Dada Gavand on his account of enlightenment

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Dattaram Gavand, a businessman, mystic, traveller and photographer, was born in Mumbai in 1917. The eldest child of his parents, he came to be called Dada or elder brother.

Born with a philosophical and spiritual temperament Dada Gavand studied books on philosophy and spirituality and met and kept company with the likes of enlightened sages like Ramana Maharshi, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Mira Alfassa.

Dada took over the family business at the age of 18 due to his father's demise and carried out the family responsibilities of taking care of his family till his brother and sisters married and settled in life.

He chose to remain a bachelor himself and after taking care of his family responsibilities , focussed on his spiritual interests, leaving his cozy home and retiring to a hut on Mount Sajjangad close to nature, and began an inquiry unto himself. This episode resulted in his enlightenment after six months.

The following is an interesting account from his autobiography 'Intelligence beyond thought' which contains a description of his practices that led to his waking up or enlightenment.

How Dada Gavand Woke Up

Dada Gavand describes with remarkable precision exactly what he did that led to his waking up. This is one of the clearest and most informative explanations of spiritual practice that has ever been written.

realization.org

My path and my journey consisted of totally facing myself and passing through the unknown. As this inner pilgrimage continued, one day the mystery of life suddenly and unexpectedly struck like a lightning bolt!

Around noon, I cooked my rice as usual and put out the wood fire. Although the rice was ready, I decided to wait a few minutes for it to cool before eating. I drew back a little and sat casually on my mat, with my mind completely at rest.

Suddenly, in that quiet and inadvertent moment, totally unanticipated, a mysterious action struck.

Something inside me literally exploded, giving me the shock of my life.

In a split second a fountain of unknown energy sprang forth from within. This surprising energy flow was of a truly new kind, different from anything I had ever sensed or experienced before. It felt soft, sensitive, joyful and dynamic yet peaceful. It filled me with profound reverence, deep awe and love. Such a mystical and powerful explosion in my inner domain was a miraculous event.

This explosion affected and transformed my entire personality. In this dramatic breakthrough in consciousness, the whole crystallized structure of the ego/mind got literally shattered. This opened up an energy flow of a totally new kind. No mind — no thinker or I — remained while this was happening. A dynamic, intuitive state came into existence, where the past in the form of memories and the future in the form of desires were not there. This brought in a flow of total now-ness.