Oct 1934-May 20th 2008

gujre hE< lMhe< ijNdgI ke terI saehvt me< jae

bn gye hE< vae Aaj lMhye nUr ijNdgI ke merI

bn ke inSbte nKzbNdI Daye hE< ijNdgI me< merI

)Ulae< kae hE r<ijz mhkate hE< Aaizyane kae jb

gujr rhI hE ijNdgI %NhI< lMhae< ke sdke me< Ab

gujrtI jay ijNdgI yU< hI duAa hE bs yhI rb se

-taoshobuddha
Solemn are the moments of life spent in thy company
Verily have these become the moments of Light Divine
As the moments of Nisbet-E-Naqshbandi
Now adorn my Life, My Living and my Being too
Flowers get verily jealous as these moments
Fill each congregation with Light – Divine
And life moves on as the blossoming of such moments
May thus the sojourn continue erelong
Such is my humble prayer each finite moment!!!
-Taoshobuddha
jIvn sumn cFa kr terI hm AcRna kre<ge<

jnm jnm terI hm v<dna kre<ge<.

vahunI jIvn pu:p tv cr[I ,

kIitR ga^ tuHI jNmaejNmI .

 Shrine Naqshbandi Sheikh Sufi Onkar Nath – Bhaiyya ji RA

Naqshbandi Sufi Brij Mohan Lal RA and Sufi Shakuntala Devi RA

(Parents Naqshbandi Sheikh Sufi Onkar Nath – BhaiyyaJi RA)

Naqshbandi Sufi Sheikh Onkar Nath was born in October 1934 to the
parentage of Naqshbandi Sufi Brij Mohan Lal RA and Sufi Shakuntala Devi
RA. Unlike many other masters whose birth date is not clear Sufi Onkar
Nath’s date of birth according to Gregorian calendar is not certain.
According to Hindu Lunar calendar he was born on the fifth day of Hindu
period of Pitra Paksh or Kanahgat. This is the period when Hindus pay
oblation to their departed ancestors for their salvation. And it is not
considered as auspicious for celebrations. As a result all celebrations are
postponed until after the end of this period of fifteen days. Under these
circumstances Sufi Jai Devi who is the consort of Sufi Naqshbandi Raghuber
Dayal or Chacha Ji RA and the grandmother of the Sheikh Onkar Nath
suggested that the birthday be celebrated on the fifth day of the following
period of Navratri. This is considered as the auspicious period between Pitra
Paksh and Deepavali. Since then the birthday was celebrated on the second
day of the spiritual gathering as this gave the opportunity to the other
devotees as well to participate in the birth celebration of their beloved
master.

Later in 1960’s the fourth son of the sheikh – Prakash Mohan and more
popularly known by his nick name – ‘Ootte’ was born on the second day of
the function and the also the son of sheikh’s younger brother – Rakesh
Mohan was born around the same time. Therefor the celebration became
triple fold.

I recall it was during the spiritual gathering at the shrine of his master-
father during the month of Dashahra or Vijay-Dashmi festival that my
grandmother – Shakuntala Devi along with other family members and the
congregation of other devotees will celebrate the birth day of Sheikh.
Therefore, the second day of the festival according to lunar calendar is
dedicated to the birth of the sheikh.

He was born in Fatehpur where his father Sufi Brij Mohan Lal was posted in
his government job after two brothers and a sister. From the early childhood
he was under the benign care of his parents and thus the traits of the
masterhood were inculcated in him.

Onkar Nath and his elder sister were entrusted with the responsibility of
taking care of the basic needs of the Sheikh from arranging his bed to other
things. Every night both brother and sister will arrange and fix the bed of the
father. And each time when the sheikh will sit on the bed his usual complaint
was that the bed is not fixed correct. So he would get up from the bed and
consciously in his usual gesture of indrawn-ness into his being will move the
bed from side to side and then when satisfied that the bed is fixed good he
would sit in preparation for other prayers and tawwazojh to the disciples far
and wide. Both my mother – Gyatri and Sheikh Onkar Nath found his father
to be really fussy for such small things like bed.

So one day both of them decided to test if the sheikh really knew what he
meant by saying that the bed is not fixed good or he was simply fussy and
complaining. They planned a way out. They put a mark around the posts or
legs of the bed and the next day they kept the bed slightly away from these
marks where the bed was shifted by the sheikh. Both continued to watch
next day what happens. As usual when the sheikh came inside after the
meditation session was over and sat on the bed complained saying these
people do not know how to fix the bed correctly. Saying this he got up from
the bed and in his usual manner shift the bed until his consciousness was
satisfied that the bed is now in order sat.

Now it was the turn of the both brother and sister to watch if the father
really knew what he was saying or he was simply complaining in his usual
manner. To their surprise they found the posts of the bed were on the exact
marks where the sheikh fixed the previous night. Such is the delicacy or the
fine or precise tuning of the consciousness of the sheikh.

Thus Onkar Nath grew in such an environment that instilled the fine seeds of
mindfulness according to Buddha of small things. Remember human
consciousness is the aggregate of such moments of mindfulness. And also
such is the way of master for his disciples.

Sufi Brij Mohan Lal – the father on the sheikh was the master of such fine
things. Through these alone one indeed learns the art of meditativeness
moment to moment. Meditation is not something to be done once or twice
for the day. Indeed it is inculcating the habit of moment to moment
awareness and being conscious of both inside and outside.

Initiation of the Sheikh

Initiation is the ultimate in the process of transformation. Why is initiation
into meditation or initiation to a master essential?
As such as man exists, he is asleep. Even in his waking he is asleep. His
sleep is neurotic. He cannot wake up from this sleep. On his own, he may
wake up but still remain in slumber. A Master is needed to wake him up from
such neurosis. Initiation is the process for him to remain in contact with the
one who is awakened. Without this it is almost impossible for you to be
awake. You are capable of dreaming even when you are awake.
When it is said that man is asleep, this has to be understood. Man dreams
twenty-four hours a day. In the night when we are closed to the outer world,
we continue to dream. During the day our senses are open. Our senses open
in the outer world of duality. It is through the senses that we continue to
experience the outer world, but the dreams continue within. Just close your
eyes and you start dreaming again. Dreams are continuity inside. You are
aware of the outer world but that awareness is imposed on the dreaming
mind. Thus, continues the dream. In such a case we cannot envision reality
although we are awake. This is how dreams are imposed on reality. What we
actually see is our projections on reality.

Everyone is plagued with dreams. A father is full of his unfulfilled dreams.

You become an object of projection for your father. Your father will project
his dreams on you. Then, whatever he understands about you gets mixed up
with his own dreams. So projecting one’s dreams on someone else is
different than loving. When you love someone, you do not impose your
dreams on them. He will appear quite different than when you do not love
him. The other becomes quite different when you use the other as a screen
to project your dreams.

When someone loves you, the dream is different. Also, that person appears
different. On the contrary, when you do not love someone, the person is the
same, the screen is also the same, but the projection differs. In that case
you are not using the other as the screen to project your dreams. Things can
change again. Once again you can love the other and then he will appear
different. Normally, we do not see what this is. We go on seeing our own
dreams projected on reality.

A master is not the same to each one of you. Each one projects something
different on the master. In reality, he is one as far as he is concerned. If the
master himself is dreaming, then he will differ in each moment. It is so
because, each moment his interpretation will differ. But when the master is
awakened, then he will remain the same in all situations and circumstances.
Buddha said the real test of an enlightened one is that he is always the
same. It is just like sea water. Its taste never changes wherever you taste it
from.

As a person you are a projection of ideas, notions, conceptions, and

interpretations. Like a projector you go on projecting things that are
nowhere but inside you. The whole becomes a screen. Then you cannot be
aware by yourself. This is deep sleep.
I have heard, there was a Sufi master, Hijira. One day an angel appeared to
him in a dream and told him to save as much water as possible, because the
next day the devil would poison all the water and whoever drank that water
would turn mad. So that night, the Sufi collected as much water as he could.
The phenomenon really happened. The next day everyone became mad after
drinking the poisoned water. The whole city became mad. No one knew what
had happened. It was only the Sufi who was not mad. But everyone thought
that the Sufi had become mad. But he knew what had happened. No one
believed him. He went on drinking his water and remained sane by himself.
However, he could not continue for long in this way. The entire city was
living in an altogether different world. And one day the rumor came that he
would be caught and put into prison. It was believed that he had gone mad.
Finally, one morning they got hold of him. He had two options, either accept
the treatment for his madness or be prepared to go to prison. He was not
allowed freedom. He was condemned as mad. It was based on the
conclusion that he spoke a different language that could not be understood
by the masses.

The Sufi was at a loss. He tried to remind people of their past through every
possible means. But the people had forgotten everything. He was
incomprehensible to them. So they surrounded his house and caught him. At
this, the Sufi asked to be given some time to cure himself. He went to the
well and drank some water. As he drank the water, he became one like
them. The whole city was happy that the Sufi was cured now. Now his
madness was no more you are asleep. But you are never aware of this
sleep. When everyone is mad and you are also mad, you can never be aware
of this. Initiation is, therefore, the way to awaken you from this sleep.

By initiation is meant that now you have surrendered to someone who is

awake. You are a part of the world; a part of its duality and its madness.
Living in this world you are always plagued by dreams. Such feelings can
also come from someone who is in a sleeping state. Sleep is not always
deep. In the beginning sleep wavers. Sometimes it is deep at other times it
gets shallow. There is a similarity between ordinary sleep and the
metaphysical sleep. Ordinary sleep fluctuates between various planes and
levels; metaphysical sleep also fluctuates. At times you are on the
borderline. You are very close to being a Buddha. You can then understand
something that Buddha is saying. However, whatever is heard or understood
is not exactly the same. But you do get a glimpse of the truth. It is like
looking at the sunrise from a room through a window. You are not as yet in
openness under the vast sky.

The master observes this. A person who is on the borderline of this

metaphysical sleep needs initiation. He needs to be within the energy field of
an awakened or enlightened master. He can hear something. He can
understand something. He can see something as well. Everything around
him is like the mist, yet still he feels something. Thus, he approaches an
Enlightened One, not really knowing the essence of enlightenment. He is
ready to surrender. This is the only way to wake up from this metaphysical
sleep. Sleep of lives! Only this much this person can do. Surrendering brings
the understanding that something other than sleep is now happening.
Somehow he feels this. But he cannot exactly know what this is.

Whenever an enlightened one passes, those who are on the borderline of

this metaphysical sleep can recognize that there is something different about
this person. A different breeze, a different energy field surrounds this
person. He behaves differently. He speaks differently. He lives differently. He
walks differently. Something different has happened to him. He looks like
one of us, but in reality he is much more. Much more than total human
intellect can comprehend! He is the pulse of the unknown. So those who are
on the borderline can feel this. But they are asleep. Also, the borderline
sleep is transient. They can fall back into sleep at any time.

Before they fall back to sleep or deeper unconsciousness, it is essential for

them to surrender to an awakened one. This is initiation. But this is from the
side of the one who is to be initiated. He is incapable of doing anything for
himself. He knows that if he does not surrender now, it will be impossible
later on. This moment cannot be lost. Such moments come only once in our
lives. It is not in anyone’s hand to be on the borderline once again. It
happens for so many reasons, that they are beyond human control.

This is the beginning of the process of initiation. On the part of the initiated,
this refers to total let go – a state of total surrender. It can never be partial.
A partial surrender is never surrender. This is like deceiving yourself. In
partial surrender you hold something within. And that which is withheld may
push you again into deep sleep. And then you have lost the opportunity for
many lives! Remember that the non-surrendered part will prove fatal. Any
moment it can go back to sleep!

Surrender is always total. For surrender total trust is an essential

precondition. The moment you surrender totally, change begins to happen.
Then you cannot fall back in into dreams. When you surrender, the entire
projecting mind gets shattered. This projecting mind is born out of ego. Also
it remains connected to the ego. So it cannot exist without the ego. Ego is
the base of this projecting mind. When you surrender, you have surrendered
the cause of your existence up to now. You have given up completely.
Initiation means that the person who was sleepy till now is seeking help to
be awakened. He surrenders to one who is awake. Though it seems simple,
it is not so. When you go to an Enlightened One to surrender yourself, what
you are surrendering is your sleep, your dreams, and your neurosis. Nothing
else needs to be surrendered because you are nothing more than your sleep,
your dream, and your neurosis! In fact, you surrender your sleep, your
dreams, your neurosis, and the whole nonsense of the past. From the side of
the initiated, this is surrender. Surrender of the past! But from the side of
the one who initiates you, it is a responsibility for the future. It is a
responsibility for transcendence and for the birth of a new man. One who is
asleep can never be responsible. Responsibility comes with awakening.

This is the fundamental law of life. One who is asleep cannot be responsible
even for himself. And the awakened one is responsible even for others. So
when you come to an awakened one, he becomes responsible for you. That
is why an awakened Krishna could tell Arjuna, “Leave everything. And come
to me. Surrender at my feet.” Or as Jesus says, “I am the truth. I am the
door. I am the gate. Come and pass through me. I will certainly be a witness
on the last day of your judgment. I will answer for you.”

This is analogy. Every day is the Day of Judgment. Not only every day,
instead every moment is the Day of Judgment. There is nothing like the last
day. These were the words of Jesus that he spoke to his disciples, who could
understand Him. They were within the energy field of Jesus. And this had
brought to them an understanding of the message of Jesus. However, the
present day followers of Jesus cannot understand the message. They are
only interested in the business not the transformation. Jesus was, in fact,
saying, “I will be responsible for you. And I will answer for you in front of the
father. I will be there as a witness. Surrender to me, I will be your witness.”
This is the responsibility of the master. When he initiates you, he undertakes
to transform you, so that a new being is born out of you. No one, who is
asleep himself, can take the responsibility for you. One can be responsible
for others only when he need not be responsible for himself. He is
unburdened. He is no more. He is just the pulse of the unknown. An
emptiness that simply echoes the whispers of the unknown! He is the
manifestation of the unknown in finite form. So only such a person can really
initiate you! Not otherwise! No particular person can initiate anyone. And if
that happens, (and this is happening everyday) it is like a blind trying to
lead the blind. However, in reality, both perish.

One who is asleep cannot initiate. But the ego cannot help. This attitude is
dangerous. The whole initiation, the whole mystery of it, the whole beauty of
it, has now become so ugly because of those who were not entitled to
initiate. Only one who is not plagued by ego, who has no dreams within, can
initiate. Otherwise, initiation is a great sin.

In the olden days initiation was not so easy. One had to wait for a long time
to be initiated. Sometimes this waiting was for the entire life. This was
discipline. And now there is a competition among the pseudo masters to
initiate as many as possible! It has become an ego game.

I belong to a Sufi family of Enlightened Masters. Sufis would initiate you only
when you had waited for a long time. When you stayed with a master within
his energy field, you were being prepared. You had to wait, without
questioning. And when the times came, the master himself would say that
the time had come. Sufi masters remained in whatever vocation was theirs.
If the master was a shoemaker then one would continue helping him in the
trade for years. And you could not even question the relevance of
shoemaking. So you went on helping the master and waiting for years.
There was no talk of prayer or meditation. He would not talk of anything but
shoemaking. Your waiting was prayer. Your waiting was meditation. Helping
the master in shoemaking would cleanse you. I was never taught any prayer
or any technique of meditation. I was a witness to all those who were
initiated. My job was to fix the meditation room, take care of the personal
needs of the master, take care of the visitors, and answer their queries when
the message of the master was not understood. One day, when I complained
to another master about this, I was told that the elder master had given me
everything. “All that is, had been bestowed on you earlier, and this now
needs to grow.”

When you are around the master, a simple waiting, this unquestionable
waiting, prepares the ground for complete surrender. So it was only after a
long wait initiation was possible. My uncle, the present Sufi master, my
mother and my father were initiated on the night of Phagwa – the Hindu
festival of color.

My uncle was a young boy who was collecting the firewood and donation
that night for the Phagwa fire. My mother was asleep, and was not
interested in anything like initiation. She had asked her father many times
before but the sheikh refused saying that not yet. Therefore she, being the
eyeball of her father decided not to ask again for being initiated.

And my father Naqshbandi Lakshmi Sahai knew nothing of initiation, just

one month ago he had been married. They all resented the idea of initiation.
But they were on the border of metaphysical sleep and they had to be
brought by force, so that my Grandfather, the Sufi master could initiate.
Such is the way of the masters.
Now everything is different. No one wants to wait. We are time conscious.
Because of this, initiation has become difficult. You cannot be initiated. The
whole running of the present day mind is because of the fear of death. We
are only conscious of death – our body. There is no consciousness of the
deathless. In the past the aspirants were conscious of the deathlessness.
There was no hurry and initiation was easy. In fact, everything was easy.

If you are in a hurry and the master initiates you, your running or your
dream state, it is a devise. A devise so that you can wait! Masters have used
this devise to persuade you into the process. On the contrary, when the
master asks you to wait then your process of transformation cannot begin.
In such a case the master will allow you to wait afterwards. The master
creates devises and techniques to play with. While you are playing with such
techniques you can wait as long as the master wants. And when the master
finds you are ready, and then the second initiation happens. This second
initiation was the first one in olden days. Now this is the formal initiation and
the second will be the informal one. For the second, you need not ask the
master. This he gives on his own.

Surrender on the part of the disciple and the responsibility on the part of the
master is the bridge. And as soon as you are ready to surrender, the master
appears. Masters have always been in existence. No master can begin the
process without surrender. You only surrender that which you think you
have and in reality you do not have. And what is that which you think being
in possession of? Indeed, it is your false entity or ego or nafs and the clatter
of the mind that you consider as your possession master takes away and in
place of this fill you with his awareness, understanding, and lovingness. Thus
continues the inward journey for fruition.

When you can find someone, to whom you have to surrender, that is good.
But if you do not find, then the master appears. He comes whenever you are
ready, when you are empty within. Then the spiritual force rushes towards
you and fills you. So when you feel you are ready to surrender, don’t delay.
When the moment comes, just surrender!

When you are ready, do not hesitate; surrender! It is not important to whom
you surrender. You can even surrender to a tree. Because the real thing is
surrendering! Surrender to a tree. It will become your master. And
whenever there is surrendering, one always appears, who becomes
responsible for you. This is what initiation is.
Thus when Sheikh Onkar Nath was initiated he was only 16 years. It was the
beginning of a new chapter in the life of the sheikh. His father no more
remained his father alone instead he became the master as well. He always
hesitated in coming forward in front of the sheikh for anything so he had to
push forward his elder sister Gyatri. He knew very well that the father will
never refuse her. This was more so when they want to go to movies.

Amidst all this floating within the energy-field of the sheikh and long chain of
sufi masters sheikh Onkar Nath continued to blossom for the future works.
In 1955 when Sheikh was still a student of B. Sc. in Lucknow University, that
during the satsang congregation Naqshbandi Sheikh Sufi Brij Mohan Lal RA
entered into samadhi. Because of financial constraints he had to discontinue
the studies and seek work to maintain the family including the mother and a
younger brother. First he worked in Canal Office on Temporary basis and
then he got the job in the Reserve Bank of India – the central bank of the
country as a clerk. Then 1962 he along with his brother – in – law’s younger
brother began the graduation process as a part time student and passed
with honours and the First Class.

And on the tenth day ceremony under the care of his mother Sufi
Shakuntala Devi Sheikh Onkar Nath was bestowed upon with the status of
the sheikh as the 39 Sheikh of the Golden Chain of Naqshbandi – Mujaddadi-
Mazaharia-Ramchandria order of Sufism.

Thereafter he continued to grow to his full potential as the sheikh guided by

his mother. She took care of the eternal garden of the sheikh Brij Mohan Lal
for nineteen years. And when she found the tree has grown to its full
potential and is capable to giving shelter to many aspirants Shakuntala Devi
too entered Samadhi on April 12th 1974. And on March 25th 1985 his first
wife Shyamwati Devi too entered samadhi. There after he got remarried to
Mamta Devi who is the daughter of his devotee – Ishwari Sahai.

From the job when he was retired he moved from Kanpur to the city of
Lucknow where the shrine complex exists. He established the trust. And also
the combined professional kitchen service started at the complex where the
seekers can get full meals for a very nominal cost.

His health continued to fail but not the inner spirit. In January 2008 I visited
India and during our meeting which was a silent communion he was indrawn
for certain reasons that I cannot explain as yet.

On May 20th 2008 Sheikh Onkar Nath entered Maha Samadhi. On the tenth
day after the funeral rites the mortal remains were enshrined. And the
shrine of the sheikh stands in the same shrine complex of his master sheikh
Brij Mohan Lal And mother Shakuntala devi RA.
Unlike after the enshrinement of Sufi Brij Mohan Lal the master hood was
not conferred on any one as each lacked Nisbet, trust in the sheikh and
inner preparation. There are several factions and each carries the work
separately.

There is apparent faction for various reasons. Under these circumstances the
sheikh manages the affairs in his un-embodied form. After Samadhi the
sheikh can continue like this even for ten years.

I must end here knowing the purpose and the place where this is being
published. However the entire life of the sheikh in details will appear soon in
the volume 3 of the Leaves from a Sufi Heart.

I must end the homage with a prayer and commitment that let our lives be
the flower at the altar of the sheikh.

jIvn sumn cFa kr terI hm AcRna kre<ge<

jnm jnm terI hm v<dna kre<ge<.

vahunI jIvn pu:p tv cr[I ,

kIitR ga^ tuHI jNmaejNmI .

EMBELLISHING LIFE TO BE A FLOWER FOR THY ALTER

I SHALL ERELONG SING THY GLORIES!!!
Naqshbandi Sheikh Sufi Onkar Nath – Bhayyia ji RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3emb21AJU4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RETdQ81YH8o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIydbfNbWL4

http://youtu.be/5eYerNzzjqQ