– Mrs. Amba Nayak (1961)
Of all births the human birth is the best. It accrues as the fruit of well-earned merits in previous lives. Human intellect alone is capable of diving into the secrets of nature and the mystery of creation.
Thus man is endowed with intelligence which can lead him to liberation through righteous conduct. The unerring sense of the righteous in conduct can be instilled only by sadguru. Sadguru is God in manifestation and has to be followed with unswerving devotion. It is difficult to find the sadhaka with the rare quality of devotion. The attributeless, supreme, self-manifesting itself, in a human body, is a great blessing to humanity.
By intuition alone, the fullness and the perfection that is God will be understood. It is the grace of God which makes possible for man to see God’s manifested divinity in the sadguru. It is by bestowing peace and solace that sadguru is bringing about the restoration of dharma in the world. In order to accomplish the establishment of dharma with the tenderness of maternal love, Mother has appeared as sadguru. In order to strengthen the intuitive perceptions for the realization of the supreme, surrender to the spiritual guidance of sadguru is enjoined, in all systems of discipline, since ancient times.
The mother of the universe is herself today among us as sadguru, to confer upon us intuitive apprehension of the nature of truth, and intellectual illumination, which erudition cannot by itself achieve. In this incarnation of divine mother as sadguru there is immense significance of the universality of a love, for which can exist no distinctions, predicated upon considerations like, the scholar and the ignorant, the fortunate and the fallen.
I was the victim of shattering misfortunes and have known the harrowing grief of successive bereavements in the loss of my husband and my son. Their deaths not only withdrew from me prop and support of existence, but also, deprived me of every joy and solace. A lonely soul, having nothing to live for, I was groping in destitution and sorrow. Who but the mother of the universe can bring peace to desolate hearts like mine; eradicate suffering altogether, by enlightenment, which is at once so potent and so profound?
As a result of misfortunes I was in agony. A sense of futility drove me to despair, and in a fit of dejection, I reached the point of terminating a miserable existence. I was in a state of mental collapse and physical exhaustion. My wandering gaze was, however, attracted by a photograph of Mother in a prayer hall in a village of Kallur on the occasion of a bhajan by certain disciples. The more I gazed, the more interested I became in the picture. The captivation of my heart was so complete that I was not aware of the passage of time during the bhajan.
The contemplation of the picture afforded consolation. Its recollection helped to soothe my grief and contributed to a gradual migration of my sorrow. What I learnt about Mother from one of her disciples was encouraging, that she was a refuge of the afflicted. The fascination for her, increased with the passage of days. In mind, the picture stood-out, as that of the visible incarnation of the supreme being. My recollections of the picture increased the intensity of my yearning for actual darsan. I learnt that she was to be at Udipi for a bhajan. To Udipi I went. Soon after commencement of the bhajan, she appeared. I thought I was vouchsafed the darsan of Sri Krishna. In form and features, the correspondence appeared to be complete. I witnessed the loveliness of Sri Krishna; the tender beauty; the seductive charm; the enchanting smile; the intoxicating aroma of Krishna prem. A bhajan like this with its fervour heightened by discourse was first in my experience.
The darsan effected in me a transformation. In my receptivity to spiritualizing impressions, and in my response to Mother’s universal love, I sensed a new consciousness. When later I became her initiated disciple, I was started upon a new life, no more to be rippled by grief or ruptured by bereavements. In her instructions to the disciples, there is indoctrination as to duties. In the actual initiation ceremony, there is transmission of power, for meditation upon supreme reality. Thus there is a confluence of forces in her discipline, namely, the impact of imparted instructions, and the inspiration from transmitted experience. I am one who has been benefited by the resurrecting potency of her initiation and teaching. My life is an exemplification of the transmuting quality of her wonderful prem.
Tags: GJS#131