This time let us learn what SADHANA is: its dynamics. A youngster approached Mother and said: “I have some doubts, Mother, please clarify and dissolve the doubts.” Don’t we feel that it is our youth who require spiritual and ethical stamina to lead a joyful life? (and not bypass some joys which they embrace!). But the youngster who approached Mother was of a different caliber. He told Amma: “I do pranayama, but, by this, even my earlier (slender) health got affected” and added: “I am unable to tell clearly…..”
Even as he spoke tears began flowing from his eyes. Mother began ‘counseling’ him: “Even Sadhana takes place only when the needed SHAKTI is given by that SHAKTI. Perhaps, you may have read quite a number of books. You might have listened to the discourses of many Pandits. And you may have already decided to choose a path – which you think is suited to you. But, if you cannot do – do not do (anything) at all.”
Continuing her views, Mother says: “I don’t say that it is your weakness which makes you unable to do. Even if you are able to, I won’t say that it is your shakti. Remember that the very (Shakti, persons) who gave you those thoughts, who directed you to take the path of that sadhana (you wish to take) are the same (energies) which make you helpless. And, as such, among all sadhanas, this sadhana is supreme. (The Shakti propels every act) which makes you do everything. However,
(don’t forget) that there is nothing like great sadhana and low sadhana. My attitude is, great sadhana is that which is congenial to the one who wishes to do sadhana. That is my view.
The devotee responded: “So, Mother, you say that there is nothing like guru and shishya?”
Mother responded instantly: “I said they were there. Then how can I say there are no sishyas or gurus? In my view, this kind of guru is the only guru” (about whom Mother has already clarified). In short, there is no other God than that kind of guru. Guru means God himself. Feel like that. Then only such a one becomes an authentic sishya. In the very Guru Dhyana itself it is affirmed that Guru is himself an incarnation of Parabrahma. In that place (he occupies) he (or she) is God. And what gets spoken by his tongue is itself a mantra. And this does not mean that the guru imparts a mantra.
In my view, this is a seemingly simple talk. Seemingly but really, going deeply, every word about Guru has to be understood – invariably – as Mother herself is the GURU. Since she identifies who the guru is, in fact, SHE is the one who embodies both the mantra she imparts and the contents we derive from the Mother’s explanation. Perhaps, this extract is a potential revelation of the very features this AMMA embodies. In fact, traditional facets of gurus, spiritual truths, initiation etc., need a sea change in the light of this incredibly SIMPLE but PROFOUND SHAKTI ROOPA.