Janusparsha Mudra and Varabhaya Mudra

How Baba’s Photographs were taken Dada Svarupananda It happened in the very beginning when Ananda Marga was very small and very few people were there who would come to listen to Baba – His discourses and all that. I was very young, hardly 19 years. I was a university student then. Suddenly Baba made a programme to come to Calcutta. So we came to Calcutta. Baba had planned to stay with one family. But when we reached, the family was not there. The room was locked. Then Baba asked me where we should go. I said: “Baba, Your younger brother stays near the railway station. We can go there.” Baba did not know his address but I knew it, so we went there. We stayed for a while. He went to His office and then Baba went for a walk, at about maybe ten in the morning. Then, the then General Secretary, Mr. P.K. Chatterjee, Pranav Chatterjee, told me “We don’t have any good photograph of Baba. So, can you request Baba to go to any studio where we can have a very good photograph (of Him). I said, “I don’t know if Baba will agree.” So, when we came to the market place, I saw one good studio. It was the “Durga Studio”. So I said, “Baba, we don’t have any good photograph of Yours, so please come to the studio.” Baba replied, “I’m not interested to go to any studio.” I insisted and, with much difficulty, He came. He sat on the chair. Then I said, “Please get ready.” The photographer also got ready. He put on all the lights. And there was a very big camera. Those days, there weren’t any small cameras. And then he (the photographer) said “It is not very proper. He is not properly shaved. So you should go to a saloon (a barbershop) and get Him properly shaved.” Baba said, “No, no, no, I’m not going to any saloon.” Again, we came out. Then I insisted. Baba entered the saloon also and got Himself properly shaved. Then, He sat on the chair again. And again the lights were put on. Then the photographer said, “No, no, no, no.” Then I asked, “What’s the problem now?” He said, “His glasses are so thick that the eyes will look very small. So instead of wearing glasses, He should wear only the frame.” So, I bought one frame and put it on His face and His photograph was taken. Baba said, “Oh, you have made me a very funny person – taking me to the studio, then to the saloon, then back to the studio, then having me being taken a photograph only with the frame, without any glasses.” So after three days, we came to the same shop to get the delivery of the photographs. The photographs were very good. Baba was very happy. Then He said, “Ok, my mother will be very happy to see these photographs.” Then, He told me, “Do they have anything on which I can sit there?” I said “Yes, Baba I have something.” So He went there again, into the studio. That day He was ready, well shaved. And the frame, the frame without glasses, was in my bag. So He asked me, “Do you have that frame?” I said “Yes.” He put on His frame and then He sat on the ground, not on the chair. And He asked the photographer to get ready. When the photographer got ready, Baba came in Varabhaya Mudra. When He was in Varabhaya Mudra, the photographer did not know and said “What is this? Please hands down, please hands down.” He was not knowing that this is the proper mudra in which He has to be taken the photograph. “No, no, no, no, please. Hands down please, hands down please.” I said “No, no, no, no. In the posture in which He is sitting, please take the photograph.” And Baba was sitting in that posture, Varabhaya Mudra, for more than five minutes. Then, he took one photograph. Again, Baba came in Janusparsha Mudra, in a second mudra. Again the photographer said “I don’t have time. What is this? Please put your hands properly.” I said “No, no, no, no. In whatever posture He is sitting, please take this photograph.” So he took His photograph. In that mudra also Baba was sitting for more than five minutes. The mudra photos of Baba that we see today, Varabhaya Mudra or Janusparsha Mudra, they are the same photographs. After that, no other photograph was taken of Baba in those two mudras. So then, when Baba came out, He said “You see, today you have done something historical.” I said “What? How can I do anything historical?” He said “These two photographs - I will not permit anyone to take photographs of me in this mudra anymore. In DMC it is ok but otherwise, I will not permit anyone. And He said “The second thing is, that at the same time, at the same place I have never given two mudras. I have given only Varabhaya Mudra, never Janusparsha Mudra.” And He was not in a proper mood to sit. With much difficulty we took Him to the car. Myself and that Dada also, we three were in a different mood. That photographer also was weeping and crying and we could not know what was the reason. Then I asked Baba “What was the reason that he was crying?” He said “You know, the effect of Varabhaya Mudra is not an ordinary effect. It creates a very high spiritual environment. And in that environment, if someone comes, he may be a margii, he may not be a margii, he may be a sadhaka, he may be a non-sadhaka, that will have an effect on his mind and his body. So He said “These two mudras, I never give two mudras at the same time and at the same place. This is the first time I have given them like that.” And He said “From today I’m deciding one thing: that I will give only one mudra, not two mudras.” And thereafter Baba gave only Varabhaya Mudra, and never Janusparsha Mudra in collective gatherings. But in one or two instances, He gave Janusparsha Mudra in some places for some sadhakas.