The making of Manidweep
Jagatjanani Maa had Bhaiyaji take up the chakra to set a new era in motion. To serve this same purpose, Maa had already made arrangements to have a home built for her children — a home that would come to be known as 'Manidweep'.
The promise of a home
Jagatjanani Maa, who governs the whole of creation, appeared to Maa Basanti Ji in 1991, after her return from a pilgrimage to Rameshwar Dham, and said, "I have built a bungalow for you." It was an unimaginable thing to hear. Maa Basanti Ji could not, even in a dream, have thought of leaving her place of sadhana — where she had practised deep sadhana for years — to live anywhere else. And yet she now resolved to move, and followed 'Maa's' command.
At Maa's command, the search for a place began in Shastri Nagar. Bhaiyaji and Maa Basanti Ji liked the A-183 plot; Maa Basanti Ji meditated there and gave her approval, and a price was agreed. But the very next day, the plot's owner began asking for more than the agreed price.
"If Jagatjanani Maa has chosen this very place, the owner will make it available to us at the price already agreed upon."Maa Basanti Ji
Nearly a year passed. On the day after Diwali, the owner himself came and, to the astonishment of the whole Maa Parivar, agreed to hand over the very same plot at the price settled a year before — "I have to give you this place at the price we agreed upon earlier."
The plot with two mango trees
The most distinctive feature of this plot was that two mango trees stood together on it. It is believed that Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati were married beneath just such a pair of mango trees.
When the plot was purchased, it was known as 'Pavitra-Niwas'. Bhaiyaji and Maa Basanti Ji had at first thought to keep this same name going forward.
From 'Pavitra-Niwas' to 'Manidweep'
In 1993, when construction of the building began, Maa Basanti Ji received an inner vision in meditation that the bungalow should be named 'Manidweep'. When she told Bhaiyaji this, he asked her, "What is the name of the realm where Lord Shiva-Babuji lives?" The answer came: "Kailash Lok." He then asked for the name of Lord Vishnu's realm. Maa Basanti Ji said, "Vaikunth." He asked again: "And what is the name of Maa Tripurasundari's own realm?" To this Maa Basanti Ji said, "I do not know — but wherever I live, my Mother lives there too." Bhaiyaji then told her that 'Maa's' realm is called 'Manidweep', and that it was 'Maa' herself who had commanded this naming.
Maa Basanti Ji then asked Jagatjanani Maa, "Why 'dweep' — an island? An island is a place surrounded on all sides by water." 'Maa' replied, "What do you call the world?" Maa Basanti Ji answered, "Bhavsagar — the ocean of worldly existence." 'Maa' then said, "Whoever wishes to cross this ocean of worldly existence may take refuge in this 'Manidweep'." And so the name of this place was changed from 'Pavitra-Niwas' to 'Manidweep'. Manidweep is Jagatjanani Maa's own realm within the world of consciousness; Manidweep on earth is thus a symbol of that very realm. On 10 June 1995, the Maa Parivar moved from Manihar Haveli to Manidweep.
Spiritual energy in every particle
Manidweep is an extraordinary place, its every particle filled with spiritual energy. The moment one steps inside, a sense of joy begins to arise, and it feels as though one has entered a divine place; the mind grows peaceful. Negative thoughts fall away on their own, and a person becomes filled with positive thinking. Coming here again and again has brought about remarkable change in many people's lives — a deepening of human sensitivity, compassion, restraint and love. Among the members of the 'Manidweep Adhyatm Parivar', filled as they are with Maa's own tenderness, a sense of closeness, love, tolerance and mutual respect keeps growing deeper by the day — something rare in today's materialistic, competitive age. This is why the feeling of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' — the whole world as one family — arises here.
Manidweep is like a Kalpavriksha, a wish-fulfilling tree. It is said that beneath the Kalpavriksha, every heartfelt wish is granted. Coming here, a person's doubts, ego and attachments gradually begin to fall away. By taking in Bhaiyaji's knowledge, negative thinking and one's flaws begin to dissolve — as if a soiled blanket, drawn from a pool of nectar, had emerged completely purified. One then comes to know the art of living: a life of love, happiness, joy and peace, with a growing curiosity for spiritual practice awakened within. By following the guide's direction, one's sadhana begins to bear fruit; divine consciousness begins to manifest within, and, in time, one attains one's spiritual goal by the grace of one's chosen deity. This is the true fruit of the Kalpavriksha.
How is all this possible?
Jagatjanani Maa Tripurasundari herself resides here. Bhaiyaji and Maa Basanti Ji practised sadhana at many places and pleased Jagatjanani Maa there — every one of those places became a ground of austerity, and remains awakened even today. Bhaiyaji and Maa Basanti Ji are bound to Jagatjanani Maa by love, and wherever the child lives, the mother too will dwell there in full tenderness. When they came to Manidweep at Maa's command, Maa-Babuji and all the divine powers came to reside here too, alongside Bhaiyaji and Maa Basanti Ji, in love. Their unbroken sadhana, and that of the other members of the Maa Parivar, continues here still — which is why this place is a dense wellspring of energy, steeped in divine consciousness. Hundreds of devotees come here and find their lives transformed for the better.
Four streams of service
Manidweep did not remain only a centre of sadhana — it was from here that the four streams of Nishkam Karma Sadhna's seva also began to flow: the Swami Vivekanand Trust and Maa Shardamani Trust for girls' education, the Gyanyogi Adhyatm Kendra for boys' education and wider service, and the Gyan Ganga Mission for publishing and distributing sacred literature. The seed Bhaiyaji planted has, under the leadership of Maa Basanti Ji and Madhu Maa, grown into a vast tree of service.
Manidweep still calls seekers into its shade
It was not only the home of Bhaiyaji and Maa Basanti Ji — it remains, today, a source of peace, direction and divine experience for thousands of seekers.