One Christmas day, Maharajji addressed a message to the disciples who had gathered at the ashram. He reminded them that the quality of the desire for realization is a key factor, whatever religion they may follow. (Extract)
So many people come to me. I give them the initiation and the Guru Mantra. These people think they will get liberation right away, but they are wrong! They have to follow a sadhana. In this way, slowly, by the grace of the Guru, the disciple’s ignorance will be overcome, his heart will open, and then inwardly he will see that he is standing on spiritual ground. But before reaching this spiritual ground, he must follow a sadhana or spiritual path. Each religion has its own form of sadhana, but all these sadhanas lead to the same spiritual ground. And all the saints in the world stand on this spiritual ground which is beyond all religions.
So for any saint, there is no religion. For Christ, for Sacha Baba, for Guru Nanak, and other saints, there is no longer any religion. They all are beyond religion. You, as disciples, can follow any sadhana you like, but above all do it with your heart. At night, think about what you have done all day. If your mind was directed towards God, and you have remembered your Guru throughout the day, then slowly, slowly you are going towards purification, and later on you will attain realization.
This is our message. Just like dirty water which, by itself can’t become pure, but when it flows into the river Ganges, slowly, slowly it mixes with this sacred river and after two or three kilometres it becomes the Ganges. In the same way, if you disciples are connected by your heart with the Guru, it is the Guru’s responsibility to purify you, and then you will become one with him. But for this, you must have an extreme desire to become realized. When you accept the Guru in your heart, automatically it is connected to him. Indeed, so many people say,
“Tell me Guruji, I’ve had the Guru Mantra for ten years now and I have not become realized.”
In fact, the main reason for this is that the disciple did not have an extreme desire for realization. You have to feel an extreme desire to unite with God, if you want to become realized.
It is not in books that you will find realization. To attain this state, you must read the book which is within you, that is the book of your own being. Everybody has an ego, which in itself is a limitation, but it is only by the grace of the Guru that the whole of this limitation will be dissolved little by little and you will obtain spiritual liberation. This is how all religions work. All religions have the same inner wisdom. Everyone has an intellect, a mind and a heart and is involved in ordinary human activities. But it is only when a man wants to attain God that he will get a Guru, not before.
When people become saints, then they go beyond this world and they become one. Although for their sadhanas they may have followed different paths, whether Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh or any other, as soon as they realised their Self within, their hearts opened completely, then they went beyond religion. From then on, they love the entire world, even all animals and vegetation, which are also God’s creatures.
On another occasion, a disciple noticed the following:
“On Christmas day all the foreigners were in the temple and most of them were disciples of ShantiMayi. Maharajji was present and his hands radiated a sort of energy in the form of white tear drops which entered all the participants alike.
Maharajji told us that to be in contact with him was enough to put our hearts into contact with his. This is what I think: it is not necessary to be physically at his side to feel his energy.” ( Ascension, Spain)
