In the late 1970's during Muktananda's visit to Australia, a group of Governors and Sidhas in Melbourne were requested by Maharishi to go and pay their respect to Muktananda. Maharishi instructed them to take flowers and garlands and present these to Muktananda and give him Maharishi's regards. It was said that the two Masters came from the same Tradition, the Shankaracharya Tradition of Jyotir Math. Muktananda showed them great respect as a group and received the delegation at a private meeting.
A lady present at this meeting remembers with joy and reverence Baba Muktananda's beautiful words. During this private meeting, Muktananda told the TM group, "Maharishi and I are very different". He continued, "I am here to offer a small group of people (my devotees) the path of liberation through devotion (the path of Bhakti). I come and give my people darshan (shaktipat), I soak up their stress (karma) and process that stress(karma)for them." Muktananda explained that the illness he suffered from during his visit to Melbourne and for which he had to be rushed to hospital, was due to the stress (karma) he takes on from his devotees. It was a question about this event which gave birth to the following discourse: "Maharishi is here for the world. You may never see Maharishi yourself, but what Maharishi has given you is a technique to clean your own self. My disciples have to be physically with me (in my presence). Maharishi has given you a technique to cleanse and purify yourselves and it is not just for yourselves, it is a technique to cleanse the whole world (collective consciousness). Your path (TM and TM Sidhis etc) may be somewhat lonely, because you are doing the work (evolution) yourselves and you are self sufficient. You are responsible for your own path whereas my followers come to me and I do the work for them. I am full of admiration for anyone on your path. It is a path of great responsibility. What I am doing is personally taking care of a small group of people, but what Maharishi is doing is giving the world a path to move to a new level, a higher level. I have full admiration for Maharishi and for each of you. Some of you may never see your Master but this does not matter because he has given you the Supreme Gift, which is self sufficiency. It takes strength and determination to pursue this path on a daily basis. But you have the path of Self Sufficiency and it saves you and others also. It affects the whole world." Muktananda was very insistent on this point, that he was only here for a small group of people whereas Maharishi was here for the good of Mankind. "My path is more nurturing because my devotees have me. It is easier because I am here for them. What you have from Maharishi is fully comprehensive and you need only to do your practice. I congratulate each of you for being so courageous, for being responsible for your own personal growth and that of the world." Muktananda emphasised again that he was only here in the world for his group of devotees but Maharishi was here for the world. "Maharishi's path is unique. You only need to do what he has asked you to practise. It is glorious but it is not easy to be self sufficient. Devotion must be in the heart rather than physically sitting at the foot of the Master. Devotion must be in your heart. This is because Maharishi is here for the whole world." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> You can search right from your browser? It's easy and it's free. See how. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_7bhrC/NGxNAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/