Shri Shri 1008 Yogiraj Swami Mohan Dass Ji Maharaj was a fully enlightened spiritual master and a great Yogi of the highest order who had mastered Khechri Mudra and attained the exalted state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. This is the highest Samadhi described in the Yogic texts in which a Yogi transcends his individual identity and experiences oneness with the existence, just as a drop merges in the Ocean and becomes Ocean itself.

Swami ji was born on the auspicious day of Gopasthami (a Hindu festival celebrating Lord Krishna’s first day-out as a cow-herd boy) on 18th November, 1920 in a small village known as Buja near Sikar in the state of Rajasthan. His parents, father Shri Bal Singh ji and mother Shrimati Bhanwar Kanwar belonged to a simple family from a celebrated warrior caste of Rajputs. No wonder he also inherited the qualities of valor fearlessness and determination from his forefathers. His birth was the fruit of the blessings of a renowned sage of the area, Mahatma Balak Dass ji, who foretold that the child will become a great spiritual master who will show the path of salvation to the suffering humanity. The sage also affectionately named the child as ‘Mohan’, a name of Lord Krishna which literally means the one who captivates everyone’s heart.

As predicted by Mahatma Balak Dass ji, the child Mohan had tremendous longing for God and left his home and family at a tender age of 7 years to pursue his spiritual quest. As the sage had already left his body by this time, the child Mohan arrived at the Ashram of Baba Bharat Dass Ji Maharaj, who initiated him and gave him his monastic name “Mohan Das”.

After spending some time at His Guru’s Ashram, his relentless urge for God realization inspired him to go to the dense forest filled with wild predators like lions and tigers to practice spiritual austerities. His early life story resembles the great spiritual seekers of the yore like Bhakt Dhruva who practiced severe austerities at a tender age of 7 years leading him to God realization.
During His initial days in the forest, He had a close encounter with a lion which terrified him in the beginning, but as he overcame his fear, he realized it was only a manifestation of the God in the form of a lion. This removed all the fear from his mind and filled him with an even deeper hunger for the vision of God. More determined than ever, he then proceeded to a very inaccessible cave in the midst of the forest and shut himself off from the outer world with the firm resolve to either have God realization or die in the pursuit. After a life threatening ordeal in the cave, finally he had a vision of the luminous form of a divine sage who gave him blessings for self-realization and presented Him with silver clogs.

He continued His spiritual journey after getting the blessings from the divine sage and spent several years doing rigorous Yog Sadhana (spiritual austerities) in the secluded forests near Tapkeshwar dam and Pandupole in and around Jaipur and Alwar until he was firmly established in the liberating state of Nirvikalp Samadhi. During this period he had no dwelling place and survived mostly on leaves, wild fruits and tree roots.

After attaining His own realization, He gradually returned back to the society to share His spiritual treasure with everyone. He knew that it will not be easy for everyone to follow the spiritual path of rigorous Yog Sadhana that he chose for himself, so he advocated easier means like Naam Simran (chanting Divine names) and Sankirtan (devotional singing) for common masses. He always encouraged people to follow the paths in accordance with their own interest and ability. Even though He didn’t have any formal training in classical music, He was a great singer and with his soulful Sankirtan, he would uplift and recharge the minds and spirits of the devotees.

He was quite unpretentious in his dealings with the people. Far from the pomposity of the so called Mahatma’s, he was very simple and accessible to everyone. With children, he would become like a child and play with them. With common house-holders he would act as if he is one of them. It was really very difficult to recognize him for someone who didn’t already knew about his greatness. He was so full of love and compassion that everyone felt very comfortable in sharing their problems with him. He would very fondly cook food for his devotees, feed and serve them. His key message was to spread love and light of which he himself was living example.

Owing to his chosen path of Yoga, he had also acquired tremendous Yogic Powers which knew no bounds and can be compared only with the great saints and incarnations. However, he never made a show of his spiritual powers as he never wanted to attract crowds of miracle-mongers. Mostly he used his yogic powers to heal ailing people or for the spiritual benefit of His devotees. There are many accounts of miraculous healing done by Him of patients on their death-beds. Also, he saved many of his devotees from life threatening situations. He was capable of penetrating the deepest recess of anyone’s mind and it would appear as if there was nothing hidden from his omniscient vision.

He was the true Sadguru who dedicated his life in the pursuit of service to the humanity which he tirelessly did until His last breath. Unlike other spiritual teachers who confine themselves to spiritual matters only, he felt obliged to act in the event of a social or natural crisis. He was always among the first ones to respond in the event of any natural calamity like the earthquakes in Latur and Osmanabad in 1993, the great floods of Kerala in 1999, the Tsunami in Chennai in 2004 and so on. He was also quite instrumental in ridding militancy from Punjab and restoring normalcy in the terror-stricken state.

He left His physical frame on 12th October, 2013 on an auspicious day of Durga Ashtami and Navami conjoined. This was a terrible blow to his devotees and disciples who had grown so used to his unconditional and unbounded love. Although, he is no more in the physical form, His divine grace and blessings are always available to His devotees who have firm faith in Him. Still, the great void left by His departure can never be filled.

In the words of a song he used to sing occasionally

Yun To Kya Kya Nazar Nahin Aataa
Koi Tumsa Nazar Nahin Aataa…

(Although there are many things these eyes never see…
One thing I am certain is that I will never see someone like you again!)