Subhechcha Ganguly 
Spirituality is a topic that has always been the centre of interest specially in a country like India. However, the channels through which proper spiritual advises come are scarce. Interview times has always tried to upload such interesting topic. Hence, we have come up with a very new section ” Talking spirituality with Mehul Vora.” Previously as well we had an FAQ session with Mehul Vora and it got immense appreciation from the public. Let us know about the few most requested answers of questions from Mehul Vora .
Q1) Hello Mehul, Welcome to the interview, as you know nowadays 80% of the youth are involved in corporate jobs and have a very hectic and busy schedule. This has been one of the reasons why the youth refrains from doing any spiritual practise. What views so you have on this? How much time according to you is enough to start a spiritual process?
Ans: Let me ask them this question, Although they are busy in their work and personal life trying to create a balance between work and home, do they refrain from eating food everyday or talking to their loved ones everyday ? I am sure the answer will certainly be No, so why refrain from spiritual practises. Spirituality is the food for soul, it nourishes the soul and consciousness. The soul needs to be fed to keep mind, body healthy. Also, another perspective is that God created all of us, he is primordial father and mother. Don’t you think we should show some gratitude? Imagine If there were no trees, no food, no water, also no intelligence then the society would not exist. God plans of our food, water and shelter before even we are born. Right from the mother’s womb to the tomb everything is arranged by God. We must show some gratitude for what we are getting. At least we can be grateful to be born as humans, spiritual practises are ways of showing gratitude to god. God says if you take one step towards me I will take 10 towards you, god is loving and kind, always waiting to help us in all aspects of life. But if we do not call him or surrender, then we are trying to show that we are more powerful to be independent and the problems lies in such ego. We need to surrender to god by worshiping him, praying, and serving him.
In srimad bhagvatam (7.5.23-24) Prahlāda Mahārāja gives 9 processes of devotional service one may follow any of these or follow all.
śrī-prahrāda uvāca
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau
bhaktiś cen nava-lakṣaṇā
kriyeta bhagavaty addhā
tan manye ‘dhītam uttamam
Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting, the holy name of Viṣṇu, remembering the lord, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering worship, praying, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service.
One may worship any ista with the process mentioned above. The youth of today must first start by reading about the lord, one may start reading Bhagavad Gita, Durga Saptashati or any other text one relates to. One must read at least few chapters every day. They must then start praying by offering prayers or recitation of any mantra or stotra every day. Then gradually one may start chanting the names of the lord and start building relationship with the lord.
Q2)For Sadhana the importance of a Guru is massive. You have been practicing Sadhana since long now. Tell us how can somebody reach you if they want to conduct you for any sadhana anusthan. Do you conduct any classes ?
Ans: One may reach out to me through social media or email address given in the book, I would be happy to teach and share my knowledge to anyone who reaches out. However, my first advice would be please read my book as it has sufficient information for a reader to understand the path of tantra in real sense. You can find the book at https://www.amazon.in/Secret-Goddesses-Philosophical-Interpretation-Mahavidya/dp/9395374217
Q3) We have Ganpati Puja coming up soon. Give us some ways on how an individual can do a simple yet potent Ganpati Sadhana.
Ans: There are many ways one can do Ganpati Sadhana the most basic is recitation of the dwadasha nama of Ganesha (12 names of Ganesha), one can recite any stotras and also chant certain mantras to please Ganesha. One can simply offer anything that is cooked at home as offering to Ganesha and accept it as prasad every day.
Q4) This is a very interesting questions , in the Kaliyuga where the world is dominated with Rajsic and Tamsic Gunas , do you feel only Satvic upasana can be of help ?
Ans: The answer to this is all the most interesting, the moment one is advanced spiritually, or has come to a state of awakening one will never be conditioned by gunas. The soul is never conditioned by gunas, gender, or anything else. The tantra shastras say that everything is pure and the soul truly is never conditioned by any gunas. Then why do we discriminate and say that only sattvic upasna will help. It is not the upasna it is the consciousness, that matters. If one is materialist and follows sattvic upasna still it will be fruitless. If one is highly advanced spiritually then he can attain liberation by living in crematoriums. Therefore, a really advanced sadhaka will never discriminate. I have explained this in greater details in the chapter “The Mahāvidyās and the Modes of Material Nature”.
Q5) Do you think general upasana where one worships all Devatas have a value or any specific devata upasana has more value?
Ans: Let me ask you one question to answer this? Do you think mastering every subject will help or mastering one will help more? of course one has to have focus, one must choose a path and achieve perfection. One may pay respects to all devatas but sadhana will always be one at a time.
Q6) Also one of the most important questions is a lot people don’t know about their Kuldevata . In case they don’t have any information about Kuldevata worship how can they go about in this process?
Ans: It is essential to know your kula devata but in case one does not know you can make your ishta devata (the one who you worship) as kuladevata.
