(Translated version of the Malayalam article)
A few years back, in Malayalam, a memoir, “Ardha-viramam,” written
by Swami Amarthyananda was published. The writer was a monk of the Sri
Ramakrishna order, who later on decided to leave the monastery and lead a
householder’s life. Introducing that book, Sri M.T. Vasudevan Nair, the famous
Malayalam writer, had commented about the integrity with which the memoir has
been compiled by the Swami. When he had a doubt about the spiritual life he was
leading, the Swami saw it as a sign for the direction of his life and decided
to leave the spiritual life. His memoir was aptly named ‘Semicolon.’ That book
gave a lot of insight into organized monastic life in India with its ups and
downs. But it never stooped down to a dirty laundry business, or a
fault-finding mission. The author did not lament about ‘what could have been my
life’; nor did he express any particular spite towards the leaders of the
monastic tradition that he was part of. The memoir was an eye-opener for
aspiring spiritual seekers as many youngsters got a well-balanced view of the
situations that can be expected in Ashrams as they enter their monastic life.
Some decided that the ‘guru-disciple’ style of spirituality would not suit
their temperament and hence they were better off not pursuing it at all. Some
found the book to be a great resource as they prepared to enter the spiritual
life. I have had opportunities to meet with both types of people who have been
benefited by that book which was worthy of an appropriate introduction from the
doyen of Malayalam literature. So the Swami who was no longer a monk still had
a respectful position in the minds of many householders, mine included.
What made me think about Ardha-viramam is the recent controversy surrounding
the memoir published by a former disciple of Mata Amrithanandamayi Devi. Social
networks, as well as a lot of audio-visual and print media are all vying to
publish exaggerated stories about the book and the author without bothering to
inquire into details. Most people who are vehemently talking about the book do
not appear to have read the book in its entirety. The book is not an
insignificant one as a memoir of a female monk who came to a full stop (‘Poornna-viramam’)
in the path of spiritual development, both mentally and physically. The book
has sections that appear to have been added on to scintillate the masses, and
possibly sell more copies. But they stand apart and I liken them to ‘mouse droppings
added to pudding,’ intentionally. If these sections were not there, I would say
that the Amrita Mutt should have
taken up the publication of the book under the title ‘Poornna-viramam’ ! The added-on sections
are ‘too bad to be true,’ when compared to the rest of the
book in style and content. Many of the sections in the book were written when the
author was a ‘brahmacharini (student monk) or a full monk living in the Ashram.
Those writings, in which she expressed her awe and reverence for the divine
mother, were periodically published by official Amrita publications such as
‘Amrithavani’! Although amateurish, the memoir has a reasonable level of
readability, if you remove the unnecessarily added sections.
I say this because it appears that the sections added were the work of an
editor who could not blend the ‘spicy’ sections seamlessly. It comes across as
an afterthought on the part of the writer and the editor, springing from a ‘revelation’
that a book such as this without some spicy
sections would not be read by too many, and so no publisher will be interested.
The book could have been a beacon for spiritual seekers and atheists alike,
just as ‘Ardha-viramam’ was. It is worth noting here that, recently the
editor of this book was revealed to be an estranged TM (Transcendental Meditation) teacher who had made similar allegations against
her teacher, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi!.
Life in Kerala in the 1970s and 1980s
Many of the events detailed in the book provide a foreigner’s perspective of
Kerala life some three or four decades ago. That perspective is obviously
different from that of a person who was born and brought up in Kerala. When the
writer was in the position of the CEO of the Ashram (as described by her), she
had a member of the Ashram staff type up her memoirs. She had it saved in the laptop she took away
when she left the organization. Accounts of the difficulties she endured during
her menstrual periods and her concerns regarding personal hygiene, difficulties
in cooking for a lot of people in a wood-fired kitchen, managing the limited
supply of rice and groceries, etc. would not be seen as strange by
an average person who was born before the 1980s, and lived in Kerala during
that time as they would have gone through such experiences themselves. As a
foreigner with a different cultural background, understandably, these issues
were not insignificant for her.
Occasions of spiritual bliss
In the book, the author describes her experiences in Thiruvannamalai
(Sri Ramana Maharshi’s ashram) and other places during the early days of her
exploration to ‘see’ herself. She was
captivated by the simplicity and profound nature of the Sadhus and the ‘guru’
concept in general. These accounts are very heartrending,
and so is her excitement when she talks
about the incidents of coming into Amma’s fold as her chosen Guru. She goes on to explaining how she had
been lucky enough to drink in the nectar of bliss under the ‘true
mother’. She talks about the wonderful trips where she accompanied Amma,
and how she was treated like a queen by Amma’s family and relatives (Akkaraveedu in particular), how they would forgo their comforts to make her
stay comfortable, despite not being well-off themselves. Amma’s devotees
started treating her like a celebrity too, and most of the time she was in
charge of Amma’s foreign devotees.
When she describes the episode of Amma and a few close associates,
including herself, taking a secret trip, away from all the festivities and
‘marathon darshan circuits’, going to an isolated place by the sea to
meditate, swim, and have a good time as ‘Amma and friends,’ the author unleashes
her happiest disposition. She also describes a few instances when she felt the
real meditative bliss of spiritual life.
As a disciple, she was getting a lot of attention as well as embraces and the
occasional scolding from Amma. All those years, she was given free boarding and
lodging by the Amma’s family and later, the Ashram. When she was sick with a
tumor, the Ashram took care of her in a small hospital, with Amma’s mother and
a devotee (a medical student) attending to all her needs. Once the Ashram was established and she
became a senior disciple, she was no longer a servant to the guru, and she
herself started getting the adoration as a shadow of her guru. Devotees started
falling at her feet also, after prostrating Amma. Initially, she had doubts
about her qualification to accept such adoration, but later on she started enjoying
the status it brought. She looked forward to Amma’s devotees falling at her
feet, and at times she insisted on getting such lofty treatment from the
devotees, I was told!
Taking the vow of Sanyasa
Gayatri (later on
Swamini Amrithaprana) has written a
hearty account enthusiastically narrating her initiation to monastic life. It
is a graduation ceremony in some way—culmination of the years-long service and
study period. It also shows the guru’s nod towards the disciples’ spiritual
maturity. Anticipating the possibility of getting invited to the ceremony, she
was concerned whether she will also be qualified to graduate along with the
other aspirants. The difference was they were all male. For such initiation
ceremony, men will have to present themselves in front of the guru without any
clothes on them and the hair shaved off to accept the mantra of initiation. Women,
on the other hand, don’t have to undergo such tedious
rituals. All can be done symbolically! Amma even joked about it!
It is amazing to see how devotedly and reverentially Gayatri explains the
episode of her getting the Sanyasa from a monk who himself had got
his initiation elsewhere. Amma’s disciples do not get their initiation from
Amma as she is not formally ordained in any monastic system. To maintain the ‘dashanami’
tradition of monk-hood, Amma arranges monks from other Ashrams to initiate her
disciples. Gayathri writes very highly of the monk who gave her the initiation
and mantra. He was also a contemporary of hers during the early years of her
stay in the Ashram. But, all of a
sudden, out of nowhere, she accuses this monk as having mistreated and taken
advantage of her a few years prior to this initiation. There is a chapter
devoted to the spiced-up episodes of her experiences (or
concocted memories of such experiences) at the Ashram, and most of the media
personalities have read only this particular chapter, it seems. There is even a
Malayalam translation of this particular ‘spicy’ chapter circulating on
Facebook/the internet. It is to be noted that no one has bothered to translate
the rest of the book as those other chapters in the book are too bland for the
mass media to consume, while the offensive chapter stands out like a sore
thumb. It mmust also be noted that the author herself wrote in
the preface that all that is written in the book is ‘her version’ of
happenings.
From economy to business class
As Amma’s activities and popularity gained momentum world over and the
Ashram expanded, she began travelling to locations all around the globe. as her
travels became more frequent, Amma moved from the economy class to the business
class, and Gayatri, her favorite disciple, followed suit. She enjoyed the business class with all of
the comforts it offered. During these travels, Gayatri was in charge of Amma’s
travel arrangements, appointments, and money.
She had great
influence over all of Amma’s activities, and was virtually the CEO of a conglomerate
which included schools, colleges, hospitals, pension schemes, publications, and
the Ashram management. It is quite possible that she had a nervous breakdown as
someone having to deal with all these management responsibilities without
having qualified, trained, or prepared for it. She had only a basic school
education from Australia when she started travelling to ‘find herself’. She had
obviously chewed much more than she could swallow. She confesses as having
taken a ‘small amount in dollars,’ along with the laptop that contained her
writing, as she left the Ashram, without asking anyone, as
she didn’t feel any guilt in doing so!
Amma is a rare spiritual personality
I have been observing Amma for the last twenty years, and I am a fan of
hers. I wouldn’t call myself a devotee as I haven’t been engaged in the spiritual
practices expected of an Amma devotee. What I find amazing is the respect and
acceptability she commands amongst all levels of people, especially the
Malayalee crowd of ‘doubting Thomas’’. In Kerala, the
different communal sections and subsections of Hindus have continued to practice
the non-sense of caste-ism, which is detrimental to the
community’s prosperity. There are umpteen castes and sub-castes, and they all
have separate organizations and leaders who don’t see eye to eye. People of
other major religions started taking advantage of this situation through
conversions and by grabbing more than their share of social programs and
government delivered benefits. But after Amma came into the social and
religious spotlight, she has been getting the respect and acceptance of all
strata of the society, from Brahmins to the scheduled castes communities, as
they find solace in Amma’s presence. Till recently, in Kerala, even the monks
were classified according to their caste of origination, whereas Amma (who came
from a lower caste) is not subjected to any such discrimination by anybody.
Even Swami Chinmayananda, the guru extraordinaire was once subjected to
discriminatory treatment as he was not born in a Brahmin family. But in Amma, all such distinctions end, and
for her, people are her children, no matter what their background is. This is
the miracle I see in Amma. If a spiritual teacher is able to bring people of
diverse background together, that itself is a divine miracle. To top this off,
Amma’s organization has been able to develop into a multifaceted social,
education, and healthcare conglomerate.
Amma practices the principles of Sree Narayana Guru
Teachings of Sree Narayanaguru, the most respected seer and social reformer
who lived in Kerala in the early part of this century, have been put into
direct practice by Amma. In his days, Sree Narayanaguru
had consecrated an idol of Lord Siva in a temple, and it was a social and
religious revolution at that time, especially in Kerala. When questioned on his
qualification to do so, he said, ‘I have installed an ‘ezhava Sivan’ (meaning,
Lord Siva belonging to ezhava caste in which the Guru was born).
It was an apt, satirical retort to silence
the critics. But Amma’s endeavours to install or consecrate temples never faced
any such opposition from upper caste Hindus. She was able to get the support of
almost all Hindu communities. Amma even went so far as to ordain non-Brahmins
and women as priests of certain temples by imparting proper training to them.
Amma did not have to consecrate a ‘dheevara matha’ (goddess of fishers)
to make the society accept this religious and spiritual revolution. Still, Amma
does not deviate from the traditional, cultural, and ritualistic practices of the
monastic order stipulated by Adi Shankara. She sends her disciples to
traditional schools for the formal learning of scriptures and for ordaining
them into Sanyasa as per the Dasanami tradition (traditional names of
monks within the 10 schools are: Saraswathi, Theertha, Aranya, Bharathi,
Asrama, Giri, Parvatha, Sagara, Vana, and Puri). Amma’s approach is not of
the renunciation that makes monks aloof from society; she insists on
implementing the practical aspects of Vedantha for uplifting the
society.
Credibility of media sources
Now, let us examine the media coverage of the book written by Amma’s
ex-disciple. When the media talk about a person such as
Amma, who is the chancellor of educational institutions catering to thousands
of students undertaking their studies at various levels—from kindergarten to
postgraduate and post-doctoral levels—one would expect a certain level of
decency and decorum. The person in question (Amma), although formally not
highly educated, leads several institutions and deemed universities that mould
thousands of professionals every year. She has been received and lauded by more
than 139 countries and the United Nations, and she is famous all over the world
through her charity work and spiritual presence. When media portrays an accusation
against such a personality, don’t they have to have the basic decency to
inquire into the facts and establish prima facie evidence? Did those media ‘players’ ever think of how such a vulgar
allegation would affect the students attending her institutions? Credibility of the chief of an institution is
equally important to the students as the credibility of their degrees. Not all
Amrita students are Amma devotees, but they all value the education they are
receiving. Whoever masterminded the idea of vilifying Amma with unfounded
allegations is trying to purposely tarnish the reputation of well-run
institutions. Year after year, employers
flock to recruit students from Amrita institutions en-mass
and the statistics show that the rates of recruitment success there is second
only to the IITs and IIMs. ‘Na budhi bhedam janayeth…’ says the Bhagavad
Gita. Knowledgeable people should not create confusion among the masses by
misleading them through false information.
Allegations and insignificant apologies
Reputation of people will be tarnished by allegations, however unfounded
they are, as they get publicized widely through front page news with all sorts
of exaggerations. But after a few days, months, or even years, when those
allegations are found baseless, the same newspapers will publish the news, but
usually in an insignificant manner. By that time, there would be no recourse
for the accused and the name will be permanently tainted. We have seen many such instances in the
recent past—Dr. Nambi Narayanan (ISRO), Sri. Jayendra
Saraswathi Swami, Sri M.K.K. Nair, etc are a few names
that come to my mind. All were accused, vilified, and later, upon inquiry,
found to have done nothing as alleged.
Understandably most of the major news media are not taking part in the
media circus revolving around the unfortunate publication against Amma, which
has been taken up only by some of the audio-visual and
print media.
Several years ago in Canada, where I live a medical doctor
of Indian origin was accused of
sexual misconduct by a teenage girl. The news spread very fast as the subject was spicy. Being quite traditional, the doctor’s family couldn’t
take it and they were estranged from him. In the end, after inquiry, it was
found that the accusation was false, generated by the spite the girl felt
towards the doctor for not prescribing her the birth control pill she wanted.
The doctor, driven by his ‘traditional’ outlook, had advised her against the life style she was following and refused the prescription.
The doctor lost his medical practice within the two years that the inquiry took!
Last year a French citizen was trapped in a false sexual accusation just before
he was to be nominated to a critical position in the World Bank!
Amma’s name has been rounered to be proposed for a high level international
pece prize and timing of the publication of the book is very suspicious to say
the least.
Response from some of the ‘cultural’ leaders
I have read a joint statement written by a famous poet, a story writer, and
a monk in response to the allegations raised by Amma’s ex-disciple, extolling the virtues of media freedom. I am surprised by the
apparent carelessness they exhibited in responding to this issue, without
considering the aforementioned aspects of reputation and credibility. Anybody
can accuse another person baselessly, and if the accused is a celebrity the
potential damage is significant. Is it not ridiculous to put an accused through
trial without having a prima facie enquiry? I agree that the society and the
legal system must dole out appropriate punishment without any lenience to all
who have been proven guilty. In my opinion, the punishment should be severe if
the guilty party is in a position of authority or high repute.
Vedanta philosophy is unique as it embraces diversity
The Sanathana Dharama, which is the basis of Hinduism, is founded on
the diversity of practices it embraces. As it accepts the diversity, the advent
of the underlying unity or non-duality is the essence of Vedanta as I
understand it. Some people take the path
of service to others, while others take the path of meditation and knowledge.
Some are very ritualistic in their approach to spiritual and religious
practices and some are pure theorists. Some are after
pure devotion and others are into worshipping their gurus as their god of
choice. Vedanta-based Sanathana Dharma has room to accommodate all of
these diverse categories of people, even atheists.
Late Swami Chinmayananda was a doyen of spiritual knowledge and vedantic
wisdom with a great following, most of whom chose the path
of knowledge and Adwaitha philosophy (non-dual
nature of truth). One of his disciples narrated an incident that opened his
eyes of knowledge forever. As Vedantins,
most of the student aspirants were fully charged with the high-end philosophy
of Adwaitha, and were so convinced of the superiority of the philosophy
that they felt a certain degree of contempt towards people practicing other
forms of spirituality, including the path of devotion. One night during a Gita Yajna in Andhrapradesh
in India, Swamiji asked his students to get ready and meet him at 2.30 am. As
soon as everybody gathered, Swamji started walking,
chanting ‘Narayana, Narayana ...’ in the true devotional spirit.
Everyone was surprised at Swamiji‘s ‘new’
teaching. After an hour of walking through the village chanting the Lord’s
name, they reached a small hut. Swamiji knocked on the door and out came an old
Sanyasi of Ramanuja tradition, a tradition that
follows the philosophy of duality. Swamiji prostrated in front of the monk, and
all the students followed suit. The Adwaitha Acharya prostrating in
front of the Acharya of dwaitha tradition with ultimate respect,
fully knowing that his tradition does not agree with the other guru’s! This
particular incident opened the eyes of the students as they accept the widely
varying traditions of Hinduism. A true Vedantin is sure of the ‘one’
that is the substratum of all, and he is not afraid of playing with the ‘many’.
He is not vacillated by any belief, as beliefs are always associated with
doubts.
Is Amrita Ashram a parallel Government?
Some people think that the spiritual leaders don’t have the responsibility
or right to undertake social service. But thinking back in history, if the
spiritual leaders did not act out of compassion, there would have been greater
tragedies in the society. Take the case of Sree Narayanaguru, Chattambi
Swamikal, and other spiritual stalwarts who walked the path they preached. In the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami, Amma’s
organization was in the forefront of rescue and rehabilitation operation
surpassing what the government was able to muster in the nick of the time. If
the Ashram had given this money to the government coffers as some one suggested, we know what would have happened! There would be
an enquiry to find what happened to the money so transferred and the enquiry
commission would still be convening, after 10 years!.
Thousands of affected people are living in houses built by Amma’s organization,
not only in Kerala, but also in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and even Sri Lanka.
Even the chief minister of Kerala had to agree that the work by Amrita mission
has been exemplary and has been much more efficient than
the government’s efforts. The same Amrita mission donated one million
dollars to the Katrina relief effort in the United States, given to the
Bush-Clinton Foundation. (Is that also a criminal activity by Amma? Who is she
to donate money to America although she collected it from the Americans?).
The foundation cited that the donation is one of the largest by any NGO, and
the amount was well-spent in the nation building there in teh US. Of course, if our government and politicians
show similar credibility and accountability for spending the public money,
there is no reason for NGOs to take up service initiatives. Until that happens,
let the Amrita charitable organization continue their work of giving solace to
a few people through medical help, educational work, and extending a little
financial help to the needy by way of a pension scheme.
Donations, initiatives and services
Let us examine the source of donations Amma gets for conducting her
charitable services. I have been seeing
Amma since 1991 whenever she visits North America. Initially there used to be
regular reminders announced during the Darshan programs
about the charitable work undertaken by the organization and the need for
public donations. Later on, the emphasis was on selling hand crafted articles
brought from India, especially from Kerala, to raise funds. As the organization and its financial
capabilities continue to grow significantly, I find that the emphasis of the Darshan
program is not for raising money, but for raising awareness of the Amma
movement. Last year when I went to Seattle for a Darshan of Amma, I had to
inquire and find about making a donation. There were
no constant reminders from anybody asking for Dakshina or donations. A
monk from the Ashram was talking about Amma’s plans as being spontaneous and
unassuming, whether it is a charitable donation for Katrina in the US or for the earthquake relief in Japan: “Amma
will simply come and declare a target, and move on. It is our duty to raise the
funds and make good of that vision. By the Lord’s grace,
all her targets have been realized by her devotees so far.”
Clarity in spiritual path
I believe clarity of vision is everything in
spirituality and secular life alike. I have always amazed by the clarity of
spiritual vision Amma imparts. In the 1990s, Amma was speaking at gathering in
Camp Flagger, an old US military camp, near Seattle. Three or four thousand
people— mostly white Americans, with a few Blacks, Indians, and Orientals— were
intently listening to Amma’s colloquial Malayalam. Among them, were a handful
of Malayalees. Amma was speaking: ‘a
crow is sleeping, sitting on a dry branch of a tree. Even
if that branch breaks, the crow will not fall. It is ever ready to soar high in
to the sky, no matter what the condition of its support is. Spirituality is all
about this readiness. A spiritual person is ever ready to pick up and move on,
no matter what happens to his physical support system ...’. Amma would say a
few sentences like this and a senior Swami would translate her words. Once,
after Amma spoke, the Swami started speaking in his majestic voice, translating
Amma’s words. His speech included a few extra high-sounding and impressive words
of Vedanta philosophy, and Amma stopped him right
there saying, ‘ mone, amma paranjath paranja mathi’ (son, just say what
Amma said). I remember, the then-Swamini Amritaprana, the accuser-writer
of the book, being part of that congregation.
Discipline, Advices and Controls
Swami Chinamayanada used to say that ‘devotees and disciples are different creeds.’ Devotees are those who come and visit the guru year
after year, take his photographs as if at a zoo, and keep having the same
doubts whenever they see the guru. But disciples are different. The
expectations are different, and a certain discipline is required of
them. Guru has the reign of the disciple’s growth and behaviour. It is because of
the strict control and structure Amma maintains that she is able to direct so any initiatives
of the Ashram. In order to take care of a small plant, it has to be fenced in
and fed appropriate amount of water and food. It must be protected from animals
and harsh weather. Moreover it must be pruned to control and direct its growth.
Many of Amma’s disciples have left the fold as they are not capable of standing
the strict atmosphere there, and many more are willingly and happily enduring
the ordeal with an open heart and devoted mind. A free bird may not find the
Ashram life suitable, although some may take a long time (20
years, may be!) to realize it.
I know of an incident of Amma giving directions to disciples even in areas
of higher education. A person with a master’s degree from Canada joined the
Amrita University to teach computer science. Within a year or so, he decided to
do his doctorate and went to see Amma for her blessings. She asked him about
his plans and his topic of research. When he told her the topic, she said,
‘son, it seems that topic may not have much scope in the future, why don’t you
check with ‘this son of mine’—he is a
professor in US.I will give you his contact address. Check
with him before you finalize the topic of research …’
Private enterprise, business
Even if the Amrita empire were to be considered as a
business concern, look at the way it is run, the values it imparts, and the
results it produces. Are they keeping proper accounts and conducting the
business ethically? Are their medical and educational institutions working
properly? Are they performing better or equal to that of public institutions?
What is wrong with a private business being run in India? What is wrong in this
business group engaging in charity work? Is the society better off or worse off
by having such an organization functioning? The answers
are clearly positive for the society. Amrita medical institutions are top of the
class in the country. Amrita University produces some of the best graduates in
all the professional programs, and employers flock to recruit their graduates.
Note that the average pass rate of government and other engineering colleges in
Kerala is as low as 30 per cent, whereas Amrita’s graduating rate is above 90
Per cent and most graduates find their fisrt job through campus
recruitment.
Amma’s organization raised the required money to run the various institutions through private donations from
India and abroad, not through share market manipulation or
through 2G/3G scams. They do not raise money to convert
people into Hinduism either. Of course the educational institutions run by
Amrita Ashram takes capitation fee, for they are self-financed
institutions, following the rule of the land. They are not conceived as
charitable institutions as many other organizations that have started their
colleges. Is there a law broken because of this? In that case, how many
organizations have broken the law in Kerala?
The finance raised through donations has
been amply utilized for charitable and service oriented work throughout
the world. Amrita super speciality hospital is a professionally run, high-end
facility that requires significant cash flow to run it. The treatment is not
free for all. They do charge the patients according to their ability to pay. My
personal experience there a few years ago has been very
direct and fair. My father was hospitalized there and right
from the beginning a counselor talked to him about the treatment,
inquiring about his family background. He said he was a pensioner. Then she
asked him about his children. When she knew that his family was in reasonably
good financial standing, the counsellor said, ‘We are going to charge you the
standard rate for medical treatment.’ They treated my father well and they even
took back the unused medicines and medical supplies for the same price as we
purchased. I have never come across a better hospital experience anywhere in
Kerala. I know of a few medical professionals going to Amrita hospital every
year to serve there as volunteers. They do have a very strict screening of
these volunteers as well.
Spirituality is selfishness at its best
Personally I am selfish guy—spiritually, that is.
Although I am interested in spirituality, I am not yet prepared to submit
myself completely unto a guru or ism. I am happy to
extend my respects and to prostrate in front of great
spiritual personalities of all backgrounds. I am equally excited to see and listen
to Amma, Mar Christosum Pontiff, and Malliyoor Bhagavatha Acharyan.
I have written extolling the love of Amma, and I have translated the work of
Swami Sandeepananda Giri, who has recently spoken against
Amma. I don’t agree with his point of view in this matter, but that
is his right to be so.
My most favorite stanza in the Bhagavad Gita is “uddhareth
athmanaathmaanam…” Its meaning is that ‘one should be responsible for one’s own development and he/she should never falter in his path detrimental to his/her
progressive evolution’. There is no
quick fix to life; one has to fight his own battle. I try and gather from gurus
of all traditions the best messages I can, and live selfishly imbibing them. I
am like a honey bee taking honey from the many flowers it comes in contact
with. It may be that I am not mature enough to find ‘the
one guru’ for my guidance. To me, spirituality is a lonely
journey. All gurus and scriptures are
like poles used in pole-vault. After passing the net, there is no utility for
the pole. I like the selfish journey where I treat others the way I like to be
treated. I like to call it sathvic selfishness.
Even if my gurus have faltered in certain occasions, I
don’t take it personally, because I have taken the best out of them already. I
will not be disappointed if they fall from the pedestal either, as I have
gathered what I need from them already. More than the guru as a person, I value
the un-flickering flame of truth that is kindled by the guru in me even if that was for a short moment.