Latha's Guru's desire and your will

November 12, 2003

As we purify more and more, I pray that our will comes into harmony

with the Divine Will. Not only that, but that we intuit, and know

without uncertainty, and yield to that Divine Will! Is the Guru's

desire also the Divine Will? You surrendered! Jai Maa!

November 12, 2003

Latha, I have a similar story but the result was a bit different. A

few years ago the wooden bridge that leads to our Mandir needed to

be replaced. It was starting to rot away and every time a car passed

over it there was a good chance that it would be the end of the

bridge. One day when we finally decided to rebuild it, I was

starting the first stage of the demolition of the old bridge in a

very light rain, and Maa walked by and said that I should go inside

because the wet weather conditions would make me sick. I has lived

in some pretty extreme climates in my life and to me this light rain

posed no threat at all to my health especially because I had a very

strong immune system and had been used to working in freezing rain

and snow during the previous five years in Boston. So I considered

the advice to be nothing but Maa just being the sweet mother to her

children and kept right on doing what I was doing.

The next day I woke up with the worst flu that I can remember

having in my life and I was in bed for a week. I couldn't believe

it, I hadn't been sick at all for years and now this. I then

remembered Maa's advice. Sometimes the Guru sees thing that we just

can't perceive and give advice according to that intuition. As

devotees, we have to have faith that they know what is best for us

even when we think that we know better. Sometimes they are just

testing us. Ma told me a story once of one of Her Gurus telling Her

to eat a rock. When She put it in Her mouth and began to chew it

turned into a delicious sweet.

There is another story that happened when we were building Maa's

house. There was a big oak tree in the front yard that Maa decided

one day that it needed to come down. She was afraid that one day the

tree would fall on Her house. This was a difficult proposition for

us because the angle of the tree put the house at risk of being

toppled when we would cut it, so we tried to talk Her out of it. The

tree appeared to be perfectly healthy to us so we felt confident

taking responsibility for letting the tree stay. "Of course it won't

fall down," we thought, "What does She know about trees anyways and

besides, the tree shows no signs decay at all. This tree will be

here for another hundred years easily." Well, after a few days of

debate we decided to listen to the Divine Mother and we cut down the

tree. To our surprise, the entire center of the tree was rotten and

it would have only been a matter of time before Maa would have been

surprised by a crashing tree falling into Her kitchen.

Even though from the outside the tree showed no signs at all of

danger, Maa saw inside the tree and was giving Her advice from that

perspective. I would imagine that all of Her words come from this

same intuition.

, "kamalama_2002"

<kamalama_2002> wrote:

> As we purify more and more, I pray that our will comes into

harmony

> with the Divine Will. Not only that, but that we intuit, and know

> without uncertainty, and yield to that Divine Will! Is the Guru's

> desire also the Divine Will? You surrendered! Jai Maa!

November 12, 2003

Sarada and Latha,

I have a couple of stories myself to add to where Sarada left off. If

we would only learn to trust the Guru life would be simpler. However,

for many of us reaching complete surrender is slow and often painful

process. There are two particularly notable events in my life that

come to mind.

Back in 1994 when I was still a struggling graduate student, I owned

a '89 Ford Tracer. At the time, I was staying at the asharam while in

the writing stage of the dissertation. Sometime in early 1995, Maa

said you should get rid of your car. I thought it was odd. Why should

I get rid of the car when I can barely afford to maintain myself on

my limited budget. I explained to Maa that financially I could not do

it and continued to drive the car as usual. Again some weeks later

she advised me to find another car, but intellectually it made no

sense to me and I did not take her counsel.

Just a couple of months later the car was totalled when I had serious

accident in Davis. It was the after Valentines Day when I was rushed

to emergency room in an ambulance. The accident left me cuts, bruises

and a fractured bone in the lower spine. With blessings of Maa and

Swamiji and back therapy I healed in a short time. Inspite of this

incident, I was still not wiser.

Now it's 2002 and I've graduated and landed what might be a career

position at a college in New England. This high profile, high

salaried job is why I sweated all those years in school I thought and

declared proudly that I was moving to the east coast. Maa and Swamiji

offered their blessings and wished me luck. Till the last days Maa

cautioned me, "I don't have a good feeling about this job." Again I

rationalized why I was going and instead took the position.

As you may have guessed, this job turned out to be a living nightmare

and I slowly felt myself dying emotionally and spiritually. I was cut

off from all of my support system in a very foreign and remote place.

If not for the communication with my family and Maa and Swamiji, I

don't think I could have survived. Sometimes, I think I came close to

having a nervous breakdown. Maa came to the rescue and demanded that

I call her every night after reaching home from work. I maintained

that routine for the rest of my 8-9 month stay in Maine. I shared

with Maa and Swamiji all my frustrations and pain. Swamiji even

helped me on the legal front by writing letters for me in grievances

I filed.

Presently I have returned to California and live in close vicinity to

Napa. I am so blessed to have a Divine Mother and Divine Father. I am

grateful for all of their patience, understanding and unconditional

love. I pray to be fully surrendered.

Jai Maa,

Aseemananda

, "Sarada" <sarada_saraswati>

wrote:

> Latha, I have a similar story but the result was a bit different.

A

> few years ago the wooden bridge that leads to our Mandir needed to

> be replaced. It was starting to rot away and every time a car

passed

> over it there was a good chance that it would be the end of the

> bridge. One day when we finally decided to rebuild it, I was

> starting the first stage of the demolition of the old bridge in a

> very light rain, and Maa walked by and said that I should go inside

> because the wet weather conditions would make me sick. I has lived

> in some pretty extreme climates in my life and to me this light

rain

> posed no threat at all to my health especially because I had a very

> strong immune system and had been used to working in freezing rain

> and snow during the previous five years in Boston. So I considered

> the advice to be nothing but Maa just being the sweet mother to her

> children and kept right on doing what I was doing.

>

> The next day I woke up with the worst flu that I can remember

> having in my life and I was in bed for a week. I couldn't believe

> it, I hadn't been sick at all for years and now this. I then

> remembered Maa's advice. Sometimes the Guru sees thing that we just

> can't perceive and give advice according to that intuition. As

> devotees, we have to have faith that they know what is best for us

> even when we think that we know better. Sometimes they are just

> testing us. Ma told me a story once of one of Her Gurus telling Her

> to eat a rock. When She put it in Her mouth and began to chew it

> turned into a delicious sweet.

>

> There is another story that happened when we were building Maa's

> house. There was a big oak tree in the front yard that Maa decided

> one day that it needed to come down. She was afraid that one day

the

> tree would fall on Her house. This was a difficult proposition for

> us because the angle of the tree put the house at risk of being

> toppled when we would cut it, so we tried to talk Her out of it.

The

> tree appeared to be perfectly healthy to us so we felt confident

> taking responsibility for letting the tree stay. "Of course it

won't

> fall down," we thought, "What does She know about trees anyways and

> besides, the tree shows no signs decay at all. This tree will be

> here for another hundred years easily." Well, after a few days of

> debate we decided to listen to the Divine Mother and we cut down

the

> tree. To our surprise, the entire center of the tree was rotten and

> it would have only been a matter of time before Maa would have been

> surprised by a crashing tree falling into Her kitchen.

>

> Even though from the outside the tree showed no signs at all of

> danger, Maa saw inside the tree and was giving Her advice from that

> perspective. I would imagine that all of Her words come from this

> same intuition.

>

> , "kamalama_2002"

> <kamalama_2002> wrote:

> > As we purify more and more, I pray that our will comes into

> harmony

> > with the Divine Will. Not only that, but that we intuit, and

know

> > without uncertainty, and yield to that Divine Will! Is the

Guru's

> > desire also the Divine Will? You surrendered! Jai Maa!

November 13, 2003

Sarada,

Thanks for the great Shree Maa stories!

One of the things (I found interesting in these stories) is our

American habit of questioning everything. As you know, in the

traditional Hindu way, the Guru's suggestions are treated as commands

and followed without question.

It's so natural for us to question everything. It's very funny that

we treat the Guru as if She were an ordinary human being. (And I

suspect She probably makes a point of being as "ordinary" as

possible.)

Very funny stories!

Jai Maa!

Astraea