Yogini Mata and David C. Lane - 3

Thank you so much for this added material.

I too found some old memories relating to the time I met her. I don't know if I mentioned this, but at my meeting she indicated that she would take me within if I so desired..... more on this in the little magazine I am producing. I am including your wonderful account and pictures.

How is Professor Bhagat Ram Kamal doing these days? Is he being well received as the spiritual master?

thanks again,

Dave

Dear David,

Here I want to clarify that during conversation with Yogini I asked her twice whether she did inner practices. She categorically denied it by saying that Sadhana is Maya only. After some time I repeated my question in context of inner visions. She did say 'nothing special'. I must add that people are sometimes habitual of inner practices. Sometimes they do it consciously and at other time it may not be deliberate. This habit of Sadhana can result in being in a state of mind where they may be experiencing something but with a 'nothing special'.

Prof. Kamal is doing lot of hard work. He goes on tours and brings money for the temple. He has a following even outside Hoshiarpur. But his path is not without hurdles. As you know our Indian society is a caste ridden society. Bhagat Munshi Ram belonged to Megh caste (broadly known as Meghvansh). Dr. I.C. Sharma was a Brahmin. Initially Manavta Mandir was considered to a center of Brahmins. However Baba Faqir Chand admitted people from other castes and also appointed a low caste Bhagat Munshi Ram to work as Satguru in his place. I have been told by Captain Lal Chandji that Sharma approached him to say that Bhagat Munshi Ram was not to be accepted in the field as he belonged to low caste. Mr. Lal Chand has mentioned this incident twice. Sharma was doing that sort of lobbying. Obviously caste becomes a major factor in every field. That is why after death of a guru all such factors become prominent. People disobey their spiritual masters and keep working on caste lines. The case of Dayal Kamal is also not different. He was indirectly called a ‘Chamar’ by a spiritual leader. (Calling somebody a Chamar is against the law of the land but flouted very frequently). A political party built up atmosphere against that incident and the situation was diffused. Mr. Kamal has conducted very prudently in many odd situations.

 

David, I am of the firm view that all religious activities are basically financial activities. Spirituality is used for enhancing inflow of money. In Indian context it is being used to exploit poor masses. It is broadly caste based again. When money starts flowing to low caste gurus preaching ‘worship of the Formless’, Sikhism, Radhaswami Mat, Arya Samaj etc. appear with more colorful tags. The intention is to divert flow of money to the advantage of high caste. The masses, since centuries, forced to remain illiterate through religious sanctions are easy preys. But I fail to understand why people from counties having good level of education fall prey to Indian spirituality and religions, whereas spirituality prevails everywhere on earth.

Yogini Mata and Dr. David C. Lane - 2

Dear Bharat Bhushan:

Thank you so much for this fascinating material. I plan on doing a magazine devoted to what you uncovered. I have a few questions if you don't mind answering.

1. How did your meeting end with Yogini? Did she say she is still meditating? 

2. Does she have any following?

3. What were Your impressions of her when you met her?

Any other details, perhaps from your Hindi version, that you wish to share?

Thanks so much in advance.

Dave

David Christopher Lane
Professor of Philosophy

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Dear David, I am giving information required by you:-

1. How did your meeting end with Yogini? Did she say she is still meditating? 

The end of the meeting was bit heavy due to the fact that she started jumping from one topic to another. However, when we took permission to leave, she very gracefully got up and accompanied us to the ground floor right up to the street. During conversation she has not said that she still meditates. Rather she says that meditation (Sadhana) is Maya only. She daily recites ‘Sukhmani Sahab’ a holy book of Sikhism.

2.  2. Does she have any following?

I enquired whether she delivered discourses. She denied. It is obvious that most of the time she talks to the ladies living in the street. Her ‘following’ remains a question since she gave Namdan to many ladies in the temple.

3.  3. What were your impressions of her when you met her?

She was declared a guru by Param Dayalji for whom I have great respect. She had been a guru of women and I took every care to give her same respect. I garlanded her and offered some fruits to her. I knew that age factor had descended upon her. I knew her family circumstances when she was living in Hoshiarpur. Her husband had been visiting her in the temple. She was very close to my mother while she lived in the temple.

Other details are given below:-

She was born to Mr. Mulkh Raj and Mrs. Sumitra Rani. It was perhaps a matter of chance that none of her brothers or sisters had children. Home environment was disturbed.

Tripta Devi came in contact with Shraddhanand. Mostly girls and women go to his Ashram and press his feet and do other services (Seva) in the Ashram. Shraddhanand gave Tripta Devi a new name i.e. Saroj Devi. He used to address her as if she was a male. Instead of saying ‘सरोज क्या बोलती है’ he would say ‘सरोज क्या बोलता है’. She prayed to Shraddhanand for blessing her brother with child. It fructified after some time. This strengthened her faith in Shraddhanand.

Faqir had appointed Lajjawati Kakkad (Kamalpur Wali Mai) as guru of women. Now he appointed Tripta Devi also. He called her Yogini Mata and she became famous with this name. Firstly, Tripta Devi became Saroj Devi and then Yogini Mata. A childless Tripta Devi became Yogini Mata and then visitors of the temple rechristened her as Jagat Mata (Mother of the world). She had been given a room for doing Yogic practices and giving Namdan. She remained there for many years. At that time she was in her youth and had a glowing face which is considered to be the result of Yogic practices. In those days I myself saw Yogini Mata in the temple.

After Param Dayal Ji's death, Dr. I.C. Sharma fastened his own saddle of authority on the Temple. Dedicated worker like Dr. Karam Chand Kapoor left the temple and went to his village. Bhagat Munshi Ramji (Faqir’s nominee for Satguru’s work) moved to Chandigarh. Some people say that Faqir, during his life time, had instructed Yogini Mata to leave the temple. Yogini Mata also confirms it. After Faqir’s demise Yogini lived in the temple for few months. She was there when Sharma came to Hoshiapur. Yogini says that Sharma did respect her. After some time she moved to a rented room near temple and finally left for Pathankot.

A short note on her present life

Yogini Mata says that now she does not think about eternal questions like- ‘From where have I come, where shall I go?’ She took care of her husband and his second wife and their children, though second wife had always been against her. Her husband and his second wife have since died. She belongs to a well to do family. Her father left sufficient money for her and lives in a room of a house which belongs to her father. She requires help from near relations.

She talks many things but speaks full sentences. She jumps from one topic to another but stops to listen to the other person. She is seemingly in good health. On 21-10-2010, during telephonic conversation she mentioned about her asthmatic problem. She also told that she had been doing Sumiran (repetition of holy name) with breathing process.

Yogini Mata expressed her wish to live in Manavta Mandir if permitted. I advised her about the changed circumstances after Faqir Chandji. She agreed with me. However, she wanted to come to the temple on festivals like Baisakhi. I have conveyed her desire to Dayal Kamalji (present spiritual head).

Bharat Bhushan

Yogini Mata and David.C. Lane - 1

 

Good morning Dr. David,

First of all I wish you MERRY CHRISMAS.

I am forwarding a file relating to Yogini Mata (Tripta Devi) with whom I had an hour long conversation. The file also contains a link where I have posted more details in Hindi. I have requested Prof. Kamal to bring her to temple at least once. Few days back a person from Thailand visited her. I have been told that Guru of that visitors experiences appearance of Yogini Mata. The visitor requested her to give some pieces of her hair and nail for supposedly some experiment. She obliged him but later she expressed suspicions about suspected black magic. She was assured by another lady that nothing would happen.

Bharat Bhushan

Twilight of Yogini’s Life

Tripta Devi was born in village Darangli of Gurdaspur, Punjab in the year 1940 she was a beautiful and promising child. After marriage she did not have child and as a result she got her husband married to another women. Children were born to second wife. However home environment remained turbulent. One day she went to a temple with unlocked hair and danced. The statues in temple got entangled in the hair and fell around. She had become a Yogini. Her first guru was Baba Bhag Singh. Her second master was Shraddhanand of Jammu and later she came in contact with Param Dayal Faqir Chandji. He gave her the name of ‘Yogini Mata’ and appointed her guru of women. She stayed in Manavta Mandir, Hoshiarpur for many years and worked as a guru. Here is the summary of conversation with her.

After much searching on the internet I could contact David C Lane a professor of philosophy and sociology in California, United States. In his very first email he enquired about Yogini Mata. Hence, for the past two years I had been searching Yogini Mata. I contacted Mrs. Asha Bhagat, activist of Bhagat Mahasabha, Pathankot. Luckily she had known Yogini Mata for the past many years. I reached Pathankot on 09-11-2010. Yogini lives in a room, a part of her father’s house. I saw her after almost 35 years. She met with all affection but a sort of detachment was visible in her behavior.

I introduced myself and made a mention about Bhagat Munshi Ramji and his wife Karam Devi. She could remember everything. I presented her fruits etc. She enquired about my wife and children. Then I told her the purpose of my visit. She sat in Sukhasana (cross legged).

“Do you remember David C. Lane? He came to the temple.”

“Yes, David!”

Then I further asked, “Do you recall Param Dayalji?”

“Yes.”

“Do you worship him within?”

“No, I do not do that.”

“Do you do inner practices?”

“I have left doing inner practices. During those days I saw all the three forms of Param Dayalji i.e. Dharma, the Form and the Light.”

“Sadhana (inner practice) is also Maya. I used to experience numbness in the body.”

“Do you deliver Satsangs.”

“I do not like delivering Satsang. I am fed up with Guruism. I will not give Namdan to anyone. (Here she recalled a lady). Shanti used to come to me for inner practices. I do not know what happened to her. She just lied on the railway track and committed suicide. Param Dayalji then said to me that Namdan should be given only to the righteous person.”

“Dayal Das and yourself used to instruct people for inner practices,” I asked. She said, “Yes, Dayal Das used to give instructions for very high stages of inner practices. He used to attract mystically. I used to go at his place but I always quarreled with him.”

After a few moments, I expressed my wish to ask her some specific questions about what sort of dreams she would generally see. 70 year Yogini immediately replied, “I do not see any dreams. Param Dayal Dayalji did cut them.”

I asked, “What type of visions you see during inner practices?” She said, “Nothing special. Previously I used to see divine forms, used to go to light.” She continued, “Once I was sitting in front of Shraddhanand (her second guru). During inner practices I felt as if five snakes came out of my Jun (योनि, private part) and entered into Shraddhanand. I told it to Shraddhanand. He said, “These five snakes are in fact ‘desire (काम)’, ‘anger (क्रोध)’, ‘greed (लोभ)’, ‘infatuation’ (मोह) and ‘ego (अहंकार)’. From today onwards you are free from all of them.”

I asked her, “How about your internal state now.” She said, “Sometimes I get angry. I do quarrel.”

During this conversation Yogini Mata sang and shared many devotional songs. There was intense flow of strong sentiments in her singing.

Full article (with photos) --> Twilight of a Yogini’s Life