Supernormal Benefits of Gāyatri Sādhanā — 16: Attainments of Gāyatri Sādhaks

The ancient history and Purāṇas reveal that rishis and maharshis used to do Yog Sādhanā and tapascharyā on the basis of Gāyatri. The life stories of rishis like Vaṣishṭha, Yāgyavalkya, Atri, Viṣwāmitra, Vyāsa, Ṣukadev, Dadhīchi, Vālmīki, Chyavan, Ṣankha, Lomaṣ, Maitreya, Jābāli, Uddālaka, Vaiṣampāyana, Durvāsā, Paraṣurāma, Pulastya, Dattātreya, Agastya, Sanat Kumar, Kaṇva, Ṣaunaka etc. make it abundantly clear that the key to their occult and spiritual attainments was Gāyatri Sādhanā.

There have been several saints in the recent past also who got their spiritual enlightenment through the grace of Gāyatri. Their personal deities, ideals and principles might have been different but all had firm faith in Vedmata. They owed their greatness, to a large extent, to their devotion to Vedmata Gāyatri.

In the dense forest of Ramtekri near Nagrai (U.P.), a saint named Harihar had obtained siddhi by Gāyatri Sādhanā. The cottage of the saint could be approached after crossing about fourteen miles of dense jungle which was inhabited by lions and tigers. Those who wanted to meet the saint had to face these ferocious animals. These animals used to leave the track and disappear merely by the devotees saying "We are going to see Harihar Baba."
There was a great Gāyatri worshipper named Vishwanath Goswami in Laxmangarh, Rajasthan, who spent most of his time in Gāyatri Sādhanā. By his blessings a poor Veedavat family of Sikar became rich and prosperous. The descendants of this family still celebrate muṇḍana ceremony of their children on the samādhi of Pandit Goswami.
In a village named Jaun in the erstwhile Jaipur State lived Pandit Har Rai who was an ardent Gāyatri worshipper. He knew beforehand about the time of his death. He called all his disciples and members of the family, delivered a religious discourse and breathed his last while chanting the Gāyatri Mantra.
Viṣnudāsji of village Budhadeval near Jaipur observed the vow of Brahmacharya throughout his life. He lived an ascetic's life of devout austerity in a cottage in Pushkar and attained great Siddhis by Gāyatri Sādhanā. The rulers of Jaipur and Jodhpur and other dignitaries visited his cottage to pay their respects. The Maharana of Udaipur took him to his capital after ardent persuasions and got the final ritual of puruscharan performed in the royal palace. Several miraculous stories are famous about Visnudasji Brahmachari.
Pandit Bhudarmal, a learned Brahmin of Ratangarh, Rajasthan, was an ardent worshipper of Gāyatri. He shifted to Kashi in the Vikram Samvat 1966 and remained there till his death. He knew the moment of his death, arranged a huge religious function and cast off his body during worship. Several ordinary persons who were recipients of his blessings became millionaires. Some of them are still alive.
A person born in an ordinary family in a small village in Alwar State renounced the world, came to Mathura and started doing Gāyatri Sādhanā on a hillock. He performed one crore Jap of Gāyatri and became a siddha. He was known as booti-siddha. He always observed silence. That hillock is known as Gāyatri-teela. There is a small temple on this hill with a beautiful idol of Gāyatri installed in it. Several persons were benefitted by the blessings of this saint. The rulers of Dholpur and Alwar had great faith in him.
A saint used to perform Gāyatri Jap in a cave behind Mandhata Temple at Onkareshwar. His family members were present at the time of his death. A boy, who was intellectually very dull, sought his blessings. The saint called the boy close to him and poured water from his kamandal on his tongue and blessed him saying that he would become a scholar. In due course, this boy grew up to be an extraordinarily learned man and became famous in erstwhile Indore state by the name of Onkar Joshi. The ruler of Indore was so deeply impressed by this man that he used to pick him up from his house when he went for his morning walk.
Shri Udhadji Joshi, Yogeshwar of Chandel had his Kuṇḍalinī power awakened by Gāyatri Sādhanā and he had become a great saint. The lives of several persons were saved by him. Many poor people became rich by his blessings and many others could ward off calamities through his occult powers. His predictions were always correct. A person who belittled and ridiculed the saint became a leper.
Shri Mukatramji Maharaj of Manjusar, Baroda was a devout worshipper of Gāyatri. He had attained great Siddhis. He used to perform Gāyatri Jap for about eight hours daily. He could narrate happenings in distant foreign lands as if he was seeing these happen with his own eyes. All his clairvoyant visions were found to be cent per cent correct. Although his formal education was hardly up to first or second standard in Gujarati, he could understand and speak all the languages of the world. Foreigners used to visit him and talk to him for hours in their own languages. He was master of Rajyog, Astrology, Ayurveda, Tantra and various spiritual disciplines.
In Borsad, Gujarat, a saint remained without food for seven years and performed Gāyatri purascharan. Whatever he uttered turned out to be true.
In Kashi, Baba Shivprasad Gupta got the foundation-stone of Bharat-Mata temple laid by Babu Bhagwandas. On that occasion a big Mahayagya of two hundred days was performed in which twenty lakh of Gāyatri Jap were performed. On the day of purnahuti of the Yagya, withered leaves of the surrounding trees turned green and a tree fructified and got loaded with out-of-season fruits. On this occasion, Pandit Madanmohan Malviya, Raja Motichand, High Court Judge and Shri Kanhaiyalal were among the many eminent persons who were witness to these miracles of Gāyatri Mata.
Kathia Baba of Vrindavan, Udia Baba, Pragyachakshu Swami Gangeshvarananda did their Sādhanā with Gāyatri Jap. All the Āchāryas of Vaishnav sampradāya laid stress on Gāyatri Sādhanā.
Pandit Balbhadraji Brahmachari of Nawabganj, Swami Devdarshan of Saharanpur district, Mahatma Yoganandji and Swami Brahmarshidasji Udaseen of Bulandshahar district, Mahatma Anasaktaji of Bihar, Yogacharya Pandit Jagannath Shastri, Mahatma Hari Om Tatsat of Rajgarh and several other saints were deeply engaged in Gāyatri Sādhanā. Several householders, too, who are engaged in this great Sādhanā, are leading lives of devout austerity and have attained significant spiritual progress.
"I have myself performed Gāyatri Sādhanā ever since the tender age of eight and it has become the foundation of my life. Credit goes to Gāyatri Sādhanā for what little success I have achieved in purification and refinement of my body, mind and intellect. All the qualities of nobility of character, high ideals, loving kindness, compassion, self control, service, erudition, penance etc. which are effortlessly manifesting through this individuality are the boons bestowed by Vedmata Gāyatri. She has saved me several times from hardships and lighted my path in darkness. Gifts of her grace are too numerous to narrate here. For me Her presence is more concrete than any physical phenomenon. Persons who have started worshipping Vedmata Gāyatri, after deriving inspiration from my life, have noticed increase in their dedication to righteousness, alertness, self-purification, disgust for vice, self restraint, piety and fervent faith in the Divine."
"I would, therefore, strongly impress upon my readers, with all the emphasis at my command, that they should start worshipping Gāyatri and see for themselves the resultant miracles. A spontaneous urge towards righteousness (satogun), wisdom (viveka) and noble acts is aroused in those who take refuge in Vedmata. This self-awakening leads to all-round abundance, spiritual as well as material."

[Excerpts from 'Superscience of Gayatri' — English abridged version of 'Gayatri Mahavigyan' (in Hindi) by Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya, revised edition 2004, Published by Yug Nirman Yojana, Gayatri Tapobhoomi, Mathura]

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