Shakti Swarupa Vandaniya Mata bhagavati Devi Sharma

The Annapurna Devi personified Parampujya gurudev’s life wasan open book. He has written much about himself or through others as mediums. (Though this much was too  little when compared to who he was and what he was sent for; which he deliberately kept as a secret) But the life of Param vandaneeya Mataji, who was his life partner and complemented his role on earth; was an enigma forever. The simple life which she has lead, and the motherly love that she showered on all the parijans who came into her fold was only the tip of iceberg. Only a few close associates know her as shaktiswaroopa (the incarnation of Shakti).

Born in a Brahmin family of Sri Jaswanta Rao and Rampyari; she was the youngest child in the family. Sri Jaswanta Rao and Rampyari were pious and saintly couple. Bhagavati was the youngest in the family and as such the beloved child. Before the birth of Bhagavati mother Rampyari used to have many divine experiences which she used to share with her husband. The couple was great devotees of Mother Bhagavati and the household used to echo with the divine flow of the Durga Saptashati and Chamudeswari japam. Jaswanta Rao was highly spiritual and simple natured. Many a times, when he used to sit for japa and parayana; he used to feel that Mother Bhagavati in form of a child was sitting in his lap. Bhagavati was born on 20th September 1926. Let us remember gurudev lighted the Akhanda Jyoti in the same year. One day Jaswant Rao was gazing at the child sitting in his lap when a neighbor came and enquired “what is so great about your child that you are enchanted?” To this Jaswant rao replied, “This girl is very lucky. She is going to feed thousands of people. She is the mother Bhagavati who grants boons to all”. Thus the girl-child born to Jaswanta rao and Rampyari was named Bhagavati.

Even though she was not a beauty but had divine attraction in her personality. Her brothers and sister use to call her ‘lali’. Lali has lost her mother at the age of four and grew up in the care her sisters-in-law. As a child her favorite game was shivopasana. She used to get engrossed in her sadhana since the age of 11-12 years. In the state of Samadhi she often used to see a young man, whom she named “Maha yogi Shiv”. She didn’t know who he was? Where he was? But one thing she knew that he was definitely Shiva. At times during the state of Samadhi she used to see flashes of Kabir’s life and Ramakrishna paramahamsa’s life. In the state of Samadhi, she realized that somehow she was related to ‘Loi’, the life partner of Kabir and also to Saradha mata the sahacharini of Ramakrishna paramahamsa.

On 18 February 1945 in a simple function she was married to Sriram, the son of Roop Kishor ji. After marriage she came to Akhand Jyoti samsthan were she transformed into “Mataji”. From the beginning days in Akhand Jyoti samsthan; she had to shoulder the responsibility of three children, Akhand Jyoti and the parijans visiting the place. Later she had to take the responsibility of assisting Gurudev in his multifold activities especially Akhanda Jyoti patrika work and writing letters to parijans. Actually both of them were engaged in different types of activities; only time they used to get together was the time of reading and replying to the letters of parijan. Only at this time they could share some family matters. In course of time she gave birth to Mrutyunjay and Shailaja. It was the time of construction of Gayatri Tapobhumi. After buying the land there was not a penny left. The financing of the construction was a problem. Knowing that asking others for financial help was against the principles of Gurudev’s life; Mataji gave all her jewelry. Gurudev remarked that beauty of the women lies in her character and not in the jewelry and expensive clothing. Since then Mataji stopped wearing expensive saris. 24 hours of her day were spent in sadhna, aradhana and upasana. In later years she had to shoulder huge responsibilities of the ever growing Gayatri pariwar and mission activities. Though she had come from a rich family and was wedded into a rich family, she still shared the life of poverty, which gurudev had deliberately adapted. She never complained or showed any signs of disgust. Rather her life had been whole-heartedly surrendered at the feet of her Aradhya dev. She was a sadhika of her own might but remained as the first disciple of Acharyashree. There were never enough grains or utensils in her kitchen but still she managed to feed everyone and anyone who was brought by Gurudev at any odd time of the day. Perhaps she had something like the akshaya patra of Draupadi. Those who knew her kitchen well knew that she had an iron tasala, which was given by guruedev as a wedding gift, which she had kept with her till the end. Once mataji and Gurudev were in Bhavanagar to attend a yagya. They were in a middle-class household where the food prepared was enough for only 7 to 8 people. Outside in the ground there was a crowd of hundreds. Mataji had a problem that she would not eat, when her children were hungry. She went into the store and found that there weren’t enough grains to feed hundreds. She came out and told gurudev ‘let children eat first and we shall eat later’. She then went and lighted a lamp in the store and instructed the lady of the house to start cooking. Even after feeding all those who were present, there was enough food left for 7 to 8 people. Many such miracles can be listed from Mataji’s life which prove that she was Annapurna Devi personified.

Mataji was the centre of “Nari shakti Jagaran”. Gurudev had declared that 21st century will be the century of women and stated that women empowerment will begin with mataji. Rightly mataji’s life stands as a proof of that prediction. Mataji’s compassionate antahkaran could well understand the helplessness of women around her. This inspired her to work for the women upliftment. As she started giving shelter to few helpless women, she realized that this would not solve the problems of countless women and what is required is to equip them with Atmabal with which they can fight the battles of their lives. To achieve these, women were given the right to Gayatri mantra. Mataji was the first to take that revolutionary step of taking Gayatri mantra deeksha, which was later extended to other women in other parts of the country. Though Gayatri mantra as a savita upasana mantra was in vogue and many procedures were available; gurudev and Mataji had to introduce Gayatri as Narishakti to promote reverence for Matrushakti. This was not easy in a conservative male-dominated society and they had to face much opposition including the life threats from all the sections of society. But those warriors on the path of liberation were prepared for all that. According to gurudev “the fundamental objective of establishing shantikunj was to start a movement of women liberation under the guidance of mataji and take it to its peak as a world-wide movement.” But the concept of women liberation adapted in shantikunj is different than the concept as prevalent in western countries. According to Mataji “By Nari jagaran we mean the awakening of Samvedanas and bhavanas and for these the women here need not claim the equality with men in position; rather they must nurture the motherhood inherent in them.” The activities for this movement were fourfold:

• Publication of literature
• Training camps for women
• Emergence of power of organization
• Creative activities

The Nari jagaran movement started by Mataji in a humble way in shanti kunj has taken an enormous form and 21st century – ‘a century of women’ has become a reality.