There was a cat at the Ashram called Kushina. In her youth she had received the title “Jagajjananee” (Jagat-jananee: Universal Mother) from me. She was lovingly suckling and mothering all the small and big kittens in the Ashram, irrespective of their caste and creed.
Later, when her own daughter Pallipriya (Palli-priya: One who is fond of lizards) became pregnant, Kushina somehow felt threatened and started attacking her. Efforts to correct her (lovingly assuring her that everybody in the Ashram will be looked after well and she need not indulge in jealousy at all) failed – as it often happens with others here! Finally she had to be sent on exile near the cowshed.
All were quite surprised and shocked by the sudden fall of dear Kushina from her Jagajjananee status to the selfish, violent nature. But, that is what happens to human beings also – may be in a little more civilized and subtler ways. Being non-human animals, the cats are perhaps more straightforward in their ways and prefer open display of their love and enmity than to hide them under a so-called civilized cover.
The mother’s love for her child is generally believed to be the purest love seen in the human society. But what happens even to that love when the son gets married and the daughter-in-law occupies the most prominent position in her son’s mind and life? Overpowered by competition and jealousy, does not the mother herself become the cause of utter unhappiness for her beloved son?
Examples are many, even in the Ashram too. In fact, most of us have various poisons in us, and strangely enough, Gurusannidhi creates situations that bring these poisons out in the open. So, a saadhaka staying in the Ashram is compelled to fight them out and steer clear of the impurities. Otherwise his stay in the Ashram will become more and more disharmonious and finally he would have to leave. There lies the power and efficacy of Gurusannidhi in the saadhana of purification and sublimation of the mind.
Years back, once Poojya Swamiji was openly discussing some troublesome traits in the personality of one of his close disciples. Hearing his words an elderly disciple remarked, “It is wrong to discuss like this in front of others. If Swamiji had treated me like this, he would have lost me!”
Even now perhaps, some of the new visitors to the Ashram feel that the evaluative comments made by Swamiji to institute corrections in disciples should rather be done in private only. But, for the inmates and frequently visiting seekers at
Narayanashrama Tapovanam, gone are those days when spirituality meant only meditative absorption and experience. Poojya Swamiji has been emphasizing time and again that mere meditative saadhana without striving for purification of the mind will be deceptive. So, one must resort to “interactional saadhana” throughout the wakeful hours. The focus should be on the wholesome purity of the mind and not on the time bound ‘meditative experiences’.
Normally it would have been great if a seeker could pursue this interactional saadhana of mind-purification himself. But, it has been found that interaction in the association of the Guru is almost indispensable to make the process successful. The clear vision and impersonality required otherwise is extremely rare.
If a seeker is able to publically observe, evaluate and analyize his or her behaviour openly during the Satsangs, then it has a tremendous purifying effect. Yet the process is generally hindered and resisted by our ego. When propertly understood and practiced, self-confession and analysis in the presence of others is ego-effacement.
