Could you tell us what relationship Paramahamsaji still has with his disciples? On what level is he in contact with us and does he still guide us? Is it still okay to direct our mental and emotional energies towards him without it disturbing his sadhana?
As to what relationship Paramahamsaji still has with his disciples, the answer is 'none', and he has stated that very clearly. He has also made it quite clear to everyone that he has now to tread a path where there should be no feeling of being something, for instance, being a Guru with disciples. I feel that he has closed one chapter of his life and started another.
Regarding the physical identification of people as seekers, aspirants and disciples who consider him to be their Guru (and he had to create that kind of image in order to guide them effectively) - that chapter is now closed!
It takes a lot of effort from the side of the Guru to accept the weaknesses, the difficulties, the pain, the sufferings, the karmas and samskaras of people who have made him a Guru. After having done that for such a long time the Guru has then to follow a certain lifestyle where he is able to discharge the accumulation of those influences of the ideas that have been imposed upon him.
That role of Paramahamsaji as Guru stopped the day he surrendered his geru robes in front of his ishta devata at Trayambakeshwar. Paramahamsaji has said very clearly in many of his published writings that, with the removal of the geru robes in front of his ishta devata, he surrendered all and everything (including the karmas and samskaras of everyone that he might have accumulated) at the feet of his ishta devata.
After that, he became an avadhoot, a person who has now finally renounced the world with all its sensual and sensory attachments. Attachment to the ashram could also be considered as a sensory and sensual attachment. Attachment to the results of the work could also be considered a sensual attachment, providing a sense of fulfilment, happiness, satisfaction and contentment. So, by sensory and sensual I mean every kind of interaction that one has in the world with other people and with objects of both a pleasurable and repulsive nature.
With that act of his at Trayambakeshwar he also surrendered himself, saying, "I am not now a person who moves by my own will, but I am ready to move at Your Will alone". The Guru-disciple relationship which he carried with him on the psychic plane was thereupon dissolved. We were linked with him directly, but when he dissolved himself into his ishta devata, through him we also became linked to his ishta devata.
Paramahamsaji has actually taken us another step forward by saying, "Do not link with me, link with my ishta devata to whom I have surrendered''. I do not know how many of you have caught onto this. Instead of being the conductor of your application to his Master, he has connected us (holding us in his hands) directly to his ishta devata.
I definitely still consider myself to be a disciple of Paramahamsaji and I am sure ninety-nine percent of his acquaintances, devotees, disciples and premis (those who feel love for him) also consider themselves to be his disciples.
Do you know that when this news came out five swamis from Australia sent back their geru dhotis and malas? They said, "Since he has stopped being a Guru, we have also stopped being his disciples". Different people have different kinds of relationships with their Guru. With some it is physical, with some it is moral and ethical, with some it is spiritual and with some it is a sense of unity. There are many, many levels on which one can have a relationship with one's Guru.
So, first you have to decide on which level you want your relationship to be. If it is physical - he has disconnected that. If it is mental - he has disconnected that. If it is moral and ethical - he has disconnected that also. He has said very frankly, "I am not a Guru anymore, do not ask me questions!" He remains in a light mood now as most of you know.
The second question is, 'On what level does he have contact with us and does he still guide us?' I have also answered this. There is definitely some guidance being received which is also due to the feeling that we have for him. It is a feeling of belonging to him and to the ideals he stood for all that time: his sense of dedication and commitment to his sankalpa, to his Guru and to his ishta devata.
Whatever the reason might be, there is definitely some quality that has joined us to him. As long as we are aware of that quality there will be a continuous growth through the guidance which is being received and which will be received in a cosmic or universal way (or whatever you want to call it) by picking up the frequencies that are being transmitted naturally and spontaneously.
There is another way of receiving guidance instead of asking him in meditation, or in our mind or spirit -help him! You see, when a father or mother tries to earn something it may at first seem selfish to us that they are earning, but later on we realise that their effort was meant to make our lives better and more beautiful. Only later do we realise that the work they were doing was not for themselves but to maintain a continuity and to provide for a better way of life for future generations.
In a similar way, what Paramahamsaji is trying to do now may seem very harsh to us - "No visits to me! Do not talk to me! Do not think of me! Do not try to come and see me!", - but in the course of time we will realise that such instructions were necessary in order to give him the freedom to earn whatever he wants to earn, for this will eventually go into our spiritual bank accounts. That effort, that direction in itself will then become a source of guidance and inspiration for us.
So, every morning and evening, whenever you do your sadhana, meditation or japa, towards the end say one sentence! 'Oh God, give your darshan to Paramahamsaji, and then, through him, we will also have your darshan!' That should be the prayer after your sadhana, to make sure of the investment.
The third question - 'Is it still okay to direct our mental and emotional energies towards him without disturbing his sadhana?', has also been answered. Yes, you are free to direct it as long as that keeps you aware of your goal in life, but do not direct it if you are not aware of it, for that will be a waste of time.