Evolution of Love 2

JAI MA ANANDAMAYI

In reply to Bhaiji's query Mother promptly said:

"You will come to know it later.

A man or woman who has the ego-sense the I-ness, or the sense of body-mind, can easily say, who he or she is. There is no such ego-sense functioning in this body.

So whatever you say or observe in this physical vehicle –

I AM THAT - WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?"

"This last sentence", added Bhaiji: "was uttered with such an unearthly fervour and vehemence that it sent a thrill through my entire body. Since then I have not questioned Her about it. I stopped with awe and fear; I REALIZED at once, WHO SHE WAS"…



These words of Mother exactly correspond with what Brahma, said in respect of Shri Krishna:

"Men, according to the instructions of saints, always practise devotional songs and meditation to find out means to realize Thee.

When their heart becomes sanctified with intense love and devotion for Thy Godhead Thou dost manifest Thyself exactly in those forms on which they contemplate in the core of their heart according to their intelligence and samskaras.

Out of Thy boundless love for Thy devotees, Thou dost assume those forms to help them towards the realization of Thy Being."



Mother said on another occasion:

"You find that this body appears to different bhaktas in different Divine Forms.

Those are only your lip expressions. You have not developed real faith in the divinity of images of God; without such living faith there is no proper realization of the Divine Ground of all those forms. In the Sastras you read about many manifestations of the Supreme Being; but those are only faint suggestions to direct your attention towards them.

Just as in the Railway time-table you find the names and locations of many stations, but real experience of those places cannot be had from the Railway Guide; so to have real experience of the Supreme Being one must pass through various devotional practices which make concrete realization possible."

Once a question was posed to Mother: "How can a man control the restlessness of his mind ?"

She replied: "Mind is ever restless. It is its nature. It is ever seeking its own treasure the real object of its love; as long as it fails to achieve it, its restlessness does not calm down. To steady the mind one must needs focus all its forces upon one divine object or name of God. Repetition of the divine name or mantra at all times, constant meditation its meaning and on the Divine entity, which it symbolises, purify both body and mind, just as your kitchen utensils become bright and shiny by constant rubbing.

When you find your mind wandering away in spite of your effort to control it, you should persist in taking the name of God, even against your disposition, either orally or by inner speech. Keep yourself in touch with the Divine thought or name, just as the kite moving about in the sky is in touch with one's hand by a thin thread. When such a direct tie is established between man and his Master, the mind will steady itself in the Mantra or Name. Then you will feel a joy emanating from the name of God, which was never experienced by you before.

It is called delight in the Name.

Try to devote three hours every day to this practice and increase the span gradually to six hours a day. The name of God will give you real and abiding happiness, in search of which your mind ever moves restlessly among the various fleeting objects of the world ."

Mother lays great stress on Faith in God.

It is the one essential condition to control the mind and to obtain success in spiritual life. She says: "Faith, steady and sincere, leads you directly to the Divine Being. But reasoned debates and discussions will make you recede farther from Him: God is the Eternal Sound symbolising PARABRAHMAN.

Hold on to It and there will be no chance of your slipping away from It.

Of course the strength of your hold is His, but at all times try to lay yourself down before Him with what little faith you possess.

"If you want to talk, talk about Him; if there is a desire to hear, hear all about His glories; if there grows a desire to do any work, always offer your services to Him. Look upon your own body as His Temple, keep it ever pure and clean, just as you do with your shrines. Dwell upon those holy thoughts that cleanse your mind and soul.

Try to find in the stainless mirror of your mind the reflection of your Real Self, the "I" of your Person.

Find out who this "I" is.

All your quest should be directed to discover it.

You often hear people say: "Keep the mirror of your mind clean".

Do it.

He will reveal Himself and at the right time.

You need not worry about His revelation. With what little He has given you in this life pass your days joyfully, being in vital touch with Him.

"The more your doubts disappear, the nearer will be your approach towards Him. A time will arrive when you will find Him everywhere and you will be ALL ONE WITH HIM."

In another letter Mother says: "In your thoughts all strength and driving force come from Him. So He alone should be the object of your thoughts and actions. Behind all your reasoning, His Guidance has to be realized. Your only business is to get on with your contemplation and worship at the appointed hour."

The following words of Mother appear in a different letter: "In all affairs of life absolute reliance upon Him must be sought. Wherever you happen to be, pray to Him with as much devotion as you possibly can. There must not be any fear of transgression. He is ever with you in all forms.

What ever happens to you all your opportunities and obstacles are ordained by Him.

When He makes you do anything,

He does it Himself;

He does, He knows,

He hears.

The only course left to you is to depend on Him always."



One more letter from Mother says on the control of the mind:

"Your one duty is to keep Him always in mind; His presence will chase away all distractions; thoughts of the world cannot peep out through Him. The desire to realize Him, the Supreme Truth of all existence, will dominate all your thought processes."

Mother is ever full of love for all men. This enables Her to enter into every detail of the life of Her devotees and of other persons. She looks upon all people as Her own. She finds their doubts and problems, their struggles and distractions to be Hers. She listens to them with great sympathy and understanding. She therefore possesses the Supreme Power of healing all wounds, sorrows and bereavements; so She is often called the "Great Healer" of man's woes.

A small incident of Her life will illustrate what has been stated above.

In the twin temples of Shiva near the lakes in South Calcutta, Mother sat in the S.E. corner of the Temple hall one morning; then the Ekdalia Ashram was not built. A crowd assembled in the small hall to celebrate the Holi festival with Mother. A large number of ladies pressed hard round Mother's body. Mother sat almost bundled up. The temperature was high, the rush of people was too tense for Her. Many persons sitting round Mother were profusely perspiring. It was felt that the pressure of people had become almost oppressive and suffocating to Mother. The following questions, to Mother and the answers they elicited from Her are given below:

Question: Mother, why do you allow these people to crowd round your body?

Answer: Perhaps this body draws them so close to it. It is not their fault.

Q. Don't you find it highly oppressive and disgusting, Mother?

A. No. It is a great pleasure to me to find them pressing so close to me.

Q. Ma, we feel it awfully boring to have such a crowd pestering us with tales of their domestic troubles and worries.

A. Because you feel that your own body and theirs are distinctly separate. As you do not feel the weight of your head, of hands and feet, of so many fingers and toes, of legs and thighs, to be a burden nor a heavy load upon yourself because you feel they are but vital parts of your own body, so do I feel that these persons are all organic members of THIS BODY; so I don't feel their pressure nor find their worries weighing upon me.

Their joys and sorrows, problems and their solutions,

I feel to be vitally mine.

Their acts and awards, too, are essentially mine, I have no ego-sense, nor conception of separateness.

Each one of you have the "height and depth of eternity" in me equally.

These experiences of Mother, quoted above, find their echoes in these lines:

"How wonderful! In Me, the shore-less expanse of My Being, the ripples of individual selves rise, strike each other down, play about for some time and then finally merge themselves into Me according to their nature."

There assembled one day some devotees before Mother at the Kishenpur Ashram. Mother said to them: "You have brought down this body to the physical plane for accomplishing your work here below, for your spiritual uplift."

She added : "I am ever with each one of you, wherever you happen to be. But your vision is tied down to worldly matters and you have little time to direct your eyes to this body in all your thoughts and actions. What can I do? But know it for certain, that whatever you do in thought or deed, whether you are near or in distant lands, never escapes my attention."

"Just as at a 'lash of torchlight your faces gleam forth in their bold outlines, all your facial expressions appear in my mind when you meditate on me or talk about me or sit down to pray to me."

Though Mother with Her Body Divine soars in the higher regions of spiritual life, yet we find in Her all the highest and noblest attributes of man, functioning in all their majesty and beauty. She is intensely human in all Her ways. No human mother has such selfless, pure and glowing compassion for the distressed. The highest expressions of human life as manifested in the lives of saints, those that reveal themselves in love, charity and goodwill towards all created beings, figure prominently in all Her actions and thoughts, at all times of the day and night.

There is always, in all Her manners, a heavenly glow of supra-mental Intelligence and Joy in their fullness. She carries in Her Person a perpetual source of Divine Anandam. When She rests after day-long work, She lapses into the blissful state named in our shastras 'Supti - ragara, i.e. a state in which the body is physically relaxed in light sleep but the mind wide awake in the region of the Over Mind.

When She retires covering up Her body with a bed-sheet, She says: "I am just going to do my office-work now like you. I move about in other spheres of life holding conversation with higher beings.