ABRIDGED MAI-ISM CHAPTER XI MAI CHITTASHUDDHI SAADHADNAA JAY MAI JAY MAI JAY MAI Till 1940, Mother had preserved me from the poisonous contact with the world. How can I convey to you my feelings of wonderfulness and gratefulness to Mother, for having kept me enwrapped up in the end of Her garment just touching Her heart ? To protect me against the bitter blasts of the cold and heat of the worldly winds. Will you believe I am shedding tears when I am writing now ?At any rate you can not have the mental state which I am passing through.They are tears of my ungratefulness and joy on eye-opening.I wished my eyes were never opened at all to the trickiness and wickedness of the world.What I have ultimately gained by losing my ' child-like state ' ? I bless the age when anyone can cheat me and triumph over me , when I can be nothing like a hard nut to any one of the world to be dealt with any way and even swallowed up. Why ? My heart chokes to speak out : Why ? My Mother in that stage of helplessness never left me away. I had my arms round Her neck and yet as if I was likely to slip, Mother was impatiently pressing me and holding with Her strong hands on my back. The moments when my small little whole self was not stuck up and riveted with Her portion between neck and the waist, were few. As I grew up and became too heavy, I was taught moving ; but yet such moments were only few and counted as when Her eyes were not at all the while after me and at my back when I annoyingly said first to myself and, then to Mother, " I am no longer a baby, no longer a child , I am a boy can't you see ? I can take care of myself. I can think out my problem myself. I can make my own way ahead. I know how to make my progress; why should you be entanglement in my way, following me where ever I go ? " On a fine evening, full of ecstasy, why a motor was carrying the Founder, most cautiously along the fringe of a deep valley, at the dusk,with a fragment of fear as the night was approaching, the Founder was making an oblation of his tears to his dearest Mother in the valley, with these words : " गोद बिठा जब, मूल न जाना , जाना , तब नही गोद बठाना , माई कुपुत निभाना - छोड चरण कहा जाना " " When I was being made to sit in the lap of Thee, Oh, my Mother, I had no knowledge and idea of my blessedness. When , now, when I have an idea and craving, I am now not permitted by Thee to sit in Thy lap ". " Mother Thy ways are mysteriously unfathomable. Let Thy will be done. I only prostate to thee and pray " . " Somehow because of Thy own majestic Mercifulness, tolerate Thy wicked son ". " As unto this wide world, I went forth. There gained ample worldly wisdom Lost sweet innocence , and Thy Kingdom . And my place on Thy lap, as a wicked son. Oh Accept me as I am, Blessed one " Jay Mai Jay Mai Jay Mai. Today hundreds sing these lines, translated by late Bro. A.S. Mundkur with other Founder's psalms. Let the tears shed in that valley carry their fruits all over the world. I do see, though most faintly, Mother's motive. She is passing me through boisterous boyhood and mischief-ful manhood, to make me more and more beloved and better and better innocent and Mother-absorbed baby. The repeated and alternate process of dipping an impure gold tablet in corrosive chemicals and velvet pieces, till it becomes full twenty-four carats gold. It is at the end of your travel and travail, that you know how very gracious Mother had been to you, while you were cross with Her for keeping you simple enough to be cheated by the world. At the end alone you realise, that was to make you pass successfully through and turn you to be proof to any and every calamitous situation that can possible arise. To carry you to the stage where you can challenge the world saying ," So long as I have Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace with me , come what the world can crush me with. " Well then, equip yourself with Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace both, through Love Service Devotion and Unconditional Cheerful Self Surrender , and begin fighting your enemy, one after another and make your headway towards the Kingdom and Capital of Mai. Is that difficult ? No. Is that easy ? No. It is difficult or easy as Mother wishes that thing to be for you. Mother reveals Herself to such beloved ones of Hers as have their eyes opened by Her with the celestial ointment of Divine Knowledge , on their fixing their minds on the lotus Feet of Mother. Proceed slowly, but steadily, most cool-mindedly. It is no a day's work. The greatest advantage with its uniqueness is that every step you gain is a permanent achievement. Start from the very alpha , even if you are at the age of sixty. Go rung by rung over the ladder. So that you don't slip. Wait and stop if you are feeling nervous and giddy. Even recede a few steps if need be. Let not your goal be out of your sight any moment of your life. Know it, sooner or later, with your maintenance of happiest relations with God and Guru, the Kingdom is bound to be yours. A pass-ability even with grace marks , should be acquired in what is expressed as gratefulness, greatness, goodness and givingness, before a man is really fit for the further two stages of godliness and goingness. These are the six G - s of Mai-ism. By giving is meant not the mechanical parting with money as that a poor man can not do , but giving a higher return than an average man. The man who has passed these four stages has good relations with all round him. People hear fewest complaints and rumors about him. He has no peevishness. He is not put out as soon as there is some opposition. He has the same respect for the others and others' opinions which he expects for himself, he has the same consideration for their conveniences and comforts. If some one is wrong with him, he says," Days will pass and we shall again be friends ". He has trained himself to look at any question, placing himself in the position of the person dealt with. He is able to see things not only as himself, not only as his opponent, but also as all concerned and all unconcerned. He is able to charitably view any situations from all sides and all angles. His greatness of intellect and outlook is not without goodness. His superior intellect does not make him a selfish master over others. He is not the exploiter of the less intellectual or the less experienced. He is not petty minded. He does not identify himself with his wife and children alone. He has the soft corner for every one of the humanity. He never takes advantage of someone's helplessness. He thinks it is meanness to profit by the helplessness of others. He does not distrust others, unless he has substantial grounds to distrust. He does not see bad motives. He does not believe in inherent badness of others , even when he is actually experiencing it and even suffering. He thinks very likely he is in the wrong, when he is thinking evil about others. He tolerates people hurting him, rather than he be troubling others. He takes every precaution to see that he does not take any good man to be a bad man , does not matter if he has to suffer as a result of his blunder of taking a bad man to be a good man. Mai-ism draws a sharp distinction between religion and religiosity. Religiosity is the state of being and doing what religion asks you to be and to do. It is the burningness and coolingness of the Sun and moon. take a high standard of understanding and outlook. To you your Rama and Krishna or Shiva may be gods. Your Vedas and Geeta may be God's words and revelation. But what are they to the non-Hindu world ? On the other hand, you live the life of duty like Shri Rama, live the life of non-attachment in the midst of all the temptations like Shri Krishna , live the life of complete renunciation like Shri Shiva . Even if you are living in midst of people whose very language you don't know your language , you will see in their eyes a love and reverence for you and a desire to intimate you. Religion without religiosity is a corpse. Your living should preach your religion and not your scriptures and loud lectures. Preachers must be witnesses and living models and neither lawyers nor professors. Mai-ism is extremely practical. Its long and perhaps even tedious instruction should not cause any disappointment. Once Mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace are secured and retained, Mai-ism tells you, most assuredly, you are sure to pass. How many years you are required to be under the coaching is a matter of your capacities and exertions and studiousness. Once let it be firmly established that a man deaf and a dumb, a man lame and blind, a man with no education and no schooling , can be religious under Mai-ism.Religion is to be seen in the life you live and not in words you speak or right or in some particular external ritualistic actions or observances that people call as religious. Well then, first prostate to your God and Guru. First have the meditation of your deity and Guru whoever it be and invite blessings. Don't create a bad feeling around you, but make out a list of divine, demoniacal and intermediary persons, as you move amongst your relations , friends , acquaintances and strangers in the world. Just as you don't go to plague-stricken areas especially during delicate hours of night , so also make it a point to have as little to do with unsuited people as possible.With all persons except them that you select out as divine , let your relations be formal, happy, smooth, jolly, harmless or obliging as you meet a co-passenger in a train. Those select persons are your kith and kins on the spiritual plane. You shall have to meet them so often and have dealings with them. Even though in the worldly relations you may be quite remote , you will be brought together at some Guru's , God's or Saint's place , or sometimes through correspondence etc. So, the Founder introduces you to your God, Guru, Geeta and your gallants and gloves ( your real kith and kins ) and the globe.The life you live on your own restricted globe with your gallants and gloves, is your spiritual or religious life. Let us then have some idea as to how a religious man and an irreligious man live, or seen to live, how are the temperaments of both formed. As a matter of fact, this should be the first natural question of any spiritual aspirant who wants to make a spiritual progress. This world is so much of full contradictions and hypocrisies, that is hard to distinguish one type from another. The man, by nature, with no spiritual culture, is crafty, busy with laying snares for others, deceiving them and having his self and self serving as the be-all and end-all. The religious man is simple-hearted. He evades all approach to and by evil, and in whatever he does , he first thinks whether his actions will be pleasing or dis-pleasing to God and his conscience . In matter of worldly gains , he keeps own self always in the background. The man by nature, never likes to be troubled or to be checkmated in his liberties to go his own way; he does not like to be defeated or subjugated to any control or to be obediently serving any other being. Any yet wants mastery overall others around him.The religious man considers every trouble in the pursuance of his religious course to be a definite gain which makes him more hardy. He does not dis-like to be under a restraint and feels pleasure in serving others . He loves to be disciplined and humble. The ordinary man has his eye always on whatever benefits him the most; whereas the religious man has a consideration about the maximum benefit to many and all.The common man runs after the fame where as the religious man does not crave for name and fame.The usual man is trying to cover his faults and to look much higher than what he naturally is. The religious man feels no shame in being known as he is, and feels at times relieved on making his confessions with compensations to the aggrieved. The usual man loves ease, comfort and pleasure, wishes all his desires to be immediately fulfilled and looses his balance as soon as anything contrary to his wishes takes place. The religious man weighs all things in the scale pans of eternity and is, all the while cool and quiet, being sure that he is depositing his merits in a never-failing Bank. The ordinary man is always for secrets , privacy, exclusiveness and for getting. The religious man keeps all his cards open, feels oneness with so many and gets pleasure on giving and sharing his joys with others. The common man is , all the while, looking to his body and sense and their pleasure. The religious man has his concern with soul and improvement of his mind and character. The worldly man wants to do nothing without a multiplied return. The religious man is just the reverse of the nature. He does not go under the obligation of others and consider services rendered to others as his duty to his fellowmen or to the children of his God, or to the very same soul of his in other bodies. The religious man has a greater sympathy towards virtue,innocence and Godliness; the other man towards pleasure , intellect and power. The one loves justice and truth, the other loves conquest and holding his own. The usual man is always complaining of his wants and dis-comforts and is always dis-contented. The religious man cheerfully and contentedly, with hopefulness in better days to come, and with renunciation to the will of God , passes his life unagitatingly and smoothly. The common man needs news and thrills day-to-day. The religious man loves constancy . The usual man turns everything he can lay hands upon to his own advantage , disputes and quarrels.The other man tries ti bring about a reconciliation, accepts defeat or retires. The common man revolts against Divine Will and Wisdom. The other man obeys and submits thereto. The above is rambling description. They alone are truly religious under Mai-ism who do or do not live as both ways narrated. Just find out your place , in view of each and every line written here. As we go on advancing, we have to come to certain thumb-rules and formulae. It is not possible for a man to be every time fundamentally thinking every case that offers itself for forming a decision. In so many cases he has no time to think. At the same time man can't go on experimenting all his life and inviting failures with deplorable waste of time. He therefore, once for all, decides, that in such and such case , he would immediately act in a particular manner. It is in this that makes a man to have certain beliefs and principles based on his own experience and study of things around him, to save his time, mental labor and trouble. Let a particular situation arise, he acts in a particular manner automatically, without weighing all pros and cons . There arise a need for ready-made prescriptions , when the demand for decisions becomes pressing. To recapitulate , for instance, in case of Mai-ists, their first formula is Love, Service, Devotion and Self-Surrender ; and the next one referring to their progress , that of gratefulness, greatness, goodness, givingness, godliness and goingness. Goingness is the same ting as merging into Mother. After a long period of godliness as its culmination point , comes the goingness. On the usual plane , it means the submergence of all diversities into the One Unity, wiping out all distinctions and differences and going away from the magnetic field of worldliness and having no desire remaining to be fulfilled , or no action remaining to be done.It is ceasing to have a separate existence , or on the highest plane, it means Emancipation or Salvation. Please note under Mai-ism, Emancipation or Salvation does not mean the extinction of the individuality of the Soul, but the perfection of the soul to the highest stage of enjoying universal conscientiousness and existence. Individuality after Individualism is gone. Just like the well-known stage of living after death. Please note the extreme subtle point of belief.Mai-ism does not believe in unreality of the world, except only in a figurative sense , nor in the annihilation of one's soul on salvation. Mergence in Mother is not becoming nothing, but being same as Mother.The drop does not evaporate and lose its existence, but has all the attributes of the Ganges with which it unifies. While coming to the formulisation so very necessary at the advanced stage, there are many interesting recipes by different religions, different saints and different devotees. Kabir's simplest formula is " Pray to God and feed the poor ". Saint Tulsidas gave his formula of " Consider another's wealth as dust and another's wife as mother ". Mai-ism says ," Raise mountains of service to others and deluge rivers of love to others and be always watchful about collecting the treasure of merits or assets and creating the least demerits and liabilities. " The important recipes which a Mai-ist would do better to have before his are these : (A) Religiosity has as its four foundation basic corners - Satya , Shaucha , Tapas and Dana - truthfulness, purity of thought word and deed , self-mortification and mercifulness. Self mortification has its simplest form in the Mai-istic virtue of Service ; and Mercifulness is only another word for Love. (B) Manu advises : Ahimsa, Satya, Brahmacharya and Indriya-nigraha. ( Harmlessness, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and sense control ) (C) The more general and less technical and most common things to be constantly dealt with, in case of almost every man, of what have been so very popularly called the six enemies ruling every man internally. These are Kama,Krodha, Lobha, Mata, Moha and Matsar. Kama ( काम ) or the desire is the inner urge which makes us indulge in thoughts and imaginations of certain pleasures , usually denied. Krodha ( क्रोध ) or the anger is the hot and strong feeling against somebody or something who or which comes in the way of our fulfilment of our desires, which displeases us and makes us attack, injure or destroy the disliked circumstances objects or persons. Lobha ( लोभ )or avarice is a passionate desire for possession of things , which we can not possess in usual course , without going out of the righteous and just way of things, which prompts us to be unfair, which disturbs our mind and discontent and makes us dead to the delicate feelings in the matter of consideration for the happiness of others. Mada ( मद ) or pride is extremely exaggerated notion of ourselves, which results in contempt and ill-treatment for , and to, others inferior to us. Moha ( मोह ) or infatuation is the climax condition of a certain desire which makes you lose all your sense of judgement and action, and bodily and mental control. Matsar ( मत्सर) or jealousy is the bitterness of heart experienced on seeing others happier , better off and possessed of certain qualities or advantages more than you, which you desirous of possessing. (D) The qualifications of the highest importance to them that have actually dedicated their life to the spiritual development are , the six helpers of success : Shama शम , Dama दम , Uparati उपरती , Titiksha तितिक्षा , Shradha श्रध्दा and Samadhana समाधान - Quiescence, Control, Relishlessness, Endurance , Faith and Contentment. The most important recipes for the common man for daily practice and constant watchfulness are ( A ) to ( C). Religiosity is not only an intellectual assent to a certain set of beliefs and opinions of the external observance of certain practices , labelled as religious. It is determined effort to live once life in a different way with different ways of thinking and a different definition of progress and a different goal. Religiosity must be measured in terms of denying ourselves, controlling ourselves in midst of temptations , tribulations and the natural desires to run towards the objects and actions of our sensual desires, and of our being useful to others around as well. Such people as are extremely reluctant to bear any wear and tear, on account of and for any other things, are treated with indifference , antipathy and obstructions , by all around them , especially by the irreligious men. The more irreligious and self-seeking the society around you becomes, the higher is the price to be paid by a truly religious person for being permitted to progress in his different ways. That is the true situation in the newly - developed circumstances. YOU want self-improvement and facilities for a different type of achievement , whereas the world around you wants the maximum benefit from you. Love , service and sacrifice , therefore, come in demand , even though you may not recognise them as final requirement of religiosity, just by way of gagging by the mouths of irreligious obstructions around you, and securing their greatest non-interference and sympathy.In a practical sense, truely religious people are foreigners in the country of worldliness, and can have a smooth running of their life with required facilities, only on rendering solid service and immense sacrifice for the natural residents of a country foreign to them. First of all, let there be a true picture before your eyes of what true religiosity is. No haziness. No indefiniteness. Follow and catch the truth. See for yourself, what is merely a shadow and what is the substance. That itself is the basic foundation of true religiosity. First , from your full conception , your picture and your wish to be identified with it. Thereafter follow the ways of approaching the picture. The nearer you go you like it and love it; and more and more indifferent and relish-less you become , about all other things around you. The more you love the more you loose yourself. The greater the loosing of yourself, the greater the extinction of all struggles, worries, anxieties and useless activities, resulting in the experience of unprecedentedpeace and happiness. No haphazardness. No doing something some how , in some manner in some moment. No half-heartedness. No living with one foot on land and another in water, except to the extent you are pulled in , and are unable to hold your own.No wrong notion of attaining true religiosity , which costs you nothing physically, mentally or financially. No exaggerated misbelief of Grace-showers without real deservedness. No dependence on, and expectation of , religious institutes and preachers around you , to keep everything ready for you. No dream of someone exerting for you and your getting the fruits. Religious irreligiousness is much worse and more dangerous that open irreligiousness. Hinduism and Hindu saints are welcome to have their own definitions. With them it may be enough that a man is born in the Punyabhumi of Bhatratvarsha and that he is born of sages or a Brahmin family. Mai-ism does not accept that. You must prove your deservedness, no assumption and no exception. If you are big cipher you have no right to be called religious. You have to acquire a certain stage . If you do not have it by natural gift you must acquire it by exerting for it in a regular disciplined manner. Make a simple chart of these recipes. Cast your eye on any window of Mai-Niwas, and you read the casting 'MAI'. Similarly enter your room and your eyes must fall on a picture of your God, Guru and your chart, which latter you may change as you advance. Even if you do such a simple thing , as, repeating a prayer, while you go to bed and leave your bed, that will bring a marvelous change , in less than six months. Let the prayer be in your natural language. Repeat this : - (1) Oh Mother, enable me to live my life with sincerity, purity, austerity and charity.( Stop at each of the four words, to enable you to form a picture of what each word means). (2) Oh Mother, let me not utter a word of falsehood.Let me not harm anyone.Let me not covet anyone's wealth or possessions.Let me not have any sexual agitation. Let me not drifted away by my body-senses or mind to do anything which does not please Thee. (3) Oh Mother, emancipate me from the enslavement of these six enemies over me that have taken full possession of my life - wrathfulness, pride, greed, infatuation, envy and desire. (4) Oh Mother, teach me to be contented with my lot. Let my relishfulness for the pleasure of the world , gradually dry away. Let me have full faith in Thy protection and help; enable me to bear my burden with every endurance. Not only such a prayer elevating, but whether you feel pleasure and continue your prayers or feel disgusted and stop ( except when you rise higher ), is in itself an indication and a proof where you stand. Just turn your eyes around you, like a practical man. Have not observed, how much every man is anxious to have a companion in however small an undertaking he enters ? Do we not require some one to remind us in hundreds of matters ? A true wife or husband , a true friend and the true Guru are the most precious possessions in life. A wise man voluntarily establishes over himself the control fear of someone interested in his welfare , with love for him and greater experiences and capacities. If you have no companion, all your ambitions rise at some unexpected moment and soon have their natural fall, after giving you some temporarily imaginary joyfulness. Mother has made man perfectly happy, provided he obeys Divine Laws and leads a good life, becomes happier and happier as he goes nearer Mother. Our obedience pleases Mother and She blesses us with greater and greater happiness as reward.In course of time our experience shows us that pleasure does not satisfy us, we get craving more and more and we soon get tired.It makes us soft and weak and often our health also suffers. We come to the conclusion that we can get maximum happiness out of this life , only by doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.In due course we get a conviction that there is no action as happiness bringing as doing good to others, with Love and Service. We often find in this world , that due reward and punishment are not dealt out to all persons in this life , where we often find the good suffer and the wicked prosper. The answer to that is , there is a future life , and this life that we live is not simply to end with our death. This life is a serious and responsible thing, not to be trifled with, as our fancies drives us. We are bound to avoid all bad actions and thoughts.We can not always stop bad thoughts coming to us , but we can at least be displeased with them and try to banish them and refuse to yield to them. Regarding what is good or bad, and right or wrong, in the preliminary stages , it is enough if one obeys inner voice of Mother, which people call ' Conscience '. Even the highest man have to actually pass through a period of practice.Don't hope getting anything free without exerting hard and going through a regular practice. And even that simple practice has under Mai-ism, an importance of a Sadhana. Although , by one's own efforts in the routine life by frequent references on his charts as to his doings during the day and going to bed with a prayer, a creditable mastery is attained, which is on a much higher plane than that of an average man , the constant alertness and subtle understanding and its working remains at all times necessary, except for the periods he is merged in devotion.On the higher plane , after there is a mastery over the usual vices and virtues, there is the further possibility of a slip, because of strong temptations and ungovernable passions. The nature of these temptations and passions , at least generally as also in one's own particular case, should be very precisely studied. It should upset one on being told , that even temptations are Mother sent and for making stronger and better, if you are a staunch devotee and have surrendered yourself in Her charge . Such temptations and even passions have their particular purpose to serve , in the matter of preparing the Mother's favorite to be better and better , stronger and stronger. Provided you have handed over yourself to Mother , these temptations are also a part of the programme set up by Mother , to mature Her pets.For mother's surrendered She manages temptations . She gives the strength. She gives the failure. She gives the success and pulls Her pets up.There is nothing to be disheartened . Only mind the proviso viz., if you surrender. It is quite a fallacious idea that if you go the end of worst experiences, you automatically, by a reaction become better. It is a satanic idea and a theory of demand head plunged in badness. I go deeper and deeper in a river , there is absolutely no guarantee of my being not drowned.The fact of facts is , you may not be drowned, only if higher power saves you. The proviso works. Once you have lost your own balance, discrimination, control and upward going force, what is more clear than that some other force alone can save you ? It may be any, your God or Guru, or your merit ( Punyam ) or your invisible better Prarabdha , or Universal Love etc. You have to exert. You have to awaken your latent powers. You have to pass through ordeals. You have to undertake your Sadhana. One great point however of Mother's Mercy is the Divine psychic law. Every time you succeed in overcoming a temptation , or in controlling your passion, you get many times much more stronger to withstand the next temptation of many times much greater intensity. That is the way Mother trains you up by making you pass through harder and harder experiences , provided , She has taken you up on Her list of pets and surrendered. Even man has his powers and what Mother desires of him is that he does not misuse them to the selfishness of himself and detriment of others. He has his usual powers of his body and higher powers of mind. 'Manas - मानस ' thinks or knows. ' Chitta - चित्त ' likes or dislikes.' Buddhi बुध्दी ' discriminates or decides and ' Ahankaar अहंकार ' controls the whole function with his pure or impure and strong or weak idea of his ' I and mine '. A man's intellect is his power of knowing and thinking. A man's will is his power to deliberately wish or not wish certain things .Thus intellect is Manas मानस and Will means both Chitta चित्त and Buddhi बुध्दी . Man has to keep a constant watch over how his mind works, how he likes and dislikes and all other emotions work. He has to turn his senses away from existing objects, he has to switch off his intellect and mind from bad things and thoughts to think of something good or better; and the last thing for him is to change his environments - if one can - and to have a physical control over his body and its movements. It should be never forgotten that your checkmating action should be very prompt and the psychic law should be always before your mind , namely, that ones you give way, the vice, or passion or temptation , is sure to invade you on the next occasion with much more multiplied strength. The best thing is to spend your maximum hours with God , Guru and good persons. the secret of self-improvement is " Contact with people in better society, better environment and better atmosphere ". If you have the Guru - Shishya relationship with a worthy Guru, that problem is mainly solved. Take as a unit the dealing-region of yourself with your God, guru, wife , life-long friend and so on. Each relationship is a unit.Take further a complex unit of yourself with your father's family, your own family , your relations, your society of friends, your professional brothers, your caste-people, your community people, your locality people, your co-disciples and your co-workers in common cause. There is a great wonderful course, that each unit exerts on an individual. The self-preservation instinct is at work. None wants to be thrown out, abandoned and cast to the winds. A man may not care for being moral and virtuous, or for being a religious, but he wants a fullest sympathy of the society and of the immediately surrounding people around. Just study a few cases, of vast changes in different families coming over to reside in a big cosmopolitan city. Customs , habits, prejudices, manners, purdah-importance , jealousy, outlook-narrowness, husband-superiority, stinginess, quarrelsomeness, callousness, bluntness, ruffian-ism, in the heart within - everything change so wonderfully and in no time. The inner pinch of self-interest and self-preservation and the desire of gaining a higher and higher footing is there at full work. Let therefore the wisest man be extremely careful about his selection of his simple units and complex units. Man can not live without some association of some human beings. Group formations and group isolation are only manifestations of human nature. Take a complex unit . After all the additions and subtraction, that particular units has its positive attributes, say one unit has goodness, morality, virtue and religiousness; another unit has badness, immorality, vice and irreligiousness. Each group unit exerts a certain influence over every individual of a group and tries to pull and conquer the same to be nearer and nearer the central attribute. Everyone likes to be in intimate touch with others of the same ways. Everyone feels at home, ridden of all constraints in one's own group alone . Everyone gets extremely uneasy and constrained in a foreign environment , and everyone tries to be more or less like the group to which one belongs. Good individuals placed in bad units , have most helplessly to bad for self-defense . Everyone's most natural desire to go higher and higher in rank in one's society, gives an acceleration. If a man is in a good society he wants to stand high with goodness; if in a bad one with badness. He wants to win a general applause. No force is as massive as mass force. If turned to religion, it may bring back universal religiosity in a few decades. This most wonderfully working force must be before the minds of religious reformers. 'Shanti' and 'Sukha' - tranquility and happiness - everyone wants them. These are spiritual qualities.Man's inner soul revolts, against man being turned into machines. These two attainments are indispensable for the spiritual hunger of man. In spite of all atheism and materialism, man is unable to cease to be divine , in his finalmost reality.Why is it that even the most wicked and worst persons are liked to be called righteous and good , just and kind ? Why ? Why are people so very anxious to cover up all their badness and falsehoods , trickeries and hypocrisies ? Why that nature - inner nature - for being called benevolent, philanthropic and living one's life for world's welfare ? Go to any part of the world , of any language , any civilisation; test either the smallest child , or the most tyrannical tyrant ; there , there , is the proof of the 'Divinity of Man'. Peace can proceed in two ways only, by the satisfaction of the desires or their annihilation. If by the time your ten desires are fulfilled , twenty new desires fill their place , with yet higher forcefulness, where is the hope ? Unless you turn your steps towards the self-denying path, your demand for peace and happiness is only modestly worded but it is in reality a demand for world's conquest. 'Shanti' or tranquility proceeds from 'Naishkarmya' or 'in-action'; and 'Sukha' or happiness proceeds from 'Tyaga' or relinquishment. First have the rationalistic, unclouded , unambiguous, crystal-clear understanding about god, Guru, Religion and Religiosity.Then begin the Sadhana of harmonising all the different tunes within yourself, by actual practice , be they only of simplest nature and of the smallest type . Let every worldly activity be only as an inevitable exception to your standing orders of 'Maximum observance of Inaction'. You will see the preliminary peacefulness dawning over your Soul, in your mind and heart . after fairly good harmonisation, you will be able to form a conception, an image , or a reflection in your mind. Get mother's Mercy and Guru's Grace and fire on. Be wisest in selecting your environments , company and associations. Undertake constant watchfulness over your heart and mind, thoughts , emotions and actions. Never be discouraged.Every failure is only a preparation for a future success. Say 'I lose nothing on trying '. Say 'Let me have a satisfaction of failing '. When there is fortunately an atom of success, say,' I have to exert a bit more and let me have at least once a nominal success.' When that smallest success is there , say,'Why should I not be successful in every case , if I have been successful in one at least ' and so on. Say," Why, while so many others have succeeded, I should not succeed in every case" ? With renewed energy and renewed hope , proceed on, till you have attained a fairly high perfection. There is no technicality about Religion and Religiosity. Every man that is born is entitled to it, and knows about it. You are dying for wealth, for woman or man and for pleasure. You have become living ghosts, for their sake. You just try for these spiritual possessions , you will similarly get them now and here. As a matter of fact in the real;m of religion, the demand is the least, if not none; and you will get the Lord or mother, for practically no price whatever. Mother is only waiting to be shouted for, or mere called. Two Divine Truths must be constantly before your mind : (A) Unlike worldly efforts, nothing done here is without its permanent benefit, in spite of seeming failure; because you are busy with bettering your instruments which are ever with you, to be more efficient , not only for the whole life, but for lives after lives, if you believe in rebirths. (B) There should be absolutely no feeling of drooping, on seeing the contrast of the mountain of work to be done to reach the end and your ant's working capacity. An ant or an elephant , the mightiest army or deserted individual, one and all, are under the kindliest care and observation of Mother and She gives the most handsome return for an ant's or elephant's exertion. You have to pass between two opposites. You feel the task is impossible, on the one hand; on the other you can not succeed unless you have a faith , that you are sure to achieve it. You are drooping at the idea of your inability, and you must have the strength of will, to say that nothing is great for you. The consciousness about your weakness does not permit you to exert yourself , at your maximum possible best. Unless you have that conviction you can't succeed. It is here that the faith of God and Guru comes in.You say to yourself,"An impossible thing is impossible so long as I have to do it. " As soon as you believe " Mother will do the work for me " and that your part therein is only the determination, devotional intensity, single mindedness, and 'Do or die-exertion' the task becomes easy, provided you have faith in your Guru and in God about His mercifulness and His wonderful powers. Some persons are so mentally constituted , that if a single thing worth nothing is lost and if they are searching for the same they can't turn their mind to any other thing, till the lost thing is found.Its worth is absolutely no consideration. The peculiar nature is the indicator of the faculty required for 'Sadhana' or vision or realisation of Godliness. " DEHAM PATAYAMI KARYAM SADHAYAMI - देहं पतयामी कार्यं साधयामी " ( I achieve my object or I throw away my body ). After the preliminary Sadhana of religious requirements described in this chapter , the Superior Sadhana leading to 'Vairagyam' has to be undertaken.This Sadhana is the practice of developing the mind to see in everything 1] temporariness 2]untruthfulness 3]changingness 4] fruitlessness etc.These are the most indispensable factors , in our vision and understanding of the world to make any real headway to go still higher. The perfection in all virtues and the best usual human faculties and capacities, does not bring you to the end of your Sadhana , even if don't want to go higher than doing your best, to have the maximum happiness and minimum misery. Although the said maximum minimum is the most practical and universally acknowledged general goal of human life , the higher you climb, the higher and higher requirements press themselves on you as indispensable and inevitable. You reach the highest apex of devotion ( Gauna Bhakti ). So long as that has not ripened itself to PARABHAKTI पराभक्ती with Gnana ज्ञान achievement , the culmination point of Divine Love is not reached and the highest bliss is not experienced. Till that final stage is attained, you remain constantly weeping and laughing, and begging and thanksgiving. Where is the end ? Here the Gnaninज्ञानी , the Vedantin वेदान्ती come in and say ," Crush your mind to pieces. Annihilate it altogether. It is this hopeless mind that shows you heaven and hell, and gives you happiness and misery. ". Follow the teaching and train your mind to the point of annihilation of the mind. Developing your virtues , character and your usual human faculties and living harmoniously and harmlessly with all in the world is the first great thing. It is not that Bhakti or Gnana are not higher things . But without feet and belly and hands what is the worth of your life with only a sweet heart and sound head ? You can feel most nobly; you can think most ingeniously ; but in practical life you are a big cipher. What is use ? Hence strict abidance to the order of development is most useful, hence the importance of " Love and Service to All " is the highest, especially in this age of reversed ways and values. An ordinary man, without devotion or gnana ज्ञान , but with character, love and sacrifice , is much happier than and superior to a so called ordinary Bhakta भक्त or Gnanin ज्ञानी without character. The former has secured at least the world's sympathy and co-operation from the world itself and has a vast storage of Punyam पुण्य because of his meritorious actions under the Divine give-and-take arrangement.Remain therefor extremely intent upon enriching your treasury of Spiritual wealth of Punyam पुण्य , utilising and even seeking opportunities of loving and serving Mother's children. You are moral, good, rational, harmless etc., that is your first step.It means you are saved from 80 per cent of miseries, that can befall you if you are otherwise. But there are miseries, say, the faithlessness of wife, or sudden death of your only son or the sinking of a Bank in which your monies are deposited . How to meet such shocks ? There is no other healing remedy, except devotion, saint's contact or public service.The last thing means , turning your mind from misery-ful worldly subjects. Saint's contact mostly means self-forgetfulness; whereas devotion means the transferring of heart and head to Divinity itself. First character, then devotion ( Gauna गौण )and then Divine knowledge; then, the alternate innumerable layers of Service , Bhakti and Gyana ज्ञान , till they interpenetrate, and finally, the Parabhakti पराभक्ती ( Supreme Divine Love ), in which character with action, devotion, and Divine knowledge are all in perfect harmony and of the highest order. We are here , for explaining the Gnana ज्ञान aspect.Don't bring in Theologies and philosophies. Be extremely practical. Vedantism वेदान्ती and Adwaitism अद्वैती are names intelligible to Hindus alone . What is common to all and of any religion ? It is the annihilation of the mind. This expression is too hard. I would be satisfied with the " the conquest of mind ". I want mind to give me the nectar-sweetness of devotion. It is enough for me if the mind stands up or sit down, as my finger goes up and down. And that is Sadhana साधना , which we are dealing with here. That you must have the amplest leisure and strongest energy is the first requirement of any Sadhana साधना . Your occupation with worldliness should be the minimum. Start with an antagonistic contradiction of your mind. Rightly or wrongly, just be the opposite side of mind. Mind says ," This dish is tasteful "; you say immediately ," No it is injurious to health ". Your mind talk to you : " Make your senior officer to retire soon ; you will get his post and you will be happier ". You immediately snub your mind with ," No , you fool, have you no idea of or concern of my senior's family ?" Even when mind says true matters , make a practice of your opposite stand . Why do I insist on the opposite stand even when the mind is right ? The mind is an expert cheat. It will carry you by the way along which you will have no objection and it will over topple you in your moment of in-alertness. So let your first practice be to be able to set your mind at defiance. The greatest benefit of this mental practice is that the mind is not itself happy and ease-ful enough to be sitting on any pleasure for long, to be enamoured thereof and then to pull you in, towards pleasures , with its deceitful pictures of virtue, truth, goodness, duty, respectability etc. For sometime therefore, be a living enemy of your mind . If mind says " Let us go in the north " , you begin to walk in the south and so on , till the mind is finally conquered. If the mind adjusts your visual angle to think things from your point of view , you begin to see, how matters will start to see in the eyes of your antagonists, others concerned and others unconcerned. What is the final result ? Nothing takes root, nothing sets in , nothing catches you, nothing entangles you, nothing blindfolds you, nothing sprouts, nothing takes shape, nothing gets firm. Substantially, you are simply shattering whatever come before you good or bad. Gradually the vision of temporariness dawns . what is this world ? What are so called good or bad things ? Flashlights of four seconds . the whole world is only dream like , nothing of the dream exists, when you wake up. You must have suitable instances before you. You have only some purpose to achieve - to train your mind to be thinking in a particular manner , to get a certain conviction about certain truths.The world has all the things. Take up only what helps you and reject the rest. Coming next, after temporariness to truthfulness, if you have the highest definition of truthfulness , there is nothing in the world except downright cheating. The highest cheat is your own infatuation and the infatuator. Just be an unconcerned witness, as dry and immovable as a rock and go on studying the world-process of cheating. The Sadhaka says to himself ," If everything in substance is not what it seems to be on the surface , why not say and believe in general unprecise flinging and partial-truth- speaking manner that the world is unreal ? And why not go a step further and say in a disgustful spirit that the world does not exists at all. Is it anything else than only a bit exaggerated superlative term or expression for 'Temporariness' and 'everchangingness' and 'deceptiveness' ? Gnanis ज्ञानी have their 'Maya' माया . Devotees have their 'Leela' लीला and worldly people have their 'Prarabdha' प्रारब्ध . All three are different words for one thing alone viz., ," Unknowable ness of the unknown, nameable and thinkable '. Let us make a definition convenient to us and for our purpose. Let us say, " Whatever is temporary, changing, untruthful, unfruitful, is unreal and non-existent". A little figurative personification and we come to the well-known 'Maya' माया . Our mind can be trained to think of changefulness and fruitlessness.With changefulness the trust and the faith disappear ; change fulness may sometimes give you a temporary feeling of pleasure, but in absolute weighing, the notion of non-stability results in a disquietude. The pleasure of getting the thing, due to changefulness, has on its reverse side , the painfulness of loosing it. The Sadhaka साधक sees both sides and does not fall a pray. Mai-ism duly appreciates the indispensability of training the mind of Adwaitistic principles and theories but only in the sense explained. However Mai-ism does not agree with the interpretation of unreality to mean, non-existence .Unrealism in the sense of non-existence, or a delusion, can be accepted only in a figurative or exaggerated sense.Otherwise the whole working of the world will be topsy-turvy. I would venture to state that the unrealism of the Adwaitist is also a temporary accepted mind-belief , for passing through a particular stage. After realism to unrealism, there is again returned to realism. When we reach a stage of a realisation of the highest truth, viz. that every thing is Mother, if Mother exists , everything has also its existence . What is non-existence or unreal is the distinction and difference. Ishwara-Srishti ईश्वर सृष्टी ( God's creation ) is real. Jeeva-Srishti जीव सृष्टी ( soul's creation ) is unreal. The most blessed one who, after passing through the temporarily accepted unrealism, reaches the stage of " Everything is Mother " again return to the belief of Realism. The WORLD , so often runs to saints for consolation. But her crookedness, selfishness, jugglery, intrigues, falsehoods, faithlessness etc.have fully tired them out. The saints are so much disgusted with her hypocrisy and ungratefulness, that they get terrorized at her very shadow and at her approach. The saints fly away to live in caves, mountains, forests, on riverbanks and on sea-coasts, as far away from her as possible.They make rules and regulations of never touching and seeing the world , women and wealth. If still by chance she comes nearer , they raise a huge cry. The WORLD once most bitterly wept out her distress to Mother. Said the WORLD," In spite of so many splendors, wealth, education, civilization, learning, this discovery and that discovery of science etc., I am sick at heart, I am miserable . People also talk that the world is full of miseries. " Mother advised, " Why don't you go Saints ? " The crafty reply was," Yes, I like them, I worship them, I follow their teachings , I supply them their requirements. I was once going to them, but they too have fled away. " The game playing WORLD cheated even Mother. She did not breathe a syllable about her own crookedness being the cause of their flying away. Mother fully knew what was wrong, but after all, the WORLD was Her own Creation and Daughter. She was moved with pity. She thought, " Let Me now create a new type of MOTHERLY SAINTS , saints who do hate , or run away from , or who do not see temptation in world, wealth or woman, saints who do not renounce the world but who remaining therein sacrifice all their for world itself. " She called several high souls. All were shrewd enough to guess the purpose . they knew how terrible and bothersome it was to be the Guru of the WORLD shrew. All escaped; but one , inexperienced layman , half saintly half worldly, a non professional soul was caught in the Mother's net. Mother called Her daughter and with every scolding, advice and warning said," I give you the fittest Guru. It is now up to you, how to make yourself consoled and happy for ever." Do you think the WORLD, full of so much vice, mischief and evil changed her nature ? No. She had much greater value for the unapproachable , awe-inspiring saints, of whom she would be at least somewhat afraid. This Guru she placed in her pocket and continued her life as before , putting forth the twisted techniques of the new Guru in defense of her still greater increasing waywardness. The inexperienced semi saint constantly complained to Mother. Mother cooled him down," What have you to do with that ? Why ? Don't you forget all the ill-treatment, slight, ridicule, condemnation and everything in my presence ? Why do mind those things ?Are you not dearest to Me ? Why don't you keep my love to you always before your mind ? Can you not remain in the world itself and yet remain unwet - unwetted, untired , undisgusted ? One day, timidly and trickily , the semi-saint talked to Mother. " I myself quite immature and imperfect, not even one - tenth of even nominal saints . Your daughter is now quite happy. She is now sufficiently prepared to take care of herself. I may now turn , to the work of furthering my own spiritual progress. " No sooner were these words heard, than Mother's face changed. Said She , " What ? Tricks with me ? Do you dare think, I myself can't make you perfect merely by My Will ? You too want to follow the self-centered selfish spirituality of your predecessors ? " The semi-saint full of repentance for having broached the subject , full of depression, was merged in despair and was drooping. He began to remember certain facts of his life and his own experiences. He had been to two saints, Sri SAI BABA श्रीसाईबाबा and Sri SWAMI SIDDHARUDHA स्वामी श्री सिध्दारूढ . He had most solicitously prostrated for ' Guru-mantra ' गुरूमन्त्र and ' Diksha ' दीक्षा . He was passed over by both, with, " You have yourself to do a different type of religious work. You can not be given Mantra or Diksha." On this thought establishing its mastery, in every atom of his brains, the only thing that remained possible for the semi saint was to fall prostrate on the ground before Mother's image . He surrendered himself with an apologetic pledge-bound shouting expression ," Mother ! Thy Will be done. I only beseech Thee. Never forget however weak, wicked, worst I may be , I am for ever Thine ; forget that never ". The walls echoed. The ' Pancha -Pranas ' पंच प्राण [vital airs] within him, the Shariras पंच शरीर [bodies],and the ' Pancha - Koshas ' पंच कोष [sheaths] echoed. The MERCIFUL MOTHER'S IMAGE echoed : " N E V E R ". Jay Mai Jay Mai Jay Mai EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK : MAI-ISM AUTHOR : MAI SWARUP MAI MARKAND ABRIDGED BY : U.G.MENON MAI NIWAS, SARASWATI ROAD END, SANTA CRUZ WEST 400054 INDIA.
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