To begin certain narratives, the Founder had an extremely intense daughterly love for a lady of a high family and education. She had so much devotion for the Founder that she did not mind the doctor’s strict instructions not to move from her sick-bed and she accompanied her husband from Santa Cruz [ Mumbai ] to see the Founder off at Dadar [ Mumbai ] on his way to Hubli. It was raining hard and the train did not run. She was entreated by the Founder to return home , but she would not. Waiting from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Founder proposed to go to Sion [ Mumbai ] to another devotee and return to Dadar [ Mumbai ] .Founder went there with all. They were welcomed and immediately food was prepared. The dining place was dark; the electric lights remained ” off ” during day time. The lady expressed her obstinate child-like desire,” I won’t take meals in this dark room. If you want me to eat, it must be under those under those electric lights.” Founder endearingly asked her not to be so resolute in a matter beyond human control. Said she,” I know there is nothing beyond your control. I am extremely hungry. Every moment you are refusing us the light, you are paining me. ” Said the Founder, ” Mother , here is the foolish girl, but most dear to me. She has not cared for her health and illness. Let her be pleased as well, in Her obstinacy.” As soon as these words were uttered, lights were there, till, the whole function was over. At the end, the Founder prayed and the light disappeared.
This lady [ Mrs. Sushila Desai ] had a friend in Baroda, a high officer who was severely demoted to a small assistant. The lady saw him at a saint’s place and said,” I will see you are restored to your original state . I am the daughter of Supreme Mother, in human form who can do anything and who can not refuse me anything.” She returned from Baroda and was with the Founder, one night , eating away his brains , asking for a boon. Gradually she told the story. Founder did not yield till 3 a.m. and then promised,” Alright Mother will see that he is re-instated within a month. ” The whole question was re-opened after every hope was dead. He was reinstated.
The Founder had varied unprecedented experiences through this lady. Once, she told the Founder,” You must learn Pranayama and Yoga “. Founder said,” Have you lost your senses ? With so much experience, you can’t understand the greatness of devotion ? ” He went away leaving her house courteously. Some half and hour passed. The lady began to see everywhere in every room , every corner, every sofa, every chair, Mother, Mother and Mother. She got afraid ; she ran to the adjourning bungalow where Founder was residing, begged pardon and took him back to her place , to give him his favorite dish of pungent butter fried , bakery bread and mango pickles.
The lady would not do any worship, would not do any mantras, would not offer any offerings to Mother-picture. She would not wave the Arti. The only thing she had was the faith of the highest order. She remain practically in the constant presence of the Founder. She has been constantly hammering the idea, ” You are yourself Mother “, and she is hypnotizing herself with the notion, ” What he promises must be done . What was once promised by the Founder can never remain unfulfilled. “.
The lady one day asked , ” You must raise my husband to be the manager of a concern and not merely an accountant as now.” Of course the working in the worldly way was there. But he was able to start within three months a new concern which had as its telegraphic address ” Mai-concern “.
The husband and son were both once in a trouble regarding the official management of an extremely serious order, though fully innocent. The lady exacted a promise and both were relieved of the embarrassing situation , all the destructive forces changing to be sympathetic.
Her husband was ill and staying at Juhu [ Mumbai ] in a rich bungalow. She would take the Founder from Tagore Road to Juhu and get his blessings on him and she would see him off at the station for Founder to catch his train to go to his office. Doctor said , he will take three months to recover. She told the Founder ,” I can’t tolerate this delay. You are cruel. If you heartily pray, the illness would disappear. ” The Founder was made to promise that he would see that her husband attend office next Friday which meant less than a week. All said,” If this proves true ” they will be Mai-ists forever. Said Founder not knowing his powers ,” Alright, I promise but don’t blame me.” On Friday he was ready and Founder took him to his office. It was wonder of wonders. The founder has been all along , dealt with like this, by the world, with a promise to be Mai-ist forever . His powers on believing such promise, grew supernatural. His ambition was to give wonderful experiences of Divine help through Mother’s Grace and go on getting families after families praying to Mother. If she took up the Mai cause, that would be accelerated most speedily as she had rich relatives , was herself a cultured and educated lady and she had a moral courage and even boldness of an up-to-date England returned lady.
He however found the world to be too deceitful, selfish and ungrateful in general. Now, that he has the experience of the world full of cheating, he neither believes the promise, nor does he think himself justified in troubling Mother.
The knottiest point which baffled all attempts at solution was this : Here is a lady. She does not believe in worship and the usual things. She has only one qualification. She has a faith which has no parallel. She believes , ” What Founder promises must fulfil.” She does not serve him in any extra-ordinary way. She is doing only what any honorable host would do to an honorable guest. The only specialty is she remains practically in the constant presence of the Founder. What is the actual working ? For sometime he began to think about the Theory of Guru – Vakya -Sidhi. It means this ,” If you have faith that your Guru is God and simply go on pleasing him , you need not have the same views and beliefs and living as he advises . You need not be obeying. Guru must be loving you and very generally wishing the desires be fulfilled without any special effort or concentration or prayer to Mother on the part of the disciple. Guru’s promise and your faith that his promise would not go unfulfilled , are enough for any worldly success. ” Founder felt there was some flow somewhere. The flaw was detected one day. It is this : The day, due to some reason or other, the idea of God-hood in Guru disappears , the whole fabric collapses ; and that is natural ; any Guru after all is human being.
Once she told Founder in a theoretical way of a mind : ” Each one is a master of himself. Can I not do any thing in my own house ? Every one is God and God is within everyone of us. ”
The most dangerous notion of every one being God is a senseless jargon for which Vedanta teaching is responsible.
At Madras ( Chennai ) in 1949 , an extremely strong Vedantist argued with me for three days ; he was so learned , he came with books and quotations. On the fourth day, I told him admitting defeat ,” Tomorrow you come here with an agreement that you have transfer all your property to me. I am not different from you. There are no two souls. and this is only a question of transferring matter.” He laughed outright. He said,” That is quite apart. That is not relevant,” that has nothing to do with philosophy.” He stood and never turned up again.
Although the supremacy of ” I am God ” is not denied, the world will be happier by being taught ,’ Thou art God ‘. That expression ‘ I am God ‘ is true in a particular sense only and at a particular finished perfect stage . If you are a true Adwaitist, with whom are you fighting , calling him a Dwaitist ? Adwaitism is an ideal though highest and not a fact to be exploited in your worldly dealings . According to Mai-ism , Adwaitism is a stage of consciousness which is superior to Dwaitism, but is no independent path by itself. It is a description of a certain consciousness and not a self-contained prescription to reach that stage. Adwaitism is continuation of Dwaitism. By experience one comes to a stage when the universe vanishes from the consciousness, when nothing remains except ‘ I am God ‘ ; later I vanishes , and even God conception vanishes . What remains is an indescribable Divine ecstasy and a perpetual blissful state.
Mai-ism says , ” Nothing is unreal – Creation and Creator, happiness and misery , heaven and hell, deities and human beings , obedience or dis-obedience to the Divine law. So long as the soul has any relation with bodies and so long as one is affected even to the slightest extent , physically, mentally or spiritually , these differences do exist and are not unreal. Practically every one is a Dwaitist, so long as he has a body, mind , heart and soul.
Why not come to fundamentals ? What is the object you want to achieve by saying , ” Everyone is God ” ? Why not come straight to the requirement ? ” You make no distinction between man and man, that will cause misery to any one and add misery in the world.” ” Love any other being and serve as your own self . Consider him to be like your own self. Try your best to forget every harmful difference between you and any other man. ” All these teachings are sensible enough.
Mai-ism says the simplest thing ,” You be good, loving and serving others because Mother Herself is pleased thereby and She will make you happy. For your own happiness, protection and escape from misery, you love and serve others.”
First thing is the idea of Motherhood itself. It is the daily experience of everyone that a mother is pleased on serving her children. But the greater strength proceeds from the fact that love and service and universality, are the very first words of Mai-istic commandment, with highest importance given there to. That and Universality make the whole difference.
Why jump into a decision , ‘ World is unreal ‘ because there are a few men to whom it is unreal ? Why not consider the fact that even in the case of these blessed ones there was a period when they saw the universe as real. The universe or even individual soul is an unreal reality and a real unreality.
Mai-ism repeats,” No mistaking of an ideal for a fact. ” to the extent the difference remain to an Adwaitist, let him remove the incongruency by saying , ” My idea has not reached the point of realization.”
Don’t be a curiosity seeker in the matter of mysteries beyond your limitations. Be ready to be taught, with the firmness of humility and duty , to walk in the Divine Path . Mother Herself will reveal to you as you advance , as much of the secret as is necessary for your further progress. Whom She selects that person alone can know and understand the secret, and that too only a fragment.
EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK : MAI-ISM , WRITTEN BY MAI SWARUP MAI MARKAND [ EDITIONS 1952 AND 2007 ], PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSAL MAI-ISM TRUST, MAI NIWAS, SARASWATI ROAD END, SANTA CRUZ (WEST), MUMBAI 400054, INDIA.
God as Mother and Father in MAIISM AND HINDUISM 