ALLAHABAD: Heading to the sangam city, one comes across the idol of harshavardhan, the emperor who ruled over India thousands of years ago. After a dip in the waters of sangam, he renounced everything on the earth he owned, even his clothes. Jason, a physiotherapist from Sydney, Australia - has something in common with the emperor.
"The picture of my life wasn't perfect despite the fact that I had every material thing in this world that money could buy. In an interaction with my spiritual guru, I was able to find the cause and so I am here," said Jason, who is now Mahamandaleshwar Jasraj Puri. A Mahamandaleshwar may be termed as the scholar of Vedic literature. He guides and propagates Hinduism by way of his actions such as the saffron robe, bhajan or pravachans etc.
Incidentally, he is the first foreigner to be rising to the level of a Mahamandaleshwar in the Panchyati Akahada. Happy over being able to participate in the shahi snaan, Jasraj organized bhandara (public feast) on Wednesday. "I have fixed the menu and hope that everything passes off well," he told TOI while inviting other members of his akahada.
He shared that Mahakumbh has been the agent of transformation in his life. "In 2001, I took sanyas and during the ardhakumbh in Haridwar, I became a Mahamandaleshwar. And the present one has added to my achievements," he said. On the journey of transformation from Jason to Jasraj, he said, "in yoga, we say that meditation and gurukripa, can transform a crow into a swan and I am a living example."
What he finds best about his metamorphoses is that he has not lost his identity. "I was a physiotherapist who relived pain and I am doing the same today. Only the route of my action has changed," he said. He has heard the story of Harshvardhan and says that he has received much more than what he gave. "The worth of what I have now, is thousand times more than what I gave," he said.
The Indianized soul works as a manager in the ashram of his guru in Pali, Rajasthan. But besides that, he is working to sensitize Indians about their rich heritage and tradition. Pointing at the common devotees who head to the kumbh mela, he said, "Seeing them I feel that spirituality is in their blood and they should not ignore it in the quest to ape the west. The glamour in the developed world is a farce."
Mahakumbh 2013: Aussie Monk to host bhandara for 2,000 devotees
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Mahakumbh 2013: Aussie Monk to host bhandara for 2,000 devotees
