Sri M - Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master: A Yogi’s Autobiography

Forthcoming Titles from Magenta Press

How to Levitate and Other Secrets of Magic by James Talbot

Wisdom of the Great Sages: Conversations with Sri Guru, Babaji and Other Masters

Other Titles by Sri M

The Little Guide to Greater Glory and a Happier Life, published by Hima Communication

Wisdom of the Rishis: The Three Upanishads: Ishavasya - Kena - Mandukya, published by Satsang Communications

New edition of Jewel in the Lotus: Deeper Aspects of Hinduism, published by Magenta Press

The author, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holders.

eISBN: 978-81-910096-0-6

First printed December 2010
Fourth impression November 2011

Front cover photo: Naresh Raman

Book design: J. Menon. www.grantha.com

Typeset at PACE systems & graphic communications, Chennai.
Printed at Saibond Print Systems, Chennai.

Published by Magenta Press and Publication Pvt Ltd., Cauvery Towers, College Road-Madikeri, Kodagu, Karnataka 571201. Tel: +91 9845831683.
www.magentapress.in

Contents

List of Photo Inserts

Acknowledgements

I express my deep sense of gratitude to the following friends without whose help this book would not have been possible.

To Kaizer Karachiwala, who painstakingly and with great care made sense of my often unclear scribbling and turned them into a readable manuscript.

To Balaji and Sreedhar, who from the start, took charge of publishing and business aspects so selflessly and efficiently.

To Shobha Reddy, who from the beginning took upon herself the responsibility of photographs and building up a formidable photo-archives in spite of my reluctance to approve the enterprise, and who with great attention and dedication helped me sort out the pictures that youll find in here.

To Roshan, my son, and friend, Radha Mahendru, who specially helped in selecting the photographs and working out the layout of the pictures.

To Vijay Bhasker, who looked after the office work.

And to all my dear friends, whose great longing to know the hitherto secret and unknown chapters of my life moved me to begin this book in the first place.

Thank you one and all.

Sri M.

Foreword

B efore I take you with me on this adventurous journey, from the southern coast of India to the snowy heights of the mystical Himalayas and back, meeting extraordinary individuals, and sharing unusual and incredible experiences, I would like to say a few words which will put everything in its proper perspective.

Until now, I have held most of the experiences I have written about in this book, close to my heart, not letting even my closest friends, persuade me to come out with anything more than a hint of what lay hidden in the depths of my consciousness.

Why was I so secretive in these matters, and why have I now spilled the beans, as the expression goes?

Let me answer these questions now:

My Master Babaji, although he had hinted that I would at some point, write an autobiography, the green signal to do that, which I was expecting from him, did not come till two years ago. Even after that, I deliberated a great deal for over six months, before reluctantly beginning to write, mainly for two reasons:

One, I was afraid that, caught in the fantasy of the fascinating saga, the sincere spiritual aspirant might miss out the practical and necessary aspects of the spiritual journey.

Two, that the critical reader, finding some parts of the narrative unbelievably strange, might dismiss the whole book as a cock-and-bull story.

However, what clinched the issue in favour of writing this autobiography were the following factors:

First; it occurred to me that it was my business to write what I experienced and leave it to the small minority of skeptical readers to accept or reject. I felt, I was being unfair to the majority of readers, by hesitating to tell my story for fear of the minority.

Second; after the appearance of The Autobiography of a Yogi, very few authentic spiritual biographies have appeared, and the writers of even those, are no longer alive and available for discussion. Also, however authentic Swami Yoganandas autobiography is, he hadnt personally spent much time in the Himalayas. Therefore, I thought it was important that I relate my experiences, especially those I had in the Himalayas, right now, so that I am available to the reader for a one on one.

Third; I wanted to prove the point that great teachers like Babaji and Sri Guru, influence the tide of spiritual evolution silently, behind the scenes, even though very few know of their existence.

I appeal to the readers to ignore those parts that appear to them as too fantastic to be real, if need be, and read the rest so that they dont miss the great teachings of Sri Guru and Babaji. About my guru, I can only say what Swami Vivekananda said about his own guru, A particle of dust from his blessed feet could have created a thousand Vivekanandas.

Substitute Vivekananda with M and youll know what I mean.

So, come with me on this wonderful journey dear readers, and may the blessings of the Masters be with you.

Let us begin the journey

1. The Beginning

F orty years ago, a young man of nineteen from Kerala, the southern-most state of India, was found in deep meditation in the cave of Vyasa up in the Himalayas near Badrinath, close to the Indo-Tibetan border regions. Even in those days, a teenager going away to the Himalayas to meditate was not a common occurrence. What made this case almost unbelievable was that the young man in question was not even born a Hindu.

How this young man became a yogi; and the mysterious and fascinating world of un-imaginable power and grandeur that opened up for him, is the story of my life. I was this young man.

If you will allow me, I shall start at the very beginning. Let us, as quickly as possible, walk together to the abode of the eternal snows. There, among the ice-clad Himalayan peaks, dwelt my friend, philosopher and guide my dearest teacher and master by whose kindness and grace, I learnt to fly high into the greater dimensions of consciousness.

Words fail to do justice to the glory of those spheres, but then, words are the only tools at our disposal. Let us, therefore, begin our journey, good friends, walking in the deep woods, talking about the wonderful sights, the bright flowers swaying gently, the sweet-singing birds, the great river gushing along, the tall trees standing silent and so on until we turn the corner and all of a sudden come across the towering great whiteness of the snow-covered Himalayas and are rendered speechless with wonder. Didnt the ancient Rishis sing: Yad vaacha na abbhyuthitham: the power and the glory that even words cannot comprehend.

I am as eager as you are to bring you face to face with Parvati, the demure daughter of Himavan, Lord of the mountains. But, a few essential pieces of luggage have to be gathered and packed up before we begin the ascent. I shall do that without wasting any time and stick to the bare essentials.

I was born in Tiruvananthapuram, the city of Lord Vishnu who sleeps on the serpent Anantha. Anantha also means in Sanskrit without end, infinite. Trivandrum, as it was renamed by the British, who ruled India for a hundred years, is a coastal city, the capital of Kerala, at the southern end of India. In 1948, Kerala was more like an over-grown village with its hills and rivers and abundant greenery.