Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale’s Attainment of his Guru (spiritual master) and Efforts to Spread Spirituality

Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale experienced that psychiatric patients who do not get cured with Hypnotherapy recovered after performing spiritual practice advised by Saints. He realised that only personality defects and ego are not the basic cause for all psychiatric problems, but spiritual reasons such as destiny and distress due to negative energies are also important. Therefore, He met nearly 25 Saints between 1983-1987 and studied Spirituality. After realising the importance of Spirituality, Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale Himself commenced spiritual practice and in 1987, He was blessed with the grace of the great Saint of Indore, Saint Bhaktaraj Maharaj.

1. Spread of Spirituality

After experiencing that Spirituality, a science that gives the highest happiness in life is superior to medical science, Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale commenced spread of Spirituality. There is a proverb in Marathi which means – ‘We should share whatever knowledge we have’; accordingly, He began to tell His patients the importance of Spirituality. Even in His lectures to medical professionals, He began to include the subject of ‘Hypnotherapy and Spirituality’. In 1994, He stopped practicing medicine so as to devote full-time for the spread of Spirituality.

A. The mission accomplished by
Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale through
the medium of ‘Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha’

A 1. Establishing Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha

In 1991, while Saint Bhaktaraj Maharaj was in Nashik, Maharashtra, He told Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale to teach & spread Spirituality under the banner of ‘Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha’. Accordingly, Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale established ‘Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha’ (SBSS) on 1.8.1991.

The clinic (therapeutic centre) of Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale in Mumbai became the first Ashram (Hermitage) & office of SBSS to spread Spirituality : ‘After realising the Principle that sacrifice of the body, mind and wealth is essential for spiritual progress, I donated my clinic space (that had 3 rooms) in Sion (Mumbai) to Saint Bhaktaraj Maharaj. From then on, seekers who offered to devote full-time to seva for Sanatan’s mission started living there.’ – Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale (13.3.2017)

A 2. Mission accomplished through the medium of Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha

Through the medium of Sanatan Bharatiya Sanskruti Sanstha, Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale accomplished various aspects of the mission such as organising study sessions on Spirituality in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, organising Gurupournima celebrations of Saint Bhaktaraj Maharaj, compiling Holy texts on Spirituality, clearing doubts of the spiritually curious and seekers, and thus helping them progress spiritually.

From 1996 to 1998, He held hundreds of public meetings on ‘Sadhana and Kshatradharma’ in Maharashtra, Goa & Karnataka. It is because of these meetings that thousands of spiritually curious and hundreds of seekers got attached to Sanatan.

B. The mission being carried out through the medium of Sanatan Sanstha

B 1. Establishing Sanatan Sanstha

As the scope of spreading Spirituality expanded, Paratpar Guru (Dr) Athavale founded Sanatan Sanstha on 23.3.1999.

B 2. Goal of Sanatan Sanstha

• Guiding seekers of different Paths of Spirituality (such as Bhakityoga, Dnyanyoga, Dhyanyoga etc.) on individual spiritual progress
• Spreading Spirituality of Hindu Dharma in scientific terminology and educating the society on Dharma
• Uniting Hindus and likeminded organisations and sects to establish the ‘Hindu Nation’

B 3. Mission of Sanatan Sanstha

B 3A. Satsangs : Satsangs (Company of the God Principle) are conducted by Sanatan Sanstha at various places for teaching the spiritually curious the importance of spiritual practice and spiritual practice as per the principle – ‘There are as many temperaments as there are people and corresponding number of Paths of spiritual practice’. There are different types of satsangs such as Balsanskarvargs (Satsangs on moral education for children), Dharmashikshanvargs (Satsangs on education on Dharma), satsangs on personality defect removal, satsangs for enhancing bhav etc.

B 3B. Discourses : Free-of-cost discourses are conducted by the Sanstha on various subjects such as Spirituality for blissful
life, Personality development, Spirituality for stress relief etc.

B 3C. Gurupournima : To convey the importance of the Guru-disciple tradition, Sanatan Sanstha organises over 200 Gurupournima (See Glossary) celebrations all over the country.

B 3D. Spread of Spirituality during the Kumbha melas : During the Kumbha melas at Prayag (Years 2001 and 2013), Nashik (Years 2003 and 2015), Ujjain (Years 2004 and 2016) and Haridwar (Year 2010), Sanatan Sanstha was able to spread Spirituality extensively. Efforts were also made to create awareness on Dharma-related issues such as maintaining the sanctity of the Kumbha area, temples and pilgrimage centres, taking legal action against fake Sadhus, preventing harm to Dharma etc.

B 3E. Representing Hindu Dharma on the TV channels : Due to its ever-expanding task of spreading Spirituality, Spokespersons of Sanatan Sanstha are being invited by TV channels as representatives of Hindu Dharma during panel discussions on social, national and religious issues.

• Organising workshops to provide training in oratory skills : There is a shortage of Spokespersons who can represent Hindu Dharma in panel discussions on TV channels. Realising this, workshops are being organied to train Spokespersons. Spokespersons have been trained to effectively express the perspectives of Hindu Dharma on various issues.

C. Sanatan’s website – Sanatan.org

This website is dedicated to spreading Spirituality in scientific terminology, explaining the science underlying religious acts and clarifying doubts on spiritual practice. Matter on this website is presently available in Marathi, Hindi, Kannada and English and is being read by people in 180 countries.