“I am neither a Guru, nor you my disciples;
Neither I am a preceptor nor you my followers;
I am your Mother and you are my offspring. That is all.”
– Mother
So far every Savior or Guru accepted his award on his terms alone. The Guru stands firm in terms and principles in spite of all his grace and com- passion. One will have to do all his grinding in order to become fine. Then only one may have a chance and the effort is always on the aspirant. To add to this, they often screen the disciples for sufficiently long and it is only after their proof of having grained themselves fine, accept the such as their disciples and even then on his own stipulated terms.
Similar is the case with a preceptor as well, in that the aspirant should accept the responsibility of improvement in himself. Even a Sadguru, as he is called, is one that goes in quest of his disciples, with- standing the test of one’s deservedness and picks up fitting ones of his taste. Now that we seem to have approached Mother of our own accord, the address of a Sadguru does not fulfill the meaning implied therein.
We in general appeal to God as having the attributes of God, Guru, Father and Mother in Him; which when considered all in detail, agree with the Mother aspect in a nut-shell. As purification of the heart is the direct and immediate means for the attainment of Jnana or Divine illumination, most of the such represent the higher evolved souls and had become (adhikaris) deserved in accepting God as their Guru. They can afford to experience silence from the Deep Silence directly and all their doubts vanish. The eloquent Silence in God brings into their hearts the requisite Soul-illumination.
Such those that approach a Guru are successful performers of Swadharma i. e, that have grained themselves fine, and they need not be instructed, taught, disciplined and trained. Even such disciples are not capable of searching for and detecting their Master. There- fore a Sadguru goes in search of them and gives necessary instruction and training.
The disciples, in the conside- ration of God as Father, do not possess sufficient ground to receive, digest and assimilate Jnana directly. Lack of concen- tration and retentivity of me- mory are clear and at every stage they are assailed by doubts and hence oral instruc- tions are of no avail. So Father as is the case with Shastras, guides, instructs, offering faci- lity for refreshing memory, in keeping with the right concep- tions, exhibiting feigned anger and even resorting to physical punishment if All the same is necessary. The motive behind Father is to see his offspring prosper. Father has thus got the choice of his time as evidenced by the fact that the children should respond to him, whether they like it or not and satisfy him in his happy moods and therefore it is the Father’s time of choice that the child should seek and wait for. In case the child soils itself, he will only be asked and advised to get himself cleaned and he does not expect the responsibility of cleaning the child.
The case with Mother is different in that she does not expect her offspring to get perfected from her deep Silence all of a sudden as is the case with God, nor expects the child to prove his ability and. deservedness by screening as is the case with Guru, nor has time of her own choice as Father. When the child cries Mother leaves everything on hand and runs to him, When the child soils itself she does not say “Go and get yourself cleaned” like father. She herself cleans and takes him up in her lap. So Mother has no time of her own. It is all child’s time. Father chides, guides, lifts and protects the child but the Mother swings, feeds, nurses, nourishes and saves.
Mother has in her all the aspects of God. Guru and Father as well. She, like God, does not speak to the child, when like God transforms him by her Silence, instructs while by feeding to bring him round like Guru, and in her capacity of Father, resorts to even punish “ments if it needs be to correct him and lastly protects him in thick and thin, sacrificing her all. No mother can be harsh with a sick child. We therefore find in her always the savior aspect. In her, Motherhood of God attains new perfection.
Children who know to take care of themselves, do not so much need Mother’s care and help but only those fallen, sick and wicked. She does not see any one’s faults. Motherhood refuses to be circumscribed. She only says “Remember that you have Mother standing be- hind you and protecting you always”. Should we not do this much for one who is the perfect guarantee of our spiritu- al progress? Even if we forget, we can never escape her benign Protection.
Thousands had seen Mother and the question that equally baffles those that had seen Her and those that had not, is as to who She is. Is She a saint of the order of Tukaram or Kabir? No, She never worshiped any incarnation of God. Is She an Incarnation? No, She never differentiated the sinner and the saint. When someone had addressed Her as Sadguru, She retarted saying that it was for him to prove himself her disciple! Is She a Thapaswin? No, She had never performed penance. Is She a soul perfected? No intermediary stages of Her development are to be discerned. She was all perfect even at the moment of Her physical birth.
Not till Mother declared Herself could anyone know who She is. This seems to be the substance of Mother’s denial, as God, Guru, Preceptor etc. and acceptance of Motherhood.