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In his first meeting, Gurudev had prescribed for me three disciplines: 
1)    Twenty-four Gayatri Mahapuruscaranas had to be performed for twenty-four years strictly in accordance with the prescribed        rules in front of a ghrit lamp to be kept lighted uninterruptedly. 2)    Writing books for promoting the enlightened good of the masses. This was important for my own self-growth and self-
       education.This needed intense and extensive study and concentration. Side by side, public contacts had to be established to
       develop my organizing skills.3)    The third important responsibility was to play the role of a voluntary freedom fighter in India’s struggle for independence. 
As a matter of fact, these programs were not complementary to each other, but none of these became an obstacle in the progress of my sadhana and study; although in between, I had to visit Himalayas twice. The credit for this goes to my Divine Guide who had taken full control of the reins of my life and had assured constant protection. I was enjoined by Gurudev to have the outlook of a raisi. I was also told that although I was related to my family, I should remain quite detached from it. I should listen to everybody but should do what I considered appropriate; as it would be near impossible for me to reach the goal if attention is paid to their advice. Spiritual path (shreya) and material path (preya) are diametrically opposite to each other and only one of them can be followed. If the world was pleased with someone, his inmost self will not be happy with him. If the inner soul is satisfied, the displeasure of the worldly people will have to be suffered. This has happened in the life of all the true seekers of truth. 
It is very rare that the relatives have approved the pursuit of higher ideals. More often than not, human soul had to surrender before the worldly people, high ideals had to be given up and the old soul-suffocating routine had to be carried on. I faced this difficulty the very first day. With the starting of the series of puruscaranas I started taking the prescribed food and leading the life of an ascetic (tapasvi).
This created havoc. People started discussing me in their own way in sweet and sour words. The gist of their advice was that no steps should be taken to disturb the ordinary routine by which people earned their livelihood. Although our ancestral property was so large that three generations could have been easily fed and maintained sitting idle. It was stressed that it should all be kept intact for the future and the family should be maintained on the fresh earnings through the ancestral profession of priesthood. How could the arguments of these people be rebutted? Ultimately, I made one of the three gurus of Gandhiji as my guru, i.e. I kept silent and felt relieved. I simply said that what I was doing was in response to divine inspiration and restored a semblance of peace. I started acting upon my solemnly taken pledge in such a manner as if I had not to take advice from and answer to anybody. On a back look now I see that if such firmness had not been shown, my life boat would have been rocked by violent jerks and capsized and I would have missed that opportunity by which, with the help of sadhana, I have been able to do good to myself as well as to the masses. 
Relationship with God could not have been established with anything less than complete purity of heart and clarity and brilliance of head. I was subjected to a second test in childhood when the non-cooperation movement of the Indian National Congress started. Gandhiji launched the satyagraha movement, called upon the true patriots to come out from the smugness of their homes, face the bullets and go to jail. I heard the inner voice that it was a historical moment that must not be missed. I got my name enrolled in the corps of satyagrahis of that region. 
I had to leave my house and go to the front to offer salt satyagraha. The officials of the government and their propagandists had spread rumors that there would be firing and the people would be sentenced to long imprisonments, including transportation for life, with a view to dissuading them from taking part in this movement. All my friends, neighbors, family members, relatives came to impress upon me that what I was contemplating to do was a suicidal act. The matter got further aggravated and some relatives threatened to go on fast and commit suicide. My mother, who was my guardian, was tutored to get my name struck off as a co-inheritor (along with my brothers) of valuable ancestral property and get the names of other brothers entered in my place. My brothers said that none of them would have any relation with me and I would not be allowed entry in the house. I was threatened to be kidnapped and to be compelled to live in a camp of decoits. I listened to all these threats calmly. 
The question before me was - what should be given precedence, pressure of the family or the need of the times? I made my soul and God as witnesses and decided to act according to the still small voice from within. In this context the persecution of Prahlada appeared before my eyes. I also recalled the story of Dhruva, the determination of Parvati and the life stories of innumerable great men, warriors, saints, reformists and martyrs. None of the family members and relatives of these great personages had supported them. 
They remained firmly committed to the call of the duty on the strength of their own spiritual discernment. I, therefore, became indifferent to what worldly friends, neighbors or relatives said or did. If higher ideals are to be pursued one has to resolutely struggle against greed and cravings. Despite stiff opposition, I stealthily reached the place that was indicated, launched satyagraha and courted arrest. 
There was another event of my childhood that further emboldened my spirit of courage. There was an old sweepress who was suffering from diarrhea and had festering wounds. She used to cry bitterly but, being an untouchable, nobody entered her house. I consulted a physician about her treatment, arranged for the medicines and started attending on her and nursing her regularly. 
I also arranged for her food. Sixty-five years ago it was considered to be an unpardonable offence on the part of a high caste person to enter the house of an untouchable, treat her and wash her dirty clothes. I was ostracized. Family members too, did not allow me to enter the house. I used to lie on the platform and eat whatever was given to me but did not give up serving the sick woman. 
This went on for fifteen days and she became well. She always addressed me as a Bhagvan (God) so long as she was alive. In those days, at the age of thirteen, I was all alone. The whole village, including members of my own family, was against me. I kept up my courage of conviction and did not give in. Courting arrest several times during the freedom struggle, taking the vow of performing twenty-four mahapuruscaranas, treating and serving the sweepress were all tough tests to which I was subjected in my very childhood. I simultaneously fought on two fronts - against internal weaknesses, and against pressures from relatives. This gave me an opportunity to awaken and strengthen my potential spiritual strength. I was greatly benefited from these tests and trials and all my programs continued progressing towards fulfillment. 
The series of mahapuruscaranas went on regularly. A lighted ghrit lamp was installed the very first day on which the sadhana was started. The responsibility of keeping it lit uninterruptedly was taken up by my wife, whom I called Mataji. It required to be looked after constantly lest it got extinguished. This lamp has been burning uninterruptedly since then. When I meditate sitting in front of the flame of this lamp, the mind gets flooded with divine light and warmth. When there is a knotty riddle that cannot be solved by ordinary wisdom, the bright rays of this constantly lighted lamp resolve it instantly for me. Jap (repeating the mantra quietly by the way of adoration) of sixty six malas (rosary), symbolic worship of the picture of Gayatri Mata by water, flowers, rice, incense, lighted lamp and naivedya (offering of sweets), meditation of rising Sun (Savita) at the time of jap and offering of the libation to the Sun (Suryarghya-dan) at the end. This was the daily routine which was adopted by me. No beej-mantra or samput etc. of tantrik system was added. 
With the picture of Gayatri Mata installed in front of me, my heart used to get filled with intense faith and devotion and it appeared as if Mother was sitting in front of me in person. Sometimes I felt inclined to shed tears of intense love and joy by hiding my face in Mother’s anchal. During this period of daily worship and meditation, there was never an occasion when my mind did not get intensely absorbed in inner concentration and identification with the Deity of my devotion. Had it not been for the ring of alarm watch, I could not have felt inclined to come out of that state of trance. Never was there an interruption in this routine of sadhana. This also applied to study for which no separate time was set apart. Often, I was required to walk and cover long distances in connection with the work of Indian National Congress. I used to stop reading only when there was any meeting or program. I used to read while walking. My speed of reading books has been forty printed pages per hour. I used to get at least two hours daily for reading. 
Thus at the rate of eighty pages a day, I could read about 2400 pages in a month, 28,000 pages in an year and seventeen and a half lakh pages over the last sixty years. Besides, reading has been as easy for me as taking food or bath and I could cursorily skip through about three thousand pages daily. 
This routine has been going for last sixty years during which innumerable pages of books, on subjects of my interest, have been read. After the completion of mahapuruscaranas I found more time that I devoted to studying several books and manuscripts in different libraries. This became an invaluable treasure for me. 
I did not read a single page for recreation. All that I read was mastered with a view to acquiring proficiency in the particular subject. While writing any article or discussing any matter I could at once recall subjects that I had already read. In my absence, people used to say that I was a mobile encyclopedia. Readers of Akhand Jyoti (monthly spiritual magazine) are amazed when they find references to so many books, journals and magazines. The same thing applies to Yug Nirman Yojana and Yug Shakti Patrika magazines. 
The secret is that I have read with utmost concentration whatever has been useful to me to gain mastery of the subjects of my interest. Therefore all relevant references suddenly appear in my mind at the appropriate time. This, in fact, is the miracle of concentrated Sadhana. 
There was a primary school in the village of my birth place. From the point of view of formal education, I studied only in that school. Sankrit is part and parcel of our family traditions. My father and brothers were eminent scholars of Sanskrit. Giving discourses on ancient scriptures and priesthood were our ancestral profession. I thus acquired adequate knowledge of Sanskrit at home. I have taught Sanskrit to students though I do not possess any degree. The story of studying other languages is interesting. I started writing English words in jail on a shallow iron pan (tasla) by using pebbles as pencil. I could lay my hand on an English newspaper ‘Leader’ in jail and started reading English. I used to consult my colleagues and in about a year time, when I was released from jail, I had acquired fairly good knowledge of English. Every time during my journey to the jail my vocabulary of English increased due to mutual discussions and gradually I learnt grammar also. In return, I taught my colleagues in jail Sanskrit and idiomatic Hindustani. Magazines, journals, dictionaries etc. of other languages have always remained my basic sources of learning other languages. Gayatri has been called Goddess of Wisdom. I cannot say anything about others but I myself have been miraculously benefited by worshiping Her. Even professors of Hindi have received considerable guidance from my articles in Akhand Jyoti, in which Sanskrit words have been used predominantly. I have a feeling of inner upliftment and people are amazed to find that despite my remaining extremely busy in sadhana etc. so much knowledge could be acquired. 
The credit for all this goes to Mahapragya - the Supreme Divine Intelligence. Although I participated in satyagraha, launched by the Congress, in compliance with the directions from Gurudev, in the beginning I did not understand its significance. When I was given one sankalp of doing sadhana for twenty-four years, why was this period split up into two portions of five and nineteen years? When thousands of persons were engaged in satyagraha movement, participation or non-participation by one more person should not have mattered much? Gurudev had guessed my dilemma at the time of my meeting with him and his divine voice had given the guideline. "Yug-dharma has its own importance. It should be considered as the need of times and one should rush to fulfill it leaving aside all other work, just as water has to be rushed to the site of fire. In days to come you have to undertake several works of public contact and you will not get better opportunity than this to establish contacts with different strata of society. You will also get an opportunity for rehearsal of the experience gained in previous births and of the lessons learnt in your early age. They are not important from the point of view of personal gain but they answer a need of the times”. 
Gurudev continued, "In practical life you are to be taught four lessons:  1) wisdom, 2) honesty, 3) responsibility and 4) courage. These help in the inner growth of the soul and develop brilliance of intellect. With a view to developing the talents required for execution of your future plans of action and also to hone up the instruments needed for the purpose, your participation in India’s freedom struggle is essential”. 
It is not pertinent to discuss here as to what I did for the country, how much I suffered and how I discharged the duties and responsibilities which were entrusted to me. Anybody interested to know about it may read the book Freedom Fighters of Agra Division published by the Information Department of the Uttar Pradesh Government. In those days I was known by the name of Sriram Matta. The important thing that needs to be understood is the purpose underlying this particular direction of Gurudev. (To be continued in the next issue)

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