Mahatma Hans Raj Maharajji

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Shri Hans Raj Maharajji is a very great saint in India, who lives in Rishikesh. Some call him Mahatma Maharajji, the title “Mahatma” meaning “Great Soul” and is given to those who have reached a very high state of spiritual realization, which goes beyond enlightenment, the first stage. Sacha Dham, his ashram, is situated on the bank of the Ganges, at the foothills of the Himalayas. What is unusual is that he became enlightened the very next day after meeting in Allahabad the one who was going to become his Master, Shri Sacha Baba Kulanandji. This happened on October 3, 1955 and he was thirty-three years old.

Experiencing God Directly

From them on, his work was to help spread the teachings of his Master throughout India, around which he travelled for decades. And that was how little by little, thousands of men and women gathered around him and became his disciples. He did not just give theoretical teachings since for Maharajji, oral teachings, however important they may be, are not enough to bring about the desired progress in a seeker. For him, the latter must experience God directly in his own inner consciousness. That is why he gave and still continues to give his disciples a precise technique which, if applied with perseverance and regularity in daily life, ensures their spiritual growth. Moreover, for decades up to the 1980s, he would regularly organize what is called sadhana camps. These camps were in fact spiritual retreats, each lasting about ten days, to which he invited disciples who had a sure potential, and would give them intensive training which enabled them to experience their inner divinity and contact the higher planes during that very retreat.

Graceful Simplicity
Shri Hans Raj Maharajji is characterized especially by true simplicity and very pure, unconditional, limitless love for all beings whatever their origin, religion, race or social class may be. He makes no difference between rich and poor, wise and ignorant. He loves each one as he is for, as he says, “I only see souls in front of me, in other words children of God, all equal. The outer differences are of no importance.” In his presence, the visitor feels purer, closer to his soul, and provided that he is a little sensitive psychically, he will feel a very strong, harmonious vibration which will bring inner peace and calm his spirit. This visitor can also feel that true power, God’s power expresses itself through this being. One then understands why great instructors have always recommended being in the company of saints if one want to progress spiritually, for not only does one benefit from their teachings, but one is also purified and raised spiritually by their presence.

Work in the Universal Soul

After the death of his Master Shri Sacha Baba Kulanandji in 1983, the heavy responsibility of continuing the work of this great line of saints called the Sacha Lineage (Sacha means Truth, God) to which his Master belonged, was passed on to Maharajji. From a historical point of view, this lineage began at the beginning of the 20th century when two very great saints of exceptional stature met and worked together. They were called respectively Shri Kacha Baba and Shri Sacha Baba Girnari. Kacha Baba lived near Benares and was said to have been an avatar of Vishnu, while Sacha Baba Girnari was a travelling saint who often made long or short stays on the Girnar mountain in Gujarat, and who was said to have been the incarnation of Devarishi Narada, the great messenger of God and a glorious character who can be found throughout the Hindu Scriptures. They were two great yogis who God caused to meet for the benefit of the human race.

The aim of this lineage is two-fold : on the one hand to help the entire humanity to turn to spirituality, for humanity is now entering a delicate era which holds the most exalting promises in store, but also terrible perils if humanity continues to walk blindly forward without giving due importance to spiritual values; on the other hand to lead all sincere, worthy disciples to the state where they will become workers for what is usually called the Common Good, the Universal Good or the General Good, in short, people who will work for the benefit of the entire human race. For this Maharajji, since he has taken up the torch, only goes out very rarely for short visits. He works especially in what is called the Universal Soul, a high spiritual plane from which one can reach the entire humanity. His work is therefore not at all aimed at trying to get disciples to come to him, but rather that each person, wherever he is on the planet, will adopt a religion or a personal path which he will follow sincerely by putting God in the centre of his life, so that God’s Purpose for humanity can be achieved in the best conditions.

Two Simple but Powerful Techniques

Because of this universal work, Maharajji no longer gives satsangs (a meeting where Master and disciples discuss spiritual topics) today or any oral teachings, and has given up holding sadhana camps himself. Since then, his technique for each student can be globally summed up as meditation and the reciting of the Gurumantra (all mantras have intrinsic power, however with the Gurumantra, the power of the Master who transmits it is added to this intrinsic power) which he gives when he accepts a new disciple. From then on, he is always with this disciple spiritually, although he may not be visible to physical eyes, but those who are intuitive or clairvoyant will see him.

The sincere and regular practice of these two powerful techniques – meditation and Gurumantra will not only bring about the spiritual growth of the disciple, but will also allow him to be in contact inwardly with Maharajji in order to receive spiritual direction, specific teachings or even help if necessary, for a personal problem which is not connected to spirituality. Moreover, from time to time he gives personalized advice when it is needed.

One must not be taken in by the apparent simplicity of the technique which Maharajji uses to guide his disciples. Indeed, certain people like complicated spiritual practices so as to convince themselves that they are using an efficient method, thinking that complexity is a sign of excellence. In fact, the more one develops spiritually, the more things become simple. For example, for meditation an ordinary disciple needs to sit alone in a specific posture so as to establish contact with his inner Self, whereas a more advanced disciple only needs to think of this connection for it to be done instantaneously, wherever he may be; he may be sitting down, walking, having his meals or speaking to someone, this is not important.

Do Everything With Your Heart

So the only thing Maharajji asks of his students is that whatever they do, especially their sadhana (spiritual practice), they should do it with their heart, since for him, the heart plays an essential role in the relationship with the Self, with God and with the whole creation. Maharajji is simplicity itself, and everything he gives or does always bears this stamp of simplicity, which is the mark of those who have attained the essence of life and of all things, that which bears names like God, Truth, the All! He does not restrict his disciples to a particular form of yoga either, or to any particular path. Each person follows his own inclination and his own path, be it Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga or any other Eastern or Western path; Maharajji only gives the powerful instruments to progress, provided that the student is sincere in his practice.

This is how things go because when a being has attained enlightenment (you may use the name you wish), he has become one with what Indians call the “Atma” and Christians call the “Spirit”, the pure Ray of God in him, and this Atma is one with the Divinity and with all that exists. From then on, he is in harmony with all the paths leading to realization and is one not only with each individual, but also with the profound teachings of each religion and each mystical path. That is why he is beyond religions for he is one with the source of all religions. Maharajji has said, “My work has nothing to do with the promotion of a particular religion.

They Have Come from Everywhere

Little by little, starting from the 1980s, foreign disciples from the five continents came to Maharajji to be guided also, and today they are still coming. This had been predicted by Sacha Baba Kulanandji who had said that those who had been Maharajji’s disciples in other lives and who were now incarnated would come back again to be with him and be guided by him. He had also predicted that the work of the Sacha lineage, known as the Sacha Mission, would spread throughout the world. Today, Maharajji has a few thousand disciples from different religions in the world (Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jewish, Sikh etc.). Some of them had no particular faith or were even atheists before meeting Maharajji. He never advises disciples to definitively retire to monasteries, temples, caves or forests since for him, one must find God wherever one has his duties to carry out to the society and one’s family. The time when one would completely cut oneself off from society is now a thing of the past.

It is necessary for a disciple to be responsible and autonomous, for Maharajji will never ask him if he puts into practice the teachings received. Once he has let his disciple know what he has to do, he leaves him completely free to do so or not; the disciple is the one to decide if he wants to progress or not. He respects each one’s absolute liberty and never interferes with his free will, although he knows what each disciple is doing. That is why he sometimes encourages certain disciples, which is an indirect way of congratulating them and letting them know that he knows quite well what effort and progress they are making.

It must also be mentioned that during the 1990s, Maharajji no longer wanted to accept disciples in order to devote himself to his work in the world, but he could not refuse those who continued to come and knock at his door in search of inner light and peace. Consequently, up until today, men and women continue to seek his guidance. Let us also add that those who, for one reason or another, cannot go to India, can be guided by Maharajji if they pray sincerely and so connect with him through inner aspiration. There are examples of this all over the world. Maharajji is not limited by space or time. He manifests himself wherever his disciples and sincere hearts are in search of divine light.

Centres of Light

Generally, his foreign and Indian disciples go to the ashram for a short stay and then return home. However, there are permanently with him a few swamis (people who have decided to dedicate their lives to finding God under the direction of a Master) and other Indian disciples who carry out the activities usually done in an ashram, both from the social and spiritual point of view; indeed ashrams are also institutions which feed the poor free of charge. Each of his swamis and disciples, while following their spiritual practice, is in charge of a specific task at the ashram.

In addition to Sacha Dham ashram, Maharajji has founded other ashrams in India, which constitute centres from which divine light shines, allowing each seeker to go and quench his thirst. In addition, two of his most advanced disciples, ShantiMayi and Prem Baba, have each founded an ashram, respectively “Terre de Sacha” in the Pyrenees in France (not far from Spain) and Sacha Mission near Sao Paulo in Brazil. It must also be mentioned that ShantiMayi’s disciples, scattered everywhere on the five continents, and Maharajji’s have also opened secondary centres which carry on the ideals and teachings of Maharajji and the Sacha lineage here and there on the planet. ShantiMayi herself travels a lot around the world to personally transmit these teachings.