Paras 302 to 384 of Maiism book

 MAI-ISM

CHAPTER VI

MAI'S Grace through Sincerity, Serenity, Self-help, Service and Self-Surrender 

Jay Mai Jay Mai Jay Mai

MAI-ISM

CHAPTER VI

MAI'S Grace through Sincerity, Serenity, Self-help, Service and Self-Surrender 

Jay Mai Jay Mai Jay Mai

302. The Founder's first residence in Bombay [ Mumbai ] was that of P.M.R. in Santa Cruz सांता क्रुझ ; the second of P.D.D.in Malad मालाड , and the third of P.M.D. at Matunga माटुंगा . This P.M.D.had wonderful experiences of Mother's Grace. He was suffering from an incurable disease. Someone told him," When you have fully assured the disease can not be cured by a doctor, tell me, I will bring a religious doctor who will surely cure you. "The Founder was taken to P.M.D. He could not pass his stools without a painful crying for an hour and a half. The host was a pucca scientist and an atheist. He began thus," I do not believe in God and Religion and all the humbugs going in the name of Religion. Please excuse me for being plain spoken. In as much however as my wife and children have a claim over me, I do not object to following your any instructions." His wife and daughter begged the Founder's pardon and entreated Founder not to mind the impudence. The Founder said," You have no idea of Mother's Mercy. I will be here next Friday."

303. The next Friday, Founder prayed to the Mother that was installed and performed his mantras, etc. and gave him water. " just have a drink and go to your lavatory. A wonder of wonders! No pain at all !! Atheism which was there for over forty-nine years evaporated in two hours. P.M.D. asked," What is the whole process working ?" Founder said," MOTHER'S PURE AND SIMPLE GRACE."

304. Founder laughs in his sleeves when anyone unthoughtful man is shouting with his bombasts of " Where is God? Bring him to me. I will put him in a test-tube  and see what He is made up of ." Mother would change the wildest atheists to be weakest lambs, in no time. They must have that as their best fortune.

305. " A change cannot be a complete one in a day " - P.M.D. began to think in a way, that there may be certain effects of previous treatments which accidentally synchronised with his drinking          "the sanctified water ". He very respectfully and apologetically expressed his doubt. Founder asked," Do you think you are cured? by after-effects of your past medicines? Well then, report to me the results of tomorrow. " The same old crying !! P.M.D. was made to be convinced that the medicine lay latent in the magnetised Lotus feet Waters.

P.M.D. argued, there must be something like a phonetic effect. A certain sound may be attracting element from ether, which might have the curing property. The founder said," What is the meaning of this obstinacy? If you find a wonderful drug administered to you by Doctor of Medicines, would you not believe in the story as to how and where it was being prepared? What is the meaning of your fabricating some theory and some argument based on mere imagination and dismissing the theory explained by the successful experimentator and administerer himself? "

306. P.M.D. decided to perform the very same things, which the Founder did. The water did give a partial effect. There were repetitions of experiences.  Founder's "water" had full effect. P's "water" had a partial effect. No water sipping the same old crying !! Which doctor or a scientist can explain this paradox ?? P. had already after few days, turned out to be a believer; but still even up till now, he believes there is something in the Founder himself and he does not go beyond the Founder. Although he now admits the existence of God in abstract conception. Just as we find in the case of Girish Chandra Ghosh regarding Blessed Shree Paramahamsa, he would insist on holding, " You yourself are Mai; you can do what you will; I have no proof for believing there is some higher power outside you. and other than you, working through you; I simply accept it because you say so. "

Unfortunately, the modern world, a combination of a scientific brain and a devotional heart is an extreme rarity. A scientific man has as his weapons an extremely keen intellect and mental penetration to work upon the outside practical actual, workable, visible world. A devotee has as his weapons, an emotional attitude of internal purity and humility. A noble character and a righteous living with morality, virtue, religiosity and law-abidingness is an indispensable requirement for a devotee. He has his own very scruples and is not an ever-changing opportunist. He is on the whole for constant unchangeable varieties. He has his wonderful strength or overpowering nervousness according he has devotional flights  God's Grace and proximity to his God, or despondency on the saturation of the idea of his unworthiness and over the consciousness of his being below the disciplinary standard. His substance to work upon is the ideal invisible universe, as he sees.

A scientist has a torch of a few furlongs ' further lights and is sure of the grounds he has covered.  He has, however, no definite thing as a destination and a desideratum at the destination; he can not say what he will be leading the world too. On the whole, he is experimenting with the unknown.

A devotee is dependent on the sky-lightning alone. He runs up his maximum under the God's Grace fighting. He knows the destination and the desideratum and is cent per cent sure about it. During the halt periods between two flights under the lightning, he has an immense joy as the immediate fruit of his exertion, which gives him every confidence about the right direction and the never-failing of his guide and God. He gains a potential energy for further flights and a vision of the nearer proximity to the destination. His path is one of entire dependence, the point of great helplessness is that, though wonderful and miraculous happenings may proceed from and through a devotee, he can't promise and stand a guaranty for even the smallest surety.

Science and Religion, although seemingly diagonally opposite, are the right and left hands, for the horizontal and vertical wheels of a compact machinery, which serve humanity and are both subservient to the Mother's Divine Will. The one deals with the grossest element of matter and the other with the subtlest element of mind. But both are governed by the highest Almighty, whose Grace wise men should ever implore, be he a devotee or a scientist.

307. Founder had to stay at Malad and he could not go to P.M.D. as often as required. P.M.D. suggested," You depute your powers to my daughter. ". Founder deputed his powers to her for the period P.M.D. was ill. She was made to sit before Mother and the needful initiation and delegation ceremony were done. Since then, the daughter's doing what Founder did, had the full effect, till P.M.D. was completely cured.  

308. During the treatment period, once P.M.D. had an urgent work. He had to go out, leaving his swing.P.M.D. told his daughter to pray to Mother, to give him rest of three hours when the usual other pain should stop. Said he," Pray in the name of Mai Kaka ( The Founder ) ". P.M.D. was entirely painless. He went into the Fort फोर्ट  and attended a lot of work. While he was returning in a taxi, the pain started, just between Dadar दादर  and Matunga माटुंगा  . He looked at the watch. Exactly three hours after, the pain reappeared !!

309. The Founder, at the undeniable request of all home members, stayed at their place requesting P.D.D. to allow him to stay there. The disease was entirely cured within " nine weeks " - the usual time period which the Founder states to all.

310. There are certain peculiarities about the Founder, which are interesting to be learnt. One thing is, he is extremely fond of mango-pickles or pungent things. If there is a case of high fever, ( of course, of the usual type), he would ask for hot pickles, or for the preparation of the most pungent chutney चटणी. As he would go on eating, at intervals, the temperature would go down. This is an interesting thing.

311. Once in Poona [ Pune], Founder was called for by a sister, the wife of a high-class Government Officer ( who attended Mother's Worship in Fridays) as her husband had a high fever. In less than an hour, on Founder's eating pickles, the temperature became normal. At the time of his returning home, the lady said, her nephew was to be married at Surat, and their programme was to start the next morrow evening and they were to perform the ceremony. What will happen if her husband would get the fever again tomorrow or at Surat ? said the Founder laughingly," Do you require to be yet taught the remedy, after the personal experience? The whole thing depends on the quantity of pickles or the chutney you can spare for Mai ."The Founder returned home. In the morning on awakening, he was informed, a big pickle jar has arrived from G. Saheb. Founder laughed outright and sent a note to the lady stating that he would see that there is no fever at least toll they return from Surat and they start for Surat safely that very day. There was no fever.

312. Another funny instance was at Hubli. A high fever was reported by the mother of an officer. Founder replied," I am sorry, I can not come, but prepare a nicest pungent chutney and send it to me immediately, just a cupful. This was at 10 A.M. At 2 P.M., a peon came over with the news that the fever instead of going down was increasing. The Founder began with his fretfulness pacing the floor before Mother, " Useless worldly people !!! Doctors would take away big fees, but they die for two annas chutney to be offered to Mother. They are not sending. At 5 P.M., the mother herself came. She said," He is not yet alright. On the other hand, the fever is increasing ." Founder was ruffled with failure, lost his patience internally, but said sweetly in a low tone," What else can it be? If you can not send even two annas chutney to Mai? " Mother said," What do you talk?  I had immediately sent it. " It was not received; the officer peon had gone away to his home, intending to hand it over to Founder in the evening, before night meals.

Said Founder," Well, now you can not go. " Founder asked his cook to prepare chutney. He began eating it. He said to her," You are not to go till news comes from your home that he is normal." Very soon, a peon came with the said news. 

313. The founder has his own funny ways. Once a graduate girl ( over 28 ) came to him with her mother. She was not getting a husband. A devotional lady of Khar, a she-disciple of well known Saint told to the mother," Why you remain thirst on the bank of river ?? Why don't you catch our Markand Mai ?? One day, the mother simply entreated the Founder, but the devout lady threatened him with the claims of a daughter," In this whole big world, can't you find one young man to accept our S.S.L. ? Give me a promise. I won't let you go till them. " She actually made him promise her. The Founder was a guest at her house. "Alright, within nine weeks; but, provided she does what I ask her to do."  " And what do you want her to do ?" " A very simple thing. She has to come to my place ( quite near and sing every night " Ghughat Kaa Pat Khol .Re. Tuze Piya Milegaa. घुंघटके पट खोल तुझे पिया मिलेंगे । " Off Thy veil, thee-concealing garment, tear off open up, To thee, Thy beloved will meet " - a mystic meaningful BHAJAN-GEET OF KABEER. Within less than two months ( six weeks), she got an educated and satisfactory husband and the wedding took place later. 

314. Whenever there is a serious case of a disease, Founder asks for a beautiful notebook with the best paper and best wrapper. He would then retire in a room and go on writing what pleases him. The notebook is not to be returned. His absorption in Mother while singing Her praises and writing them in a notebook would be working miraculous cure there. " Nine Fridays" would be the maximum time limit. 

Very recently, there was a case in Khar, constantly head shaking paralytic lady, under treatment of a doctor charging 70 Rs. per visit, had lost all hopes.  Someone suggested Founder's name to her. He went to see the patient. The Founder said," She will be cured within the nine weeks ending 9th June 1950, provided you go on supplying nicest blank note-books and "R.K.P.'s Life " costing Rs 8". This book was immediately purchased from "R.K.Mission. "  The lady was cured completely within six weeks. 

315. The Founder explains the whole successful working as under :

" First of all, let it be clear that there is nothing in me. Mother has made me only an instrument for Her own work. She wants that the world, or at least the Hindu world, should be a world of Mai-ists believing in the six Mai tenets, that the world likes and accepts this Religion of Universal nature, with all the secondary matters of a religion given only a secondary importance and being considered almost dispensable.

Re: The working process: The installation of Mother is a great thing. It enables the devotee to best concentrate his mind and to make his prayers most intense. Once the Mother is installed , although She may be ignored  as soon as the calamity is gone, yet someone the house would be taking a liking and a devotional relish; and though in a broken and discontinuous way, the worship will have more or less permanent footing in the family on Mother giving proofs after proofs  of Her Grace. The universal simple and straight and most unobjectionable teaching of Mai-ism will spread out gradually, and the world will be of better calibre and of a happier living luck, through righteous mentality and good moral conduct, character and behaviour.

316. Founder says," The greatest human blunder is, people, do not realise. Every smallest thing you have to achieve by your own exertion. Nothing will automatically happen by itself. Spiritual progress is like a building of a mansion, and not, the growing of a garden. You plant a tree and go away. After five years, you will find it bears fruits. You construct a wall of twelve layers and go away. On your return, you will not twenty layers. On the other hand, two layers might have been removed by the mischievous boys of the street. "

317. Founder continues :

" Nothing can be done, without yourself actually doing it. People get tired to hear such a simple truth, but they never once think or realise. Is your Guru a madman and a ghost possessed man that he would go on repeating the same truth if he sees that you have realised it? He sees that you have not realised it, that you have not caught the right value of it. He sees that there is not an iota of an echo of that truth in your practical life. And then alone, he is repeating the same truth. Which fool or a Guru will be bothering himself with teaching the same monotonous truth if you are fit for the next higher truth?"

318. Founder also says another thing: " Do not expect higher things to come without Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace. Everything is alright in the worldly plane. There you can proceed with your worldly wisdom and tact. But, on the spiritual path, or when you want to invoke  Divine aid, for worldly smoothness, you need a Guru whoever he is, who is deeply interested in your welfare and in whose powers and bonafides you have a full faith. Let him be only one step ahead of you. That is enough. The test of a solid Guru-Shishya relationship is how far Guru loves you and how far you love, confide in him and serve him. Guru does serve you, but on a much higher plane."

319. Re: the prats played by Mother, Guru and the aspirant, the Founder's patent illustrations are these.

" The getting of the Guru is something like Mother's placing a certain demanded thing in a glass cupboard, none knows when and how. The cupboard key is with the Guru and the work of opening the cupboard and taking out the grace given thing is to be done by the disciple. Thus, the process starts with the disciple moving the heart of the Guru, to get a certain thing from a Mother. The giver is the Mother and the receiver is a disciple.

"Without Mother's Mercy, both the Guru and the Shishya may daily look at the cupboard and get disappointed. The disciple, if he pleases Mother but does not please the Guru, sees the thing placed in a cupboard, but can not take it out. Guru does not know the invisible world nor the disciple's true self and innermost intentions, or his worthiness and his place and part in the cosmic arrangement. ( That Guru knows everything past present and future is a faith and not always a fact). It, therefore, may also happen that the Guru may desire and pray most intensely, and yet Mother may refuse to give, because neither the Guru nor the disciple perfectly knows what is future, and what is good and what is bad, for the disciple.

" There are so many instances which show that, while Mother is refusing a certain demand, She has been actually saving a man from a long sightedly seen calamity and that he is most foolishly dabbling with a programme most wisely chalked out for him by Mother."

The Founder had studied the subject most deeply. He says the difficulty comes in because some people ( most of us ) are out and out habitual shameless beggars.

" If when a man's certain desire is fulfilled, in the end, he has repentance and finds sense enough to realise, " I asked a certain thing; Mother was not granted. I, however, forced Her hands through my intense coercive devotion. My eyes now open. What I thought would be a heaven has turned out to be the direst hell. I now have my final decision. I have no sense to judge what is better for me. Why not leave then everything to Mother Herself, with an extremely general unspecific request to make happy? "

" If people are getting wiser, the world would change in no time, but the beggar is shameless enough. Let me turn to the noble idea of Mother and child, which is the natural one with the Mai-ism. Just study a child. Have you not seen he asks one thing with great obstinacy, goes to play with it, but as soon as the child finds its useless throws it away without the smallest and least thought  or sorrow about its wrong judgment or its own foolishness or any serious thought whatsoever or without feeling  shy to  ask another thing, again asks for another with same or even multitude obstinacy ?? "

There is no end to shameless asking and begging. The Founder has before his eyes so many instances. A girl has no husband; " give me a husband ", husband given; " What is the use of a husband without an appointment ?"; the appointment has given;. " The parents of a husband always taunting me as a barren; give me a son. " son is given. " The son is quite handsome intelligent and jolly, but always sick; give him health given.

Where is the end for this asking-ness and giving-ness ?? Here, here, here, the Mai-istic outlook, view and heart are different. Are you not yourself foolish if you think that Mai-ism or its Founder does not understand that Nishkama Bhakti is superior to Sakama Bhakti ?? The difference is however here. Mai-ism does not call him shameless beggar whose begging has no end. Mai-ism does not drive him out or spurn him. Mai-ism has altogether a different eye and has a heart of Mother. There is no constructive behind driving out with spurning. Mai-ism does not call such a person a habitual shameless beggar, but a senseless immature child. Mai-ism says it is easy for a college principal to select only the first class boys for admission, to give no form to little below the first class passing standard and show brilliant results. That is alright for one's own name and fame; but not for them, who want to see that the whole world enjoys the benefit of being educated.

Mai-ism believes in lifting the person wherever and whichever stage that person is. What can be bolder than the open speech (sentence of the Founder), at the All -Faiths Conference in 1933, when he said?

" To the true Mother's son, murderers are brothers and wayward women are sisters ".

The Founder in his full heat on the subject says, people as also preachers totally forget how practically impossible is, for anyone, to leave off his desires, simply because some preachers tell him scoldingly," Don't desire, curb your desires. be desireless. " Let us count and let such preachers supply a list of the number of the persons whom that sort of teaching has transformed. No hypocrisy, no theory and no lying be permitted while accepting the standard of " desirelessness. "

Mai-ism takes an extremely patient view. It says," Children are bound to be so. Let them grow in wisdom. A time will surely come when without your telling them you should not ask, they themselves will not ask. Have you not observed this in rich man's children and boys when they grow up to be full-fledged? Till that stage is reached, you have to take care of your devotees, as children. Call them senseless, forgetful, ungrateful, obstinate, shameless but they are children if you have Mother's heart. Mother's mercy should be the last finishing stroke and closes every individual's chapter," Be a severe judge towards a frequent criminal, but the kindliest jailor ". says Mai-ism.

If you have a critical eye, the eye of mother and not of a king to a beggar or of a stern Guru towards the unworthy disciple, you will find, though very slowly, very imperceptibly, every soul is getting nearer and nearer the Mother. The most ungrateful heart one-day bursts.T he memory of untold obligations someday sits heavy on the heart and breaks it. He then weepingly recounts all of them. The man gets one day ashamed of his obstinacy of demand. One day the higher sense does dawn with the highest illumination. At least, the Founder is extremely optimistic on this point. The rub is, people, want harvests without seed sowing.

The Founder says,I never believe any of my efforts have gone vain. Only thing is, we are blind. We do not see transformation until it takes a certain visible shape. Please note it very subtly. One man may sow and another may reap or the original sower may not be known to the world. That is all quite possible, but no sowing is without its growing, and that is a dead certainty.  Great men think in terms of benefit to the world as a whole and not to their own little self, and hence they have much less cause to be sorry about the results of their painful exertions not being quickly visible.

Mother's Mercy, Guru's Grace, disciple's exertion all three together bring forth a certain desired result. As to the remedies of pleasing God or Guru, the same universal Mai-istic formula holds good.

 " Love, Service, Devotion and Self-surrender "

320. Another small instance explaining the triple working is that of the radio programme. The best celestial musician is Mother Herself, who smooth-ens all miseries. It is She that sings. The Guru is the director; Mother sings if the Director prays to Her, to shower Her Grace. If however, the listener is so careless not to be switching the valve, the "grace " passes away without being received. 

321. Moving Mother to shower Her Mercy for a simple innocent harmless moral legitimate and legal desire is often done by the Guru and the disciple, sitting at the same precise hour, wherever they are, repeat the same mantra and meditate on Mother's picture. In synchronism with the disciple, the Guru performs the first part but the second part of the Guru involves much harder work. He has to be annexing his mind, with the faith of the disciple at one hand and the Mother at the other. He has to be the connecting link, with a single-pointedness, intensity and devotional meditation. The inherent spontaneous fructifying, and Mother - acceptable efficiency of this second part, would depend on the true relationship between the Guru and the disciple. A Collector's son however dear to the Collector cannot be given Collector-ship by the Viceroy if the son does not deserve it. If he deserved it, the Collector's son will most preferentially and surely get it. The lack of worthiness stands in the way. If that were not so, the world will be topsy-turvy !!

Mai-ism says Nishkama निष्काम superiority and Sakama सकाम  inferiority is simply a wasteful debate. None can rise above what he actually is by the stroke of a sound on the ear tympanum such as " Kill your desires ". It is simply a delusion. The Founder is wondering at the bankruptcy of common sense. Valmiki Ramayana वाल्मिकी रामायण begins with the  Ashwamedha  अश्वमेध  for a son by King Dashratha दशरथ. Mai-ism says, we have every right to demand help relief and consolation from Mai, to ask for any harmless moral legitimate innocent desire commensurate with our capacities and circumstances. Our requirement is to be true to our Guru and God, with a determined living of " We shall develop in ourselves  the Love Service Devotion and Surrender to our God and Guru and Mother's children as far we can." Desirelessness will automatically be developed, as we gain experience about the futility of running after worldly and sense pleasures and as we have a craving for higher joys and experience of the higher bliss. It is not the work of one day, one hour of hearing a Kathaa कथा or one trip to a Saint or a Sacred place or one blessing of " Narayan Narayan " नारायण नारायण by some well-known saint. Plugging does not help you and is an entirely wrong method. 

Have the clearest notion," You have to go on reducing your desires and developing your higher joys ". Don't fret and foam. The Guru who does not help you to catch your hand and take you up gradually over a mountain is no Guru. He has to do that without minding your going astray with departures on seeing most tempting things on the sides or your slipping some twenty steps down, while you have risen by only ten. The Guru must just laugh a little at your weakness, but not spurn or scold. The Guru may fret but he has not to forsake unless the disciple himself leaves him. In modern life, in most cases, there is no real offering and no receiving between the Guru and Shishya. शिष्य Where comes than, the question of forsaking?

If the Guru becomes Mother to you in your mutual relationship and if you have every love for your Guru, it does not matter, you may be cunning, vicious, wicked, defective, impure,  faulty, villainous, corrupt, degenerate and of a perverted reasoning, everything will be made straight  in due course provided you stick up, serve, love, devote and surrender.

The Founder says," I hammer it again and again. The day you have decided , you will love and serve your Guru and God, the day you have decided, you will put all your cards before the Guru, the day you have decided, you will try your best, as far as you can, to carry out his instructions and wishes , the day you make resolution,"come what may, I shall not leave my God and Guru ", your name stands embossed in gold as the winner of the race, someday.

People's approach is just unfortunate. Even to their Guru, some ladies try to pose as a princess and as time passes they are found as if to be mere vessel-cleaning women, or some men approach as millionaires and in the end, they are found they are found as if to be criminals or bankrupts. They cheat their Guru's by showing, they need only a little support of 1 per cent of their own 99 per cent readiness and in the end it is found their real worth is not even 1 per cent. That crests repulsion in the mind of the disciple on exposure, and the whole Guru Shsihya गुरूशिष्य  relationship period ends with pushing the train reversely, instead of towards its destination or getting off the rails.

We meet with some cases of people where the aggrieved first find all circumstances wonderfully bettered, on their taking to Divine aid and relief remedies through prayers repetitions and worships with meditation, etc. Subsequently, however , their ship sinks disastrously only at the shore. After nine successes, the tenth result, a failure, makes the whole undertaking a failure. Here the reason is that the popular understanding is entirely full of ignorance. In spite of repeated suggestions and efforts to remove the misunderstanding, there is such a high pressure of the whole belief prevalent since centuries, that people think as if Mother's Grace were simply the wages of certain mechanical exercises. They don't bring into calculations their general behaviour to others, their sanctity, purity and straightforwardness, etc. in a word, their love and service to God, Guru and God's children. These centuries-old misunderstandings are mostly created and maintained by them that live on the blind religious faith of the people. People on the whole, in this respect, are often ignorant though educated, and crooked though civilised.  

The failure is due to wrong basic mentality, as a whole, deficient in righteousness, truth, justice, goodness, etc. The approach to Almighty is otherwise than one with a feeling of self-surrender, gratefulness and contentment. Often the approach is getting for one thing after another, with never-ending series of demands. In the first place, Mother gives such persons the most practical solid convincing proof and experience, as to how the world and circumstances wonderfully change to their best advantage. They, however, fail to understand Mother's motive. Where arises the need for Her dabbling with whatever She Herself has ordained by way of Prarabdha प्रारब्ध? Mother wants to make your ways easier, only if you are turning your steps towards Her and true religiosity. On the other hand, the response of the Grace seekers is not sincere, honest and deceitful. They are in fact, waiting for the last item of a certain undertaking, to be successful and an accomplished fact, for their turning truant from God and Guru. One would be surprised and shocked to find a marvellous change in them before and after, the success in their dealings with all. The real underlying fact in such cases is, that the approach seemed to be so very full of humility, sincerity and gratefulness and goodness was doing only a masterpiece of a playful part, with great artificiality, cleverness, sweetness and dexterity. The calamity being over, they become what they, by nature, are. They become temporarily religious so long as they are in the clutches of calamity. Calamity gone, religiosity and remembrance and gratitude gone. In such cases, the Divine Grace and Help is later withdrawn. People trifle with God and God's help and thus fail miserably. Their outlook may also be called extremely poor because they do not realise that they will be needing God's Grace, all their life throughout. Please note the subtle-most difference. You may demand and get much more than any other man, but your approach counts, how you look upon Almighty and what relations you have. Demanding and donating, is the most trivial part of the whole relationship.

The Founder has one mind which gets disgusted on his having to say simplest things at their apparent childishness. But other mind of his gets saddened on seeing many spiritual experiments, undertakings and exertions becoming futile in the end, only because of missing of some smallest requirement. The reason is people detest hearing details out of love for bombasticity and so much tom-tommed leisure-less-ness.

Hearing and knowing is nothing. Possessing, mastering and controlling and commanding is something. The whole modern world is so very over busy. No leisure! No rest !! No energy for anything except the dead routine !!! With what are we one and all from the biggest to the beggar, busy about ?? Mother alone knows !! Let us think deep. Where have we slipped? What is wrong ? Where is the source of evil, and how can we set matters right? Disciplined living with a true understanding of religion on the broadest basis can alone bring peace and happiness

In this country of greatest religious tom-tomming, how very scanty is the financial encouragement to religious literature ?? People should be prepared to demand to appreciate and patronized a revised religious literature in which, psychological, practical and utilitarian aspects are detail-fully dealt with. Playing on the same gramophone records has sickened the modern world and created nausea for religion. We have to make a new departure, although towards the same goal. We have to begin with a new slate de novo unitedly and concentratedly.

It should never be forgotten while the Founder is dealing with seemingly trivial most matters ( which he is not satisfied even with frequent repetitions of ) that the speciality of his teachings is " Take care of pennies and be practical."Any genius has one-tenth inspiration, but nine-tenths is perspiration. There is no magic. Everything of achievement is rich or poor, according to the time, head and heart, that is devoted and sacrificed. The best way of doing any work is to cut it into as any smallest pieces as you can with your sharpest intellectual knife, and see that every piece is made best with recollections, rehearsals and repetitions.

The Founder is not explaining some intricate point, unexplained, misunderstood, misinterpreted or for a sub-item of a religious nature. He is for the wholesale religiosity and desideratum of increasing the same. He is not for some gap-filling or a crack-cementing. He is for a practically new re-constructor, utilizing every sound and useful material.

Intellectually knowing a certain truth satisfactorily within the four corners of reason and logic, is only a preliminary step. You simply know, where to go, where to seek, how to strive, how to analyse, how to synthesize, how to succeed and how to master the truth.   However, going, seeking, striving, analyzing, synthesizing, succeeding and mastering remains. First, you have to create faith in the truthfulness of the truth. With that faith, the truthfulness must be constantly before your eyes. Whenever the corresponding allied situations of action arise, you have then to exert, you have to pass through a continued practise of rising, falling, re-rising ad infinitum, till you achieve the mastery.

Any truth is something like a seed. It requires a liking, a love, a conviction and a faith to urge you, to pick it up and sow it in your garden or ground. The seed by itself again is nothing but it bears out its own usefulness through a tree with its foliage and fructification.

People first get scared away at something said in a different manner, ( although it the very same thing ), on the ground of unknown foreign waters. So many years pass to understand that the new teachings are simply old wines in new bottles; and hat comes again the lukewarmness and deadness, due to over-familiarity and already knownness.

People hate things because they are new, as they disturb them from the inertia of their deep stupor. People refuse to stir up, because there is nothing new to break the centuries-old monotony already known to them. People forget the highest truth, viz., that there can be nothing new in absolute and fundamental nature in the realm of Religiosity under the Sun because true religiosity was born with the Universe and Creation itself.

There is no hopelessness for even over-fondled or over-spoiled children. Where is, in all the reality, love for God and Guru, as of a child to its mother ? ? The whole flaw and fraudulence of the follower are there, while they raise the point of doubtless-ness and even a contradicting assertion in the matter of any connection between Love and Service to God and Guru and their self- development of attainment of greater benefit, peace and bliss.

The Founder states: It fascinates you to be told, all your weaknesses will be forgiven, you will go on better and better, happier and happier, on accepting the relationship of the child to the  Mother You are all along seeing only the one side. Let all points of worthiness go; wherein so much as your feeling, the pure and simple feeling - ( I want nothing else ) - of a child to mother ???

Let all tall talks of worthiness go. A child finds itself uneasy without the mother, for, say, some few minutes in the day, even though for all other hours it is busy with hundreds of plays and playfulness. do you feel that? No. Let us go further to still more easy and easiest things. The child will shout for its mother in a congregation of ladies. it is neither afraid nor ashamed. It has no juggleries. Let anyone ask the child," Which is your mother ?" and the child will boldly and immediately point out. I am not talking about the higher amiabilities of a child, which will thrust a jilabiजिलेबी piece in the mother's mouth smilingly and feel the sweetest bliss. let all higher things go. They are miles away from the modern men. I am talking of the rudiments only. You disown your God and Guru in no time. Someone asks you," I learn you believe in God as Mother. " You immediately get funky and say," All deities are the same. They are only different names of One Final most Thing." You shrink. you disown Mother. " You have not even the ordinary moral courage which a seven years' child has," that there standing in the green garment, is my mother." The same thing regarding your Gurus.

Have you ever thought deeply ?? You want your God and Guru to come in when you want and to disappear when you don't want them. Where is even the most elementary fitness? ? The natural fitness or even a child to its mother !!! Even so much as not disowning, whenever you like !!!

Millions of things have been stated and will be stated in the name of Religion. If you like you may strike out the Guru. The only path of salvation is Love, Service, devotion and Surrender to your God, whatever your conception of God be. And that teaching means Mai-ism.

322. Which is the master key, which will open down all the locks of all treasure houses ?? Don't continue to be tossed in whirlpools Just go our own Geeta. Three hundred and thirty-three things are told there and three thousand things have been spun out by innumerable commentators to be thirty thousand things and people drown themselves in the intermediary whirlpools. Where is the highest point of Geeta's wisdom?   Whenever a wise mother takes her boy to be an extremely unwieldy show where there are thousands of people and hundreds of plays, do you know what precaution she does take , so that the boy may not be lost ? she says to him," You go anywhere, do anything, you will surely parted from me, but as soon as you have finished and come out, you be sitting on this particular otta and I will take you safely to our home ". That that spot and otta, Mai-ism fixes as " Sharanagati " - self-surrender. The last word of Mai-ism is only six words, viz. Mother-conception, Universality, Love, Service, Devotion and Surrender.

323. Why should that Kurukshetra-battlefield   teaching, which is given and meant for, or at least resulted in the bloodshed of millions, have such a sweet feminine name as Gita ?/ Where is the singingness about the whole teaching ?? Where is the enchanting celestial music in the teaching? Is the constant struggling " Of action and inaction ", a song? " Is the mortification of the soul ",  a song? Is the dog watchfulness of your sattwa, rajas and tamas, a song? Where is the singingness of whole Geeta ?? Can anyone call this " Zagdaa Zagadi " ( constant combating), the business of killing your desires, killing all your joys of society, killing your relations, killing your material pleasures, a song? Can anyone sing a song when he is on a battlefield, likely to lose a life at the second moment? Can you sit for even a second with the smallest feeling of safety, when there are volleys of arrows? Can you sing a song then? " Is " Do this and don't do this " teaching, a song? Is there anything like the mood, the environment or the occasion for a song and a hilarious singingness in a battlefield  ??? The whole thing is a long tirade, in the eyes of the modern pleasure-loving, ease-seeking, leisure-less, light-brained man.Is it a singingness to be reminded of being drifted away with Kama, Lobha, etc.like a barge in the sea, attacked by winds? It is all fighting, sweating, walking, tiring, fatiguing or leaving the society to conceal in a corner, etc. To be asked to be content, when after all your highest exertions, you are given no fruit !! Is that singing or weeping? Where is the song? and where is the celestial melody and where is the singing news ?? It is all a headache creating a study of things which few modern Hindus love more than the never master-able Sanskrit grammar. There is nothing to love and nothing to sing. It is all intellectual wrestling. Where is the music? (Geet) and where is yet further, the feminine tenderness about the whole teaching ? ? which can justify the yet lovelier name " Geeta "? On the top of it, the author is not simply satisfied with calling the teaching a song and giving the feminine epithet of a "song damsel", "Geeta", but also want to add the conception of the Mother, of a celestial damsel belovedness. He has elevated Geeta to be named and worshipped as Geetaambaa ( Mother Geeta ).

324. Where is all the blissful music of " Geeta"? There is , surely there is. That blissfulness and singing ness is for fewest of few. The rest is drowned in the intermediary whirlpools. It is in the last shloka 66 of the Eighteenth Adhyaya,"  Sarva Dharmaan Parityajya ..... "

" Abandoning all things, either as duties or requirements of religion come unto and into Me as a Surrendered. Don't get sorry. I will liberate you from all evils and miseries. "

The blissful song is there. The teaching is not only a Geet but a Geetaa, and any still higher name would be simply looking poor to convey the celestial music and blissfulness. What a joy do you feel as soon as you read the Shloka ??

You are head and ears in debts. mother comes forth to say" Don't worry. I will pay off all your creditors." You have created hundreds of enemies who are searching you out to kill you. Mother comes forth to say," Come on. I conceal you in my bosom, none will find you about." You have hundreds of sins and myriads of sentences pronounced by Karmadhipati and Prarabdha judges. Mother says," Come on. You sit down in my lap. Be repeating my name.I am just sending word to the judges and the king to absolve you from all sentences and decrees, and to grant you pardon," You have vicious heart and the sinful impurity. Mother says," Come on, just take a sip of My Lotus Feet ablution waters, your viciousness and sinfulness are gone." You say," I am blind". Mother says," " Come on, just let me blow my breath over your eyes, you have every illumination ". 

325. What else can there be but the highest blissful song and dance, when you are given such a promise ?? And if the promise - giving person is your Mother Herself ?? In this bitterest ocean, what else can be the sweetest ?  as a relief, as a surety, a promise by the All-powerful Mother? The soul begins to sing and dance. " Maiki Men Bana Jaungire, Mane Kaha Tu Meri"माईकी मै बन जाउंगी रे । माने कहा तु मेरी । "Mother's I will permanently to the finish be, from now Mother Herself has told me," Thou art mine ." Only the self-surrendered know the superlative sweetness of the trans heavenly song of surrender." They alone relish why and realise how and why the teachings of Lord Krishna have been given the name " Geeta"? They realise that the name is given by love lost and fully surrendered devotees of Bhagwan Purna Purushottama. The soul itself becomes the song of the Lord Himself. The Soul sings," MAULAA KAHENGAA VAISAA KARENGAA,  मौला रक्खेंगा वैसा करेंगा ।अल्ला रखेंगा वैसा रहेंगा । ALLAA RAKHENGAA VAISA RAHENGAA ". " What God as Guru will say, I will do that". " How God will keep me, so I will remain."The ecstatic singingness of the Geeta lies in " Mokshayishyaami  Maa Shucha "   and " karishye Vachanam Tava "'  the practically last shlokas No. 66 and 73 of the last Adhyaya. " I will do Thy bidding."

The rest is all secondary and so-so. The latter of the two above, though highest from the worldly point, is yet on a lower plane. The idea of oneself being able to do  and doing is there." I will become Mother's is still a higher idea. Then nothing remains to be done. The body heart mind and soul begins to sing and dance, without the voice singing or feet dancing, without any effortfulness of the mind meditating, on the heart dissolving itself and on the soul realising oneness with the Supreme Mother.

Mai has taken pity on the intermediary whirlpool lost and drowned souls. Mai-ism raises the finger to show, what has already been forgotten, viz. " Self-surrender " as the highest and the last thing of six things only, on seeing that many have been drowned on the way and have lost sight of the main remedy. Or, to put it the plainest words, Mother has handed over the Master key, which opens up all locks and doors. Most people have lost all the keys and some have lost only the master-key, whereas some have lost the knowledge of distinction of any key and master-key. The master-keys, the spots, the ottas outside the exhibition ,-- wherefrom Mother can take you safely home and to which you may retire, as soon as you get tired with thousands of plays and playthings , or when you find yourself to be weak, disappointed, defenseless and powerless , or when you are harassed by others   - are the six so often repeated teaching points of Mai-ism.

326. To return to the working, the process is the same whether a man wants Mother's Grace (Nishkama Bhakti) or any specific thing. As a matter of fact, the Nishkama Bhakta is serving one's self-interest more dexterously. He does not commit the blunder of demanding what his own wrong notions and judgments prompt him to demand. He asks a doubled boon. Not only Mother should give, but She should give what is best for him. A beggarly man happening accidentally to meet his once dearest friend, when the latter presses him to go with him to his palace, says, " I will come, but will you give me tea?" A wiser man keeps silence; he has wisdom enough to think, " Will such a Rolls Royce rolling man, who takes me home with so much endearment, keep me hungry?". That is the difference of Nishkama and Sakama Bhakti. It is only a degree of the difference between a mature or immature understanding. The Nishkama Bhakta is unjustly over-intimidating the Sakama Bhakta with the tom-tom of his superiority. In fact, he is a greater gainer. He is exploiting the poor fellow's ignorance or insufficiency of experience. Arjuna accepted Krishna and left the whole army to be given to Duryodhan. One of the two wives of a king, on having to part, said "I want you and you alone. Let all the treasures be given to my co-wife, once for all". Where the king is, there treasure are bound to be, again filled up after an evacuation.

    The process is the single-minded prayer, meditation and appeal. The brain and the body must become most mechanically doing only irreducible minimum things. Everything must eliminate and evaporate from the mind. The mind must become one with the all-comprehensive conception that you have formed about your Deity or Mother. The prayer has to reach a certain intensity. The Guru has, so to say, to squeeze out the nectar-like offering to the Mother, from his own body, mind, heart and soul, to shower the Grace on his disciple.

327. The secret is, " being melted"- your losing your very shape itself, to be reformed. Your mind must reach the melting-point and your heart, the boiling point. It is only one syllable of your prayer or only one name repetition that secures the whole Grace-showering work. The man most point is, that name or syllable should be from the mind that has already melted and the heart that has already been boiled. All other things are only preliminaries to bring up that " boiling and melting point ".

328. If one has the fullest idea that Grace-demanding is an actual work to be done to reach the boiling and melting points, so many matters will be clear like the broadest daylight. With a view to bring that understanding home, Mai-ism shouts at the top of its voice " There is no chhoomantar" at least in the rational scientific and psychological religion of Mai-ism. The Founder does not contradict Hindu Religious notions of different types of " chhoo mantars." - " Akshaya-patras" (never consuming food vessels) etc., or blow-breaths- of Gurus that will give immediate salvation, etc. At least the Founder has not been fortunate enough, all his life, to have any such experience. He is for sweating and earning the bread with hard labour, with the highest patience and longest perseverance. For the sake of hammering this " no chhoomantar " truth on the heads of blind-faith persons, who believe ceremonious performance to be a complete thing for a worldly success, it becomes necessary to state here, that many Mantra Shastris have so endearingly told the Founder that in fact there is no greater power than God's or Mother's Love, which the Founder is preaching all his life.

329. Applying the knowledge of facts as they are described above, it becomes moonlight-like in a dark night, that once a disciple deforms his own image in the heart of his Guru as an ungrateful person, no amount of Guru's own exertions and best wishes will make the Guru's heart and mind reach the boiling and melting points. The poison of the consciousness of an ungrateful is there, to neutralise all his efforts, because the Divine Law is there, which is no respecter of even Deities themselves.

330. Guru-shishya relationship is the very basic body and the soul of religious progress. Most, unfortunately, the modern world has laid its axe at the very root. This subject with its pros and cons has been discussed at length in pages 199 to 207 of the supplements of Volume  II of "Mai Sahasranama" and in "Mai Guru Ananya Bhakti".

331. Sometime back, a modern lady, one like a daughter to the Founder, made a strange request, after her relations for over 12 years. She wrote," Please give me a process of Mai Mantra, which will leave me entirely free and fully able to get success, without having anything to do with the Guru, not only without his blessings but even without giving him relevant information."

"After all, the relationship is a bondage," The Founder says, in this case, I congratulated her on her boldness. I wrote to say the following :

" There is no place either here or there for an ungrateful person, at least, under Mai-ism. I would suggest your asking this question to other saints of Hinduism, so many of whom you know. According to my belief, faith in the Guru itself is the most powerful working factor in the efficacy of any mantra repetition. Demons propitiated deities and in some cases as a boon, they asked how the very same deities' death can be achieved. Your request is almost of a similar nature. That is the teaching of a Satanism.

"Re: the bondage, who is not bound? Your children, cooks and servant, so often make you bend down on your knees. None is free in its real sense. Not even the Guru, who has to keep his God, as also his disciples pleased. Even Ishvar is not free. He is bound up by Maya, in actualities. Absolute independence is an impossibility. The wisest action is to get oneself relieved of the slavery of innumerable inferior masters, on being the servant of one Superior Master. That one Master introduces you to the master of the Masters  - The Divine Merciful Mother."

" Re: the break with the Guru: You are within your rights to be breaking with him, but you cannot leave him in the lurch and in the dark. You cannot claim his protection and your continuation as his in his mind and the world's mind. You are then in the position of an absconding servant who continues borrowing from his master's friends retaining their impression about his service continuation. That is nothing short of a cheating, though spiritual. The mantra that you repeat soon becomes Ari mantra - an inimical Mantra. We have so often such experiences.  You yourself mentioned several cases to me. The more you worship a certain deity or the more you repeat a certain Guru Mantra, the more troubles and calamities you are involved in. In such cases, the secret is this: You have perhaps proved faithless or treacherous to that particular deity or the Guru, consciously or unconsciously. You have therefore in such cases to make matters extremely clear to your God and Guru. It is left to you whether to maintain your consciousness of the lift, spiritually or worldly or both, that you have attained through a particular God or Guru or not. But, Mother does expect you to be at least mechanically respecting and loving your Guru even after you have abandoned him, although you may not continue to serve him and obey him. "

" No spiritual aspirant has remained without gaining some spiritual illumination or benefit by someone senior to him.

There are so many varieties of speakers who say,"I have no Guru." It may be, he says so, to mean he has no one Guru to whom he is bound by Guru-Shishya relationship. There are some who have actually very little value of the illumination they have received; and on the whole, their spiritual values are extremely poor. In many cases, there is nothing like even the momentary feeling of gratefulness. The kindness of giving the illumination has no greater value than that of the courtesy of a steamer captain or a mill-engineer who shows you the steamer or the mill and explains the working. There are some who are never grateful to anyone, not even to their own parents. Anything like gratefulness is unknown emotion to such hearts. They think that all around them are meant to serve them, and on the contrary, the world or serving persons should feel themselves fortunate on their accepting the latter's services. There are some whose notion of a Guru is extremely exaggerated. He must be God or almost next to God. So, they are not prepared to call any as their Guru. Some have an idea, he alone can be his Guru who is extremely superior to him, in every phase of life. There are some finally who make a sacrifice and render service and bear worshipful reverence which may surpass even the best Shishyas, but who somehow hate that very word of Guru. This subject should, therefore, be never talked of lightly and superficially, as that will create so many misunderstandings and should either be kept entirely closed or discussed in person thread-bare.  Each case must be judged on its own merits.No parrotry phrases. No thumb-rules. No catchwords and no labelled packets'' valuations.

" Lastly, re : the question of the dispensability of the Guru : If the word "Guru" does not raise before you a picture of crushing weight of obligations and responsibility and a humiliating sense of pinching inferiority, it is clear that so long as you are after spiritual progress there is bound to be someone who can in fact be , and perhaps in practical sense is, your Guru.  When you reach a stage of development which is equal to that of so many Gurus around you, you need not have any. As a matter of fact, even then, you feel all the more a certain pleasure, in having a certain support, encouragement, a certain relationship of give and take and exchange, as a result of your considering someone as your Guru. Rama, Krishna and Dattatreya had felt their joy in considering some persons as their Gurus. At a higher stage, it also happens that your Ideal and Deity becomes your Guru, but anyway, you do need the Guru. There are stages in life and moments of your own weakness and inability when only the Guru can help you. He need not be even superior to you just as you yourself being a doctor when you are under a delirium.  

  " It is no use discussing these complicated and extremely important questions in a theoretical and superficial manner. Just have a full survey of your own life, comparing and contrasting the same with that of all around you that are known as Saints and Gurus. If you do not need any help, protection, consultation, advice, guidance and sometimes even consolation from one like them, Mother blesses you."

  The lady came down personally to the Founder in her car to prostrate, immediately after the reply, and, with the love of an over fondled daughter, said, " I was disgusted with the mud-mire of worldliness. I had also gone sick of your routine dead like " Jay Mai, Jay Mai " dry-blessings. I wanted your inner self-drawn towards me. I, therefore, raised this stunt, just to arouse you and give me some more spiritual illumination on the Guru-Shishya question."

332. Regarding the attainment of Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace, people have quite a wrong notion. It is natural and alright for the grace-recipients to be believing and even narrating to others, that the attainment is simply the shower of magnanimous bounty and charitable-mindedness, as it really is so, on comparing the worth and work of the recipients with the immense spiritual lifts and illuminations they have relished and enjoyed. But the other side of it is simply a suicidal delusion for the aspirants, to be labouring under the wrong delusion that it is some accidental windfall, simply because people happen to be near the Reservoir of silver and gold, bliss and happiness, true understanding and illumination. The real understanding is that you get nothing free. It is only a change of the type of qualifications. The world recognises a certain set of qualifications, whereas, in the path of seeking grace, another type has also its place. It is one more prospect added and opened out for them that have a general high worth and a worthiness of a particular type. It is the High Court pleader's examination for really brainy boys who have no money and circumstances to go through "B.A., LL.B.," course. What people lack in a particular qualification, they have to make up by a brilliancy in another type. The really worthless man of no worth and no sacrifice of any kind whatsoever has no place anywhere. There is an alternative method or course, but remove all your notions about an exemption from the required worth and the price-paying. There is a limit even to mercifulness and forgiving and eyes-closing. If there be no limits in the matter of the worldly matters, justice will be flouted and inverted. The limitlessness of the grace of Mother, God or Guru, can only be with reference to out and out spiritual matters. I am not belittling Mother's Mercy, but I have gone so sick about this begging business without any worth whatsoever, that I wish it to be made clear that Mercifulness may reflect itself in the highest multiplier, but absolutely nothing can bring forth only nothing in spite of the immensely great multiplier.

    The Founder adds. " These are simplest things that I write, but my words fail me. What I am saying is nothing unknown and yet I feel the urge as also the necessity for the aspirant world. I am simply evacuating my heart, on feeling quite sure that the teaching has not gone home. Let me once thrash out the difference between hearing and knowing and realising. This is the subtlest point where I have met with much disappointment. Let me, therefore, indulge in the most childish way, to understand matters.

    Here is a man who says, " Preservation of sexual energy adds to your health wonderfully." Let him speak. He has said nothing new. Everyone knows it. Now let another man come forth. He asks ten friends of his to make a statement of all things that go to make up good health. You will find that the mention of the preservation of the sexual energy is absent. It is not there, and yet when the first man repeats the truth, people say, " That goes without saying. There is nothing new." Next, take an instance (actually in the experience of the Founder) where a young man is going down and down, all doctors in spite of best medicines, and parents in spite of best food-stuffs, gymnasium and all efforts, fail to get the boy energetic. He is losing fast. A man comes forth and says the same truth, where others have failed to locate the cause of his drooping down. Here is again, the man who sees that he has been digging his grave through excess with his young beautiful wife, and informs all concerned accordingly. There is the fourth man (which the Founder actually was), who, without giving any idea to the young man, turned his mind to some heart-winning game at his own home by night. There would be such a craving, that the night will pass and then it would be too late to go and the young man would be saved from his physical loss. In course of a month, the whole despondent view about life became changed. Not only the inevitable sorrowful measure of having to leave service for having turned permanently decrepit was so very cheerfully abandoned, but even the very idea of going on a long leave without pay. The man was saved.

    Is there any difference in one man's knowing the truth about the preservation of sexual energy and the other man, being greatly useful to the health?? One man knows the truth and yet gets shipwrecked; another man knows and also saves a young man. That subtle most understanding is largely absent and I wish to open the eyes of people to that difference.

    You ask someone, " Is not serving God's children a great act of religion?". No devil will deny. But in front of your house, a man falls from the scaffolding of a building under construction. Someone asks your motor to carry him to the hospital. You have to choose between the two, sparing the motor to carry the man, on one hand, and for your wife to go to Bhuleshvar for her daily routine of a casual prostration to the deity, on other hands. There the difference comes. The Founder here says, " You do not know Serving God's children is also religion," whereas people would say, " Do we not know such a simple thing? What new thing are you telling us?" " That is the difference. Subtle-most point of difference to realise and practise, although known to all.

    There is a difference between one man saying certain truths and another man. The more experienced man has before him the picture of the world with its cases of failures and successes, and he speaks about such truths as he has found to be the causes of failures and successes, to do his best to help the world towards a better understanding of life and a better living. To give an instance, a wise man says, " when you ignite a stove, make your all garments tight". He says, what everyone knows, but he speaks it as a truth necessary for the public to know, on his having seen many instances of fire-burns leading to death.

    It is for such reasons that saints' speeches and sentences are like the latter pages of an arithmetic text-book in which there are answers to the exercises before, such as " 20 men, 60 days, Rs. 2000". All in a line in a discontinuous meaningless way. What can it convey?? It conveys nothing to a fool, but a lot to the men who have been working the exercises. That is the way how people have to understand things and saints' teachings.

333. That Service to God' children has not been recognised as religious in actual living is a truth on which the Founder would be assailed, but if one has eyes to see, impartial and unfanatic, he can see that quite soon. One small instance may be quoted.

In one of the Navaratra holidays, a relative of the Founder went out with a small daughter(8 years)and lost her in the Bhadrakali temple. The girl did not know the address of her house. She was sitting on the nearest otta weeping hard and people in hundreds were doing their," Jay Jay Bhadrakali Mataki Jay " in loudest shouts. Not a single man took pity on her. One however proved to be an exception. There was the greatest sorrow in the house due to the girl being lost. The philanthropic man brought her home. He was gratefully thanked by the Founder's sister, who explained to him the ideal of Mai-ism. The man, excusing himself, while leaving said," I have lost the camel while going to save the goat. On this last ninth day, I have broken my vow of having the daily Bhadrakali Darshan." Just then the Founder returned after searching for the girl in all disappointment. He saw the girl there. Founder's sister told the whole story, as also man's regret. The Founder was in his full spirits and said," You have absolutely no idea of Mother's Mercy. You only talk so very wisely. Go home cheerfully. If you could not go to Mother, because you were engaged in serving a helpless child of Mother, Mother will come to you  to give you Darshan in the night, in the dream."The next day, the man ran down to the Founder to express his bliss, as he actually had the beautiful dream in which Bhadrakali blessed him.

334. The first requirement for the attainment of Mercy or Grace is " SERVICE WITH LOVE ". The service may be physical, mental or financial. Your giving to your Guru the benefit of your company at a nice dinner at his or another's place is no service, Your composing some few songs and in midst of praises, singing them before God and Guru is no service. Your giving your hand or shoulder to your Guru while coming out of his car is no service. As a matter of fact, you would be liked to be photographed in all these postures !!.

Service by a disciple means a physical or mental activity, exertion and worry, with the mentality and humility of a household servant to his lifelong Master. A physical serving of the disciple is that action, which he would not have done in the usual walk of life, neither for any other person nor even for himself, and which few others would do. Guru's service means King's son collecting faggots, or a princess preparing herself without any one's help a dainty dish for her Guru. King Ambarish used to fetch water and grind grains for his Deity. That is service and such service alone can move Mother or guru.  The psychological working must be there. Your service must be solid, unique and emergent. It must give "thrusts" to your Guru and like the head thrusts of a calf must make the cow to milk. Your Guru should be pained to watch and observe the degree of humility, honesty, naturalness, selflessness and painstakingness. He should feel he should never allow the same service to be repeated again. Your Guru should feel indebted as man to man and should be anxiously waiting, when you make a demand, when he would be able to free himself of the obligation, how he should make the return, what should be the best thing to be done for your welfare. Your service should be valuable deposit in the guru's mind. That is service and it is such a loving service alone that are blessed with handsome wonderful returns.

335. Once a man has the above full meaning of service required to attain Mercy or Grace, he is able to see that the financial service is the lowest type ( just the reverse of what modern people think) in the spiritual scales. The consideration with that outlook is not the usefulness of money to the Guru to meet his own requirements or for God's religious work, but the psychological one regarding the disciple. while you send a few chips to your Guru, you do not hand yourself to him. You have no humility, you have no benefit of the surrounding elevating atmosphere, You have no actual contact with the Guru. Your eyes do not meet those of your Guru. You do not get the benefit of a personal blessing with a Divine Touch on your head.

You are doing a thing, which anyone of your surroundings would have compelled you to do. A rupee by itself, without the accompanying love and service, is nothing more than what a cobbler or a tailor or an extravagant wife or a luxurious son or a daughter or discontented cook or a servant or an oppressive relative or a cheating friend or a clever pick-pocket, can so very easily deprive of you.

The financial service is, therefore, in its ultimate above sense, the lowest of the three varieties. People most miserably fail even there. If they can not make up  their mind and train it to feel satisfaction or consolation with the idea of " as if it was lost ", or " as if I had paid so much more to someone ", what other types of service and other things of spiritual development  they are capable of, Mother alone knows!!

The Founder says," You are welcome to catch my throat, but I assure you, the very idea of any service rendered to any suffering person having quite a straight and direct bearing with the pleasing of God, is not there. Service does not stand religionised. If, imagine, a Divine Mandate is issued, say, Chitragupta or the writer of the acts of every person has been issued instructions to note nothing about anyone except what he does by way of service to mankind, and if the world followed that religion, what a heavenly earth ours would be !!! It is not there. Why do you run me down so cruelly with blindfolded religious pride ??? Mother's Ideal is Religionisation of service. I again repeat. It is not religionised.

"I am not referring to what Hindu religion says or what Hindus have actually surely shown by their living in the past; I am sure the modern world ( after 1914, 1938 and 1947) has shown a quite contradictory belief. The only escape of defense of the defenders is dismissing quoted instances, as of exceptional people already irreligious or a hypocrite. I find the Hindu world getting degenerated to a hell. It may be only my experience. My ruthless and rustic way of saying things is that I have experienced this world to be heavenly up to 1914; from 1914 to 1938 it was a man's world; from 1938 to 1947 it was an animal world, but from 1947 it is the world of satans. The world may be heaven tomorrow. I do not deny, nor do I claim truth. I am recording only my honest conviction. It is my experience and conclusion. My observations after 1947, after the most impartial study of one and all of my daily experiences of things, are sated here.

  " Take any dealing with any person; there is no sweetness, but, pure and simple, often open and shameless, swallowing-ness, unless you are too strong or unless you both are in the temporary swimming bath of some artificial imaginary poetic or pleasure world. The world is not satisfied till the last drop of your goodness or sweetness is squeezed out from you and you are brought to the running usual animal-world-level. The very conception of mercifulness or gratefulness has disappeared. Mercy and goodness can be felt if there is any sense of justice in fundamental beliefs. Where is any question of gratefulness? if whatever the benefactor does, falls much below the expectations??

  "The average brain has lost all its anchors, standards and limits of justice, righteousness, straightforwardness, etc., and is in a speedy revolving whirl. If, as soon as anyone approaches you, you have to stand up with all your arms ready for an offensive or defensive, if even without any action there is a play of poison-gas from both the storage centres of virulent poisons, where can you hope to find a single atom of innocent joy ?? Be innocent like a lamb, and you soon have the fate of a lamb, under the knife.!!

  "To be failing in exploiting or squeezing out any man, likely to receive any advantage whatsoever from your any act or thought word or deed, is in itself the highest loss in the eyes of this modern age. People want to make out money or serve their selfishness for every moment that they live and for every act that proceeds from them or can be interpreted as having proceeded from them. People come with loud declarations to serve religion, but they have either the desire of making the show of serving, while actually doing nothing, or to be the master of the situation, and of the Guru or Saint, himself. Disinterested service to Religion is a matter of past. I am not speaking of the spiritual, mental or other world's future interest; but here and here alone, of the material gain of this world alone. People that come forth to serve religion, take away many times much more of the material gain than what they can get from any other ordinary man of the world. The world is passing from the stage of "service" and "absence of service," to "exploitation of religiosity in the name of service." Mother save the world." !!

336. What a rotten and wicked world, our land of Saints and Rishis have turned to be !! Not only has the degree of meanness, vice and wickedness largely increased during the last thirty years, but that has practically contaminated the whole Indian world. Almost everyone, more or less, has been of the same degenerated mentality. The only difference is due to the rich or poor circumstances, standards and realms of roguery and jugglery. For the same degree of wickedness, the world becomes many times more miserable, when the world of ten wickeds in a hundred, in one way and one field only, degenerates itself to be a world of ninety wickeds and that in every way and in every field. This uniform downward degeneration is the most dangerous thing because the degradation on account of its uniformity is neither visible nor provable.

    A certain type of devilishness is a devilishness, so long as it does not become universal. Later the very sense of devilishness vanishes. They that do not resort to it, get soon out of date and suffer and are resentfully efforted to be wiped out, being no longer required in the new society and satanic kingdom.

    One way of judging degeneration is to observe how an average man acts with another, when he is in the highest or the lowest position, in favourable or unfavourable conditions, and with powerfulness or powerlessness; how he acts in the exchanged positions, and to note the difference.

    Just imagine the multiplier of misery, when almost everyone sets the highest value to everything of his own, and the lowest value to those of others, and when he is determined to have the maximum benefit and give the minimum return, in every possible way. It makes the world a living hell.

    There is nothing like a market-value for anything and any work. The value thereof is what one can squeeze out. Details are contemptuously evaded. The price is for the satisfaction that a certain thing is " after all " done. Any work, however small, is pictured to be a Himalayan task and the need thereof a calamity, from which an " angel " saves the "distressed". Creating imaginary scares and scarcities, dependence, helplessness, and monopolisation is the nine-tenth part of any work or a business tact. Any money that falls in the hands (either as an advance or a loan or as in trust) is without the smallest conscience-prick utilised as money earned. On the top of the theoretical market-value, people want heavy remunerations, praise for character and spiritual merit, for not swindling, absconding and quarrelling.

    Some few people may remain contented in the poorest manner if they love peace and rest, most harmlessly. But how can they evade the very mental rottenness, all around them?? Take the smallest dealing, there is no straight working, and it is turned out to be the thin end of a wedge and exploited for possession-taking, mastery, spinning out, and pulling out.

    Good harmless and non-resisting people are taught to be thanking their God every time they leave some dealing with others. If by chance someone shows some goodness, immediately a right is established. If that is not recognised, a quarrel is raised up. If he gives, that giving also must go up being greater and greater. The world makes him repent and condemn himself for the smallest atom of goodness that God has inflicted him with. The world does not leave him until the last lingering atom of goodness is annihilated.

    The most unfortunate fact is that this is not a temporary war-madness-money-making mentality, but a cool-minded settled permanently accepted systematised greed, born of a wicked, irreligious and immoral mentality. It is very very difficult to hope, that it would change its downward course without a none-and-nothing sparing whip from the rulers or the Ruler.

337. Returning to our main subject-matter of achieving religious or spiritual progress, we shall resume our observation. Without the actual Purushartha (exertion) of passing through a particular achievement, without not only devoting certain time money and energy but also temporarily considering that achievement to be your only goal for the time being, and without a determination and discrimination (which the Hindu deity of Ganapati represents), you can't progress even an inch. The Guru's Grace and Mother's Mercy will then alone help and bless you.

    Whether you like it or not, it is a ruling of the Railway Company, that you can't go to the platform without a ticket. It is similarly a ruling that you can't enter a royal palace without a pass. It is not a matter of your liking. You have to die yourself; someone else dying for you will not do; nor can you have an entry without a platform ticket or a pass. You require the recommendation note of your Guru. It is a matter of the Will of the Highest Authority that manages the whole world.

338. These things are then there for the efficient working.- Your relation to the world, your relation to yourself, ditto to your Guru, ditto to your God, and your own exertions, how far you are crooked or straight, honest or dishonest, industrious or idle, prompt or sluggish, proud or humble, grateful or ungrateful, virtuous or vicious, ready for repetitions or averse to, etc.

    Your success, benefit and status are dependent on the concomitant and accumulative outcome of all these forces put together and their working, just as a student passes or fails in an examination of so many subjects. It is a pure and perfect scientific process based on Divine Laws.

    Founder continues: Your relations with the world should be those of love, service, devotion and surrender, of course to the extent possible with you. Anyway, the consciousness about the powerful influence of these factors must be there. Your desires should not be much beyond your true worth, nor immoral, illegitimate and illegal, irreligious and harmful.

    Your relations with yourself must be judged on the basis of your internal purity, how far you are self-controlled, how far you are not dragged away by sense-pleasures and enjoyment-desires, how far you are dispassionate and relishless (Vairagyavan).

    Your relations with your Guru should be that of love and service, devotion and surrender. As a matter of fact, you have to practise on a miniature scale the very same thing as you are later required to do with God. It is just like young girls playing household-managing, marriages, guest-treatment, husband's house-going, etc., or like college students' debates over political situations in their small room, as a preparation for an actual similar part in life.

339. The first thing is Love and Service. You must serve the cause that is dearest to you, viz., that of spreading your faith or cult. Next, your personal service, and more than that, your personal love.

    Don't entertain the modern foolish notion of " no hypocrisy ". It is best to have true gold, but imitation gold is better than no gold. In the commencement, let there be no sincerity, let there be an exaggeration, let there be even flattery. The Guru understands all that, but blesses you with " Let that imitation gold be one-day true gold "; and imitation gold does one day turn to be true gold.

    Love towards saint is always heightened by mere trivial things because he does not want worldly things. He wants your heart and sometimes body, neither the head nor your purse (except for the barest needs). They wish, you love them with heart and serve them with the body. The cleverest and wisest man is he, who never discusses but obeys who does not foolishly create any obstruction in the passing of the nectar, spray of love and grace from the Guru to himself, either for permanent progress or for a particular worldly benefit sought.

    With full knowledge about your insincerity, exaggeration, and show, the Guru loves you for all that, as you are on the line, and therefore are sure to reach your destination some day. He has a mercifulness which is above all imagination. He makes every allowance for your weakness, misunderstanding, circumstances, poor brains, illiteracy ignorance, selfishness, etc.

340. Founder says: There are some indescribable wonderful force and influence in the matter of contact itself (of course, of really great minds) and a faith in the efficacy of that contact. The faith as fact, that a certain person is, and you believe is, with you. In olden times, I once observed at my young age, there was an old neighbouring dame, who without a break of a single day would be quarrelling with my mother. When she died, my mother wept the most, saying "who will now quarrel with me?"

    Founder says here: We are all along talking about a saint with a motherly heart. We are talking about Mother's Religion. Tolerable hypocrisy, insincerity and even a little falsehood free from vice and wickedness and ungratefulness won't be useful in the Fatherly disciplinary school unless Father himself acts as Mother. And that He often does. Father in few cases does act as Mother, and Mother has sometimes to act as Father. Let there be a clear-cut understanding and definition. God as Father, or God as Mother, means God that deals with us in a fatherly manner, or motherly manner. In life, we find so many fathers that act motherlike and so many mothers acting fatherlike. That is however exceptional and unnatural.

    Next, coming to Mother Herself. She wants Love Service Devotion and Surrender of a much higher order. Service is, as stated before, of three types- bodily, mental and monetary.

    Mother expects you to be worshipping Her, repeating the mantras that Guru gives you and helping Her cause by money-dedications in proportion to what your status actually is financially, or what benefits you derive through Her Grace.

    Founder says: " Service represents the English paper of the matric class several decades ago say, in 1900. Students will be first examined in English. If they pass therein, then alone, other papers will be examined. Seventy per cent of the paper is passed, ill luck of failure in other subjects would be only 5 to 10 per cent."

    Founder says: " If bodily and mental service is not practicable, just as in our living we make up for every vice and folly of ours, our wife's and children's, by filling up the gap with money, so also people can partly make up in religion. People, however, do not maintain the same mentality when they deal with religion. Here, the expectations are extremely low compared with that of the worldly ones and yet people most miserably fail."

    A wrong and rotten mentality on this matter is the greatest handicap to the success. The worldly rich man is ready to shampoo the Guru's feet, perform Artis Prasads and Mantras three hours a day, wave the light and sing hymns for full one hour; he would call his Guru, even a God in human form; but in this matter of money, his standard won't reach even a quarter percent of his net earnings or net saving. People going to God's Darshan in their own motors and offering a pice, and that too with a hole in the centre, (not the full copper quantity), are no exceptions.

    Here, the worldly man is the most hopeless failure. And yet, God is so very merciful, God especially as Mother, Her one name being BINDUTARPANA SANTUSHTA, She is satisfied with a drop of an offering. The same has been stated regarding God in Geeta (shloka 26 of the 9th Discourse) who is stated to be satisfied with a flower or a leaf, a fruit or even an offering of simple water.

341. A certain family in Ahmadabad (very recent matter of February 1950) doing business was in rack and ruin. Its trading agency was ordered to be stopped from March 1950, which would mean a winding of a business giving a net profit of Rs. 25,000 a year. The head of the family approached the Founder and explained the whole situation. Said the Founder,"You prove your bonafides by offering Rs. 125 to Mother, before which I can not do anything, because I have the worst experience of the world after their work done." A cheque was immediately passed. Said the man," To be saved from my present situation, I want a loan of Rs. 3 lacs and an extension of my agency  and the cancelling of the order  of its termination by the end of March ."

Said the Founder," You pray like this, installing Mother." They prayed strongly all in one, the whole family because unless Mother helped, the family was going to be entirely ruined. None would advance Rs. 50,000. All the property would be attached. In less than a week, the German firm cancelled the order and extended the period to three months. Today's death was shifted. There were letters of joyfulness and thankfulness and thanksgiving with the heart of devotion, to Mother. The whole family took to devotion and Mai Japa " Jay Mai Jay Markand Mai "( daily one hour programme for the whole family at night ). The agency was renewed still further up to December 1950.

Further, before the usual nine Friday's time limit expired, the world was as it were overturned and a rich man of Bombay came forward to advance a loan of Rs. four lacs.

Can we imagine greater mercifulness? Mother has helped families out of calamities, beyond imagination, only on a mere appearance of Self-surrender to Her.

The merchant came down to Bombay [Mumbai], saw the Founder with his daughter and had a nice Mother worship which pleased the Founder most.

342. Few people realise the underlying purpose when the financial service is emphasized in Religion. If money consideration and the painfulness of parting with it is the only vitalising and devitalising  factor of life and living, it is hopeless appeal to consciousness of and recognition of the duty of every man that is obliged , helped or saved , to do his best in every way, including that of supporting the Institute or a Saint or a Guru, for the future welfare  of himself and his progeny and all the similarly helpable sisters and brothers of a particular Religious Institute. There is an old proverb " Religion will save you only if you save the Religion." If you are religious, be religious. If you are a businessman, be business-like, but don't be too religious in business and too businessman-like in religion.  This suggestion is of course for few, because mostly, a complicated -looking case is an extremely simple case of business mentality with the sugar coating of hypocritical religiosity.

343. The Founder has a quite a motherly heart with reference to them that pay nothing or are totally ungrateful. To explain his feeling, he would be overjoyed when even a trivial recognition of the Deity is there and he would say," are not these people much better than those who would deny Mother's Grace altogether ?? after the happening ?? Where is the proof except in the heart? If the hearts are poor, who else to be blamed, but Mother Herself ?"

One point and worldly people would call it a weakness. If anyone approaches the Founder and true or feigned tears trickle from his eyes -finished !! Founder starts a new clean slate with the man again. Even with a such a person as one who had run away with his clothes and fifty rupees in his college days, there was nothing wrong in the judgement of the Founder, in re-entertaining him as a guest, because he expressed his sorrow. Founder says to himself," After all what is money, except its temporary purchasing power ?? and what is a permanent value of money? Love alone counts. The idea of surrender of anyone to Mother is more than anything else with the Founder. Let him be anything, but he comes to Mother. That consideration weighs supreme, with him.

What is there finally, even in vice or virtue? richness or poverty, good treatment or bad treatment, justice or injustice, intelligence or dullness ?? Of course within reasonable limits and after Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace?  Has any mother discarded her son because he is stingy because he loses his head frequently or even because he goes a bit immoral? No. Her work is to improve him and not to gnash Her teeth,  provided he has obediently lovingly and serving surrendered himself to Her. He is to be chastened but not forsaken. That is Mother's Love. He is to be punished, scolded, guided but protected, so long as he is Mother's and continuous to be Mother's. He shall never be thrown to the winds.  Connection or disconnection with Mother is the highest of the highest and best fortunes, or, the worst of the worst misfortunes. Mother's compassion alone can save us.

344. Which thinking-man cannot see that he is not the master of his life? It can disappear or be taken away or be reclaimed at any moment, without notice. For a true religious believer, does it not look, as if life were given to him as a trust and with a purpose and a mission to play a certain part in the cosmic running of the world?? Revocable at any moment ?? And yet how much terrible mischief, do we play with our life, during the most uncertain and the few counted days that we are temporarily asked to hold life ??

With what a cheerful, jubilant and hopeful heart, God would have created this world with all its varied pleasures? He filled up the Universe with every joy. He had every hope of peaceful happy living of the world. He created things, planets, stars, trees, birds, deities and men, seasons, rains. winds etc. He decided Divine Laws and different rules and regulations for different types of people in different areas of the world. A man however turned rebellious, not only rebellious but also siding with Satan. What else than can there be except sorrow, pain? misery? disease and death, poverty and penury?

During his college days, once the Founder was travelling in a train from Bombay to his native place Petlad. There was a co-passenger who had a big basket of sweets to be handed over to someone in Petlad. At Anand, a junction of many hours' halt, the luggage inspector checked the co-passengers luggage. Accidentally the excess was only due to the sweet-meat package. The passenger lost his patience and began cursing the sender and the receiver. He became rash enough and decided to eat away the sweets. The Founder intervened and said to the Muslim Railway - Mohammedan Inspector " Sir, you are punishing him for his goodness. He will cease to be a good man from now. See how much ruffled he has been !! He is prepared to eat away himself !! He does not take notice either of you? or these other passengers, or me who am with him for so many hours!!!. Let him eat away if you don't leave him. But should he not give something at least to me? I had given him a corner to sleep. First, decide my complaint." All laughed out. The Inspector left him; and the Founder in his young age made a note, like this, in his scribblings :

"This life of ours is a gift or deposit or a trust given to us by Merciful Mother like this sweet-packet. Some begin to misappropriate the same from the very day it is given. You are travelling somewhere. You are pricked with a thorn, you ask your nearest man just to hold your packet and while you are bending to take out the thorn, that fellow runs away with the packet. You can't run.You are thorn pricked. This is the largest class of mis-appropriators. The next one has goodness enough, he carries the packet with a good heart, till he is in the midst of temptations, troubles trials and tests. He then throws off or eats away the packet. There are extremely few that patiently undergo all troubles and finally hand over the packet to a consignee intact, as it was received. " 

There comes a stage for the head of a large family when every member has turned control-less, rebellious, pleasure-dipped, proof to any advice, scolding or punishment. A father punishes a boy, keeps him starved for a certain vice. The boy suffers, cries for mercy, but does not improve a bit. No change.If at all any change, that is for the worse. That irreparable stage comes in. And then the Father, tired of doing his best, finally runs away leaving all members to cut each other's throats. That is the present stage of the modern age. God has left men to manage their world themselves. Our miseries as of today are the results of the cruelties of man to man, their darkest ignorance, their swollen headedness on knowing a fringe of the God's mystery, which they call Western science. What man can make out of that knowledge is only the devastation and destruction. What is the highest victory and glory of science? What can a monkey do on finding a torch? An atom bomb !!! It will burn the whole world. And yet still the wisdom does not dawn. One of the best scientists has called " Man, the unknown". Some supreme scientists bow their head to God but the fifth standard boy who has just begun to learn water is H 2 O turns his head as a discarder of Almighty. Has not the world still a full experience of wars,  famines, wholesale slaughters, atom bombs etc? May Mother make some wise men to think, we must have our Mother in middle to keep us all reconciled and well behaved to one another !!

345. Founder says: The final thing that counts is, with what intensity, you love your God and Guru. With what love you serve him, with what liquefaction you are devoted, and with what determination you have surrendered yourself. to God and Guru. The practical test is, whether God or Guru's work is the first or the last, of all desires, determinations and undertakings. 

To his nearest and dearest disciples, Founder with full endearment says: " Do you think, it is hard to write off a debt of a couple of hundreds of loving, serving and devoted and surrendered servant to master of crores ??  Do you think, Mother can't so manage matters in a second, in respect of all the black market men, that as soon as they touch the money obtained through black-market, their whole body would contract paralysis? Ten such instances and the black market would stop !!"

An evil eye of immorality and the eye will lose its vision." Is that a hard thing for Mother to arrange ??

Do you think there is any fool in the world, who with the surety that he would be blind on his eyeing being immoral, would keep his eyes open when he talks with any other lady except his own wife ?? Wives shall have to pull the eye-lids of their husbands, shouting," It is I, your own wife ". Some overcautious sons of wise mothers would not even then under run the chance of losing eyes. Does it take more than the time required to close and open eyes for Mother, to set right all the waywardness of the world? Let the world demand and Mother shall give peace and happiness. The trouble is, the world wants all happiness without obeying the Divine Laws, remaining all the while violating the Law, and remaining fretting and fuming with ever-ungratefulness and rebelliousness, he can be capable of. 

  346. Mother can set things aright in no time with a High Supreme Command. But then where is the playfulness and joy ?? Mother wants to enjoy the pleasures of seeing how people try to cheat Her, ignore Her, insult Her. How far does the mankind go? thinking too much of itself by itself? She tolerates our weakness but not wickedness. A king plays with his companions. So many defeat him. So many quarrels and play tricks with him, but as soon as he says,"Stop"- finished. Everyone immediately gets up as if by an electric shock, leaving all the cards and horses and elephants of a chess, there and then, as mere puppets. All shouting and quarrelling and claiming disappears in a second.

Where is again the pleasure and joy in lovability shown by others to us if it is under compulsion ??

I order every child of mine must prostrate to me on leaving the bed. Is there any real pleasure in having such prostrations? The joy proceeds when you leave them to act as they like and someone prostrates. The pleasure of prostration is when there is no compulsion and no automatic mechanical prostration.

347. The fact of facts is, the hardest fact is, people, don't feel anything like a joy for serving a religious cause, or a joy, as of a present given by a lover to his beloved, or the joy of having done a service, as of a helping a distant poor relative. Money to be spent or service to be rendered for Mother has no place along with the smallest outgoing and routine duties in the family-run of life.

An earner of Rs. 500 p.m., will not be thinking of a loss of Rs. five note for more than five minutes, but when it comes to a question of giving  Rs. 5 to the religious cause, he thinks, a mountain has crushed him. In a word Religions or his Beloved Deity's consideration does not weigh with him as much as even the smallest outgoing of his daily life.

To this natural weakness, such foolish notions are added. " God is only an abstract Ideal. What does it matter if betel-nuts offered to God are of the rotten stuff? God is not actually eating them. Why should God want anything from us? Can he not create a mint or remove coins or notes from a mint ?" Follies of a hundred varieties (heard from even rich and even educated people ).

    Such a devotee, however, forgets, that his own intensity of prayer with which he is making any demand for a desire, gets lessened by every trivial-most act of his and the efficiency suffers. Your own conscience bites and weakens you if you make an unfulfillable demand, or ridiculously low thanksgiving compared to your profits and your permanent status. The faith itself wavers and finally disappears.

    Says Founder :

    The fire ash near a grate which sticks to the bread, on the bread under preparation falling upon the ash, even when concealed in the dough to avoid detection by some incoming person, finally appears in the bread to be served to the dearest husband and, may Mother forbid, creates a case for a divorce.

    Says Founder, " Even the smallest nail in a machinery, if not properly set to work, would bring the whole machinery to a stop. That belief must be there while managing and supervising each act."

348. Coming to the consideration of the Purushartha, i.e., " one's own exertions," here too, there is a great gulf of difference and misunderstanding. Religious understanding is no technical matter and no Greek and Latin. Anyone can take an intellectual interest and show his intellectual superiority by subtleties, but it is the mastery of action alone that counts and works.

349. As stated by Founder, " every one of a prince's companions has an elephant. Every one boasts he has an elephant, but one has it of cardboard, another of ebonite, still another of clay. It is only the living elephant of the prince that can carry them all to their respective homes."

    In this matter, then, the Founder's saying is this: " Disturb Mother as little as possible for your personal griefs. Learn to bear your miseries yourself, asking Mother to give you the bearing power or the misery-removing powers."

    There was a saint living in an extremely poor condition by stitching clothes. Once he got tired of that life and began to abuse God for His mercilessness. God out of Love to him appeared and said, " Here am I, Just ask what you want."

    The saint was then trying to put the thread in the needle which he could not do since long. He handed over the thread and needle to God and said: " Just please put this thread in."

    God laughed admiring his non-beggingness and said, " You were just a few minutes back abusing Me for mercilessness, etc." Said the saint, equally laughing, " My Lord? Don't waste your precious time on a fool like me. A fool is always pardoned even by a despotic king whatever he speaks in his home and heart when he is tired of life and balance-lost."

    That is the right attitude. But that stage is for saints, not money-making saints, not professional saints, not routine saints, not crowd-saints, but true saints. Let us go to our practical daily life.

350. In practical daily life, there are two issues which the Founder is dwelling upon. One thing, the abuse of Mother's Grace and another thing, to make Mother carry your burdens, yourself having absolutely no physical or mental troubles or worries.

    Re: the first: Founder states- An abuse of Mother's Grace results in the most painful reaction. He quoted a funny instance.

    An educated man saw the Founder and had a wonderful experience of what can be achieved by repeating Mother's Mantra " Jay Mai, Jay Markand Mai," attaching thereto a Sanskrit expression of the desire. Several months later, the Founder had a letter from the man, stating that he had a great bowels' trouble viz., constipation. He cannot leave the place without pains and a clear half an hour. Many medicines were tried but the trouble became a great handicap. One night, while praying to Mother, the Founder got a very strange and singular idea. " He must have troubled many while passing their motion." A very indecent, insulting and unspeakable idea. The Founder is very plain-spoken and wrote out everything to him, and inquiring if it was his play to disturb people during their natural calls. Wonderfully, the man admitted, after he got the Mantra, he was often trying on people who would be going in and would " get his faith regarding the mantra efficacy increased", on their immediately getting out confused and perplexed. The Founder took him right and left, stating that when he found such monkey-like moderners like him, who had absolutely no sense of gratitude sanctity dignity or reverence and absolutely no consideration for others and self-centeredness, he was inclined to run to the conclusion that a similar experience might have led the Gurus in past, to be extremely reluctant about giving their Mantra Vidya and making most of Adhikar and Bhumika. " Surely, people like you would carry your Guru to hell."

    " The only course left open for you now is to be repeating the Mantra, with an expression of repentance and apologising when any people are in." What can be more humiliating than this? He had however to do that, and he was cured.

351. Any pendulum has the same high amplitude on both opposite sides. If Mai mantra is much more efficacious than any other Mantra, it is also equally much more punitive for its abuse.

    The above is an instance of a childish experiment-making mind of one of that class of extremely proud men, who usually consider other people as inferior, and act in the light manner of research-makers, while sacrificing mice rats dogs monkeys, etc. This is the greatest evil of English education, of a superficial civility (of course with some exceptions). " Others are not human beings"- is the disease of the rich people and educated Indian world, after the Western contact.

352. The other instance that Founder experienced was that of the idle-indulging folly of his own Gujerati cook in Dharwar. Once, in his great spiritual heat, the Founder was saying to his disciples," Mother will do anything for you. She will cook for you. She will feed you with Her own hands." The cook heard this was alone for two days when the Founder had gone to Hubli. He kneaded the flour turned it into a dough and closed the doors of the kitchen, saying," Mother, I am tired, you prepare bread." He went out to a friend locking the door and returned after two hours. On opening the kitchen he found everything as he had left. He then began to abuse Mother, as he had heard Founder was something doing in his ecstasy. In the night, he had a dream" Don't be a fool. If you repeat the folly again, you will suffer heavily." Partly with obstinacy and partly with a desire to finish the experiment, does not matter what the consequences would be, he persisted. After all the Founder was there to save him. He repeated the same thing the second night. He saw a very terrible form and heard these words,"Have you this cheek after I had warned you?" He fell senseless and had a high fever. He lay unconscious in the house when Founder returned from Hubli. He got his senses after being treated and had the fever for four or five days even after Founder had prayed.

We all laugh when instances of follies are narrated. But more or lesson a low plane or a high plane, most of us have been committing similar blunders.

We want so many things to be done by Mother, which we ourselves can do. Greatest curse of the mentality of fatalists and the deluded is that of considering the idleness to be an outcome of their great Saatwikness (mind purity and cessation of desires)/ Most common blunder.

353. Founder says," Be sensible. Think deeply. Get the true meaning. Whenever saint advice you," transfer your burden to your God", whenever saints like Tukaram तुकाराम, say," Devaavar Bhaar Ghaaluni Yaa  देवावर भार घालुनी या ", " Having thrust your burden on the deity", they mean something else than what it literary means. It is not expecting God to do your work or making to Mother carry your load, but the expression is similar to Gorakhnath's " BHAYA THAA SO KUVEMEN DAAL DIYAA - भय था सो कुवेमें डाल दिया ", " Whatever was the cause of fear , has been thrown away in the well."

Gorakhnath गोरखनाथ was an able disciple of Machhendranath मच्छेन्द्रनाथ. The Guru had fallen in a damsel's snare and this disciple took him out and made him to leave her. She gave by way of remembrance several golden bricks which the Guru carried with him, stealthily in his bag. As he passed through forests, he would often ask his disciple," Are there any thieves  here ??" The disciple was surprised how such a fearless Incarnation of Shankar Shiva  शंकर शिव was so very fear-stricken. He secretly, when Guru was away, searched his bag; found the golden bricks, threw them away in a well and placed stones therein of equal weight. When next questioned about thieves, the disciple said as above," The fear has been cast away in the well."

354. In this well known traditional episode, the Guru had been all the while testing and preparing the disciple as to whether he was leaving him, on knowing him to have degraded, regarding both woman and wealth, the damsel and the golden bricks. The disciple himself began in all humility to apologise to the Guru for even the smallest trace of any pride in him. People said, "The disciple had saved the Guru", and that was again a test for the disciple. The proverbial "disciple Gorakh" stood, however, every test, most admirably. People were disillusioned when the fact was known that the guru had never been out of hermitage and all the remaining disciples were daily having the physical eye to eye contact with their ablest yogi Guru Machhendranath.

355. It is in this sense that Saints advise " Transferring your burden to your deity", " Consigning all your worries, dedicating them, dispossessing yourself about them, leaving them to the deity not to be further thought about."

There can be even a remote idea of a coercion for immature people," I am doing so much for Thee. Canst Thou not do even so much for me?? Then what art Thou for ?" That is coercion. This view is not at all an impossible one. Ask your conscience.

So, it should be neither a coercion nor a literal transferring. It should be cast away without looking back at it, as to how the further development takes its turn.

The idea is that of renunciation and surrender, and not that of compelling the deity or expecting the deity to do your work or transferring the management of your worries to God or Mother.

To be on the golden media, Founder reads those lines of Saint Tukaram  संत तुकाराम as" Ghalu Naye" घालु नये instead of " Ghaaluni Yaa"घालुनी या  " Don't thrust " instead of " Having thrust", " Your burden on your deity." The modern man is clever in misinterpreting the saint's words. Better be on safe side.

That is the true outlook.

You have to pray to enable you to bear your burden.

If we study the life of ordinary worldly devotees, they believe they are advised to transfer their burden. They expect God to do their things. This is the wrong view and has resulted in spiritual debasement.

356. So many people are under that wrong delusion. Once the Founder had a humorous observation. A lady from a local train was getting down. In quickness of time, her child remained in the train. Some philanthropic man took up the child while the train moved. The lady went on sweetly talking and thanking and praising the man, while the man had to carry the child right up to her home; in olden times a man carrying a child was a deprecating and ridiculous strange scene.

357. The Founder says, he is more than surprised when people altogether banish their most elementary common sense. Has any man achieved anything without undergoing trouble, worry, pain, labour, suspense etc.? And yet how foolishly does he consider spiritual progress to be the work of magical wand? This whole mischievous delusion of the mass is due to people seeing saints being honoured and worshipped, remaining all the while in the(blackest most ignorant) dark about how much they have suffered, starved, segregated themselves from all sense pleasures and material joys of the world practically every moment of their life. The Founder is therefore insistent upon having each saint's experience laid down in black and white, to keep the world's eyes open, at least not to let this humbug go on"they were saintly since the day they were born and they had not had thousands of temptations  trials and tribulations to pass through". Let people, at least Mai-ists, wipe out once for all, all their notions about this choo Mantar छु मंतर  mentality. The straight, unbending stick has to be bent to make the arch bow. It is a work, hard work to be done, against your own self, working against you as your own enemy.

The self is the enemy of the Self. The self has to be made the friend of Self. Don't let the self-be depressed and raise your Self by the self.

358. This is how most of the ordinary devotees do. They would sit hand-folded and say," God will do everything." They would be indulging in sophistry," what are we capable of doing !!! God will do everything for us."

Founder states," Were this not a universal misunderstanding, which I have seen with more than 80% of ordinary devotees in this country, of ease-loving and gilding indolence with Sattwikness, I would not have wasted so many words over this seemingly trivial point. "

359. The Founder's clear-cut opinion is this :

If you have reached a stage where you are indifferent to and even uninfluenced by the results, in matter of fulfilment of a desire, well, transfer all your Purushaartha to the deity, but don't expect your deity to do your own work like the above-said lady, extracting labour from a saintly man with faint praises and prayers in return.

These are very subtle matters and have a great importance for them, those study mentalities most critically and to whom the smallest spiritual lowering is a matter of importance, greater than losing a substantial sum.

The Founder is not satisfied with saying so much on the point. He states,"Don't ask Mother to do what you can do yourself. " With God's given hands and feet, there should be no countenance lent to the idea of " nothing wrong " about begging. 'God will do everything" mentality as a shield and justification to your inattention and inactivity, should entirely disappear.

Mother is simply for removing thorns on your way, guiding you rightly, protecting you etc. for the highest part alone of the whole activity and exertion. Your work you have to do. Your burden you have to lift and carry. You are responsible for its heaviness or lightness.

This misunderstanding (so very universal) must go. In any undertaking for a specific accomplishment, or in the matter of the wholesale question of running one's life, the portion of work to be attributed to Mother has to be just by way of Her blessing your exertions with success and victory.

To give a homely parallel: Expectation of Mother has to be just like that of an old tottering mother who is brought home by separately living son during the marriage of his daughter. She is not for working. That, you have to do, but you have to be in the fullest belief that everything goes on well and speedily, because of her presence and her blessing on your head.

360. This view is more Christian - like than Hinduistic and needs being strongly injected in the ordinary Hindu devotee's blood.

The Founder explains in this connection what Divine Illumination and Realisation means. He says," I might have read imitation of Christ for times without number. When the above view was foremost in my mind, I came to a sentence read so often before, quite differently. It is this one" Come to me all Ye that labour and are burdened and I will refresh you." The word, "refresh" gave me this time a wonderfully deep meaning and that explains the above view. You have to labour. You have to be burdened, Mother will only refresh you. She may do much more, but you are not justified in expecting anything more than being refreshed. That is the right way, the Mai-istic way of looking at things.

361. Mother is most merciful. She would never remain without helping Her devotees. Geeta promises "Yoga Kshema Vahaamyaham"" I am lightening the burden of my devotees of getting and preserving means of his happiness."

All that is nice and good and even fully true, but that does not in any way justify the lazy-drone-mentality which religious Hindus have been recently obsessed with. Your easy-goingness, ease lovingness and indulgence can be tolerated only if counterbalanced with your indifference as to your getting things or not, and as God wills.

362. If all the while, you are actually engaged in Mother's work and Mother's meditation, She will do all your work without your asking or praying for it. But we are only useless fellows, all the while engaged in talks and worldliness and pleasures, and busy with different activities and juggleries of money making and world-creating and self-enjoying. Where is then the justification of our grumbling against Mother's not helping us? We want Her to work as our slave for no other return by us, except the honour we are offering to her, of merely accepting Her existence, extolling the wisdom underlying Her Divine Laws and praising Her world-governing goodness and the mercifulness of Motherhood.

363. A certain rich lady, unable to cook, requested a poor neighbourly woman to cook for her family; while the latter was cooking, the sound of the crying babe just awake, of the cooking woman, was heard. The Founder was present. With what speed the hostess lady ran to take the child out and how fondlingly she was keeping the baby playful and smiling, none can describe.

The Founder was laughing and laughing, till both ladies and other asked the reason. Founder asked the lady, his laughter interrupting his speech, " Would you be fondling and kissing and pampering this baby so much deformed and dirty, after cooking work is finished??" "The moment the cooking is finished you would be saying," I am doing my best but this baby has now become obstinate, discontented and crying without its mother. It does not remain with me. Take the child please." You will also add, after the cooking is over," Child can remain happy only with its mother."  

Your baby is your world, a packet of your everything. You have to take care and undergo all worry about it. The Mother may take over your child and keep it happy, only so long as you are engaged in preparing the best dishes of welfare and well being of Her family. As soon as you have finished that work, Mother will come before you to hand over your child to you. All again de-novo, the same worry and the same struggling.

364. A shower can do in an hour what a gardener or a water-sprinkler can't do in six months. That is all agreed, but that does not justify the gardener's and water-sprinkler's sitting hand folded. He has to work hard with his hands and not simply to pray and be idle.

In a word, the Founder states," Let our mentality be: God helps them alone, who help themselves." You be doing something, even though with a conviction you can do nothing; and Mother will do the whole thing. Don't put your whole weight on Her or don't be seated down on the ground, to be lifted by Her.

Founder states: This is an extremely important flaw-finger-pointing for all the spiritual path-pedestrians.

365. Returning to our subject matter proper, representing the ultimate aim and object of this writing, the Founder begins his religiosity-spreading at the lowest bottom - rung of the ladder.

Let people have as much literature as can be supplied , commensurate with its practical usefulness and fruit-bearing-ness, to convince them of the fact that the existence of a God over us is a fact, and that the removal of miseries on prayer is an undeniable fact, that the removal of miseries is not for pampering the suffering world but for making the world automatically happier and happier by being made to approach the Saviour, on attaining religiosity to please the Saviour.

To be a total habitual beggar for Mother's Grace for anything and everything is again the most abominable abuse of Mother's Mercifulness, but still, let Mother and Mother's Religion start with a complete condescension of Mother's Grace and the speedy removal of sufferings on Mother's worships prayers and devotion and surrender.

Let the religious life begin with the universal-family relationship, as its first conception. Helping others by love and service and getting one's own sufferings removed by devotion and surrender.

It may very likely be suggested that the juggler who is turning copper coins into rupees, when he finds the world does not go beyond the selfishness of getting all copper coins changed into silver coins, should be wise and fly away.  It is only energy wasted.

But still again, on second thought, it may be held by some few that to tempt the sickly child to be thinking of eating an evaded bread, it is better that the bread is covered with honey, even though the child may lick away the honey and leave the bread. Take the chance, though one in a hundred. As it is, what other better use of life, capable persons are going to make ??

In spite of all things to contrary, the said type of work viz., of coating the bread with honey lies in the most appropriate  direction in the changed circumstances of today, when God's existence and God's Grace existence are called into question and have to be proved, to make the world to proceed on the right path to true happiness; it is in full natural rhyming with conception of Motherhood of God. The juggler can run away. Mother can't.

God's commandments, God's recommended ways of living, God's representatives, God's Court lawyers, God's heavens. God's purgatories  - all these have meaning only to the extent God becomes a reality to the world. Mai-ism begins at the most practical end. Although most of the men would remain selfishly begging till the end, some of them would like to and do rise higher.

366. Once let the experience of the Divine help on God's Grace by obedience to the Guru's guidance, on Mother worship and prayer and the resulting intercession by God's pets and devotees, be spread, even though in a scattered manner, but yet all over the world.

Regarding the resulting benefit both spiritual, as also worldly, one man does go higher and higher though slowly and invisibly, even though he himself does not feel so or get convinced about his rise. We do sometimes hear frequent complaints from beginners about no progress or benefits being had, in spite of continued devotion. On the most precise analysis, the disease of that sort of belief is bound to be found in certain wrong beliefs, and ignorance and complete irrational thinking about Religion. Some reasons are these : (1) People want to buy heaven out of a penny. (2) The progress is not seen  till water actually flows from a well-pump, although water has been rising in the pipe with every stroke (3) Spiritual progress or benefit as of bliss and of cessation of worry, fear, etc., is not counted as an achievement although enjoyed and never agreed to be foregone (4) People don't differentiate between material and spiritual happiness. Happiness is mostly taken to mean material and worldly happiness. (5) Other people's happiness for comparison and contrast is pictured only on imagination and in absolute ignorance of facts (6) Some have such a crude notion about happiness, that they won't feel happy unless they are perfectly happy in every manner, every direction, every side and in every type. (7) Some have a natural habit or weakness of ruminating over their few points of unhappiness (8) Some have an extremely narrow view about the amount and type of labour required to achieve some solid progress.

The whole difficulty arises from the fact that people do not know their real levels, and have not before their eyes the different higher and lower grades of evolution. And on the top of that, whenever anyone decides to be taking up the course of self-evolution, he usually commits the blunder of putting himself in a class much higher than his real one. His time and labour get wasted like the attendance of college lectures by a primary school boy. There are other wrong notions associated with this age, of a democratic nature which retards the spiritual progress - " Automatically we are becoming better and better ." " What one man can do, another can as well do." "We have limitless internal powers though dormant," and so on. Humility and obedience and discipline and principle of being on the over exerting side, rather than failing on account of only a slight under-doing, all are gone.

Just as there are physical limits, there are mental, moral, religious and spiritual limits. You can't go beyond them.

The only difference is that physical limits are too gross to be enlarged, whereas other limits can be enlarged, even to a wonderful extent by exertion, practice, sacrifice and suffering. The mind must be trained to discern smallest subtleties and see distinctions of lower and higher grades.

The Founder classifies devotees into nine groups. [1] MAAI DARSHAN BHAKTA माई दर्शन भक्त  [2]  MAAI PRASAAD BHAKTA  माई प्रसाद भक्त [3] MAAI AARTA BHAKTA  माई आर्त भक्त [4] MAAI LAUKIKA BHAKTA  माई लौकिक भक्त [5] MAAI SAADHANAA BHAKTA  माई साधना भक्त [6] MAAI VIDHARMI BHAKTA माई विधर्मी भक्त [7] MAAI JIVAN BHAKTA माई जीवन भक्त  [8] MAAI SHARANAAGAT BHAKTA  माईशरणागत भक्त [9] MAAI ANANYA BHAKTA  माई अनन्य भक्त

No.[1] is just for casually seeing things. No.[2] is for small gains and company pleasure. No.[3] is actually distressed. No.[4] is a good religious honest and honourable householder with family life. No.[5] is one with a religious goal and who exerts his utmost, leaving all other matters as a subsidiary, to achieve the spiritual progress. No.[6] is one, who having achieved powers and a high spiritual stage loses his balance with a swollen head and begins to slip with a retrograde motion. No.[7] is an established firm and fixed soul who lives his life with religiosity, in every thought, word and deed. No.[8] lives his life as a self-surrendered, caring-for-absolutely-nothing except the welfare of the whole of humanity, in the best service of Mother's children; he lives the life of a Mother's world minister. No [9] is engaged in nothing, except Mother and Mother's personal work and contact and communion. He is in direct relationship with mother and has retired from his services rendered to the Universe.

The experience of the Founder described before, in the hospital at Ahmedabad and in Hubli for twelve days, are instances of Ananya Bhakti, the former one being of the Dwaitistic nature and the latter of the devotion midway between Dwaitism and Adwaitism, almost approaching the final Adwaitism.

In this Ananya Bhakti, a stage arrives known as AARTA PRAPATTI - आर्तप्रपत्ती  when the devotee finds it impossible to live as a separate entity from Mother. Living as a separate one becomes intolerably painful. Then, he merges in Mother, like MIRAA BAAI  मीराबाई in LORD KRISHNA.

A spiritual aspirant must have a clear understanding about Bhakti भक्ती, Saadhana साधना  and Prema प्रेम. A Bhakta भक्त  in the first trio of the above nine stages has the joy of protection. A saadhakaa साधक  in the second trio has the joy of achievement, and a PREMI प्रेमी  in the last trio has the bliss and ecstasy of Love. The central trio is the most complicated and immature aspirants if they have thrown off proper guidance, get entangled and go downward.

A word for this Sadhana period. "Saadhanaa" साधना  requires a strictly disciplined life. You must have a superlative value for an established long-durated routine of an orthodox Brahmin's life, without the delusion of the routine alone being everything, living a life of morality, character and virtue. The worldly value attached to money making and money amassment should go, except to the extent of the minimum requirement of having money in your hands when you actually need it indispensably. The whole chain of world bondage has innumerable links, so very invisibly and inseparably interconnected. You can rise above money lust only to the extent you have risen above the attachment to wife and children and the pleasures of worldly life. There, there the limitations-consciousness, the living much above pennies - caring and the understanding about the waste of exertion over a much higher attainment than that of one's natural worth, which the Founder is hammering upon, comes in.

The Founder mainly insists on Brahmacharya ब्रह्मचर्य, Ahimsa अहिंसा , Aparigraha अपरिग्रह, Satya सत्य  and Shudhha-Aahaar शुध्द आहार.[ Celibacy, Harmlessness, on-acceptance, truth and food purity].

A Saadhak should never be under the obligation of any other man, of any nature. This Aparigraha is of the highest importance in this rotten age. He should always be a giver. He should secure as much Asanga as possible. Non-reliance, Non-attachment and Non-contact. Minimum of dabbling and maximum of silence and solitude. Every evil thought, every lie and every injury done to others should be felt as a self-inflicted blow. Regarding food, never forget that each food element, that goes to form your body, head and heart, has not only a material quality but mental. moral, religious and spiritual property as well. At least, let nothing go below your throat, which is not Mother-dedicated.

Make your advance in Gyana, without forgetting that the Gyana is not for intellectual relish, but for translating best and sublime truths and principles into life actions and actual living. Make your progress in devotion, without the extinguishment of your common sense and rationalism, without the shrinking of your worldly duties, without a mere blind faith and following, without narrowness and bigotry - on the top of all the above, without every now and then - begging.

Don't remain under the centuries-old delusion about the results of mechanically done Mantras, Anushthaans etc. It is Mother that grants success, on being pleased. The results of your prayers, Japams etc. are dependent on how much nearer and lovelier you are to Mother. How far you are righteous, virtuous, pure, good and benevolent and how far your service and sacrifice for Mother's children go. All these count much more than your flowery language, the correctness of pronunciation, the richness of offerings and strictest observance of scriptural Karma-Kanda details.

I want to stamp out this extremely high importance that has been given to external and demonstration details. With a view to therefore driving the superior truth home, I am driven to quote an illustration, although the book is becoming too big for my poor purse. 

A certain Government Officer (G.B.S.) was deputed to a certain State with an extra allowance of Rs. 250 p.m. As soon as he received the Government Order, he ran down to the Founder and Mother: " How can I maintain two establishments with so much only extra ?" "You must request Mother to give me Rs. 600 per mensem. There was a great happy and sweet quarrelling all over the night." As if Mother is bound  to do what I say." Finally, the Founder yielded at 4 a.m. and said," I may at the most speak to Her about Rs. 500."

The officer agreed but insisted on the prayer being made within his hearing.T he Founder prayed " Mother, give him Rs. 500." The officer hastily thrust in  and spoke in continuation these words "and free bungalow and free motor." The Founder laughed but continued his sentence with the suggested addition. The next morn., the officer made a representation to his boss, who said," Government would never change orders once passed. It would be dis-obedience not to accept. But yet, leave it to me. Let me think what to recommend. " The officer came out, extremely anxious to know whether he finally decides to request Government or drops and if at all he recommends, what he proposes. When the draft came out to the Head Clerk for typing, what does the officer read ?? " Rupees Five Hundred per month with a free bungalow and a free motor."

The Founder says," You yourself be the best of men, dearest to the Divine Mother and your Guru, and let all riff-raffs of scriptural studies, routine observances, theoretical controversies, directions of facing etc., have a secondary place. What you are is more important than what you do or have.

Highest devotion means simply talking over to Mother, just as listlessly as you talk to your mother in the kitchen on your way to your room with your friend, to the purport that the friend is to dine with you.

The mass should note.," Saints are for contact and co-residing, Gurus are for opening heart and instructions and Siddhas are for strict obedience and disciplinary action. Love and Service should be common to all. "

The distinction of Gyana and Bhakti or Bhakti to Impersonal God or Personal God is this. In one case, the hunger disappears; in another, an entirely unknown man is sent with a rich dish. In one case, the mother of a dead child is asked to bring a few grains from a house in which none had died, to bring the child to life. The mother gets the illumination. " Death is the most natural process. There should be no grief." In the other case, the Bhakta moves his hand over the dead son, the son revives . and mother returns home with revived son. Both the paths have their highest points of wonderful utility, Glory and Bliss. One is Light, another is Life, and both, conjointly or independently, lead to Eternal Bliss (Love).

  367. Most, unfortunately, greatest ignorance prevails regarding what Religion in reality means. The Religiosity of man to man relationship, conduct and character, etc., has not actually in court divorced her husband of Religion, but in a home, Religion is nothing more than a henpecked obedient and voiceless servant like a husband. If the definition of Religion as made by Mai-ism be popularly accepted, viz., that Religion means selflessness and love and service to all, the world will be much more happy, than by knowing how the universe was created, how many hells and heavens are there, what is the final relationship of Atma and Paramatma, what is Maya etc. Does Maya envelop Ishwar or does Ishvar create and destroy Maya at his Sweet Will ?" Hundreds of similar questions do surely give a certain joy and pleasure to philosophers and the happily-placed world, but they do not go a bit to help the average worldly man in any substantial misery-relieving manner. Mai-ism says, leave all that to be taught to you by Mother, when She and you have both enough leisure. Your ignorance about these questions is no handicap to your true progress or happiness.

368. People have such an over-exaggerated notion of being exempted from all sorts of miseries, on their taking up a little interest and exertion for religion, that they become quite irrationalistic and claim exemption from the directly visible miseries resulting from their own misdeeds or omissions of duties. They would go to the last stage of degeneration, but their single hair should not be disturbed !!

369. One point of experience, which is a matter of a little laughter and great satisfaction is that all grumblings appear and disappear and so many people return to the refuge of Religion after periodical outbursts of rebelliousness. The Founder again welcomes them, with the same heart, without a word about the past, starting again a new clean slate, realising how hard it is, not to be rebellious under severe miseries for even an advanced soul.

370. Make the smallest beginning of experiencing that your sufferings are removed on approach to Mother; let then, the second lesson about the remedy for the prevention of sufferings be learnt. Start with an atom of faith, even though only as an experiment and get the conviction that such an approach is effective. You automatically come to the next point of wisdom as to how to prevent miseries. A Mai-ist's answer is, " Live a life of loving and serving others universally."

    Another problem is this. " Yes, you are right, we have partly experienced, but somehow although we best wish we may love and serve others, yet something prevents us. What is that and how to master that opposition? Then comes the realisation of your enslavement to the six enemies within you. Then comes the determination to overpower them. Further, thereafter, comes the tiredness of the constant struggle and fight. Here comes the introduction of the higher joys and the most powerful divine spiritual help of the deities to their devotees. Then comes the question of how to keep them (deities and devotees) constantly pleased. Then comes self-control and self-denial and self-absorption, etc. Let each test be passed with every help to pass before the requirement in the second test be talked over. Where is the sense in your talking of Shelly and Shakespeare works, before you know your alphabets? That only creates a chaos and a delusion that you have reached the end.

371. The secret of secrets is the repetition of what is called Mai-Sadhana. Associating a certain Divine thought or Truth and interweaving the same with Mother's name representing that particular Ideal. There must be repetitions of sublime-most emotions, thoughts and actions till big beehives are formed in your heart and brain. The innumerable bees of the beehives so formed by your untiring exertions will bite the enemical evil and satanical desires thoughts and actions and the indwelling or incoming Satan, to a practical deadness.

372. Founder states, " Let one man come to me and say, " I was getting wrathfully wild fifty times in a year. In the last year, by Mother's Grace, there were only ten occasions." Let another man come and say, " I have decided I will hold no higher property than ten lacs of rupees. The rest shall go to charities." Let the third man come and say, " I have lived for one month, living as an incognito and pocketing insults of everyone, to humble my pride, as you suggested and I now find a world of happiness has been opened out by Mother to me," and so on and so forth.

    Founder says, " I will be more happy by any of these narrations than that I have completed my pilgrimage from Haridwar to Rameshvaaram, leaving no important place of pilgrimage." Another man saying, " I can quote any shloka of Bhagwad Geeta. You simply name it and the shloka flows from my mouth without a single error." The third man saying, " I have studied six darshans. You be presiding over a symposium. Let us have one, of learned Pandits. I am sure I will carry the day, etc." These do not please the Founder or Mother.

    Founder asks, " How does all that, practically help you, or your own men? or the world? or your inner peace and happiness?? or how does that give any satisfaction to your God and Guru and to yourself ???"

373. Every royalty, splendour, grandeur is ready to hail you and salute you and obey you. Let once the Highest Queen Mother accept you as Her loving and beloved Son. Instructors will come forth, Pandits and Shastris, to make you a master of Divine Knowledge, an army will always be serving you as a body-guard to protect you against your enemies. The Treasurer of the State will stand with silver and gold before you, hand-folded, to take up your command, day-to-day, night-to-night and hour-to-hour.

374. Start the first lesson, be you in any high or humble position. Enrich your bank balance of merit and Mother's Grace, by repetition of " Jay Mai Jay Markand Mai." Just when I am writing these lines, I receive a letter like this from a Mother's devotee. He calls himself " Mai Swarup Mugdha-Shishu. A mute child of Mai Swarup."

                                                                                                            Kochrab, Ahmedabad,

                                                                                                                    28-5-50

    I crave Mai Swarup's Blessings.

    Mugdha Shishu sends his Thanksgiving with the caption " Mai's ways are inscrutable."

    " On the night of 25th between 8 and 8-30 p.m. this weakling of yours after dangerously suffering from high temperatures, physically by day had difficult breathing extremely acute, and choking with the most complete symptoms of imminent death out of heart failure. All the kith and kin expected helplessly what was inevitable as a certainty. Only this mute child of yours was adamantine to refuse all help from without and kept on mentally chanting out of breath and breathing in. " Jay Markand Rup Markand Mai, Marak Tarak Eka Mai," with the result that he personally writes this thanksgiving most cheerfully."

375. Founder asks " What do you prefer? A name in the religious world for your lore, proficiency or a strict observance of the bath-and-kitchen principles, etc., or being saved from such situations of heart-failure??". " If the latter, then follow the simplest and speediest way to happiness through Mother's Grace."

376. With regard to the subject of religion, India has a uniqueness. It is a country of " Newcastle to carry coals " of religion. Everyone knows everything about religion. Only thing is he has little value and serenity about it. Still less, " the true understanding," yet still less, " a conviction of this and not that," yet further less, " a desire for realisation" and yet still further less, "a readiness for the necessary exertion and sacrifice."

377. The Founder has a funny experience to narrate in support of his said view. He was once travelling in a train. It was a pretty long journey. A Mohammedan, a Parsi, a Christian and a Hindu was his co-passengers. The Founder opened has the favourite subject of religion. Each one, the Mohomedan, the Parsi, and the Christian after only a little talk, showed a great interest in the Founder for his craving to learn different religions and referred the Founder to a Moulvi, the Dasturji and a Reverend expressing their humility and inability to discuss religion with him. They gave actual addresses. The Hindu immediately usurped the place of a Religious Teacher to the Founder. The Founder has noted this contrast so often. A Hindu usually thinks he is fit for being a religious teacher. He rarely thinks, while dealing with religion, he has to be all together in a different mood and on a much higher plane than in shop or share-market. For Hindus, a Brahmin is a cook to be threatened with dismissal when in the kitchen and a religious teacher when he reading and explaining Satyanaaraayan Kathaa, to be prostrated before, in the worship room. Hinduism suffered awfully because of it 's over doings and over-familiarities which both have resulted in the sense of sanctity about religion being entirely edge-less and dull. So many Hindus take out and put back their religion as a gentleman does with his kerchief or a lady with her comb or a playful boy with his toy. The usual standard of sanctity, serenity, sanctity is much poorer than it should be. If you have no soft corner for religion, say out boldly," Religion has no interest for me. " but why do you add your poison individually to the religious world?

For one engaged in a religious service, any little thing of worldly gain or a certain  need makes him leave the religious service to itself." God, Guru, Religion will nowhere run away, but the other person or opportunities, if they do, they go forever." Poor they, where can they run away?? They must wait till the worldly work is over and nothing else remains until the call bell rings again!!!

378. India and Hinduism, however, stand supreme because their highest men are higher than those of others, especially in religion. Lukewarm water is neither hot nor cold, that is the usual condition of religiosity in India. Hindus bring in religion in materialistic matters and materialism in religious matters. India stands westernized when She is dealing with eastern matters and sticks to its eastern-ism when called upon to rush on, on western lines.

379. One of the saints in the past has rightly and humorously narrated," He knows everything except what he is asked and called upon to utilise the knowledge of.He himself remains a dry stone while shouting top others and advising others to exert for showers and for being under shower rains. He wants others to follow the religion which he can teach others easily very well." He himself stands exempted. That is the anomalous position. A  clever student unwilling to learn mathematics always argues," Anyone can pass his examination by neglecting any of the three subjects, Arithmetic, Geometry and Algebra. " He points out the other two subjects whenever the teacher presses him to learn up anyone subject. Especially, the philosophy of Adwaitism is so very dexterously exploited. The Founder loves Adwaitism but resents its abuse.

People like to be considered and called to be religious without being religious. People want proofs of God's Grace. When authentic instances are quoted, they would smell a rat or belittle those happenings, or they themselves would quote more miraculous cock and bull stories.  They would never take the trouble of investigation and inquiry and on the top of everything, the man who works hard at getting such instances for a future guidance record is non-plussed because persons concerned in the description of a certain experience will not bear him out.

380. The Founder says," There are wheels within wheels and any effort of the type eludes grip. It is as it were Maya were strongly thwarting any effort of establishing permanent lights in a blind alley."Says She, as it were, " It is my wish, my rights, my order, my jurisdiction whether a certain man is able to see God's finger in a certain miraculous happening or not. You can't reduce me to a formula or a mechanism or a vanquished.T he blindness of  man will never disappear and the secret of the understanding  will not show itself, till God's or Guru's Grace showers."

381.  Today a man weeps with unceasing tears of gratitude to Guru and God for being saved from, say, a heart failure. To-morrow his mind changes and he says he was a fool to bring in God's Grace and goes even to call his Guru a delusion creator. When another occasion of calamity befalls him, he is again full of treas and thanksgiving. Let one day more go and he is again the very same dissenter. He considers his God's finger, vision, gratitude and thanksgiving to be the symptoms and acts of an indescribable weakness in something like delirium when he was no longer himself. He thinks " I was overpowered with some unshakable irresistible force. Now I am free from  that temporary mental debility."

382. During a calamity, a man is not himself, he becomes lamb-like, God-fearing, obedient, humble and God-approaching. He is entirely a different man with different outlook and way of judging and thinking. God, Guru, Divine Law, sins, sufferings, all look standing ready to rush upon him. The calamity being over, he returns to his original self and wonders how, so very lion-hearted, he had become lamb-like. It is only the good luck of few blessed to have a conviction about which stage was really superior. Like King Janaka, few lose themselves in meditation over the contrast of the two different and often contradictory states.

383. That accounts for a man's ingratitude and forgetfulness about God's and Guru's Grace. That is Maya's thick blindfolding veil , and man is more to be pitied than to be blamed, when one realises what a powerful overturning force  this Maya enshrouds a man with; the Maayaa, which makes the man think, he was overclouded with a delusion, when in reality he was in direct touch with the Truth.

What a tremendous power, Maya holds over the little mind of man !!! A coal during an electric temperature has the lustre of diamond. It cools down and again becomes coal. The dog is wise only for the moments he is in the kitchen and till the serving lasts. Serving finished, kitchen closed, the dog is again a dog.

384. But, all the same, Mai-ism is very optimistic. What is wanted is hundreds of repetitions and any man becomes surely much better than before, with pains, patience and perseverance. The higher the spiritual and religious and moral stage and living of a man, the greater is the peace of mind, happiness and cessation of misery. This is the most automatic result though often invisible and unrecognized. The electric current proceeding from an electric station of a city being made stronger and brighter, there is nothing but lustrous joyfulness in every branch that goes to make the city happy through the electric power. The bakery, the cotton mill, the street light, the lift everything runs smoothly and brilliantly. Mai-ism says, strengthen your current and fill up your batteries by living a life of Love, Service, Devotion and Self-Surrender. Merely changing bulbs and frequent switching off and on, can not help you if the current itself is already weak. Switch on your red Ribbon key of your Mind-type-machine. All letters thereafter are not black or blue but auspicious bold red.

Pray, Pray and Pray. Concentrate, consolidate yourself. Be attracted to Mother, the Highest Center and Resource of all Powers and Welfare you can imagine. You will have attractivity in return. Make your environment happy by Love and Service. Make your inner self-stronger, purer and quieter by Devotion and self-Surrender. You are many times much better. You will make yourself happy and make all around you happy. How to do that is not so difficult. The desire must be there. The discrimination must be there. The decision must be there. The determination must be there. The rest automatically follows as a dish by Divine Mother on your crying determinedly hard.

JAY MAI JAY MAI JAY MAI JAY MAI JAY MAI.