Ma – The Mother

The word Ma means Mother. For Vimalananda, and for Robert Svoboda in his account of his spiritual life, the word carries a meaning that is much closer than an abstract name for the Divine. The Mother is approached through relationship, just as a child approaches its mother.

Svoboda does not like to call the people who come to him for spiritual guidance his disciples. He prefers to think of them as children. The relationship between a parent and a child is not the same as the relationship between a guru and someone who comes to him for guidance, but the comparison allows him to speak about something essential: a parent remains responsible for a child, while a child depends upon the parent.

The relationship with a guru can become complicated when a person begins with one desire and gradually finds that the path leads somewhere else. People may come looking for particular results, hoping that spiritual practice will bring them something they want. A guru does not necessarily give them what they expect.

One of the stories concerns a disciple whose simple life gradually became complicated. At first there was very little: a mendicant existence and a loincloth. Then a mouse began to cause trouble by damaging it, so a cat was acquired. The cat needed milk, and a cow was obtained. The cow needed someone to care for it, and a cowherd entered the picture. Soon there was a field, then a farm, then a house, and eventually a wife.

What had begun as a simple solution to a small problem had grown into an entire household. When the guru eventually returned, the disciple had become absorbed in the life that had developed around him.

The story is not presented as a simple condemnation of worldly life. It shows how easily one thing can lead to another. A person may begin with something small and practical, only to find that each new necessity creates another one.

People also came to the guru with very different expectations. Some wanted worldly things, while others came seeking something spiritual. Their reasons were not always the same, and neither were the answers they received.

The guru could respond in ways that were not immediately understandable. His actions could appear strange or even difficult, especially when someone expected a direct answer to a particular problem. Yet the relationship required more than simply receiving whatever one had asked for.

Svoboda's own encounters with spiritual teachers form another part of this story. Among them were Telang Swami and Jina Chandra Suri. Through such encounters, the search for spiritual direction becomes connected with actual people and actual experiences rather than remaining an abstract idea.

Jina Chandra Suri's connection with Shava Sadhana brings the story into another setting. The practice leads into the smashan, the cremation ground, and there the presence of the Goddess becomes part of his experience. Tara appears to him and asks what he wants.

His first request is to return to Bombay. Later, he asks for something different: he wants Her to come to him every day so that he can worship Her. She tells him that if this is what he wants, he must go to the smashan.

The relationship with the Goddess is therefore not presented as something that can simply be arranged according to ordinary expectations. The Mother may answer, but Her answer can take a form that requires the seeker to enter a place or situation he would not otherwise choose.

For Svoboda, everything ultimately comes from Ma. The Mother is not an idea kept apart from life. She is present in the experiences through which the seeker moves, in the relationship with the guru, and in the encounters with the Goddess.

This is why the word Ma carries such importance. It is the language of a relationship between Mother and child, and the child does not approach the Mother as a stranger. The child belongs to Her.

The first movement of Aghora therefore comes back to the Mother. Before the book turns toward Shakti, Maya and Kali, it begins with Ma - with the relationship between the child and the Mother, and with the experiences through which that relationship becomes real.

Source & Note

This article is based on Robert E. Svoboda’s Aghora: At the Left Hand of God. The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.