While searching about Narmada Parikrama (circumambulation), I came across an article by Swami Muktanand Puri in which he shares his experiences at the banks of the Narmada and also tells about his meeting with Sri Brahmchari Shiv Chaitanya (1912-2011). I was deeply influenced by his spiritual practices and decided to visit his ashram located at the banks of the Narmada.
Brahmchariji had been inspired by the ideals of Samarth Guru Ramdas who had said that a person has the right to become a Sannyasi only if he has done at least 14 crore (140 million) repetitions of the Gayatri or any other similar mantra. By end of his lifetime, Brahmchariji had completed his japa target of 14 crores (140 million) repetitions of the Turiya Gayatri Mantra along with numerous other practices. Turiya Gayatri is longer than the regular Gayatri mantra.
Any spiritual practice needs commitment, dedication, serious effort, one-pointedness, patience, regularity, and from amongst many other things, grace of the Guru. Apart from the Gayatri, Brahmchariji had done numerous other spiritual practices, mantras, texts and all this with a very large number of repetitions.
Swami Muktanand writes: “Privately, quite rarely, he would tell us, some of his very close disciples; that the divine mother in the form of Gayatri (Savitri) appears before me and asks me what I want. He was god realized.“
Reaching the ashram:
Maheshwar is a small town located on the banks of the river Narmada. You can either visit via Omkareshwar or Indore. From Indore it is around 95 kms. I hired round-trip taxi from Indore which charged me Rs. 2200. Indore is famous for its variety of food and Indore-Maheshwar highway is no exception. The highway has plenty of Dhabas where you can enjoy Indori cuisine. One such Dhaba is: “Hotel Nanda Palace”.
When we halted at this Dhaba, I was surprised to see one temple just opposite to this Dhaba with the name: “Dada Darbar”. This reminded me of my Guru, Paramhansa Dada Shivdattji Maharaj. Devotees often referred to his shrine as “Dada Darbar”.
I hired a local guide in Maheshwar. While he was telling me about the fort and the history of Shiva Puja associated with it, I asked him about the ashram of Brahmchariji. He had little information of an ashram built on the banks of the Narmada. He said to me: “Sir, probably this is the ashram you are looking for, but it is not old. It is around 3 kms. from this fort”.
Though I was pretty sure that the ashram mentioned in the article of Swami Muktanand is near the fort, I went with him to this ashram at Mandleshwar road. This ashram is just opposite to Essar Petrol Pump. Built on a large lush green area, I saw a lotus shaped temple at the center. The temple is of Goddess Gayatri and just below the idol I saw a framed photograph of Brahmchari Sri Shiv Chaitanyaji and his Charan Paduka.
Swami Muktanand had given me details of Govind Chaitanyaji, a close disciple of Brahmchariji who takes care of this ashram now. I knocked the door of a building next to this temple. After sometime Govind Chaitanyaji appeared and he told me about the old ashram which is near the fort. Govind Chaitanyaji was performing his sadhana so I decided to meet him later.
In my short visit to Maheshwar, I did not get time to visit the old ashram near the fort, however I visited this newer ashram and met Govind Chaitanya ji.
Some of the information about Bramhachariji has been taken from the article of Swami Muktanand.
Mystic Land 