Seven spiritual voices, one stage: Spiritual leaders honour Gurudevshri Rakeshji at 60

Mumbai: Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions do not often share one stage. At 'Aho Gurudev', the two-day celebration of Gurudevshri Rakeshji's 60th birthday at Mumbai's Jio World Convention Centre on September 25 and 26, they did. Seven revered spiritual leaders came to honour the founder of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD), and each spoke about a different side of the Guru and the seeker's path.

Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji Maharaj, President of Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, watched 11 young professionals take Atmarpit Diksha on the birthday morning. He said he had never seen renunciation turn into a celebration like this. "To me, guru is not a teacher, guru is a touch, who transforms you," he said.

The initiates, he noted, had not run away from home. They came with their parents beside them. Renunciation is not about what one leaves behind, he said, but a path of surrender, free of both arrogance and attachment. He called the Guru the only insurance cover with "no fees, no dues."


He had carried water from Mansarovar and Gangotri as a gift, and chose to offer it to Gurudevshri's mother, Adarniya Rekha Maa, instead. To the initiates, many with advanced degrees, he said: "Life is not only to have more, life is to be more."

Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati came to Rishikesh 30 years ago, at 25, with a backpack and a half-finished PhD after Stanford. People still ask her what she gave up. What she left had no substance, she said, and what she found was second to none.

She compared renunciation to walking down a beach with hands full of seashells and finding someone pouring out diamonds at the end. Nobody thinks twice about dropping the shells. Technology gives people speed, she said, but the Guru gives them direction. To the parents of the new sanyasis, she said they had given their children birth, and the Guru was now giving them life.

Bhikkhu Sanghasena brought greetings from Ladakh and the wider Buddhist community. At most saints' birthdays, he said, the bigger the saint, the bigger the cake. "Today I don't see any cake here, but I see so many wonderful enlightening, spiritually uplifting programs."

This century belongs to Asia, he said, within Asia to India, within India to its spiritual masters, "and among the spiritual masters, it looks like this century is the century of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission." He called Dharampur a small piece of heaven on earth and invited Gurudevshri to Ladakh next year.

On the closing evening, Ram Kathakar Morari Bapu, 81, set aside his Chaturmas silence to speak. Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita, he said a true ascetic lives five yajnas, of compassion, austerity, union, self-study and knowledge, and that he had seen all five in Gurudevshri.

He said Gurudevshri's inner self is always absorbed in sadhana and his outer self in seva, and warned that service without sadhana breeds ego. One of Gurudevshri's eyes carries the glow of practice, he said, and the other is moist with compassion. He added that he was waiting for the day Gurudevshri narrates a nine-day Ram Katha, so he could be the first listener.

Pujya Anandmurti Gurumaa marked the occasion as shashti purti, the completion of 60 years. For a realised soul, she said, every breath is a birthday. "Guru is not an entertainer. Guru is not a lecturer," she said. "Guru is the one who is going to actually transform you."

She urged devotees to become true disciples, not followers who drift away once the crowd thins, and stressed the need for a living Guru. The best gift a disciple can offer, she said, is their own transformation.

On the opening evening, Swami Swaroopanandaji of Chinmaya Mission said, "They are great who serve, but those who inspire many more to serve are certainly divine." Brahma Kumari Sister Shivasked every devotee to end each day with one question: "Who became better because of me?"

Gurudevshri answered the tributes in his closing discourse, 'Serving Compassionately'. "Sadhana generates the energy and seva distributes it," he said. "Only seva, you get exhausted, and only sadhana makes you disconnected. The beauty is in holding both."

Art of Living Founder Sri Sri Ravishankar commended Gurudevshri's 'dedication in upholding Dharma'. BAPS Spiritual Head Pujyashri Mahant Swami Maharaj offered prayers that 'through Rakeshji, exceptional service in religious and social spheres continues'. Renowned kathakar Pujyashri Rameshbhai Oza, Pujya Kamlesh D. Patel of Heartfulness Institute, Pujya Radhanath Swami ISKCON, Dada Bhagwan Foundation current head Deepakbhai Desai and Peace of Mind Foundation Saman Shri Shrutpragyaji all sent greetings for Gurudevshri through video messages. (ANI)