and down, uncomfortable, and back-breaking – unless you learn how to move with the camel. Then you will be ok.”
Pramukh Swami Maharaj often navigated through unspeakable and intractable difficulties. Throughout his life he worked hard to preserve, nurture, and grow the garden of BAPS his beloved guru Shastriji Maharaj had planted.
Despite the relentless outer turmoil, his poise was magnificent. His peacefulness, profound. His joy, boundless.
Such a condition of mental wellness is remarkable. How did he acquire it?
One night, when Shastriji Maharaj was very ill in his final days, Pramukh Swami Maharaj was in Sarangpur. He was perplexed with the responsibility of completing the all-marble mandir that Shastriji Maharaj had begun building on a hilltop in Gadhada.
“How can I fulfil my responsibility to complete the mandir without Shastriji Maharaj?” Pramukh Swami Maharaj thought as he fell asleep.
That night, Shastriji Maharaj appeared in his dream and said, “Don’t worry about responsibility. That’s my job. You just remember Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Gunatitanand Swami and keep working.”
Pramukh Swami Maharaj awoke with immovable faith. A huge burden lifted off his shoulders. “From that day on,” he said, “many challenges reared their heads but I never felt any burden.”
He worked day and night in extreme conditions to complete the Gadhada mandir and build a thousand more after it, each more beautiful than the previous. He never experienced despair again.
“Even great avatars and devotees of the past have gone through pain,” he explained. “Even Dada Khachar, who gave everything to Bhagwan Swaminarayan and received his blessings numerous times that ‘all will be well’, went through failure after failure, downturn after downturn. But they never lost faith. They carried on.
“If you carry a bucket of water on your head, how much weight will you experience? It will feel heavy. But if you dive into the ocean and thousands of tons of water pass over your head, do you feel its weight? No. Similarly, do not carry such burden on your head. Leave it to God. Immerse yourself in his devotion. He is the alldoer. You will never feel burdened.”
The Bhagavad Gita says, “Yā nishā sarva bhutānām.” Meaning, “All living beings are asleep.” Who? Those who think they are the doers. Those who know Bhagwan Swaminarayan is the all-doer and undoer are awake.
The bigger reality is that we are all — males and females — already his babies lying in his lap. But we are asleep. All we need to do is awake, like Pramukh Swami Maharaj did that night in Sarangpur, and our nightmares will also disappear. Nothing will bring him — and us — greater joy.
DISCLAIMER:
Always consult your medical doctor before trying alternative methods of controlling anxiety, depression, or despair such as those described in this article. This article does not offer medical advice or any cure for depression, anxiety, or despair.
Sanjay Patel (Houston, Texas)
Swaminarayan Bliss | Nov — Dec 2022
