Achieving anything worthwhile is always challenging and the path throws
up unexpected obstacles that test even the most capable. At such junctures,
sincere determination and a steady focus on the goal provide the inner drive to persist.
The following brief accounts highlight the difficulties many overcame in memorizing
the Satsang Diksha to please guruhari Mahant Swami Maharaj.

From the moment the second National Satsang Diksha Mukhpath Adhiveshan was announced, many yuvaks and yuvatis decided to register to participate with the sole purpose of pleasing guruhari Mahant Swami Maharaj.

Swamishri had expressed his wish and faith in the capabilities of the youths when he said that 2,000 youths would memorize the Satsang Diksha in Sanskrit.
Over 8,700 yuvaks and yuvatis aged between 14 and 40 registered for the adhiveshan from throughout Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and New Delhi. In about two months they had to memorize the 315 shloks. Some had participated in the first adhiveshan in October 2020, and so had some experience and base to build on. For the majority, however, this was a new challenge. Some also had little formal education, barely having completed secondary school.

To reach any demanding target, regular, persistent and disciplined action is required for success.

The short timeframe meant that in about 60 days, 315 shloks had to memorized – an average of five new shloks per day, while also revising all previously memorized shloks. Obviously, the task becomes more challenging over time.

However, the youths had in their hearts the overpowering desire to please Mahant Swami Maharaj and become one of ‘the 2,000’.

For two months, this mission to memorize took top priority. But, as with all good endeavours, there are always obstacles and unforeseen challenges.

The youths still had their routine lives of study, work, business, family and other responsibilities.

Having started to memorize, participants faced a multitude of challenges: job pressures, exams, ill health, family deaths and many others.

To reach the target, participants organized their time to maximize their output. They reduced their sleep, took niyams to restrict favourite foods, minimized use of social media, stopped watching TV, stopped reading newspapers and other measures to create more time for mukhpath. They used short snippets of time in between other tasks to memorize and revise. Some took leave from their jobs to focus on memorizing.

They adopted a variety of methods and techniques to memorize and revise. Some would write each shlok dozens of times, some would listen to each shlok scores of times, and some used combinations of both. They would repeatedly subject themselves to be tested by karyakars, family members and others to assess how well they had memorized.

Overwhelmed by the task, some would decide to stop. But motivated again by family members, friends, karyakars, swamis and Mahant Swami Maharaj himself, they would be rejuvenated and proceed to complete the memorization.

Rutvik Patel of Ahmedabad had self-confessed about his poor memory. In fact, many told him not to enter. However, he wished deeply to please Mahant Swami Maharaj, so he registered. He would write each shlok up to 70 times and listen to its audio about 250 times. With such persistence and determination, he memorized 150 shloks. Then, he hit a wall of negative thoughts, since he still found it difficult to remember what he had memorized. He wrote to Swamishri explaining his problem. Swamishri replied, encouraging him to continue and blessing him that he would be able to remember. With renewed confidence, Rutvik continued and memorized all 315 shloks.

Harikrishna Patel of Bhadran suffers from a muscle-wasting disease since a young age. He struggles with his daily care, for which his family assists him. He resolved to memorize the Satsang Diksha. His entire education has been in the English medium, and so he did not know Sanskrit. He would spend several hours listening and memorizing till late night. Despite his physical disabilities, his determination enabled him to memorize the complete shastra.

Parthiv Mehta and his wife were recently married. He works in Mumbai in marketing, while his wife is a nurse in Bhuj. During the day, they worked and memorized and at night they tested each other by phone.

Vishal Pambhar and his wife of Rajkot have a 3-year-old daughter, but they both wanted to memorize. So, first his wife memorized the Satsang Diksha, while he took full responsibility of taking care of their daughter. On 8 January, she finished, and so took over the care duties while Vishal began to memorize. But on 14 January his father-in-law was hospitalized due to a stroke, and upto 21 January he was busy in serving him. Thereafter, Vishal spent up to 16 hours daily and finished memorizing the shloks on 28 January.

Mihir Jivrajani of Anand had only memorized 50 shloks incompletely by 12 January. So, he decided to quit. That night, he had a dream in which Swamishri was blessing all the youths. When his turn came, he felt that Swamishri was not pleased with him because he had decided to stop memorizing. So, from the following morning, he spent up to 16 hours a day and completed memorizing the Satsang Diksha.

Vinay Kumar of Secunderabad had a dream on 8 December in which he had darshan of Swamishri doing puja. Swamishri applied the tilak-chandlo, then Vinay gave him a tissue to wipe his hand. Swamishri returned the tissue to Vinay and gave him some sanctified flowers, saying, “Always keep these flowers with you.” This inspired Vinay to memorize the Satsang Diksha, which he completed in 10 days.

Maheshbhai Jethwa of Mumbai lives with his family of six in a small flat. He is a tailor and had to spend many hours every day working to make ends meet. So, to complete the mukhpath, he spent 1½ hours in the early morning and short intervals of time during the day. At night he would go to his nearby hari mandir for a few hours to memorize. In this way, he organized his schedule to create the required time and complete the mukhpath.