Feeling Mother’s guidance around travel arrangements and places to stay we have upgraded our travel in India for this pilgrimage. In the past it has been local buses, train travel, and generally low price hotels we have stayed in. This pilgrimage has seen us take advantage of nice but not top of the line hotels, and we have flown from Delhi to Kolkata (the updated spelling of Calcutta). This has certainly smoothed out travel, decreased some of the stress, and made it generally easier on the physical body as well as the subtle energy body.
Our first full day here came on a holiday, the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. This great soul has become the world’s archetype for ahimsa, the removal of violence from the heart, and for integrity of living a God-centered life. He chanted Ram Nam, daily read from the Bhagavad Gita, and practiced deepened meditation. Surely he was a great (Mahatma) soul.
Early in the a.m. we traveled to Yogoda Satsanga Society (S.R.F. of India) Ashram. Master saw this property on the Ganges in Dakshineswar for sale when he was here in 1935-6 and we are told he arranged for its purchase when he returned back to the U.S.
We had made enquiry about staying at this ashram by phone and we were told by the gruff swami on the phone that only S.R.F. members may stay here. It always feels a loss that there is this lack of connection made by this organization with those who have great love and devotion for Master. Long ago S.R.F. chose this path, and it is a loss for both sides of the issue.
I do not think this organization would have any difficulty with the idea that Swami Pranabananda, Swami Keshabananda and Swami Sri Yukteswarji (all disciples of Lahiri Mahasaya) did not exist under a single umbrella of a common organization, or that any one of them would be wrong for continuing Lahiri Mahasaya’s teachings? Yet, and perhaps this is so imbedded in Western thinking that it seems to be a natural course of events, organizations mark out a territory and say you either belong to us or you are out. As Mother said, even though they put us out, Mother drew a circle and drew them in.
The beautiful mandir has a large, many pillared porch area and inside there are pictures of the masters in front. We sat in blissful contemplation for some time, feeling Master’s blessings and those of our Guru-lineage. Such a feeling a peace pervaded us as we sat, then walked in silence throughout the grounds.
An East-Indian devotee from Malaysia spoke with us, he was very sweet. And the young man in the bookstall was also a pleasure to speak with. Really, true devotees of God may be found anywhere, and there are many roads to realization. God knows the heart, and no one may gainsay or pre-judge anyone based on affiliation or non-affiliation with any group or religion. The sooner we look through “the eyes of God” and into the heart and soul of anyone we meet the surer will be our discrimination.
How wonderful it is that Mother freed us of being in or out, for God is our focus and therefore everyone is in, if there is an “in” to be found. To universalize our vision and see God everywhere is our aim. Lover’s of God, by whatever name He may be called, can be recognized in any soul, whatever the language, manner of dress or name.
Surely one of God’s greatest attributes is peace, shanti; the peace that surpasses all understanding. It is Master’s blessing to saturate us with that peace and to feel it in every step we took on those ashram grounds. Having spent uplifting time there we moved on to the Kali Temple carrying that peace with us through the bumpy, noisy crowded streets of Dakshineswar.