About Bharat Thakur
"Meditation is the solution to all the problems faced by the mankind," says new age guru Bharat Thakur who banks on the philosophy of freedom and believes in the principle that life is precious and must be spent happily. Bharat, a Railway officer's son born in Lillua, Kolkata, was chosen by the master Swami Sukhdev Brahmachari at the age of four to live with him in the caves of Gurmukh, Himalayas.
Oldest of four siblings, Bharat went to school in Dhanbad and then to Gwalior to complete a five-year Masters in Yoga from the Laxmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education. Later he did his Ph.D in bio-mechanics from Calcutta University. The young master at 27, neither believes in idol worship nor religion, but has great regard for Mahaveer, Buddha, Christ, Prophet Mohammed and incorporates the techniques of Sufis and Zen masters in his workshops. He is based at Delhi and travels throughout the world to create awareness
"I have had every part of my body broken," he says, displaying pretty solid looking arms, not at all ruefully.
Taken away from civilisation as we know it at the age of four by the family's revered guru Sukhdev Brahmachari - whose power his parents believed had allowed them to have the child in the first place - the young Bharat lived the life of an ashram recluse in the mountain wilds till he was a teenager. It was, by his description the kind of life that we read about in scriptures like the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
"My guru was a Sufi fakir. Though he didn't call himself a guru, I came to realise later that he was the one who had moulded me. But he never kept me in a hold as if he knew everything. He sent me to learn from different gurus, whether Sufi, Buddhist or Hindu. I am an Hafiz. I have learnt the whole of the Quran. Then when I was 11 or 12 he said, `You have learnt a lot, but now forget it. These dharmas are all dead. When the master is alive, it is called meditation. When the master dies, it is called religion.' Then I began learning Yoga from him. I began experiencing samadhi under his guidance."
Having learnt the Vedas, mathematics and Sanskrit - "Sanskrit is my mother tongue" - the surprised disciple was ordered back to the world of ordinary people at the age of 18 to learn science! Returning to live with his parents after 14 years of ascetic life in the most difficult and freezing terrain at 18000 feet above sea level, where meat had been the staple diet and social etiquette was an unknown language, Bharat Thakur, to say the least, was a surprise to his family. Even his parents found it difficult to cope, and he was sent to study in a gurukula hostel.
Excelling at his studies, he recounts, he completed his medical studies and topped in his exams. Immersed in the study of science, his next instruction from the guru was to shift his concentration to yogic studies, and so he competed his M. Phil in exercise physiology.
In 1994 just before his guru relinquished his body, Bharat Thakur relates, he was chosen from among four close disciples to take over as the master. Expecting one of his fellow disciples to be chosen, one who has "so many siddhis, including speaking so many foreign languages," Bharat Thakur was surprised, since "I have only logical aptitude."
But the guru explained, "To be a master, you have to be a great giver, not have siddhis. And he placed his leg on my head and transferred his powers to me. Since then my fellow disciples have accepted me as the master. I don't know... ." he trails off. "I still don't know what this is all about?
Source: www . hinduonnet. com (Thursday, Jan 02, 2003 )
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