Final Farewell

Bapuji’s Seclusion Farewell

September 27, 1981

[Gurudev translating Bapuji; Asutosha Muni reading Bapuji’s address in Gujarati]

GURUDEV: We’ll all chant together. [Everyone chants "Om namah Shivaya gurave, satchitananda murtaye, namastasmai, namastasmai, namastasmai namo namaha" (4X)]

Four and a quarter years Bapuji has been among us. That has been the time of greatest joy and delight for me and for all of us, to have the greatest of all the opportunities that any disciple can have, to be able to serve his guru. And such opportunities do not happen incidentally or accidentally. We all consider that to be our greatest privilege, that Bapuji has been among us and has given us this opportunity. He has been extremely pleased and happy, and found the ashram and loving surrounding to be most conducive to his sadhana.

Now his sadhana is going on even on deeper and deeper levels, which makes it even more difficult for him to be among any kind of surrounding but the one that he would choose to be the most comfortable and most suitable, to be appropriate to the stage of sadhana that he is in. Bapuji, as you already heard, has chosen to be in even more secluded spot, in a more secluded way to continue his sadhana.

This morning he wrote to me that his sadhana is on the very high level, which we are all very glad. And  I personally wish that Bapuji, with the blessings of our Dadaji, may attain to the divine body and reach to the highest. And we all may continue to receive the greatest of inspiration, guidance and spiritual growth in the shadow, in the protection, and in the guidance of Bapuji.

With that from you all, I thank Bapuji for his love, for his blessings, for his caring, that he has showered upon us for all these years. There is no way we can thank him. We can ever be grateful for what he has offered, because we don’t even know yet what he has offered. Because the blessings of such masters happens at such a level that our dull minds are not able to catch it. But it gets revealed in time.

This is the most meaningful time for us, to make the determination that we will do japa and we will do meditation. And we will send all the vibrations of love to Bapuji for his sadhana, so that he may attain to the divine body as soon as possible and bring this  message to the whole world. I want to now read the message that Bapuji has written to all of us for this specific occasion. This is the final message from Bapuji.

BAPUJI: Beloved children, Jai bhagwan with love. I came here to America solely for the purpose of meeting you all. And I imagined that I would stay here for only nine months, but today four and a quarter years have passed away. I have stayed here longer than I had anticipated. During my stay here, I have had the good fortune of bathing in the lake of your love, and drinking its waters daily.

I have felt that these four and a quarter years like four and a quarter days. I have always experienced happiness with your selfless service. With the grace of God, I have not found any flaws in that service. I consider the collective love of every one of you here as the love of the Lord himself. For me it is a divine gift of love.

I have always considered Amrit as my own son. During my stay here, for four and a quarter years, he has never displeased me. He has loved me for many years with faith, and I have also loved him deeply. His pure love is one of my sources of satisfaction. Urmila has also served me with love. There has never been any ebb in her enthusiasm.

Today the long and sweet dream of four and a quarter years has come to an end. On the Guru Purnima celebration, I had declared that I’ll be going into seclusion. According to that decision, I am going into more restricted seclusion. I beg you permission to say farewell. I belong to the Lord and I sincerely pray that I will always belong to him.

Beloved children, do not give up virtuous conduct and self-discipline, even in the face of death. Keep unflinching faith in the holy lotus feet of the Lord, and continue postures, observing holy vows, fasting, moderation in diet, studying scriptures and other disciplines. I extend my blessings to everyone. Your loving grandfather, Kripalu.

[Slate message read by Gurudev]: Strong enough to carry the big trees full of flowers, at that time nobody was offering me even a single flower. Now I cannot carry even one flower, then everybody brings me the trees full of flowers. How can I carry it?

[Bhajan sung—"When will you return?"]