Mayur Kalbag is a highly spiritual person with loads of experience. Being an author and a leadership coach, his favorite field of interest seem to be Aghoris, Shiva, spirituality, and related topics.
Icy Tales features Mayur Kalbag talking about his experiences with Aghoris, Mansarovar lake, and much more, with a message for youngsters.
Q) How was your childhood? How did it shape you towards this field?
Mayur Kalbag – I grew up in a beautiful middle-class family. It is lovely because we lived in this kind of apartment with a common balcony; we call it the “Chawl.” It was lovely. We had neighbors, and it was a part of a colony. I grew up with a lot of friends, but at the same time, I also grew up with a lot of elders who would make it a point to influence us youngsters towards stuff like listening to bhajans participating in the Ganpati Utsav. And that is very important for a child to be exposed to – those sanskars (upbringing).
As a child, I remember this particular initiative taken by some people in the housing society called “Bal-Vikas.” Which itself means “Development of the child”(BAL stands for a child, and VIKAS means development). It was connected with Satya Sai Baba and his vision for the kids. So some of the ladies were followers of Satya Sai Baba, they started it. And I’m talking of when I was about 7-8 years old.
So to your question of what shaped me up, I think more than shaping me up, it gave me a good foundation. We used to look forward on a Thursday to go and sit and listen to some of those ladies talk about stories from Mahabharata and Ramayana. We also used to sing bhajans. I believe that was very important as that was a very impressionable age.
As I grew up, I didn’t go so much to Bal Vikas because that also sort of faded away; the good thing was that I got it at a good age. When you are flowered and showered with lovely bhajans and spiritual talks, that age makes an impact. Growing up, I had other exposures – school, college, friends, parties, etc. But through all of that, I would say my parents did an excellent thing. They would always take us (Me and my sister) to Goa.
And not about the beaches; it was about going first to the temples. There are lovely temples connected to our family, like Mangeshi, Shantadurga, etc. I grew up getting exposed to vibrations through my visits to the temple. I think that also helped.
As a child, you don’t go and meditate there, but I think the whole atmosphere, the ambiance of visiting temples, and just feeling the – as you millennials call it – the “vibe.” The positive vibes that spirituality brings. That is how I believe I grew up, understanding the tranquillity that spirituality brings.
As far as leadership coaching is concerned, that is also interesting. I did my management in finance, and even after that, I wasn’t really happy that I was working with an organization and doing something I wasn’t very passionate about. When I started teaching kids in my building – how to recite shlokas, I realized that I love teaching.
It was a calling, like “Oh! Teaching somebody gives me a lot of happiness” this was probably ’99-’00. In 2001 when I went to Kailash Mansarovar with my guru, I got a lot of time to analyze where my life was going. Do I get stuck with a company and do my work and still not be happy, or do I follow my passion for teaching? But will I earn anything if I teach Sanskrit?
When I came back, Sparsh, I got a chance to conduct a workshop. I realized I could do training. It is somewhat close to teaching. One opportunity to conduct training for Tata motors, in 2001 after I came back from Kailash, opened the door of opportunities. And here I am, working as one of the top trainers in India, and I’ve also worked in Fiji Islands, Malaysia, etc.
Q) How was your first interaction with Aghoris? What was going on in your head?
Mayur Kalbag – Let me first and foremost tell you that I can’t reveal a lot. I’m not supposed to. Which I feel is fine because sometimes people might not understand. We can’t reveal locations and such things we can’t reveal because people will then reach there.
I’ve had people come to me and say, “I also want to meet an Aghori” I said it doesn’t happen that way. In my case, when I wanted to, it happened through a contact. You can’t go there. They are different entities and live in a very different world. What we think our world is, they don’t.
About my first interaction with an Aghori. I had seen one when I was 9 years old, which was advantageous. Seeing an Aghori’s picture or a YouTube video, you feel something. They look different. On seeing an AGHORI in real, it just gave me the chills. They are scary. It’s scary, not in the sense that they’ll make you feel negative, but you realize that they’re different entities.
Given the fact that I had a contact, and they knew that I was coming, it made it easy. There was no suddenness to it, and it wasn’t like, “Aye, yeh baccha kaun hai?” (Hey, who is this child?). They knew that I was coming.
When I sat, I understood that they looked a bit aggressive; they were not aggressive. What they want is the other person to be mature. Most of the people, when they go, would keep staring. Even I was, but then I realized you couldn’t keep staring; they don’t like it. You need to have eye contact, but you shouldn’t look at them all the time. You look a little down with respect, with reverence, and it should be good.
Also, I think conversation helps. When they understood, when they heard what I had to say, when they listened to my tone, of sincerity, then they understood. The initial part, when I saw them, I was a little scared, and that’s fine, you know, there has to be a little bit of fear. You can’t walk right in.
Once you are talking, and they are answering you, you don’t look at them, and you listen to them. Once you gain their trust, it’ll do wonders once you make them understand that you are not there to capture something and put it on a social website.
If you go there as a Sadhaka, as a student, I think they’ll understand. But if you go there only for G.K. (general knowledge), they may not. Have you ever seen an AGHORI giving a pravachan, a lecture? No, because They’re in their zone.
Q) What is your perspective about aliens?
Mayur Kalbag – Is this human race, as well as the other entities that we see in the form of animals, birds, flowers, bacteria, amoeba, fish, and everything else, are we the only living beings in this solar system. There is an earth part of the Milky Way galaxy; there’s a moon, and there are so many planets. The Milky Way galaxy is one of the millions of galaxies across the unending expanse of this universe, and we are so unintentionally arrogant to think that we are the only lovely beings? No.
So that is the premise on which I believe that there are live beings other than us. I know for a fact that certain (alien) entities have connected with some of our people on earth, and these “some people” are advanced Yogis and Maha-Yogis. I wanted to bring that part into the book to make people understand that we don’t feel confined to believing that we’re the only people existing. There is an existence beyond.
People have been fed that alien means a triangular face and big eyes, looking weird. Come on! They could be alien energies that don’t even have a form. I’m assuming they might not have a form, but we don’t know. We are sitting here making our assumptions.
Some of us know. And that is what I wanted to bring out via the book. In the book, there’s this scene where they’re sitting on the edge of the lake, and they see a “light” going through the sky, and then one of the Maha-Yogis say, “Oh, I think that yogi has just entered.” Just because we haven’t seen something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Certain people have these strengths and the spiritual ability to even make is themselves completely invisible. One has to reach a particular point of meditating and sadhna, to be able to even understand this and also pick up those vibes. Some also have the spiritual advancement to do astral travel, where you can come out of your physical body and travel through space.
There’s so much, and that’s what I wanted to bring through the book. That is also something that gets people excited. But my motto is not only to spark excitement in the people but also to invoke questions. I want those questions to come out. Even if the answers will come later, seek answers to your questions.
Q) What does one feel near Mansarovar lake? Is it something physical, or only senses like a sense of calmness?
Mayur Kalbag – I’ll begin my answer to your question by telling you that I went to the Kailash Mansarovar in 2001, not as A) as a tourist, or B) just a devotee who is very spiritual. I went there with my guru, SWAMI SADYOJAAT SHANKARACHARYA. I was also blessed enough that Swamiji brought me to do seva (service) of his, to carry things for him.
I was there to do seva as well, of my guru, at Kailash Mansarovar. I went there as a shishya (student) of my guru, along with my guru. Going there as a tourist is one, going as a devotee is one, but going there with your spiritual guru, a yogi, a Mahapurush, an enlightened one, and that too, being put into his seva, that gave me a different experience.
To answer your question about “feeling.” What I saw was that I could say it was entirely on a different planet. Except that there was gravity. But in that, I would say there might be other planets across the zillions of galaxies, with gravity. You know, we sometimes use the phrase “Oh! This was out of the world” Kailash Mansarovar is an experience where you feel that you are out of the world.
Mount Kailash doesn’t look like an ordinary mountain. If you see the picture, it looks like some crystal because the rock is different; it’s not triangular as mountains usually are; it’s different. And then to see the Mansarovar in front of you was amazing. Mansarovar, by the way, is the largest freshwater lake at the height of about 16000 ft above sea level.
In Siberia, there is the lake called Lake Baikal, which is the world’s largest lake, but Mansarovar is the largest at that height. So imagine when you are seated there, surrounded by the mountains, and in front of you is a lake that looks like an ocean, the clouds almost 3-dimensional, so white, very close to you, imagine the impact. What you feel is different, I’ll come to that, but even what you see can impact you. This I’m talking about what I saw.
I am initiated into MANTRA JAPA (a practice for chanting mantras). Swamiji would always tell his shishyas (students) to please continue with JAPA, so I was doing that. What did I feel? I would say internally, when I closed my eyes, even though I didn’t want to, on the fear of missing out on the view, I sat down to meditate, I was doing my mantra Japa, you wouldn’t believe the kind of thoughts I was getting.
The kind of motivation I was getting there changed me; that’s what made me strong that I’m going to change my career when I come back. It rejuvenates you. There, in an invisible form, there are a lot of yogis who meditate. That place has the highest potential to allow yourself to be impacted by positive vibrations. There are so many advanced yogis meditating there that it impacts you.
Certain yogis are even able to go underwater beneath the lake of Mansarovar and meditate. We don’t understand, but there are so many people you might come across who have gone beyond what we think is normal. Like breathing, we think that “Oh! this person can hold his breath for 3 minutes” there are people who have trained themselves; they can hold their breath for 30 minutes.
Yogis have reached a different level where they can control the “involuntary movements” of the body. When you meditate, do your Japa; you get connected to those vibrations with your eyes closed. That has an incredible impact on your thinking process.
Do you see God when you go to Kailash? Do you see Shiva there? Well, I cannot say that you see Shiva standing there saying “Hello, Har Har Mahadev,” no no no (laughs). It isn’t that easy. Can you feel the energy? Yes. When I, as a student, saw Kailash, it was overwhelming. You are THERE. Not very close to the mountain, of course, because you can’t go there, but you can see Mount Kailash, and you know that there is an energy in the form of an entity which we call Shiva, and you know it is there somewhere.
And believe it or not, when you feel that there is this Shiva entity there. It’s simply surreal. The feeling that “I’m at Kailash,” which I call the headquarters of Lord Shiva, is just too overwhelming. Shiva, I believe, is not just limited to earth, India, or Bharat. In different forms, the Shiva energy reaches different people.
Q) Have you met those Aghoris who’ve lived for centuries? 200-250-300 years?
Mayur Kalbag – Not in this life. Many people ask me, and it is cool, they ask me, “Hey, are these events (from the book) real?” “Are you the Subbu?” An answer to this has been mentioned in the book’s preface – “I leave it to you, the reader” to infer whether the story is fact or fiction. But if you read between the lines, I’ll say it’s the part fact, part fiction. It is fiction because if I were to connect the events to this life of mine, they haven’t happened.
To give a little insight into my writing process, I never created this like a story that I’m going to be writing, like making some notes. I just had the laptop, and I would sit and start typing, and I would get these thoughts or visions. It just was flowing.
In the book, there’s this part where the Maha-Aghoris take Subbu (protagonist) to the Himalayan caves, and he sees the lights. All these were visuals I was getting. I was smiling at myself. That kind of detail, the cave in the top, then he walks down- while typing it, I was seeing it. I saw the color of the flowers there, and I saw those people. Like I said to you a while before the session started, some things cannot be explained.
People can’t even explain the taste of water; how can I possibly explain my past life experiences? So there was something that my soul has experienced, which got awakened in this life. In fact, why was I attracted to the Aghori when I was 9 years old? It starts from there.
It is also about belief. Some people might come up and say, “Past life? Are you crazy! I don’t believe in such things.” fine, that’s your taste. I come from a belief that believes in previous births, and I believe my soul must have been in a spiritual form, which was connected to all this, and that’s why I feel very attracted to such entities. And I’m not the only one. Many of us feel that way.
Q) When did the thought of writing a book first strike you? How was the process of making the thought a reality?
Mayur Kalbag – I’m delighted that you asked this question. The book has been received very healthily; the qualitative feedback is soul-touching for me. Some people read the book twice, thrice; there’s one person who read it four times. The good part is that the book is just 140 pages, so even a non-reader, who’s interested in a subject like this, they’ll not say that “This is a big, fat book that I’m going to get stressed out; over.”
I think that somewhere after I came back from Kailash Mansarovar, I thought I must express myself through writing and share more. I felt that I need to know more and more about Aghoris. Why do I need to know? I need to spread this for many people who don’t know.
The shaping up of the book wasn’t overnight, and it happened gradually. But I feel the birth of the thought to write mostly happened when I was doing the parikrama (ritual of moving clockwise around an object) of the Kailash Mansarovar.
I’ll be honest, going to the Aghoris and meeting them, there also I was not very 100% sure I was doing to write a book. It was to understand. But I think that helped me to realize, “Oh my god! There is so much more.” and I felt that I should write on it and also, in a way, follow up on my passion (of writing). The more I got to know about the Aghoris, the more I could affirm that I had to write a book.
Q) What is your advice for the youngsters, especially regarding their outlook towards Bharatiya culture, science, etc. We see that many youths discard our stories and traditions as mere myths. What is your message for them?
Mayur Kalbag – I have so many people connecting with me on Instagram, like yourself, who are youngsters. And I would pleasantly bet to differ with you. You’ll be very pleasantly happy and surprised to know that there is a kind of a revolution happening in the minds of the youngsters. Thanks to people like Ranveer Allahbadia (BeerBiceps), a youngster, and what I appreciated about him is that his podcasts have a lot of people coming in and talking about such kinds of stuff millions see his podcasts of people.
Many of them, maybe 80-90%, are all millennials. So I would say first is there is a change happening. Thanks to BeerBiceps and many other shows like his. The pandemic also has played a role. Today youngsters have also realized that they can’t keep looking at the mobile all the time.
We are all affected by the pandemic. We want more happiness, and spiritual aspects give us more inner happiness. They have felt that. Many people on Instagram look forward to me coming on “live.” And you’d be surprised to know, so many people, not a lot, but many people say “Sir, please can you chant the Shiv Tandav Stotram” there are so many who have written it down, learned it, when I come on Instagram they say “Sir can I please chant it.”
The revolutionary change of thought, in terms of only thinking about materialistic life, has changed, and now youngsters are also opening themselves to understanding. “Hey dude, I’m getting the vibe, man, of this Himalayan thing. I wanna go there” that’s happening. I think even great entities, spiritual entities like Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, they’re playing a great role in bringing youngsters to at least open themselves to understanding what spirituality is.
I also love Sadhguru and his teachings. His videos play a notable role in influencing youngsters to open themselves up. It’s not about trying to convince the youngsters. You know how youngsters are. They don’t want to be pushed, but they say, “Let us find out,” and that’s a significant step forward. So to answer your question, long story short – I don’t have to do much, the youngsters are seeking more and more opportunities to know more about these kinds of topics.
We saw how Mayur Kalbag has a different and open-minded approach towards “life.” He doesn’t restrict his experiences to just his current life, as he strongly believes in the concept of previous births (and re-births).
Watch the interesting conversation on our Youtube Channel!
Last Updated on by Angeline
