The service begins at 7 a.m., when we arrived at Anandamayee Ma’s Samadhi Temple near Haridwar in Kankhal. Sanskrit chanting fills the air, a dozen boys sit in front of us accompanying the priest in the chants.
I was immediately taken inward and with stunning clarity Ma spoke to me wordlessly, “it is the same Light that manifests in all realized masters, and all realized souls experience the same God[1].” This universalizing of truth takes away all sense of “I and mine” and leads to complete universal freedom.
Then the thought of Christine came to mind; the picture Carla had brought of her appeared clearly to my inner vision. I knew that I did not need to ask for anything, only to just hold her in mind in this experience with Ma. Tremendous blessings were accomplished in that moment.
For the first hour I was completely engrossed in my experience with Ma. In the second hour a woman sang that most haunting, lovely tune as part of the arathi[2]. Every sound found resonance in my heart center and as each part of the heart was touched through her song a particular light lit the corresponding region of my heart. One part of the heart glowed, gold, then another part was lit with deep red, another indigo, and so on. It was a most beautiful experience as my heart center itself was responding to the beautiful notes of the lady singer.
Of course the ceremony was all in Sanskrit, which I do not know. However, the entire ritual is designed to bring you closer to Ma and her blessings. All religious ceremonies are designed, or should be, to bring you closer to God, and if it does not accomplish its goal then the ceremony has failed you. This same principle is also true for every experience in life; all experiences should bring you closer to God. So, do not be thrown by the endless variety life displays to you; each one is a test for you to see the Divine Spirit in every aspect of His creation.
Our friend Ram Alexander played a central role in building the International Center where we are staying. Ma had indicated that she wanted high quality sattvic facilities for foreigners to stay while doing their spiritual practices near the temple here. The people in charge, Dr. Ghosh and his able assistant, Keshab (whom I feel such great love for) and the other workers here are blessed with the spirit of seva. With a bright smile and a pronam, nothing is too much to ask for.
We continue to have evolving plans for our time in India. However, we have been in India just three days, but already it feels like at least a month!
Attending the evening arathi, Ma has continued her joyful revelations to me. As I sat and the rituals proceeded, different ones came and went, a tour group even walked through during the sacred ceremony, glancing at the temple like a tourist attraction. Some of these spiritual tourists quickly pronamed in response to the ongoing chanting and moved through, and others come and sit for a few minutes and then leave; children seeming having no understanding at all of why they are there or what is occurring.
What Ma reveals during all of this activity is that all the forms, the priest, the boys chanting, the people coming and going are all her forms. I clearly perceived the depth of this truth: that alternating between forms of ignorance and devotion, all are her manifestations.
The lesson that all are her forms continued with me past the arathi, right to the time when we return to the International Center for our meal. Ma came in the form of a long term traveler to India who sat with us for dinner. He told us about his many years of coming to India, that on several occasions he tried to see Ma in Delhi when she was still in the body; however it never worked out for them to meet.
He had a guru he had been deeply devoted to from Bengal, but he said, that was in the past, “enough said.” Clearly something unsavory had occurred to put him off of him. Now he is attracted to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi. Perhaps that feels like a safe outlet for his desire for God.
His situation made me appreciate what an incredible blessing it has been to have Mother in my life, as well as the role Swami Satchidananda played in my quest for realization. This traveler seemed a lost soul, missing his heart’s true desire.
However, seeing him clearly as Ma coming in his form, my prayer goes out to the all beneficent Creator that this man, this manifestation of Ma, should find what he surely is looking for. And, being a manifestation of Ma, I have no fear for him, no fear at all for Ma will call her own back to her Self. My only thought, which is put into my mind by the universal compassion of the infinite, is that he should attain the happiness, peace, bliss and joy for which he so clearly yearns. Jai Ma!