Paras 641 to 720 Maiism book

MAI-ISM

PART III

CHAPTER XI

MAAI CHITTASHUDDHI SAADHANAA

Mother’s – Mind Purity – Attainment – Spiritual Practice

Jay Mai                           Jay Mai                              Jay Mai

641. Dearest Reader: - We are parting after one chapter more. We have met practically ten years after. Much water has gone under the waterway, all the more brightening the arch stones, during the decade. You will do well to read up” Mother’s Message” and the two volumes of “Mai Sahasranama” before you read at least this chapter, if not the previous pages of this book. Till 1940, when I (wrote Sahasranama, Mother had preserved me from the poisonous contact with the world. How can I convey to you my feelings of wonderfulness and gratefulness to Mother, for having kept me enwrapped up in the end of Her garment just touching Her heart?? To protect me against the bitter blasts of the cold and heat of the worldly winds?

642. Will you believe I am shedding tears when I am writing now? Impossible!! If at all you believe, at any rate, you cannot have the mental state which I am passing through. They are tears of my ungratefulness and joy on eye-opening. I wish my eyes were never opened at all to the trickiness and wickedness of the world. What I have ultimately gained by losing my ' child-like state '? I bless the age when anyone can cheat me, crush me and triumph over me when I can be nothing like a hard nut to any one of the world to be dealt with anyway and even swallowed up. Why? My heart chokes to speak out: why? My Mother than in that stage of helplessness never left me away. I had my arms around Her neck and yet as if I was likely to slip, Mother was impatiently pressing me and holding with Her strong hands on my back. The moments when my small little whole self-was not stuck up and riveted with Her portion between the neck and the waist, were few. As I grew up and became too heavy, I was taught moving; but yet such moments were only a few and counted as when Her eyes were not at all the while after me and at my back, wherever and whenever I rambled. Woe to me, was on the day when I annoyingly said first to myself and, then to Mother, " I am no longer a baby, no longer a child, I am a boy can't you see ?” “I can take care of myself. I can think out my problem myself. I can make my own way ahead. I know how to make my progress;” why should you be an entanglement in my way, following me where ever I go? "

643. Say the puny pigmy creature of man,” I am the maker of my fortune.” The fool of the Founder has pressed the point “Don’t seat hand folded. None shall save Thee except Thyself”!!! The paradox, who can understand? The Founder’s such advice is to them that have not perfectly known what Mother’s Love can be and can do. It is for them that believe “it is they themselves who are the doers.” If you are dipped in that ignorance of doership in all actuality, then, and in that delusion state of yours, the Founder advises you, not to sit hand folded, to be on the better side of activity. If in all reality and actuality, you think yourself as the doer of your things, then don’t sit hand folded. You are not natural, sincere and plan with Mother, when you are inactive and not what you are within yourself and with the world. You are inactive with Mother alone. With Her alone, you have sophistry that suggests to you the false justification for your lazy burden transferring and slumbering.” That, that, that the Founder objects to and warns you against.        

644. On a fine evening, full of ecstasy, with a motor was carrying the Founder, most cautiously along the fringe of a deep valley, at the dusk, with a fragment of fear as the night was approaching, the Founder was making an oblation of his tears to his Dearest Mother in the valley, with these words: "

“Goda Bithaa jaba, Moola na Jaanaa, Jaanaa Taba Nahi Goda Bithaanaa, Maai Kuputa Nibhaanaa.”

 गोद बिठा जब, मूल न जाना जाना तब नही गोद बिठाना माई कुपुत निभाना -  छोड चरण कहा जाना "

"When I was being made to sit in the lap of Thee, Oh, my Mother, I had no knowledge and idea of my blessedness. When, now, when I have an idea and craving, I am now not permitted by Thee to sit in Thy lap ". "Mother? Thy ways are mysteriously unfathomable. Let Thy will be done. I only prostrate to Thee and pray "." Somehow because of Thy own majestic Mercifulness, tolerate Thy wicked Son ".

" As unto this wide world, I went forth.  There gained ample worldly wisdom Lost sweet innocence and Thy Kingdom. And my place on Thy lap, as a wicked son. Oh! Accept me as I am, Blessed one ".

Jay Mai Jay Mai Jay Mai.

Today hundreds sing these lines, translated by late Bro. A.S. Mundkur with other Founder's psalms. Let the tears shed in that valley carry their fruits all over the world. I do see, though most faintly, Mother's motive. She is passing me through boisterous boyhood and mischief-full manhood, to make me more and more beloved and better and better innocent and Mother-absorbed baby. The repeated and alternate process of dipping an impure gold tablet in corrosive chemicals and velvet pieces, till it becomes full twenty-four carats gold.

645. I am sure, few of usual worldly minded readers would understand and appreciate, what I have grabbed, in the previous pages, about “first the fruit and then the tree,” while trying to explain that seemingly inverted truth of Mai Swarupa Paramahamsa. The Founder too says,” First secure Mother and Guru, and then, go to the world.” And that joyful conviction about the truthfulness of the Truth can only come at the end.       It is at the end of your travel and travail, that you know how very gracious Mother had been to you, while you were all the while fretting and getting cross with Her for keeping you simple-hearted enough to be cheated by the world. At the end alone you realize, that was to make you pass successfully through and turn you to be proof to any and every calamitous situation that can possibly arise. To carry you to the stage where you can challenge the world saying," So long as I have Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace with me, come what the world can crush me with. "

646. Well then, equip yourself with Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace both, through Love Service Devotion and Unconditional Cheerful Self Surrender, and begin fighting your enemy, one after another and make your headway towards the  Kingdom and Capital of Mai. That is the shortest clear-cut way. The way the mongoose kills the serpent, through the force of meditation of the Motherly herbage in the deep Grace–hole of the Guru. Jay Mai.

647. Is that difficult?  No.   Is that easy? No. It is difficult or easy as Mother wishes that thing to be for you. Mother reveals Herself to such beloved ones of Hers as have their eyes opened by Her with the celestial ointment of  Divine Knowledge, on their fixing their minds on the Lotus Feet of Mother.

648. Proceed slowly, but steadily, most cool-mindedly. It is not a day's work. The greatest advantage with its uniqueness is that every step you gain is a permanent achievement. Every promptness but no hurry. No disbelief. NO JUMBLE, NO CONTRADICTION. No false Courtesy. No hypocrisy. One thing at a time and that6 thing alone shutting out rest of the world, till it is mastered. Mere pass-ability but no altogether missing of a single step or test. No haziness. No wavering. No jumping. No flying. No fleeing. No escaping. No evading.   Start from the very alpha, even if you are at the age of sixty. Go rung by rung over the ladder. So that you don't slip. Wait and stop if you are feeling nervous and giddy. Even recede a few steps if need be. Be gaining necessary strength.  Let not your goal be out of your sight any moment of your life. Turn all your activities to bend and focalize in a particular decided direction. Be ever optimistic and never pessimistic.  Know it, sooner or later, with your maintenance of happiest relations with God and Guru, the Kingdom is bound to be yours.

649. The least that is expected of you is that you are not ungrateful to your parents, Guru, patrons, sympathizers, helpers, etc. Thereafter you widen your outlook, develop your faculties of different types, increase your circle, magnify your magnanimity, rise above meanness and revengefulness. Practice taking a long view and a deep dive into all matters. Be great, be good. Be giving with service and sacrifice, foregoing and forgiveness, charity, dispassion, relinquishing your rights and pleasures etc.   

650. A pass-ability even with grace marks should be acquired in what is expressed as gratefulness, greatness, goodness and givingness, before a man is really fit for the further two stages of godliness and goingness. ( These are the six G - s of Mai-ism.) By giving is meant not the mechanical parting with money as that a poor man cannot do, but giving a higher return than an average man.

651. The man who has passed these four stages has good relations with all around him. People hear the fewest complaints and rumours about him. There are no quarrelling, discontented and wry faces, in his house. The debtors and creditors both, if any, continue to have happy relations with him. A guest is treated with honour and comfort. He feels pleasure in speaking to others, that he is indebted to so and so for such and such things.

He has no peevishness. He is not put out as soon as there is some opposition. He has the same respect for the others and others' opinions which he expects for himself, He has the same consideration for their conveniences and comforts. If someone is wrong with him, he says," Days will pass and we shall again be friends ". He has trained himself to look at any question, placing himself in the position of the person dealt with. He is able to see things not only as himself, not only as his opponent but also as all concerned and all unconcerned. He is able to charitably view any situations from all sides and all angles. His greatness of intellect and outlook is not without goodness. His superior intellect does not make him a selfish master over others. He is not the exploiter of the less intellectual or the less intellectual or the less experienced. He is not petty minded. He does not identify himself with his wife and children alone. He has the soft corner for every one of the humanity.

He never takes advantage of someone's helplessness. He thinks it is meanness to profit by the helplessness of others. He does not distrust others unless he has substantial grounds to distrust. He does not see bad motives. He does not believe in inherent badness of others, even when he is actually experiencing it and even suffering. He thinks very likely he is in the wrong when he is thinking evil about others. He tolerates people hurting him, rather than he be troubling others. He takes every precaution to see that he does not take any good man to be a bad man, does not matter if he has to suffer as a result of his blunder of taking a bad man to be a good man.

652. In a word, if you take a general opinion of people around the man that has really passed the passability, his life is so very full of gratefulness, greatness, goodness and givingness that there is something like practically a unanimous opinion about that man being much higher than the average. There are so many instances coming forth of his having returned gratitude and of his being really great good and giving. By giving is meant, not the mechanical parting with money as that poor man cannot do, but giving a higher return and taking a lesser return than an average man.

653. If he is one like so many around him, or, on the other hand, if you hear so many stories about his petty mindedness, cheating, misappropriating, resorting to corruption, ousting his parents and dependents, etc. if he is insolent, impudent and getting hot in no time. Mai-ism says, all his talks about his being a religious or God loving or a Gyani have no meaning. If at all he has been successful in showing some brilliant colour, it is a Kachcha colour which is sure to disappear, on being dipped in hot water.      

 654. Mai-ism draws a sharp distinction between religion and religiosity. Religiosity is the state of being and doing what religion asks you to be and to do.  It is the burningness and coolingness of the Sun and moon. Take a high standard of understanding and outlook. To you, your Rama and Krishna or Shiva may be gods. Your Vedas and Geeta may be God's words and revelation. But what are they to the non-Hindu world? On the other hand, you live the life of duty like Shri Rama, live the life of non-attachment in the midst of all the temptations like Shri Krishna, live the life of complete renunciation like Shri Shiva. Even if you are living in midst of people whose very language you don't know your language, you will see in their eyes a love and reverence for you and a desire to intimate you, to follow you, to learn from you and to be sitting at your feet near you.  Religion without religiosity is a corpse.

655. Mai-ism says, Your living should preach your religion and not your scriptures and loud lectures. Preachers must be witnesses and living models and neither lawyers nor professors.

Everyone has seen milk-preparation-sweets. Our purchase from a nice shop has some silver or golden film coverings and some Badam, Pista, Charoli, spicy ingredients on the top. Coverings are the usual routine religious appearance giving observances and those spices are your scriptural learning decorations. Both these are alright in their attractivities, but, where is the real worth of sweets? *It is in the nature of the milk used, the process of boiling and the efficient carrying out of so many other watchful and skilful laboratory treatments, not known to or seen by the apparent customer’s eye. The real worth is known at the end. The coverings are mostly for attraction and are first removed, but thereafter even all the decorations are spitted out if the substance of the sweets itself is of the rotten nature. 

656. Mai-ism is extremely practical. Its long and perhaps even tedious instruction should not cause any disappointment. Once Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace are secured and retained, Mai-ism tells you, most assuredly, you are sure to pass. Your three fourth of the work is done. You have simply to fill up your terms to pass. You are made to pass.  Only thing is, how many years you are required to be under the coaching is a matter of your capacities and exertions and studiousness. You can’t be allowed to leave the study as an imperfect man. Mother, Herself will not leave you, till you have reached the perfection.

657. It must have been quite clear from the reference in the previous pages to the “Process of evolution for Mother’s Followers on attainment of Guru’s Grace and Mother’s Mercy,” that there are series of stages to go through. It looks at the first sight, as if there is something like an imperfection with Mai-ism, as there is no emphasis laid on celibacy, self-control, virtue, self-realization, etc. There is nothing like a direct recognition and the mention of the importance of virtue, austerity-attainment, mental tranquillity, meditation and so many other things, which appear indispensable for a religious life or a substantial evolutionary progress.

The answer is this. It is not that these things are not to be passed through or that there is any exemption for a Mai-ist. But, Mai-ism wants Mai-ists to pass through these practices for attainments, under the fullest protection and in safest hands and guidance of God and Guru, so that, the journey may be surest, smoothest, shortest, surest and speediest. Mai-ism asks Mai-ists to leave it to Mother, through what circumstances or ordeals to take them, and what valuable experiences to enrich them with. Mai-ism says,” First enlist yourself as Her devotee and then leave everything to Her.”  

 658. Once let it be firmly established that a man deaf and a dumb, a man lame and blind, a man with no education and no schooling, can be religious under Mai-ism. Let that first delusion go. Religion is to be seen in the life you live and not in words you speak or right or in some particular external ritualistic actions or observances that people call as religious. Unless you have a conviction of the said nature, you will never turn your whole-concentrated heart to making your life much nobler and superior. What is it that finally counts? Your joys and sorrows, your actions, thoughts and words, which go to the effect the joys and sorrows of yourself and all around you and the world. Let the deluded notions about the religion once for all go. Then alone, we can set ourselves to the task of achieving a solid improvement.

659. First then, remember you are required to have clear notion of religious life, not simply because you can be in the full know what aspire to be, but also because you have to be in a particular environment. You want your companions and associates also to be religious.

660. How can you go to learn in the school of the world and in the school of which you have to be a student practically for all your life and lives, without your textbooks, notebooks, teachers, companions, libraries, home-studies, memory committing, etc.?? Is there any student who has made a name, who has not underlined his books and prepared his own notes?? Different teachers will be giving different teachings. But it is you; you have to make your notes about what strikes you as best and beneficial.      

661. Well then, first prostate to your God and Guru. First, have the meditation of your deity and Guru whoever he be and invite blessings. Start if you like, with our Geeta. Repeat the Lord’s Dhyana  and “Mukam Karoti Vaachaalam “ benediction craving couplet. Please open your chapter number sixteen. leaving other before it. You try to get there-from, quite a clear notion about the persons of Divine and demoniacal nature. Don't create a bad feeling around you, but make out a list of divine, demoniacal and intermediary persons, as you move amongst your relations, friends, acquaintances and strangers in the world. Just as you don't go to plague-stricken areas especially during delicate hours of nights, so also make it a point to have as little to do with unsuited people as possible. Don’t go to those areas even if there are golden mines. Forego them. Peace, Health and Life are far more precious than enjoyment, pleasure and money.  With all persons except them that you select out as divine, let your relations be formal, happy, smooth, jolly, harmless or obliging as you meet a co-passenger in a train or a Dharamshala, or to follow the advice of Saint Tulsidas, as one boat meets another in a river. “ Nadi Naav Sanyoga “ (River-barges-meeting), all the while having before your mind, the fact that both are in waters, and that one does not know when both get separated from one another. No deep attachment. No complications. Nothing more than easily partable relations with a short notice and with a happy goodbye. Nothing has gone deep into, below kind and courteous superficiality. No debts and no obligations unreturned or unadmitted, with a sweetness of relations, lived, that catches a desire of re-meeting and re-living together.    

662. Those select persons are your kith and kins on the spiritual plane. You shall have to meet them so often and have dealings with them. Even though in the worldly relations you may be quite remote, you will be brought together at some Guru's, God's or Saint's place, or sometimes through correspondence etc. In so many undreamt of ways, just as Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians so very remote in family life become closely interwoven, being mill owners or richest persons in a city, with a momentary common interest. There is a particular Mysterious Management, as a result whereof, birds of different skies, but for the same feather, flock together.

The Founder has found great pleasure to note and use this simile. Every place or city has certain souls that are of the religious temperament. It is [practically the same collective group that is round one saint today, or another one, a year after, or at this place, or that. In a dramatic company, the very same person represent the Prithvi Raja Hindu army, as also the Sahabuddin’s Ghori’s Mohomedan army. It is only the change of the head turban or the Fez cap and a beardless or a bearded chin. They are the very same “they”.      

663. So, the Founder introduces you to your God, Guru, Geeta and your gallants and gloves ( your real kith and kins ) and the globe which you have to reside in and confine yourself to.

The life you live on your own restricted globe with your gallants and gloves, Geeta, Guru and God, is your spiritual or religious life. Just a casual, periodical, accidental, intellectual or emotional love to a certain ideal is no spiritual life. Now ask yourself, have you been living a definite spiritual life ??

664. If you have been, then proceed further. Otherwise, be engaged in collecting and forming the skeletons of your spiritual life. If you read anything that comes to you; if you go on making many logical loud speeches as soon as any passerby opens his mouth to pass his leisurely moments, to make some religious debates, when and because he has nothing else to do, if you have no certain companions to exchange your experiences  and get encouragement and benefit of your company churning; if you have no guru guide to you , and no god to save you, then Founder begs pardon and asks you," What sort of religious or spiritual life , so much tom-tommed by you, are you living?." 

665. Bankimchandra Chatterjee invited Paramahamsa to his place. Said he," Sir, I am not really such a fool as you take me for. Will you kindly grace my hut? Three too, you will find devotees." Paramahamsa asked smilingly," Well, what sort of devotees are they??"

Then Paramahamsa told an amusing story about some swindling goldsmiths, possessing as devotees.

666. First, muster up all your sincerity and determination. A newly appointed, a new young man, an officer in the meeting, when congratulations are given to him, with his staff and office, is smiling sweet, jovial, and light; but when he is thereafter actually taking over the charge, his mind and face colour get entirely changed, especially when he deals with dead stock and the imprest account. That serenity and sense of responsibility of "In-charges", should dawn on you.  

667. Let us then have some hazy idea, as to how a religious and an irreligious man live, or are seen to live, and how are the temperaments of both formed.  As a matter of fact, this should be the first natural question of any spiritual aspirant, who wants to make a practical progress.  Mai-ism definitely emphasises:  " Let that devilish Atma-Paramatma debate disappear. First, learn how to wash your hands head and heart.   Dwaitism or Adwaitism must come after your own Anantism (infinity of impurities) disappears.

    In the very first beginnings, in 54th Shloka of second Discourse of Geeta alone, Arjun asks Bhagwan,  " How do Sthita-Prajna High souls of established and settled wisdom, talk,  sit and walk?? How are they in their dealings with reference to others, how do they act in their life, and how do they think inwardly, while sitting? We are for higher people, teachers and the taught.  Just ordinary things of life.  How few of us have any fitness to have Himalayan ways of thinking and living, yoga practices, meditations, etc.?? We are simply having children's talk.  We are simply talking about the infant-class.  No  " Meditation Mastery in three days."

668. The world is so much full of contradictions and hypocrisies, that it is hard to distinguish one type from another unless you have been gifted by God and Guru with a spiritual eye of illumination.  Somehow, it is a wonder, while atheism is tom-tommed, that all people desire to be called good and pretend to be good. That itself is a problem in itself, which leads you to the idea of the Divinity of mankind, after all, elimination, and about each soul being only a spark of Most Beneficent Final most Element. It is the appearance of goodness that makes cheating so very easy.  Who is then the winner? The goodness itself, though artificial and pretended, or the badness??

669. The man, by nature, with no spiritual culture, is crafty, busy with laying snares for others, deceiving them and having his self and self-serving, as the be-all and end-all.

    The religious man is simple-hearted.  He evades all approach to and by the evil, and in whatever he does, he first thinks whether his action will be pleasing or displeasing to God and his conscience.  In a matter of worldly gains, he keeps his own Self always in the background.

    The man, by nature, never likes to be troubled or to be checkmated in his liberties to go his own way, he does not like to be defeated or subjected to any control or to be obediently serving any other being.  He does not like any restraint, bondage or handicap, and yet wants mastery over all others around him.

670. The religious man considers every trouble in the pursuance of his righteous course to be a definite gain which makes him hardy.  He does not dislike to be under a restraint and feels pleasure in serving others and obeying the advice of his elders, Gurus, parents, etc.  He loves to be disciplined and humble.

    The ordinary man has his eye always on whatever benefits him the most; whereas, the religious man has a consideration about the maximum benefit to many and to all. The common man runs after honour and fame, whereas the religious man attributes the glory of all his best actions to God, and does not crave for name and fame. The usual man is trying his best to cover his faults and to look much higher than what he naturally is. The religious man feels no shame in being known as he is and feels, at times, relieved on making his confessions with compensations to the aggrieved. The usual man loves ease, comfort and pleasure and runs after curiosities and beautiful things, does not like rough and coarse things, and feels a pride of wealth and his own costly living and dearness and non-availability about everything of his.  He wants worldly gains from day-to-day, wishes all his desires to be immediately fulfilled, and loses his balance as soon as everything contrary to his wishes takes place, or even when any remotest chance that is likely to disturb his pleasures, arises.

671. The religious man weighs all things in the scalepans of eternity and is, all the while, cool and quiet, being sure that he has been depositing his merits in a never-failing Bank.  The ordinary man is always for secrets, privacy, exclusiveness, and for getting.    The religious man keeps all his cards open, feels oneness with so many and gets pleasure in giving and sharing his joys with others.

    The common man is, all the while, looking at his body and senses and their pleasures. He likes vanities and movements for pleasure and praise, here and there for getting different varieties, intensities and natures of pleasures from outside. The religious man has his main concern with soul and the improvement of his mind and character. He trains himself to be contended with his lot.  He does not look to others, or external sources for his peace and consolation, and prefers to be in company and communion with his Self, God or Guru, in solitude or with similar-minded religious people in society.

672. The common man is seeking opportunities for the gratification of his senses and desires. The religious man is afraid of objects of enjoyments as temptations and believes them to be bringing him in pitfalls and future troubles. The worldly man wants to do nothing without a multiplied return. Even when he is, to all appearances, generous, he is counting and secretly enjoying some benefit of a nature, unknown to others. He is not for doing anything for anyone else, gratis by thought, word, or deed, without directly or indirectly serving himself.  He values his good things done at a much higher value, and values services by others rendered to him, as nothing. The religious man is just the reverse of this nature. He does not go under the obligation of others and considers services rendered to others, as his duty to his fellowmen, or to the children of his God, or to the very same Soul of his other bodies.

.673. The religious man has a greater sympathy towards virtue, Innocence and Godliness; the other man towards pleasure, intellect and power. The one loves justice and truth, the other man towards pleasure, intellect and power. The one love justice and truth, the other love conquest and holding his own even in matters of injustice and his own stability. The usual man is always complaining of his wants and dis-comforts and resents the slightest displacement in his settled happy state and is always discontented. The religious man cheerfully and contentedly, with hopefulness in better days to come, and with renunciation to the Will of God, passes his life unagitatingly and smoothly.

674. The common man needs news and thrills day-to-day, gets soon fatigued with monotony. The religious man loves constancy and changelessness and has mastered the art of appreciating diversity in his unchanging unity. The usual man turns everything that he can lay his hands upon to his own advantage, disputes and quarrels. The other man tries to bring about reconciliation, accepts defeat or retires or resigns. The worldly man sets a high or low value to what good or bad things the society and others of the world say about him. The other man all the while watchful enough to see that there is no meaning in the praise or censure of the world. The world can speak one thing today and another tomorrow. He, therefore, keeps himself true to himself and to God without any regard to what the world says. The common man revolts against Divine Will and Wisdom. The other man obeys and submits thereto.

675. The above is a rambling description, as if one were talking about the tendencies about playing youngsters of a particular street, to give a stranger an idea about the street residing community, as of literates or illiterates, high class or low-class people, etc. This is, however, Founder’s common fad to repeat so often to others in his loose talk to others about how religious and religious people would be living their lives. “Still again I am admitting the blunder of cart before the horse. I describe here how a religious man lives his life. What I wish readers to realize here is the inversion.”  They alone are truly religious under Mai-ism who do or do not live as both ways narrated. Mai-ism says:  Just find out your place, in view of each and every line written here.

The subtle most point is here. Suppose I ask someone “A man acts in a certain manner. Is he religious or irreligious? No fool will commit a mistake: but he himself doing the same thing, will not for years get an idea that he is irreligious.  That is the insurmountable Maya and indefinite, all chaotic presentation of true religion.  And hence such descriptions are useful for introspection, if at all man has God’s Grace, and if he turns his eyes and mind in that inward direction. We need generalization, and particularization, synthesis and analysis, abridgement and amplification.O nce the man accepts the definition and has a full picture before him, he finds a new world.  He sees so many whom he thought religious to be irreligious and so many irreligious to be religious. A transformation in his outlook and values of different men, would be the surpriseful result.        

676. As we go on advancing, we have to come to certain thumb-rules and formulae. It is not possible for a man to be every time fundamentally thinking every case that offers itself for forming a decision. In so many cases he has no time to think. At the same time, man can't go on experimenting all his life and inviting failures with a deplorable waste of time, energy and mind-tranquillity. He, therefore, once for all, decides that in such and such case, he would immediately act in a particular manner. It is in this that makes a man to have certain beliefs and principles based on his own experience and study of things around him, to save his time, mental labour and trouble. Let a particular situation arise, he acts in a particular manner automatically, without weighing all the pros and cons. There arises a need for ready-made prescriptions and ready-made mixtures when the demand for decisions and actions becomes pressing and confusing.

677. To recapitulate, for instance, in case of Mai-ists, their first formula is Love, Service, Devotion and Self-Surrender; and the next one referring to their progress, that of gratefulness, greatness, goodness, givingness, godliness and goingness. Goingness is the same thing as merging into Mother. After a long period of godliness as its culmination point, comes the goingness. On the usual plane, it means the submergence of all diversities into the One Unity, wiping out all distinctions and differences and going away from the magnetic field of worldliness and having no desire remaining to be fulfilled, or no action remaining to be done. It is ceasing to have a separate existence, or on the highest plane, it means Emancipation or Salvation. Please note under Mai-ism, Emancipation or Salvation does not mean the extinction of the individuality of the Soul, but the perfection of the soul to the highest stage of enjoying universal conscientiousness and existence. Individuality after Individualism is gone. Just like the well-known stage of living after death. Please note the extreme subtle point of belief. Mai-ism does not believe in the unreality of the world, except only in a figurative sense, nor in the annihilation of one's soul on salvation. Mergence in Mother is not becoming nothing, but being same as Mother with the highest perfection. The drop does not evaporate and lose its existence, but has all the attributes of the Ganges with which it unifies.

678. While coming to the formulization so very necessary at the advanced stage, as stated above, there are so many most interesting recipes by different religions, different philosophers and different saints and different devotees. We start from the simplest the more complex things.

Kabir's simplest formula is " Pray to God and feed the poor ". Saint Tulsidas gave his formula of “Consider another's wealth as dust and another's wife as a mother ". Mai-ism says," Raise mountains of service to others and deluge rivers of love to others and be always watchful about collecting the treasure of merits or assets (Punyam) and creating the least demerits and liabilities (Paapam). "

Mai-ist’s highest sin is Lovelessness and Harmfulness to another, by thought, word and deed. And Mai-ist’s highest merit is serving another onwards, towards the spiritual goal or through temporal difficulties in every moral, legal, legitimate and harmless or religious manner.

679. It is not, that bone religious thinker sits down with the ancestral scriptural lore and tries out to specialize some different recipe, but he takes life as a field of his independent search and forms his independent conclusions, based on the study of the Universe and his personal experience. It only happens to be later, to the great joy of others interested in the comparative study by different thinkers, that the conclusions are often found to be the very same as already arrived at in the past, in different ages by different men. From time to time the same truth in different garbs and languages, with different intensities, orders and details, are proclaimed with new spiritual force, whenever lifelessness and putrefaction completely nullifies the previous proclamation. It is further a happy thing to note and experience, that the remarkable development of anyone virtue brings in that of all others, one after another – just as a friend of any single Prince in a palace, automatically becomes friendly with every member of the Royal family.   

680. The important recipes which a Hindu Mai-ist would do better to have before his eyes, in the order of importance, are these (A to D below):

(A) Religiosity has as its four foundation basic corners - Satya, Shaucha, Tapas and Dana - truthfulness, purity of thought word and deed, self-mortification and mercifulness. Self-mortification has its simplest form in the Mai-istic virtue of Service, and Mercifulness is only another word for Love.

It is interesting to note the allied ness in Geeta in the Shloka 67th in the last Discourse while concluding the nectar teachings. It is still more interesting to note that it says something immediately, after the promise of liberation that Bhagwan holds out in Shloka No. 66th. It is a negative commandment, and therefore, all the more important, in deducing the contrary qualities, viz., the virtues that go to make for religiosity. Instruction about “Don’t do this” are often derived from much greater depths of wisdom and experience, than about “Do this”. Geeta says,” Don’t divulge my teachings to them who are not for austerity, devotion, service, and who bare ill-will to Me.” In Geeta, four elements have been referred to here, as disqualifications to religiosity. It has given the Founder greatest joy to see the allied ness, between these four and the Mai-istic virtues. Service and Devotion have been directly referred to. Ill-wishing is suggestive of its being the converse of “Love” and Self-surrender is only another name for cheerful self-suffering or austerity    

 (B) Manu advises Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya and Indriya-nigraha.[Harmlessness, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and sense control.] 

(C) The more general and less technical and most common things to be constantly dealt with, in case of almost every man, are,  of what have been so very popularly called the six enemies ruling every man internally. These are Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Mata, Moha and Matsar. – Desire, Wrath, Greed, Pried, infatuation and Jealousy.

Kama ( काम ) or the desire is the inner urge which makes us indulge in thoughts and imaginations of certain pleasures, usually denied. Krodha ( क्रोध ) or the anger is the hot and strong feeling against somebody or something who or which comes in the way of our fulfilment of our desires, which displeases us and makes us attack, injure or destroy the disliked circumstances objects or persons. Lobha ( लोभ )or avarice is a passionate desire for possession of things , which we can not possess in usual course, without going out of the righteous and just way of things, which prompts us to be unfair, which disturbs our mind and discontent and makes us dead  to the delicate feelings in the matter of consideration for the happiness of others. Mada ( मद ) or pride is extremely exaggerated notion of ourselves, which results in contempt and ill-treatment for, and to, others inferior to us. Moha ( मोह ) or infatuation is the climax condition of a certain desire which makes you lose all your sense of judgement and action and bodily and mental control. Matsar ( मत्सर)  or jealousy is the bitterness of heart experienced on seeing others happier, better off and possessed of certain qualities or advantages more than you, which you desirous of possessing.

(D) The qualifications of the highest importance to them that have actually dedicated their life to the spiritual development are the six helpers of success: Shama शम, Dama दम, Uparati उपरती Titiksha तितिक्षा, Shradha श्रध्दा and Samadhana समाधान - Quiescence, Control, Restlessness, Endurance, Faith and Contentment.

The most important recipes for the common man for daily practice and constant watchfulness are ( A ) & ( C). Mai-ism says,” Don’t remain under delusion that you are religious, nor rush ahead in higher realms of Karma, Bhakti, Gyana, or Yoga etc. until you have acquired at least passability, even with grace marks, in preliminary grounding. 

681. These four recipes are quite enough for Mai-ist. I don’t mind bombasticity-lovers laughing at me when I talk the simplest things. They have no idea what the important part the trivials play. If they read any western literature which is written with a view to teaching they would see, how very detailed it is, leaving not even a smallest thing, that plays beneficial or vitiating part, untold. That is the truest way of learning and teaching. Detailed thoroughness. “Closing the door against winds, while you are experimenting” would also not remain unsaid. That is the way a man has to set himself for the work of religious progress.  Mai-ism says: “Without a spirit of sacrifice, service, serenity, and sincerity, don’t pollute the words “Religion”, “God”, or “Guru”. With a boy of six or eight, if he joins a school, you will find a timetable in his room. How seldom have we seen any charts or proofs of religious studiousness in the house any religiousness– tom tomming-man?? The school going boy immediately strikes out certain hours, as, not for play. We have struck off not a single hour, with a determination of “no playing and rambling than allowed.” A schoolboy has a certain amount set apart for his fees, books, for his sundry expenses to keep up companionship with other students, etc. We set apart nothing like that. Religion must cost us nothing. You have neither the chart nor a set-apart certain hour. You have no money set apart for this purpose, though you spend a lot over your other expenses and pleasures. Your serenity?? If you are in the midst of work with religion, as soon as anyone comes, you leave God and Guru and religious work, there and then. Your money?? You are getting religious books from others, even though you are sufficiently rich, and for never returning them. You have no idea what to read or what not to read. You have no guide,, whom you are prepared to respect and follow. You have no particular fix direction, in which to go. You have no particular love for a particular conception, of a particular deity. There is no particular school to which you are attached; there is no particular class teacher for you, there is no particular subject as your own. There is no certain textbook, there is no timetable, there is no fixed hour, there is no money spending, readiness and there is no self-submission to a certain discipline.

What sort of religiosity, is the man of the aforesaid type, aspiring to, and what sort of religiosity ahs he acquired, which he is so loudly tom-tomming about?? Does mere residence in the area in which a school is situate, make him a student? Or, does the cramming up of a dictionary make him a scholar? Is attending and dancing, in new types of fancy fairs, under the pseudo name of Religion, with all luxuries and provisions, a true religiosity? Are we not playing with Religion, Guru, and God as dolls??    

Religiosity is not only an intellectual assent to a certain set of beliefs and opinions of the external observance of certain practices, labelled as religious.  It is determined effort to live once life in a different way with different ways of thinking and a different definition of progress and a different goal, and a different definition of progress and happiness.

Religiosity must be measured in terms of denying ourselves, controlling ourselves in midst of temptations, tribulations and the natural desires to run towards the objects and actions of our sensual desires, and of our being useful to others around as well. Such people as are extremely reluctant to bear any wear and tear, on account of and for any other things,(be they reading Geeta, be they strict vegetarians, etc.) are treated with indifference, antipathy and obstructions, by all around them, especially by the irreligious men. The more irreligious and self-seeking the society around you becomes, the higher is the price to be paid by a truly religious person for being permitted to progress in his different ways. That is the true situation in the newly - developed circumstances. YOU want self-improvement and facilities for a different type of achievement, whereas the world around you wants the maximum benefit from you. Love, service and sacrifice, therefore, come in demand, even though you may not recognize them as final requirement of religiosity, just by way of gagging by the mouths of irreligious obstructions around you, and securing their greatest non-interference and sympathy. In a practical sense, truly religious people are foreigners in the country of worldliness and can have a smooth running of their life with required facilities, only on rendering solid service and immense sacrifice for the natural residents of a country foreign to them. Either leave, or live with much greater love, Service, and Sacrifice. That is the only way for foreigners.  

The Founder says: First of all, let there be a true picture before your eyes of what true religiosity is. No haziness. No indefiniteness. No falling from the sameness of your belief and faith (today or twenty years after). Follow and catch the truth. See for yourself, what merely a shadow is and what is the substance, what is only a reflection and what is the reality. That itself is the basic foundation of true religiosity.  First, from your full conception, your picture and your wish to be identified with it. Thereafter follow the ways of approaching the picture. The nearer you go you like it and love it; and more and more indifferent and relish-less you become, about all other things around you. The more you love the more you lose yourself. The greater the loosing of yourself, the greater the extinction of all struggles, worries, anxieties and useless activities, resulting in the experience of unprecedented peace and happiness.

No haphazardness. No doing something somehow, in some manner in some moment and with any or some result, as anything or something comes or happens. No desultoriness. No rambling. No half-heartedness.  No living with one foot on land and another in water, except to the extent you are pulled in and are unable to hold your own. No wrong notion of attaining true religiosity, which costs you nothing physically, mentally or financially. No exaggerated misbelief of Grace-showers without real deservedness. No dependence on, and expectation of, religious institutes and preachers around you, to keep everything ready for you and to be in readiness for you.  No dream of someone exerting for you and your getting the fruits.

No delusion of your living like an “Uncontaminated family man”. No talk about your living “ JALAKAMALVAT”(like a lotus in midst of waters), No “Janaka-Videhi” justification and no dancing of a crow imagining himself to be a peacock. No drunkenness of the Buddha’s renunciation, on old-age-retirement from the actual earning life after having handed over the last pie, fair and foul earned, to your wife and children.  Religious irreligiousness is much worse and more dangerous that open irreligiousness.

682. Hinduism and Hindu saints are welcome to have their own definitions. With them, it may be enough that a man is born in the Punyabhumi of Bharat Varsha and that he is born of sages and rishis or a Brahmin family. Mai-ism does not accept that. You must prove your deservedness, no assumption and no exception. If you are a big cipher you have no right to be called religious, you have to acquire a certain stage. If you do not have it by natural gift you must acquire it by exerting for it in a regular disciplined manner, as you go through, in “schooling”. “I know nothing and I am nothing”, is the first qualification for a spiritual aspirant.

683. Make a simple chart of these four recipes. Cast your eye on any window of Mai-Niwas, and you read the casting 'MAI'. Similarly, enter your room and your eyes must fall on a picture of your God, Guru and your chart, which latter you may change as you advance. Remove all those meaningless ideas of “no leisure”, “no time”, “no money”, “no convenience”, “no space”, etc. Where there is a will, there is a way. Just study the lives of a few great men. They have found leisure in their busiest hours of lives. Remain no longer, in delusion, cast over you by certain catch phrases _ “It is a human nature”, ”Be in my position”, “ I am better than so many others”, etc. If you have not developed a liking, for that sort of living, be bold and plain. Don’t cheat others, at least not yourself.  

684. Even if you do such a simple thing, as, repeating a prayer, while you go to bed and leave your bed, that will bring a marvellous change, in less than six months. Let the prayer be in your natural language. Don’t insist on Sanskrit. In what language, do you actually think? If that is English, welcome English. Let that be any language. Welcome, that one.Repeat this: -

(1) Oh Mother, enable me to live my life with sincerity, purity, austerity and charity. ( Stop at each of the four words, to enable you to form a picture of what each word means).

(2) Oh Mother, let me not utter a word of falsehood. Let me not harm anyone. Let me not covet any one's wealth or possessions. Let me not have any sexual agitation. Let me not drifted away by my body-senses or mind to do anything which does not please Thee.

(3) Oh Mother, emancipate me from the enslavement of these six enemies over me that have taken full possession of my life - wrathfulness, pride, greed, infatuation, envy and desire.

(4) Oh Mother, teach me to be contented with my lot. Let my relishfulness for the pleasure of the world, gradually dry away. Let me have full faith in Thy protection and help; enable me to bear my burden with every endurance.

Not only such a prayer elevating, but whether you feel pleasure and continue your prayers or feel disgusted and stop (except when you rise higher), is in itself an indication and a proof where you stand.

685. There is no "chhoo mantar" under Mai-ism. Be neither idealistic nor emotional. The most deplorable irony of fate for the whole of humanity is that a man gets perplexed and confounded,as soon as he steps into the region of Religion. He does not even once think, of solving his problems in the new and foreign looking realm of religion, on the lines and in parallelism with his own routine-ism and experience in his own region of natural worldly living.

Just turn your eyes around you, like a practical man. Have you not observed, how much every man is anxious to have a companion in, however small, an undertaking he enters?? Do we not require someone to remind us in hundreds of matters? Left to ourselves, we think at one moment of so many schemes of progressiveness; the next day, we wind up and relinquish all our projects. A man by himself has a license to be the wisest at one moment and the mad most at another, within himself. He is a slave to his fancies and falls a victim to his lower mind, after a little exultation. He requires a companion, to goad him, remind him, encourage him, and even to put him to a little mild shame. It is only a worldly wisdom, requiring no teaching, that the man, who is weak and afraid of some powerfully influencing friend, intending to snatch away a loan from him which would never be returned, hands over the keys of his treasury, to his wife and children. He is pulled by such friend to be the weakest yielding point , but where are the keys?? That is the secret, which explains which so many bungalows in cities, named after and registered in the name of the wives of their owners. No creditor can take the property away. Apply the same worldly wisdom here too. You must have someone as your companion, and someone, in whom,  you confide fully, in whose hands you hand over nominal possession of your Self. Scriptures so express the idea, that even the Sun never takes "French leave" from his daily duties, because the Sun fears some higher powers.If it were not so, even the Sun would have left its duties and the world would have been in the greatest darkness and chaos. If one uses his proper discretion, it is safer to be the servant of the wise man than the master of a fool. A true wife, a true friend and a true Guru, are the most precious possessions of life.

One must have some fear which gives him some strength, while in presence of temptations. The answer-ability, the fear of the bad result, the social disrepute, God's Fear, etc.

A wise man voluntary establishes over himself the control and fear of someone interested in his welfare, with love for him, and greater experience and capacities.

If you have no companion, all your ambitions rise at some unexpected moment and soon have their natural fall, after giving you some temporary imaginary joyfulness. There is nothing like a seed sowing. It is like nothing gaining and nothing losing, by the shoreline, as a result of periodical tides and ebbs.

686. Mother has made man perfectly happy, provided he obeys Divine Laws and leads a good life, becomes happier and happier as he goes nearer Mother. Our obedience pleases Mother and She blesses us with greater and greater happiness as our reward. In course of time our experience shows us that pleasure does not satisfy us, we get craving more and more and we soon get tired.It makes us soft and weak and often our health also suffers. We come to the conclusion that we can get maximum happiness out of this life , only by doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. In due course  we get a conviction that there is no action as happiness bringing as doing good to others, with Love and Service.

We often find in this world , that due reward and punishment are not dealt out to all persons in this life , where we often find the good suffer and the wicked prosper. The answer to that is , there is a future life , and this life that we live is not simply to end with our death. If that were so, people would not have been suffering  for the sake of their virtues and principles, up to the last moment of their life, when again that state we have seen with people of highest brains and highest character. This life is therefore  partly giving us happiness here and here alone , and is partly as a probation period of a preparation for future life or lives.    This life is a serious and responsible thing, not to be trifled with, as our fancies drives us. The highest desire of a man should be , for a full knowledge of Truth and enjoyment of all innocent goodness.

687.people have often misunderstood God's or Mother's Grace.It does not invert justice nor give any exemption. It carries you most expeditiously with every protection and guidance , but surely, through the right channel, and teaching you to be fully obedient to the Divine Laws.If that were not so, every one would be breaking the law, shed few tears of right or wrong repentance , and the result would be , that the Divine Law would be the object of insignificance, ridicule and mockery.This extremely delusive notion, as result of greatest exaggeration, though not deliberate, and so very natural with them that have experienced Mother's Grace , must go. A safer thing would be , to get a direct answer from the Grace recipients on the point, and not to jump and run rampant, as you like,to form your own inferences and conclusions. Get your answer from your Grace recipients to the direct question," Is Mother's Mercy a licence? " Mother is not being to be trifled with.

688. We are bound to avoid all bad actions , words and thoughts. We can not always stop bad thoughts coming to us, but we can at least be displeased with them and try to banish them  and refuse to yield to them. Regarding what is good and bad , and right and wrong , in the preliminary stage, it is enough that one obeys the Inner Voice of Mother As Antaryaamini , which people, in general parlance, call "conscience".Conscience is ever alive and ever-awake reality within us, which notes and records everything of ours, issues warning from time to time , and bites us from painful stings  on our disobedience , during and after.

689. Not to speak of the rare cases of temptations, passions and provocations, the man who has practiced control over his six enemies enumerated before, is a much higher man, than one who has not known their working and has never practiced the strengthening of his will to be the  last succumbing to them. Not to use personification , we can call the six enemies to be our six vices  and one has to be extremely careful about his vices and virtues  and their doings in life. A certain virtue of a man is his strength of doing good actions  of a certain type , effortlessly, repeatedly and promptly. A certain vice is similarly an inclination towards bad actions , of certain nature which one drives one to the action, unless strongly controlled with a determined will and effort.

690. Elementarily, the spiritual aspirant may have the following notions , regarding the different terms while practising self-control.

Kama or Desire is the inner urge , which makes us indulge in thoughts and imaginations of a certain pleasure , usually denied.

Krodha or anger is the hot and strong feeling against somebody, who or which comes in the way of the fulfilment of our desires , which displeases us , and makes us attack, injure or destroy the disliked circumstances, objects or passions.

Lobha or avarice is a passionate desire of possession of things , which we can not possess in usual course , without going out of the righteous  and just way of things , which prompts us to be unfair , which disturbs our mind  with dis-content and makes us dead to the delicate feelings, in the matter of consideration for the happiness of others . The accelerated with the speed with which we desire  and strive for happiness and self-serving , more and more , and yet more , and with dis-content , is the broader variety of Lobha itself.

Mada or pried is an extremely over-exaggerated notion of ourselves, which results in our contempt and ill-treatment for and to others inferior to us, and a feeling of independence, easy provocation, and rebelliousness, against those that are superior to us.

Moha or infatuation is the climax condition of a certain desire, which makes you lose all your sense of judgement and action, and bodily and mental.

Matsar or jealousy , is the bitterness of heart experienced on seeing others happier , better off and possessed of certain qualities  or advantages more than you, which you do not possess, but are desirous of possessing.

691. Let this another delusion of people go. Mai-ism hammers this again and again.  Even the highest man has to actually pass through a period of practice. Don't hope getting anything free without exerting hard and going through a regular practice. And even that simple practice has under Mai-ism, an importance of a Sadhana. Mai-ism does not mind being belittled because of its high values given to smallest things. Only thing is, this Sadhana is of an elementary stage, whereas there are higher Sadhanas as well, of much superior orders. In the modern circumstances, when the practice of these virtues is not insisted upon, and most of preaching emphasis either on Gyana or Bhakti, such an honorific name, as Sadhana stands fully deserved for even such a simple thing, as the disciplinary practice of mastering these vices and virtues.

692. The highest souls would be performing Sadhana of much higher things, say, about the two points previously mentioned as the virtues recommended by Revered Saint Tulsidas, viz., to be proof against the temptations of kaanchana and Kaamini,(gold and damsel), or for yogic meditation practices , etc, but, all the same, the Sadhana is indispensable and that has been amply borne out in the life of Blessed Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, one of the most Divine Incarnations (of Divine Universal Mother Mai). It is not that he acquired mastery that way. Many saints were already Masters, but they established, for the world, the necessity of Sadhana, beyond all doubting and questioning. If readers have the subtlest sense, they could as well see that even when a saint says “he had no faith or his faith has failed away,” that too, is for proceeding further to increase the faith of others. Both are spiritual diplomacies. 

693. Try to dispel all doubts about the indispensable need of entering upon Sadhana, and shake off all lethargy, on deriving some inspiration, while going through some belief descriptions of certain Sadhanas of Paramahamsa,  as given in his Life.

694. One of his Sadhanas consisted in banishing from his mind, all attachment to wealth. Sitting on the bank of Ganges, he took some earth in one hand and a few Rupees in other. “Money”, he said to himself “cannot give realization to God”. It has no real value than this handful of earth. Firmly impressing this idea on his mind, he finally consigned both to the Ganges. For the complete effacement of a sense of superiority, he washed unclean places like an ordinary sweeper. He trained his mind to regard sandal paste and filth, as the same.

695. Bhairavi Brahmani put Paramahamsa through all the exercises, mentioned in the principal Tantra books. Most of these were extremely difficult Sadhanas – some of them so dangerous that they cause the devotee to lose his footing and sink into moral degradation. But the infinite Grace of the Mother carried Blessed Paramahamsa through them unscathed, as Paramahamsa himself said.

696. The last fact, namely, the mention of the Mother’s Grace should not be taken to mean a matter of courtesy or devotee’s love blind over-estimation. It is not only the fact of facts but the most powerful factor that bring success in “Sadhana”. It should also be noted that in so many cases, Sadhana came first and then followed the temptations of wealth and women, which were so very successfully overcome, because of the previous Sadhanas.

697. Let us leave the palatial sky-rising construction talk and come back to bare cottage making. The idea of Sadhana, along with Mother’s Grace, has been thus impregnated in “Mai Sahasranama”.

After the first name “Shree Maataa” (the Unique Finalmost Mother) has been commented upon, the second  name “Shri Mahaa Raajni”  has been interpreted to mean “The all Conquering Mother.” She is described as the best fighter and eradicator of whatever as inimical to the devotees, in the inner as well as the outer world.

698. In “Mai Sahasranama”, there is a mention of an introspective worship on page 192 (2nd Volume-Supplement) as under. This means that the worship is to be followed by a concentrated programme of self-analysis and a prayer to Mother, with the repetition of one of the specially –suited names. The prayer, just before going to sleep in one’s bed, is for the purpose of bringing about one’s self-improvement, with the development of the lacking virtues and the elimination of vices, weaknesses, wicked heart, perverted judgment, narrow outlook etc.

Intellectual equipment, which enables one to undertake and achieve self-improvement, has been sated there to be, observation, preciseness, simplicity, memory, imagination absence of blindness of “I and Mine”, reasoning and judgment. 

699. Although, by one's own efforts in the routine life  by frequent references on his charts as to his doings during the day and going to bed with a prayer, and by the above said introspection worship, a creditable mastery is attained, which is on a much higher plane than that of an average man ,yet even after the mastery, the constant alertness and subtle understanding and its working remains at all times necessary, except for the periods he is merged in devotion, yoga, Samadhi or Brahmananda, arising from the highest divine knowledge. On the higher plane, after there is a mastery over the usual vices and virtues, there is the further possibility of a slip, because of strong temptations and ungovernable passions. The nature of these temptations and passions, at least generally as also in one's own particular case, should be very precisely studied, in details of their mental working.

700. Temptations are strong happenings in circumstances and conditions, which drives us to commit bad actions and sins.They are the combined result of our inner and outer situations, although in many cases the outer situation is more responsible. In the case of temptations, the outer forces are stronger, whereas in that of passions, the inner ones are more active and at work. The outside thing which is the cause of agitation is the temptation, and the agitation itself is the passion. Both are, of course, words indicating, the stronger type of the human struggle, beyond the daily usual struggle and combat of goodness and badness. They are beyond something habitual badness and pleasure-indulgence. Your monthly shortage of earning below expenses cannot be called hardship. A theft or a liquidation of your bank, or the difficulty of finding money for special requirements as marriage, college education etc. is a hardship. Temptations and passions are to be viewed as special accidental misfortunes in the life of a man, of every soundness in usual circumstances and periods.      

701. It should upset one on being told, that even temptations are Mother sent and for making stronger and better, if you are a staunch devotee and have surrendered yourself in Her charge. Such temptations and even passions have their particular purpose to serve, in the matter of preparing the Mother's favourite to be better and better, stronger and stronger.

702.Provided you have handed over yourself to Mother, these temptations are also a part of the programme set up by Mother, to mature Her pets. For mother's surrendered She manages temptations. She gives the strength. She gives the failure. She gives the success and pulls Her pets up. There is nothing to be disheartened. Only mind the proviso viz., “If you surrender”.

703. It is quite a fallacious idea that if you go the end of worst experiences, you automatically, by a reaction become better. It is a satanic idea and a theory of demand head plunged in badness. I go deeper and deeper in a river; there is absolutely no guarantee of my being not drowned. The fact of facts is, you may not be drowned, only if higher Power saves you. The proviso works. Once you have lost your own balance, discrimination, control and upward going force, what is more, clear than that some other force alone can save you? It may be any, your God or Guru, or your merit ( Punyam ) or your invisible better Prarabdha, or Universal Love etc.

704. You have to exert. You have to fight out. You have to awaken your latent powers. You have to pass through ordeals. You have to undertake your Sadhana, under the grace of your God and Guru. Unworkable blocks are finally to be cast into the oven fire. Let there be no misunderstanding of a revolving wheel. The wrong conception is “You go to the down most point, you are sure to rise.” “If someone pushes you up from the down most point, then alone you can come up.” There is no automatic rising because you are at the down most point – a great delusion!! 

705. One great point however of Mother's Mercy is the Divine psychic law. Every time you succeed in overcoming a temptation, or in controlling your passion, you get many times much more stronger to withstand the next temptation of many times much greater intensity. That is the way Mother trains you up by making you pass through harder and harder experiences, provided, She has taken you up on Her list of Pets and Surrendered.

706. Every man is born with a struggle and he has to struggle and fight out his warring elements bravely, with guidance, strength and blessings of his God and Guru. He can neither escape the struggle nor can he afford to be closing his eyes and brains to the working of his mind and heart and that of the world.

707. Even man has his powers and what Mother desires of him is that he does not misuse them to the selfishness of himself and detriment of others. He has his usual powers of his body and higher powers of the mind. 'Manas - मानस  ' thinks or knows. ' Chitta  - चित्त  ' likes or dislikes.' Buddhi बुध्दी ' discriminates or decides and ' Ahankaar अहंकार  ' controls the whole function with his pure or impure and strong or weak idea of his ' I and mine '.

708. A man's intellect is his power of knowing and thinking. With that, he tries to know the world and his own situation and his place therein.He tries to know what can make him powerful, peaceful, perfect and happy, what actions should be done or not done, what is God, what is Universe, what is Man etc.  

A man's will is his power to deliberately wish or not wish certain things, and decide how to act. Thus Intellect is Manas मानस and Will means both Chitta चित्त  and Buddhi बुध्दी. It is the will that controls the body and its movements, with the senses and passions, and directs the intellect to be thinking good or bad thoughts, or the thoughts of one nature or the other. The Will is in its turn under the supreme control of the Ego or the Ahankar.

709. The passions are strong feelings or likes and dislikes, which like a flood unexpectedly and excite men to certain actions, the man losing his control of mind and body. The conscience and will stand then hand and - foot bound.

710. Passions arise from love, desire, hope and delight in pleasant things and hatred, disgust, fear and anger about unpleasant things.

One love of eating and drinking, of ease and comfort, of sexual and bodily pleasure, of amusement and excitement, love of money and power, honour and glory, when gone to excess, makes us passion blind and sinful. On the other hand, we have our dislikes of pain, trouble, effort, and our dislikes of any other beings except whom we consider our own, hatred, envy, jealousy and anger towards others. We also have fear of pain, failure or loss, or fear from other people. All these make strong agitations in our mind and heart.       

711. The man has to keep a constant watch over how his mind works, how he likes and dislikes and all other emotions described before, work. His Purushaartha or manly exertion is, in the first place, to demand help from God and Guru to stand on his own, next, to develop his strong willpower and setting it against temptations and passions. He has to turn his senses away from existing objects, he has to switch off his intellect and mind from bad things and thoughts to think of something good or better; and the last thing for him is to change his environments - if one can –the first thing- and to have a physical control over his body and its movement. Says Kabir:”If you can’t stop your mind, exert your best to make bodily action physically impossible. If the physical action of taking up your bow and arrow is not permitted, the mortal arrow does not kill the innocent deer.”

 712. The preliminary wisdom lies in the selection of the best environments, company, associations of thoughts and emotions. It should be never forgotten that your checkmating action should be very prompt and the psychic law should be always before your mind, namely, that ones you give way, the vice, or passion or temptation, is sure to invade you on the next occasion with much more multiplied strength. Unless there is a saving effort, the weak, in the natural course of events, gets weaker and weaker up to the breaking point. The rich get more and more rich and the poor, more and more poor. That is the Law of Force if they work automatically by themselves alone.   

713. Any bad action, not only makes us liable to a bad suffering but inherently causes degeneration in the very Self of ours. By continued negligence or indulgence, our thoughts and desires run towards wicked pleasures, with a gradually increasing force, which, in the end, such a powerfulness over us, that it becomes impossible for us, to change our lives in spite of our strongest determination.

Any bad action again its different degree of degeneration, as its original cause. Some bad action might have taken place, only on account of certain unavoidable circumstances, or compulsion or fear. It may often be, you are not otherwise so bad, but there was some accidental outflow. It may sometime be, you were too lazy and indifferent, or too dull-headed, to stop or see the Badness of a bad action. All these are milder varieties; but a deliberate bad action manoeuvred intellectually, cleverly, systematically and secretly, is one that is positive proof of your inherent badness and is most formidable and is unforgivable by Mother. Weakness may be tolerated but wickedness has to be annihilated.         

 714. Bad environments, company, associations play their havocful degenerating part, because, by seeing others indulging in bad actions, we get familiar with bad ways. We begin to think lightly of badness. We have a forceful say, “Not I alone but everybody does that.” We lose all our idea of seriousness, shockingness, disgracefulness, and punishableness. Besides, bad people if they have a stronger willpower than ours, change our minds from goodness to badness. They would call our moral goodness to be a cowardice and make us look low, they may even compel us by pressure and intimidation, to turn to their ways of badness and to make a homogeneous element in their companionship. The most pitiable case arises, when the best man falls in the clutches of the worst man, either because of certain nefarious powers, or passionate personal love that the best person bears to the worst person. The best thing is to spend your maximum hours with God, Guru and good persons. (“Sat-Sang”) 

714 A The secret of self-improvement is "Contact with people in better society, better environment and better atmosphere ". If you have the Guru - Shishya relationship with a worthy Guru, that problem is mainly solved. That, however, cannot be good-luck of everyone.

Take as a unit the dealing-region of yourself with your God, guru, wife, life-long friend and so on. Each relationship is a simple unit. Take further a complex unit of yourself with your father's family, your own family, your relations, your society of friends, your professional brothers, your caste-people, your community people, your locality people, your co-disciples and your co-workers in common cause. There is a great wonderful course that each unit exerts on an individual. The self-preservation instinct is at work. None wants to be thrown out, abandoned and cast to the winds. A man may not care for being moral and virtuous, or for being religious, but he wants the fullest sympathy of the society and of the immediately surrounding people around. Just study a few cases, of vast changes in different families coming over to reside in a big cosmopolitan city. Customs, habits, prejudices, manners, purdah-importance, jealousy, outlook-narrowness, husband-superiority, stinginess, quarrelsomeness, callousness, bluntness, ruffian-ism, in the heart within - everything change so wonderfully and in no time. The inner pinch of self-interest and self-preservation and the desire of gaining a higher and higher footing is there at full work.

Let therefore the wisest man be extremely careful about his selection of his simple units and complex units. In spite of the highest boast of intellect and originality, man is, after all, an apish imitator and a social creature with a gregarious mentality.  Man cannot live without some association with some human beings. Group formations and group isolation are only manifestations of human nature. That is natural and even indispensable, for the purpose of self-improvement, spontaneous pleasure and the maximum efficiency and relishfulness of life. The social fear of being thrown out, asocial boycott, is no small remedy to keep everyone straight and obedient to the common collective rules, customs and living ways and beliefs (at least the express ones) of every group.    

Take a complex unit. After all the additions and subtraction, that particular unit has its positive attributes, say one unit has goodness, morality, virtue and religiousness; another unit has badness, immorality, vice and irreligiousness. Each group unit exerts a certain influence on every individual of a group and tries to pull and conquer the same to be nearer and nearer the central attribute. Everyone likes to be in intimate touch with others of the same ways. Everyone feels at home, ridden of all constraints in one's own group alone. Everyone gets extremely uneasy and constrained in a foreign environment, and everyone tries to be more or less like the group to which one belongs. 

Thus a good unit will turn the worst into worse, the worse into bad, the bad into good, the good into the better, the better into best. A bad unit will turn the best into the better, the better into good, the good into bad, the bad into worse, the worse into worst. That is why collective degeneration travels many times much faster than individual degeneration. 

Good individuals placed in bad units, have most helplessly to be bad. These are chains, in which individual links have no strength, and often, the maximum strength of the chain itself is nothing more than that of the weakest link in the chain. Goodman in bad units, have to bad for self-defence and self-preservation. They have to be an indiscernible drop of the same water. Further every one's most natural desire to go higher and higher in rank, in one's society, he wants to stand high with goodness; if in bad one, by badness. He wants to win the general applause " I am well-known someone " - egoistic pleasure. No force is as massive as the mass-force. If turned to politics, it may bring independence. If turned to religion, it may bring back universal true religiosity in a few decades. A regularly established automatic special huge machinery works wonders. It is because of the fullest knowledge of the highest efficiency of this machinery working., that religious have stooped to laying down certain rules and customs, for the smooth and efficient running, and maintaining the general efficiency of different groups. This most wonderfully working force must be prominently before the minds of religious reformers when they take up any religious rejuvenating work if solid practicability has to be achieved.

715. There is no end to psychological subtleties and fortunately, since our contact with the English language, we have a large world of literature opened out to help us. The Founder says," I am myself personally indebted to English translation of our best religious standard work, for the better understanding of our own Hindu religion." I can do very little to help others in their task of self-improvement. As a matter of fact, I have often felt myself, when I see the depth of intellect of modern quite young boys and girls, around me. How very deeply, and in a hair-splitting manner, and with unique foresightedness, do they see and do they manage matters off their worldly desires and self-interests!!! How precise, correct and prompt they are!!! I have been often more than surprised. I have often felt myself beaten by their more keen intellect and much stronger will  and more thoughtful movements. The only pity is, that they have consumed all their intellect, will, knowledge and education, in going the wrong way.I have often laughed at myself.What am I going to teach these more-intellectual, deep thinking , quick grasping, all imagining and every thing understanding youngsters!!! I have to only tell them," You invert your mind, change your visual angle and direction and you will be all teachers to me."

715 A. The modern man is creating plunge- ponds for aging experiences of anything and everything from its most initial stage.He takes nothing as granted, on the ground of the same being the essence of the wisest men in the past.He does not believe in ancient instructions of certain bottles containing poison. But, on the other hand, his intellectual curiosity does not keep him contended with the ignorance about the contents. He must know it; and, here again, he is too selfish too experiment on himself, or to patiently work hard to get at the truth, with the bold sacrifice of the West and preparedness for the result that may follow, and with determination and diligence. If you pursue in the right direction, with the strongest discipline , under the proper guidance , with  a decision to reach the end, it does not matter what you find at the end. You arrive at your conviction of one nature or another. The modern man wants to try, from a distance, the contents of the  bottle on some one else, and to see if he dies or survives. He is neither knowing nor ignorant, He is neither content with accepting other's decisions, or with not knowing, nor is prepared to experiment on himself. He is neither spiritualistic nor materialistic.He wants to reap the benefits of both the realms. The modern Indian life represents an intensely unfathomable crude mixture of all opposites and all contradictions , resulting from the adulteration of the two civilizations.

One seemingly brilliant point about the modern man is, that surely he  has shown a more brilliant grasp-quickness and intellect, than his predecessors. Why? The younger the man is by , say, ten years, the greater is the dazzling splendour of his ready-wittedness, quicker action, immediate grasp of the whole situation, and most intellectual escape  from any embarrassing situation.

But a little deeper observation shows you, behind all the intellectual glamourosness , the high soaring of  a kite with its eye in search of some rotten dirty flesh-piece in some deep abyss , the cleverness and quickness of  a crow and a blindness of an owl.One thing is undeniable , and it is, in spite of greater and greater intellect , wider and wider knowledge of scientific discoveries , ampler and ampler improvements in daily comfort , hygiene, medicine, etc. the cries of the world of pain, misery, poverty and destitution have been more and more ear rendering.

Whatever looks as livelier and sprightlier , with a deluding vivacity and gaiety, is only a curtain picture, as a result of almost individual focusing on his own individualism and selfishness. He thinks of his own problems alone. He is busiest with churning out his own cess-pool, during working periods, leisure-periods, and rest periods. He is busy with the explorations of the several varieties of scheminess , to serve his own purpose. He prepares himself with several "before hand rehearsals" to achieve his intended objects with most unexpected quick flights , to and fro.

He has been able to concentrate on his own interests , because he has banished all other considerations, or the reverses of it, he has banished them , because he wants to concentrate; very likely, both in the vicious circle. Religious hypocrisy , without service, love and sacrifice , is only a negative missingness; but an intellectual selfish wickedness creates hatred and horror, in the hearts of the aggrieved and altruist. The greatest curse of the modern age , which has multiplied misery immensely, is that every man thinks many times much more of himself , his capacity and worth, his potentialities  and his rights. In one word, unless he receives  a heavy blow , every one thinks he is a great man, born to be made way for, honoured, praised and worshipped by the world. The diseaseful crazy madness!! INDIVIDUALISM, EQUALITY, LIBERTY AND FRATERNITY. The last term is made to mean only one thing - every one's right of compelling thew higher gifted and better placed persons , to lose their things , with no other justification therefor, except that he has the same life and living  and the organism and the functioning of the mind and body, as any other man. He stops only where he can not go further , out of  blow fear. Every man starts his life, with the basic assumption most favourable to his selfish self. Of course , by "every man" I really mean the majority. "Man, know Thyself" - is the most efficacious   panacea. The smooth and sweet remedy would be , the rejuvenation of religiosity through well known channels .The other method of every one chopping off every opposition  or incongruency that arise in one's way, with the brutal strength of superiority that one has , will never bring a permanent cure and profound peace.

The modern man has too much faith in his inventing intellect. Intellect however often an unreliable and deceitful guide , adviser or master, unless it is associated with a strong will, working in cooperation with and in obedience to  the Divine Laws and Divine Truths. Intellect so often swallows up  right discrimination , and pulls a man in a particular direction , painting a particular fascinating picture. Intellect is able to raise  any army of one type , or an equally strong contradictory type, as it likes. In the end, intellect most shamelessly, declares its irresponsibility like that proverbial parrot ever saying"there is no doubt about it" to anything and everything. Intellect than spurningly tells you "I might have told you so many things , but where had your own discrimination gone to graze?"

Caring for none else and nothing, creates an all-exclusive tendency, and a man of that formed habit goes deeper and deeper, into his own self-created well. He has no benefit of  a study , on comparisons and contrasts, of himself with others better than himself.  He remains all-buried within himself. He has none to study, none to follow, none to imitate, none to guide and none to save. He never confides and consults. He revels in himself  and lives., till his death, in his own ignorant darkness.

716. Some people even more youngsters in the line, understand me from my facial features, before I speak a syllable, so very clever are they. For one simile , they would just then and there  create ten similes on the same lines. But , after all their display, the last thing that comes is, " I am extremely unhappy, I have no peace of mind and for this, I have come to you." The last word , in spite of all intellect, cleverness, deep thinking, vast reading, education, trickiness, craftiness, cunningness, falsehood, fraudulence , enough money, good health, is that of unhappiness and misery.Everyone  comes to me and finally says," I have got everything, but I have no "Shanti" ( peace of mind).

Everything is there , but there is something initially wanting , the absence of which can not be made up, by anything which they possess , though so much in abundance .But what if , on the contrary, that absent thing "Shanti" craved so much for , for its being present, requires the every dispossession of all that they are holding  dearest as their best qualifications!!! - what a terrible job it is, to bring the North and South Poles together!!!  And that, most unfortunately , is imposed condition on which Shanti can come to you.  

716 A.'Shanti' and 'Sukha' - tranquillity and happiness - everyone wants them. These are spiritual qualities. Man's inner soul revolts, against man being turned into machines. These two attainments are indispensable for the spiritual hunger of man. In spite of all atheism and materialism, man is unable to cease to be divine, in his final most reality. Just think most seriously about one question. Why is it that even the most wicked and worst persons are liked to be called righteous and good, just and kind? Why? Why are people so very anxious to cover up all their badness and falsehoods, trickeries and hypocrisies? Why that nature - inner nature - for being called benevolent, philanthropic and living one's life for the world's welfare? Go to any part of the world, of any language, any civilisation; test either the smallest child or the most tyrannical tyrant; there, there, is the proof of the 'Divinity of Man'.

The Founder has seen this contrast vividly, since 1947. Swallowers expect the treatment accorded to angelic benefactors. Immoral youths want the rights of Shuka Deva in the midst of young women. Why, why this desire of being known as, as treated as, “angels”?? The Divinity of Man, within, revolts against being altogether wiped out. It is not, that a spreading a name of goodness is only a part of the play, for the facility of one’s game. Study this point most minutely and you will find out there is a “cutting to the quick” in the innermost heart, at the very act of someone reminding you, of your having fallen from your true and natural plane of superb Divinity.

Everyone has heard about “Shanti and Sukha”, and their genealogy and history, and about their possession and possessors, in the past and the present. Just as I find the so-called atheism to be really rebelliousness, on the diagnosis of the modern age, here to, I have found cry to be meaningless. It is a cry for having the same cake again in your purse, which you have eaten away. It is the complaint-full grumbling (about neck compressing twisting and aching) of the self-hurting man who, as a desire driven discontented man, has most greedily overburdened his head with hundreds of unnecessary loads. A well known most flourishing lawyer once complained to the Founder, on loosing health on account of sleeplessness. No medicine, no mantra, no repetition of sacred name, no sanctified waters, will work. The Founder fully disappointed suggested, he should sleep with him for three nights. The next morning after the first night itself, the Founder laughed outright to himself. The lawyer got up in the morning and with the beaming joy of the successful discovery, began to dictate to his assistants so many most important winning points of the cases to be conducted that day. As a matter of fact, during the daytime, he was doing only the routine work; whereas, during the night hours, he was doing all his original and inventive work most concentratedly. How can the sleep come, when the doors are actually shut up against sleep, and the mind is most concentratedly busiest??

 If, each and every avenue of activity and relationship o yours, you lay down a standard, which you can cope up with, only by your own shortage being made up by outside agencies, and by exceptionally favorable circumstances expected to be cropping up or to be created by you or others, if you keep yourselves  always on the minus and ever deficient side, if you are determined to be always on the side of bankruptcy and begging and gain seeking, if there is no surplus in a single avenue of making up the shortage in so many other avenues, if, in every dealing of yours, you have created a war to win,, if you begin and live your life  as a parasite counting on other’s blood, wherefrom can the relief  originate and bring you peace??  If you are running for everything best and highest, much more than you deserve than your merit and worth, much more above what is just and fair, and much above your maximum earnings and energies, capacities and probabilities, where from can “peace” (“Shanti”) descend and pour itself?? If everyone expects others to make up his shortages, if there is nothing like a “credit” in any of all the accounts with all persons, of any relationship, of any variety, even God Almighty cannot make you peaceful and happy. How long can only “taking” without “giving” (except, when snatched) last?? Peace can proceed in two ways only, by the satisfaction of the desires or their annihilation. If, by the time your ten desires are fulfilled, twenty new desires fill their place, with yet higher forcefulness, where is the hope?? Unless you turn your steps towards the self-denying path, your demand for peace and happiness is only modesty worded and but it is, in reality, a demand for the world’s conquest.

    In fewest words, “Shanti” or tranquillity proceeds from “Naishkarmyaa” or inaction; and “Sukha” or happiness proceeds from “Tyaaga” or relinquishment. First, have the rationalistic, unclouded, unambiguous, crystal clear understanding about God, Guru, Religion and Religiosity. Then begin the “Sadhana” of harmonizing all the different tunes within yourself, by actual practice, be they only of the simplest nature, and of the smallest type, as described before. Be as much unattached as possible. Let every worldly activity be, only as an inevitable exception to your standing orders of “maximum observance of Inaction”. You will see the preliminary peacefulness dawning over your soul, in your mind and heart.

After a fairly good harmonization, you will be able to form a conception, in your mind. There can be no reflection in a dirty, impure, muddy and ever stirred up lake, with rushes of in flaws and out flaws. After that, a picture or stabilized reality is formed there automatically results on the concentration thereon, the “Naishkarmyaa” (Inaction), as also “Tyaaga (Relinquishment). At this stage, when your own world becomes practically dead for you, you get the superior “Shanti” and the preliminary “Sukha” (happiness). When at the higher stage, when you surrender yourself with everything of yourself, including your soul, to your ideal “Upaasya” (that which is worshipped and meditated upon), you have both the highest tranquillity and the highest happiness. (Shanti and Sukha).

Every saint has said the same things. Each saint is spending his life, to make the dish more and more tasteful, attractive and acceptable. But, what is the use, when the stomach itself has got deranged? And when the mind has taken nausea?  All the same, rivers cannot remain without running. That is the long and short of the whole phenomenon. Saints are potassium permanganate tablets, or fishes, to keep the world water clear.

They too are under the pulling of an irresistible force, to do their assigned work and part. A man is drowning in a river; there are two men standing on the bank; one of them speaks wrathfully,"I had told you thrice not to go deep.";  he turns his back and goes home, altogether without any sorrow ( being a fatherly saint or an Adwaitist) ; there is another man (a motherly saint) who runs to the  opposite shop,  takes a rope coil and flings it up in the river towards the drowning man  and shouts"catch the end , and I will put you out "; 

The rope coil is a hundred feet long and the drowning man is still 50 feet still further away. The man is drowned. The world only laughs at the man saying "Was it ever possible? even a child could have seen he was much further away ."The world has nothing better to offer, except ridiculing on such failure.T he world has no eyes to see that although the drowning man was not saved, he would have been saved if he had been within 100 feet, or if the rope coil had been 50 feet long. Nor does the world know about so many of them, that has been invisibly profited within 100 feet, at least with the courage of catching up the rope in case they had any diffidence about their swimming capacity. 

Most in the world want plantains on Cactus-hedges. If by chance, they collide with some Mother or Motherly saint, they want her or Him to serve them, right from feeding morsels to the removal of bedpans during sickness, without an iota of a feeling of gratitude. "How to live a peaceful happy life" is the hardest problem for the whole world since it began. All investigation and thinking appear to have ended in every case, with the conclusion of an impossibility of any permanent solution. The real thing is the solution is already there, repeated by saints from time to time with monotony breaking new expressions, new ways, new permutations and new combinations. But the world wants something else, and something other than the too well-known solution, and something new like a magic wand, which requires nothing to be done by persons desiring spiritual benefits. However, during the world's search of truth, peace and happiness, not finished and never to be finished, Incarnations and Saints have emancipated and saved millions.

717. How can the Est and the West stand together? Mother alone knows. One of the two must be an imitation. If you are not prepared to leave an inch of worldliness, you can have a high place only in the "imitation religion".If, on the other hand, you are truly religious, you may be a worldly man to all appearances talking of and taking pleasure in worldliness, but it can only be an "imitation worldliness". Efforts have been made to harmonize both together, but one thing is true, and another thing although look true, and appears to be present there, is only an imitation. Most unpleasant truth, for a prudent man to speak out. Anyway, let us pull on our journey with our lame bullock-cart.

718. Leave the notion then, that anything will be achieved without your own exerting. You must have your own "Sadhana".First thing, get Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace and then fire on. Be wisest in selecting your environments, company and associations.  Undertake constant watchfulness over your heart and mind, thoughts, emotions and actions. Never be discouraged.  Every failure is only a preparation for a future success.

Say,"I lose nothing in trying." Say"Let them have the satisfaction of failing."When there is, fortunately, an atom of success, say," I have to exert a bit more and let me have at least once a nominal full success. When that smallest success is there, say," Why should I not be successful, in every case, if I have been successful in one at least," and so on. Say," Why, while so many others have succeeded I should not succeed in every case?" With renewed energy and renewed hope, proceed on, till you have attained a fairly high a perfection.

You need no teaching. All these things, are you not inventing yourself, while you are following and carrying out most patiently and perseveringly, your worldly desires?? And, my humble suggestion reduces itself to saying quite a minimum or few worded thing, namely," Just as you exert there, so also you find away here. You dive deep underseas, you fly high in the skies, you turn heaven and earth for your worldly desiderata ; so, do the very same thing here, and you will have the desired success, for one fourth of your labours spent for uncertain worldly gains, for the perishable things  of cruel competition, as wealth and pleasure.

This aspect and transformation suggestion , has been so very wisely expressed by the angelic Rishies , in the past, though in the matter of devotion , which is of course an allied and sisterly domain of true religion,, in these words :- "Oh, God, Make me think of Thee with that strong love and attachment, which the ignorant cherish for the things of the world."

There is no technicality about Religion and Religiosity. Every man that is born is entitled to it and knows about it.

You are dying for wealth, for woman or man, and for pleasure. None should envy you or your pleasures and possessions; You have died for them; you have become living ghosts, for their sake. You just try for these for spiritual possessions, you will similarly get them now and here.  As a matter of fact, in the realm of religion, the demand is the least, if not none, and you will get the Lord or Mother, for practically no price whatever. Mother is only waiting to be shouted for, or merely called, in this age of bankruptcy. 

718 A First, having the maximum, Guru's Grace and Mother's Mercy, start your "Sadhana". Two Divine Truths must be constantly before your mind :

(A) Unlike worldly efforts, nothing done here is  without its permanent benefit, in spite of seeming failure; because you are busy with bettering your instruments,  which are ever with you, to be more efficient, not only for the whole life but for lives after lives, if you believe in rebirths.

(B) There should be absolutely no feeling of drooping, on seeing the contrast of the mountain of work (talked over)  to be done to reach the end and your ant's working capacity. An ant or an elephant, the mightiest army or deserted individual, one and all, are under the kindliest care and observation of Mother and She gives the most handsome return for an ant's or elephant's exertion. Where is any ground for despondency, whether an ant or elephant, it gets much better and happier by resorting to "Saadhanaa"??Mother is  "AABRAHMA-KEETA-JANANI" (Mother of all, from the lowest worm to Brahma, the creator of the World). 

 You have to pass between two opposites. You feel the task is impossible, on the one hand; on the other, you can not succeed unless you have a faith, that you are sure to achieve it. You are drooping at the idea of your inability, and you must have the strength of will, to say that nothing is too great for you. The consciousness about your weakness does not permit you to exert yourself, at your maximum possible best. Unless you have that conviction you can't succeed.

It is here that the faith of God and Guru comes in. You say to yourself,"An impossible thing is impossible so long as I have to do it". " As soon as you believe " Mother will do the work for me " and that your part therein is only the determination, strength, devotional intensity, single-mindedness, and 'Do or die-exertion' the task becomes easy, provided you have faith in your Guru and in God about His mercifulness and His wonderful powers of passing elephants through the hole of a needle.

The most encouraging scriptural tradition is that of a "Titavi" (a sea shorebird) and the ocean. The bird's eggs were washed away by the ocean, who refused to return them. The "Titavi", out of wrathfulness and out of her love to young ones, decided to fill up the ocean with the shore sand taken in the beak, till the eggs were returned. Which "Sadhana" can be more impossible than this? But even in such an impossible effort, with wisdom and devotion, there was a success. The highest sage Naarada, out of his love, as of a mother to her child, saw her devotion to Lord Krishna, talked over to Vishnu and Vishnu spirited up His  "Garud" with the species' pride (as a bird), and the ocean had to return the eggs to the "Titavi."  

It does not matter you be simple "titavi". Some Narada the world Guru and the all's welfares worried is always roaming in the search of afflicted, for giving relief. The world Guru talks to Vishnu (Mother) and Mother deputes some personal smaller Guru(Garud) to reach a certain modus operandi and to give a chalked out programme. Don't forget one invisible and unbelievable truth. There is much quicker wireless telepathy and telephonic arrangement in the devotional world which bring the distant most and highest matters, in the nearest and closest linked-up connection.     

In common life, we find, some persons are so mentally constituted, that if a single thing worth nothing is lost and if they are searching for the same they can't turn their mind to any other thing, till the lost thing is found. Its worth is absolutely no consideration. The peculiar nature is the indicator of the faculty required for 'Sadhana' or vision or realisation of Godliness. " DEHAM PATAYAMI KARYAM SADHAYAMI - देहं पतयामी कार्यं साधयामी "  (  I achieve my object or I throw away my body ).   

719. After the preliminary Sadhana of religious requirements described in this chapter, the Superior Sadhana leading to 'Vairagyam' has to be undertaken. Till now we have dealt with requirements to be happy in the worldly eyes, with a particular manner with a long foresight, and with the knowledge of the occult and invisible Divine Laws and Forces, as our recognized bases. Now we come to thinking of something about the world and worldliness itself. This Sadhana is the practice of developing the mind to see in everything 1] temporariness 2] untruthfulness 3] changingness 4] fruitlessness etc. These are the most indispensable factors, in our vision and understanding of the world to make any real headway to go still higher.

You master all virtues and develop all your mental and moral faculties. There is a stop. Further, it is neither that the world considers you entitled to be happy because you are moral, virtuous, religious and worthy in every aspect; nor does the world act congenially towards your requirements and with you because of that consideration; sometimes just the reverse. If you are too good, you are to be swallowed up. The world envies you and sometimes injures you because you are on a higher and different plane. If you take especially to the devotional aspect, often there is a good deal of truth in the old proverb “Jagat and Bhagat, the world and the devotee, have born enmity.” Besides, there are so many automatic befalling miseries, which you cannot be able to bear, simply because you are virtuous.  Thus the perfection in all virtues and the best usual human faculties and capacities does not bring you to the end of your Sadhana, even if you don't want to go higher than doing your best, to have the maximum happiness and minimum misery. Although the said maximum minimum is the most practical and universally acknowledged general goal of human life, the higher you climb, the higher and higher requirements press themselves on you as indispensable and inevitable.

You reach the highest apex of devotion (Gauna Bhakti). So long as that has not ripened itself to PARABHAKTI पराभक्ती with Vedantic and Adwaitistic Gyana ज्ञान achievement, the culmination point of Divine Love is not reached and the highest bliss is not experienced. Till that final stage is attained, you remain constantly weeping and laughing, and begging and thanksgiving. Where is the end?

Here the Gnanin ज्ञानी, the Vedantin वेदान्ती, the Adwaitist, come in and say," Crush your mind to pieces. Annihilate it all together. It is this hopeless mind that shows you heaven and hell, and gives you happiness and misery. ". Follow that precious teaching and train your mind to the point of annihilation of the mind.

Developing your virtues, character and your usual human faculties and living harmoniously and harmlessly with all in the world is the first, indispensably the first great thing. Please understand me; It is not that Bhakti or Gnana are not higher things. But without feet and a satisfactorily working belly and hands what is the worth of your life with only a sweetheart and sound head? You can feel most nobly; you can think most ingeniously; but in practical life, you are a big cipher. What is use? Hence strict abidance to the order of development is most useful; hence the importance of "Love and Service to All" is the highest, especially in this age of reversed ways and values.

The Founder’s highest emphasis lies on the development of character, with universal love and service, as he has seen the greatest bankruptcy, in this avenue of true religiosity, and one reason why the modern youngsters have nausea against the religion is, that there is very little of practical usefulness, proceeding from  a devotee ever weeping in the name of God, or a Gyani, setting every duty, law and order, at naught, under his patent theories of “Unrealism”,-“Maya”,- “Delusion”, etc. Although he himself may be a big cipher, the modern youngster measures the worth of any man professing to be religious, on the utilitarian bases, as he has neither the tender most heart of a true devotee nor the relish less, self-controlled, renouncing spirit of true Gyani. Bhakti is a Greek and Gnana is Latin to him, and none of the two gains a soft corner with him. Except for such religious persons, as have a towering personality with name and fame, all other fairly religious persons of mediocrity, are at the most painful disadvantage of being judged, in their practical life, with an extremely stern an ideal-test standard of character. The only most common remedy has been to be ignoring jaundice eyed and discarding their opinion; but all the same, the misfortune of the irreligiosity- increase gets aggravated, and becomes, day by day, more and more baneful, to the general and universal religious existence and welfare.

The Founder is therefore extremely anxious that religious preachers and teachers may, for some time to come to concentrate most forcefully, on the preliminary grounding of the formation of character, giving temporarily much higher value to the said missing quality than to devotional effusions or to Divine Knowledge – exhibitions.

The Founder in his light moments observes this difference in simile, about the man of Love and Service, and a devotee and a Guru, the latter both, of course of a nominal preliminary routinistic standard. The man of character, love and service, is like a sufficiently rich man, who does not care for anything and who straightway purchase his first class ticket of train travel with his secure goodwill and merit (punyam) which he had earned by his meritorious actions. The devotee without character or merit (Punyam), with quite a poor purse, tries to have much greater comfort than others, by entering the servant’s compartment, which is mostly vacant, on declaring himself as a servant of some Deity. The gnani without character or merit (Punyam), secure his comfort by his tall talks in midst of a crowd of passengers. He overawes his co-travellers with astounding quotations from Scriptures. Sometimes he professes thought reading, becomes a palmist, gives a funny interesting absorbing illustration and sometimes shows a little goodness here and there and establishes his assumed superiority. Anyhow, with exhibitions of all varieties he snatches his comfort from his fellowmen. He indulges in his sophistries, for not travelling in a higher class and says he does so with a view to take the opportunity of illuminating the illiterate mass, and he so many wonderful things with his wonderfully dancing intellect. He is an expert in the matter of making his way. Both the devotee and Gyani make most of their humility, sacrifice, simplicity and self-independence in life. If, however by chance, any of their wealthy disciples, finding them uncomfortable, purchases a high-class ticket and request them to travel with them in that class, all talks evaporate then and there and they immediately run following the disciple, without even a parting word with the previously extremely dear (??) co-travellers.

An ordinary man, without devotion or Gyana, but with character, love and service is much happier than and superior to, a so-called ordinary Bhakta or Gyani, without character, love and service. The former has secured at least this world’s sympathy and co-operation from the world itself and has a vast storage of Punyam, because of his meritorious actions under the Divine give and take arrangement. Remain, therefore, extremely intent upon enriching your treasury of spiritual wealth of Punyam, utilizing and even seeking opportunities of loving and serving Mother’s children.

You are moral, good, rational, harmless, etc. That is your first step. It means you are saved from 80 per cent of miseries that can befall you if you were otherwise. But there are miseries, say, the faithlessness of wife, or of a beloved, or the sudden death of your only most virtuous and intelligent son, or the sinking of a Bank in which all your monies are deposited. How to meet such shocks? There is no other healing remedy, except devotion, saint’s contact or public service. The last thing means turning your mind from misery-ful worldly subject to a misery-less worldly subject. Saint’s contact mostly means self-forgetfulness, whereas devotion means the transferring of heart and head to the Divinity itself. Let it be said here a man’s heart  (the centre of sweet or bitter emotions) is such a small cavity that it can be filled up in no time by any small misery, out of an ocean of miseries which a man’s closed eyes cannot see, but can drown him. The smallest misery makes a man miserable all his life. Saints in the past have said,” Miseries are as great as mountain and happiness is not more than a mustered grain.”

First character; then, devotion (Guana); then Divine Knowledge; then, the alternate innumerable layers of Service, Bhakti and Gyana, till they interpenetrate and finally, the Parabhakti (Supreme Divine Love) in which character with action, devotion and Divine knowledge are all in perfect harmony, and of the higher order. Supreme Bhakti is the Mother to which Kriya is the beloved daughter and Gyana is the beloved son. This is the long and short, as Founder believes. 

We are here, for explaining the Gnana ज्ञान aspect. Don't bring in Theologies and philosophies. Be extremely practical. Vedantism वेदान्ती and Adwaitism अद्वैती are names intelligible to Hindus alone. What is common to all and of any religion? It is the annihilation of the mind. This expression is too hard. I would be satisfied with the " the conquest of mind ". I want mind to give me the nectar-sweetness of devotion. It is enough for me if the mind stands up or sit down, as my finger goes up and down. And that is Sadhana साधना, which we are dealing with here. What is the secret of a stronger husband of a shrew? Alternate attitude which creates fear and love, till a perfect obedience is guaranteed.  

That you must have the amplest leisure and strongest energy is the first requirement of any Sadhana साधना. Your occupation with worldliness should be the minimum. Start with an antagonistic contradiction of your mind. Don’t consider me to be a fool, because I am talking two pennyworth matters, nor should you yourself be a fool. Rightly or wrongly, just be the opposite side of mind. Mind says," This dish is tasteful "; you say immediately (laugh with me, when I say, rightly or wrongly)," No it is injurious to health ". Your mind talks to you: “Make your senior officer to retire soon; you will get his post and you will be happier ". You immediately snub your mind with," No, you fool, have you no idea of or concern of my senior's family?"

“You laugh with me when I say: even when your mind says sweet and true matters, still, make a practice of your opposite stand. Says the mind “Prostitutes are worst kind of women.” You oppose tooth and nail and say, “If they were not there, there would be immorality in the best chaste families.”  Why do I insist on the opposite stand even when the mind is right? The mind is an expert cheat. It will carry you by the way along which you will have no objection and it will over topple you in your moment of in-alertness. Why, if you study the lives of great men, mind has always dragged stronger man into delinquencies, only taking them along ways of seeming righteousness and virtue. Mind is an extremely clever exhibitor of reverse things, of realities and unrealities. Mind knows his ways, how to bring the strongest man to his point. Mind is an expert picture-maker of scenes, emotions and actions.   So let your first practice be to be able to set your mind at defiance.”

“Laugh with me , therefore, when I say: Start with the practice of your saying “yes”, when the mind says “no”, and of your saying “no” when the mind says “yes”, till the mind is completely subdued and till it says “yes or no”, just as you command. The greatest benefit of this mental practice is that the mind is not itself happy and ease-ful enough to be sitting on any pleasure for long, to be enamoured thereof and then to pull you in, towards pleasures, with its deceitful pictures of virtue, truth, goodness, duty, respectability etc. Mind, like an immoral wife, has its own ways how to enslave the most wrathful and frightful “Soul” or “Self” – the husband. Mind keeps her husband always asleep with various drugs  For some time, therefore, be a living enemy of your mind. If the mind says "Let us go in the north ", you begin to walk in the south and so on, till the mind is finally conquered". 

 It comes to this: Don’t allow your mind to produce anyone or anything before you, and to play its juggleries, to carry you as it dictates. Whatever comes to you, you begin to revert and side turn. If the mind adjusts your visual angle to think things from your point of view, you begin to see, how matters will start to see in the eyes of your antagonists, others concerned and others unconcerned, etc. If the mind is asking you to be thinking of the present, you do thrust in the past, and the future, as well, till your mind is sufficiently trained to see everything from all outlooks and all visual angels, and from the past, present and future, as well.  

What is the final result? Nothing takes root, nothing sets in, nothing catches you, nothing entangles you, nothing blindfolds you, nothing sprouts, nothing takes shape, nothing gets firm. Substantially, you are simply shattering whatever comes before you good or bad. By your experience, you know, there is no knowing when good comes out of bad and when bad comes out of the good. Away with them both, the so-called good and the so-called bad. Reject both, not only the vice, but also the virtue, not only ignorance but also the knowledge.

Gradually the vision of temporariness dawns. What is this world!! What are so-called good or bad things? Flashlights of four seconds!! The moon so very beautiful to look at in the lake waters vanishes after only a few hours, when the sun rises and the moon sets. The innumerable moons in innumerable places of waters in the world, all vanish in few hours, as soon as the moon in the sky sets. The whole world is only dream-like, nothing of the dream exists when you wake up.

Once the vision of temporariness is attained, what are all the allurements of the world?- woman, wealth, power, the world's kingdom?? As soon as you have the all-other-thoughts-drowning supreme idea of the temporariness of the enjoyer himself, what value do the enjoyments carry?? What was King Parikshit, after he was informed, he had to die within a week?? We are all dancing, so long as we are in the Bliss of Ignorance. 

On developing the notion of temporariness, all our vices whittle down. If we enlarge our outlook over the past, the present and the future of a thing, we have a picture, which with a startling surprise, change our mind altogether, like that of Yudhishthir after winning the war. We lose all infatuation, desire, likes and dislikes, attachments and enchantments.

Where is the charmfulness of the best damsel, when, along with her present enchanting beauty, you see the babyhood and the old hag-hood with wrinkles, white hair, bent back and tottering footsteps ?? Where is the infatuation, when, along with her present charmful condition before you, you imagine her also in the midst of dirt, disease, and deformity.??

Where is the craving for the wealth, when you imagine pictures of past and future, about the miseries of millionaires that you have seen in practical life, their anxiety and care during earning, preserving and shockful sorrows, on losing?? How much do they enjoy themselves the wealth or live to enjoy?? Rightly or wrongly, you must have only suitable instances before you, of the living world around you. Please don't forget, that none has appointed you to be the High Court Judge to give your judgment about matters. You have only some purpose to achieve,- to train your mind to be thinking in a particular manner, to get a conviction about certain truths, which may lead you to the right path. The world has all the things. take up only what helps you and reject the rest.  

"Coming next, after temporariness, to truthfulness, my heart stops. Good, God!! Mother save me!! If you have the highest definition of "truthfulness", you will conclude, there is nothing in the world except downright cheating, nothing worth associating with. The whole world is only a huge market of cheats. The highest cheat is your own infatuation. Just be an unconcerned witness, as dry and immovable as a rock and go on studying the whole process of cheating. It is ignorance that gives you a Bliss. If people could see what is passing in the minds of others, whom they deal with, three-fourths of the worldly happiness and bliss would immediately evaporate. Under the most severe tests of truthfulness and righteousness, even Incarnations and Deities like Indra, have failed, although, it must never be forgotten, for world's welfare alone. What then, of we, who are mortal pygmies??  One moderating fact is, we don't call certain cheatings like cheatings, below a certain standard, because, then, the life itself will be full of disgust and relishlessness for Idealists sticking to "truthfulness".Why? What is even the tomtommed sexual love? A semblance of sighs with lots of lives! The Sadhaka has, however, to perforate that solid covering  (of Maya's hardest shells) in order to see what life and the world are, in their natural final realities. "

Just go over own scriptures. Even Harishchandra himself refused to hand over his son to Varuna. He cheated Varuna more than thrice. Even the immortal famed Saint and Rishi Vasishta flouted truth. by suggesting a camouflage and a deceptive expedient of purchasing a son of a poor Brahmin, adopting him as a son, and handing over to Varuna, for the purpose of being sacrificed.  

Adjust your eye to the new vision of Saadhaka. Whatever is mentioned here, is not for the belittlement of the greatest of the great, but for the awakening the sense and vision, which sees the limitedness and the end of the greatest of the virtues, powers and prowess-es. It is with a view to create the feeling of nothingness about life, the world and the poor creature, which they call "man" - about Man, Deities, and the Universe itself.

There are wonderful illustrations in scriptures, mostly narrated as the working of Maayaa and to create the sense of nothingness. Hindu scriptures have quite an abundance of the said material; and the compilation of all such instances of failures, transgressions, omissions and delinquencies, would awaken the sense of nothingness on the physical plane, just ask for the chemical value of a living man and a money value of dead man. And, what is a man as a created creature in this vast Universe? What is his maximum duration of 100 years before eternity? And what is the best has he been able to do?? A man is much higher than a butterfly or a mouse or an animal; that is all. Just look at the unimaginable solar systems, workings of oceans to be lands, and the land to be oceans, and hundreds of things, which we can not understand and can not have any real and correct idea of. What and how much do you know of the working inside your body itself? Tell me, after you have thought of all these things, "What is a man"? 

Queen Gandhari, Mother of the Kauravas, after they were slain, determined to die of fasting, although Lord Krishna did His best console her, and to abandon such dying determination. One night Gandhari ran to the battlefield where her sons were lying slain, to give up her life. And there Maayaa worked up the miracle. In her sight, a beautiful mango tree grew up with infatuating mangoes.  She would go to pluck them, but they would remain a bit higher. Maayaa made her loose all sense in solitude, in starvation. To gain the height and to reach the mangoes, she heaped up her 100 sons' bodies, one upon another; still, the mangoes remained a little higher. Lord Krishna came over there, plucked the mangoes, gave them to her and taught her the highest lesson about the nothingness of man, and the nothingness of everything, in the vast Universe.

"The Saadhaka says to himself," If everything in substance is not what it seems to be on the surface, why not say and believe in general, unprecise, flinging and partial truth-speaking manner that "the world is unreal"?  And, why not go a step further and say, in a disgustful spirit, that the world does not exist at all?? Is it anything else than only a bit exaggerated superlative term or expression for temporariness" and "ever changingness" and "deceptiveness"?? You think about a person, or a thing, or a situation in a particular manner. You have conceived a certain reality about it. In no time you find things to be something else. Your former reality has become unreality. Let us make a definition convenient for us and for our purpose. Let us say:" Whatever is temporary, changing, untruthful, not the very same at all times, is unreal and non -  existent." 

When we bodily pursue the problem, we find this. The all-pervading fact, of seeing things, where there are none; the not-seeing of things, which are already there; seeing things differently, from what they are. All these three types of experiences can be summed up only by a plain admission" we don't know and can't perfectly know anything." A little figurative personification and we come to the well known "Maayaa". We have to credit Maayaa with indescribability, incomprehensibility and invincible power for all the above stated three varieties of delusion, in addition to so many other things." 

Two friends, experts in gossiping, with the need of each other, met together. One accosted the other and said, "Not a single letter form you?" the other said,"What do you talk? I have so many letters of yours in reply to mine." The first man how had not written a single letter was careful enough not to contradict the other, lest he be also accused of writing no letters. Said he," Of course those we have received and written to each other; but, I am talking of the period thereafter." The man ended by saying,"You know nowadays, the post offices have become extremely fanciful, irregular and irresponsible." That post office is our Maayaa. Anyone can lay down his faults at the doors of Maya. None can ask any question there. Further, we can bring in Maya whenever we like and dismiss and delineate her, as we like- unapproachable, unquestionable, incomprehensible and ungovernable.

Gnanis have their "Maya"..Devotees have their "Leela" and worldly people have their "Prarabdha". All three are different words for one thing alone, viz.,"unknowable of the unknown, and the limitedness of the known, nameable and thinkable". In plainest words, all the three words, with their respective theories, tell you this: "Don't be silly, asking answerable questions. Pass with patience and cheerfulness, through your lot. What else are you going to do?? You can do nothing and you are nothing." Man is, after all, ignorant and in-capacious." There is a higher true bliss, much different from the delusive bliss of ignorance." "Try to attain that, leaving all these unrealities and real unrealities."  

The greater the development of your mind in love and truth, the greater is your disgust for this fleeting untruthful world. Your activities and desires and relishfulenss gradually evaporate and vanish; and the highest mountains of your miseries, on detachment, get reduced to dust.

Our mind can similarly be trained to think of changefulness and fruitlessness. With changefulness, the trust and the faith disappears; changefulness may give sometimes give you a temporary feeling of pleasure, but in absolute weighing, the notion of non-safety, no-security-and no stability, results in disquietude and shattering of the peace of your mind. The pleasure on getting the thing, due to changefulness, has on its reverse side, the painfulness of losing it. The Saadhaka sees both sides, simultaneously, and does not fall a pray. Excessive love of finite things, carries within itself, the fear of losing the same, and, the absence of the vision about changefulness, is responsible for all alternate pleasure and plains. 

The realization of fruitlessness would depend on the stage of the development. But, nothing is more practical and truer than that the "Rasa" or relishfulness (Param Drishtwaa Nivartate) disappears and gets quietened only on Realisation and personal Vision of the Highest, above all. You can control senses and the mind, but the relishfulness does not leave you until you have the "Saakshaatkaar" (the eye-to-eye vision). Who will drink drain waters, after he has once tasted nectar? The Greater the Mother's Grace, the greater the relishlessness about the world, and greater the disgust to return to the filthiness of the world.

Mai-ism fully appreciates the indispensability of training of the mind, on the lines of Adwaitistic principles and beliefs and theories, but only in the sense already explained.

However, Mai-ism does not agree with the interpretation of “unreality” to mean, “non-existence". If there is a thick wall between the outer portion A and the inner portion B, the preacher of  "there is no wall" are morally and religiously responsible for millions of people dashing their heads against the wall, or entirely losing their way, or going astray, acting as they do, with a belief in their teaching of "No wall exists". Although the sufferers ' own misunderstanding can be brought forth, in defence, the fact of the perpetual confusion with its ruin-some results, remains. "I, for myself, cannot see any meaning in saying "there is nothing like a serpent, nothing like biting, nothing like poison and nothing like death"; but "Don't go near the serpent". 

Mai-ism says ""Yes, there is an in-penetrable wall. Such a wall does exist. But you can pass through it. For, in that unending circle wall, there are so many gates, which remain closed for all indiscernibly, but which fling themselves open, on obtaining  God's mercy and Guru's grace.        

Unrealism in the sense of non-existence, or a delusion, can be accepted only in a figurative or exaggerated sense. Otherwise, the whole working of the world will be topsy-turvy.  I would venture to state that the unrealism of the Adwaitist is also a temporary accepted mind-belief, for passing through a particular stage. After realism to unrealism, there is again returned to realism. It is a simply contradiction, to be the enjoyer of a "Samaadhi" at one end, and, at the other end, to be flaring up with wrathfulness, if anyone, through oversight, touches the sacred fire of TOTAPURI.

This is an extremely subtle point, and I may be entirely wrong, but, I record here, without any insistence. I take Adwaitism, the Gnana, to be intermediate between Gauna Bhakti and Para Bhakti or Prema. When we reach a stage of realisation of the highest truth viz., that everything is Mother, if Mother exists, everything has also its existence.    What is non-existent, or unreal, is the distinction and difference.  A cow-sugar-toy, or a tiger-sugar-toy, has its reality if sugar has reality.  What is unreal is the cow-ness or the tiger-ness of the toy, being nothing else except sugar.

    " It sickens my heart when, on the top of spreading misunderstanding, the advocates of Adwaitism lay the fault at the doors of their taught."  They say "What can we do, if people don't understand ?"  "But, I ask Why don't you see the possible dangers of your teachings, yourself ?"

    And, how very blissful is that stage of perfect realisation??

    A spendthrift-son of a mother was ill-advised by a wicked friend to be a thief, and to take out gold bangles from the cupboard of his mother.  A good friend suggested the righteous remedy.   "Why become a thief? You have no idea of the mercifulness of your mother.  If you prostrate to her, and vehemently insist, she must give.  She will surely give.   The son, however, could not believe the good friend.  Day and night, he began to be absorbed in the art of playing a thief, until he mentally began to think of himself as a thief.  The good friend knew the night and the time, when the son, with a fearful appearance and a preparation to do all the needful, was to break open the lock. He was extremely anxious lest he be caught by the mother, and, unconsciously, be severely beaten. He followed him like a good Guru, stealthily, to save the situation, by explaining and exposing the whole thing to the mother, if things came to that pass. Mother was, however, a mother!! As soon as, in a thief's way, the son approached the cupboard, to the greatest surprise of both, the mother said: " My son! Why have you become a thief? Take whatever you want, but, first, remove the delusion to which you have been a prey. You are no thief, you are my son.  You are Me, myself."   What is unreal is the thief in the son, and not, the son. The ignorance that comes and goes, the different unrealities manifesting themselves as realities, are unreal.   Ishwara-Srishti  (God's creation) is real. Jeeva Srishti (soul's creation) is unreal. The most blessed one who, after passing through the temporarily-accepted unrealism, reaches the stage of "Everything is Mother " again returns to the belief of Realism.

    "Surely, this is only my view, today. I may be wrong or I may change my belief tomorrow.  Mother alone knows!" (Surely, never through any Living Teachers or Scriptures.)

720.  The WORLD is Catherine the Shrew, daughter of Mother.  Her tenderly emotions of a woman's heart remain unsatiated, because no man of the worldly mind, (a slave to the smallest trivialities of gains and losses, anxieties and fears of self-interest), appears in her eyes, fitted to be her companion.

She looks upon him most slightingly, and the man too, after all, a slave, does not dare look high in her face, like a companion of an equal status.   The pleasure of being the worshipper is not there for her, although she is worshipped by millions. The heart of a woman is not filled up, if the comrade is not, if not higher, at least, equal to her. 

    The WORLD, so often runs to saints for consolation and forgetfulness; and Mother knows, if for something else, as well !! But, her (the world's) crookedness, selfishness, jugglery, intrigues, falsehoods, faithlessness, etc., have fully tired them out.  The saints are so much disgusted with her hypocrisy and ungratefulness, that they get terrorised at her very shadow and at her approach. The saints fly away to live in caves, mountains, forests, on riverbanks and on sea-coasts, as far away from her as possible.  They make rules and regulations of never touching and seeing the world, woman and wealth.  If still, by chance, she comes nearer, they raise a huge cry, seek their shoes to beat her out, and do not rest, without driving her out, and closing their doors after her, most dashingly and fasteningly.

    The WORLD once most bitterly wept out her distress to Mother, of course, suppressing the fact that she longed for a companion, in most general terms. Said the WORLD,  " In spite of so many splendours, wealth, education, civilisation, learning, this discovery and that discovery of science, etc., I am sick at heart, I am miserable. People also talk that the world is full of miseries". Mother advised, "why don't you go to Saints ?"  The crafty reply was, ”yes, I like them, I worship them, I follow their teachings, I supply them their requirements, I was once going to them, but they too have fled away ". The game-playing WORLD cheated even Mother.  She did not breath a syllable, about her own crookedness being the cause of their flying away.

    Mother fully knew what was wrong, but, after all, the WORLD was Her own Creation and Daughter, and of Her own making.  She was moved with the fullest pity.  She thought to Herself,  "Let Me now create a new type of MOTHERLY SAINTS, unlike the Fatherly Saints- Saints who do not hate, or run away from, or who do not see temptation in world, wealth and woman, saints who do not get staggered with the notion of woman being a hall-door, or of wealth (Lakshmi) being the creatrix of forests of evils, saints who do not renounce the World, but who, remaining therein, sacrifice all theirs for the world itself."

    On these lines of thinking, She took up Her first experiment.  She called several high souls.  All were shrewd enough to guess the purpose.  They knew how terrible and bothersome it was, to be Guru of the WORLD-shrew. On Mother's just talking over her proposal casually, without any idea of a compulsion or pressure, all of them kept their silence with thousands of indirect apologies, respectfully and submissively, which meant, declining the suggestion. All escaped, but one, inexperienced and a layman, half-saintly and half-worldly, a non-professional soul, was caught in the Mother's net!.  Mother called Her daughter, and, with every scolding, advice and warning, said " I could not bear your tears that day. I, therefore, give you the fittest Guru. It is now up to you, how to make yourself consoled, and happy forever."

    Do you think, the WORLD full of so much vice, mischief and evil, changed her nature? No.  She had much greater value for the unapproachable, awe-inspiring distant saints, of whom she would be at least somewhat afraid, about their wrathfulness, big super-powers, terrible curses, etc. This Guru, she placed in her pocket, and continued her life, as before, putting forth the twisted teachings of the new Guru, in defence of her still greater increasing waywardness.

    The inexperienced semi-saint constantly complained to Mother, Mother cooled him down with: " What have you to do with that? Why? Don't you forget all the ill-treatment, slight, ridicule, condemnation and everything, in My presence?? Why do you mind those things? Are you not the dearest to Me? Why don't you keep my love to you always before your mind? Can you not remain in the world itself, and yet remain unwet ?- unwetted, untired, and disgusted ? ?"

    One day, timidly and trickily, the semi-saint talked to Mother.   " I am myself yet quite immature and imperfect; nothing of worth, not even one-tenth of even nominal saints. Your daughter is now quite happy.  She has learnt up everything.  She is now sufficiently prepared to take care of herself.  I may now turn, to the work of furthering my own spiritual progress."  No sooner were these words heard, than Mother's Face changed.  It became unbearably terrific, with a slight change in Her sweet and gracious motherly love-emotions. Said she, " What ?? Tricks with Me?? Do you dare think, I myself can't make you perfect?? merely by My Will??"  " You too want to follow the self-centred selfish spirituality of your predecessors!!! "

    " Be wise. Think before you speak.  My Command and Will shall never be disobeyed".

    The semi-saint, full of repentance for having broached the subject, full of depression, was merged in deep despair and was drooping.  He began to remember certain past facts of his life and his own experiences.  He had been to two saints, well-known, and of a world-spread repute, of a comparability with the modern saints like Sri SAI BABA and Sri SWAMI SIDDHARUDHA. He had most solicitously prostrated for "Guru-mantra" and "Diksha". He was passed over by both, with " you have yourself to do a different type of religious work; you can't be given Mantra or Diksha ".

   On this thought establishing its mastery, in every atom of his brains, head and heart, the only thing that remained possible for the semi-saint was to fall (prostrate) on the ground like a loosened lifeless sack, before Mother's Image in his own cottage. He surrendered himself, with an apologetic, pledge-bound, shouting expression, "Mother!! Thy Will be done.  I only beseech Thee.  Never forget, however weak, wicked and worst I may be, I am forever Thine; forget that never."

    The walls echoed. The " Pancha-pranas " (Vital airs) within him, the " Shariras " (bodies) and the " Pancha-koshas " (sheaths) echoed.  The MERCIFUL MOTHER'S IMAGE echoed: "N...E...V...E...R."

          Jay Mai,    Jay Mai,     Jay Mai,       Jay Mai,     Jay Mai.