Spiritual orders are founded by visionaries. Followers, after a brief glorious adherence to the founder's essential tenets, destroy the vision and routinise proceedings along compromised ways. The spirit dries up as coffers fill up and the common man becomes a pawn in the hands of haughty helmsmen of the order who increasingly distance themselves from public opinion and begin to live in the ivory tower of authority from where monarch-like they start surveying their domain. [ ref. William Cowper - 'I am monarch of all I survey.' ]
We must, therefore, be ever vigilant that such a decadence does not befall our beloved order beyond reasonable aberrations which must inevitably creep in owing to the 'inverse square law' of spiritual outflow. Complacency about the absolute security of the order through the Master's grace and in fulfilment of Swamiji's prophecy, as is evident among the concerned members and even among the unthinking devoted laity, is a feature that is disturbing and redolent of historical decadence in past spiritual orders of the world. It is also a puerile argument to offer whenever any transgression of sorts -- at least in public perception -- occurs.
This is 'the way of all flesh' and is antithetical to the original spirit to which we must periodically retrace our steps to check our chronometers. The Master's message must not be lost sight of in the urge for organisational expansion beyond carrying capacity, that is, to a mark where compromise with principles becomes the occasional departure to begin with before it settles into norm.
A sincere steadiness that waits on the attribute of patience does not require patronage beyond bounds that should dilute spiritual standards. Overmuch dependence on money for the sake of fast expansion could cost a serious loss of goodwill and this is the worst offence that could be made against the sublime spiritual strictures of the Master whose renunciation of money was total.
This and many other seeming violations of the erstwhile spirit of the order are the concerns of many a devotee who are but passive bystanders to the decadence that they feel is setting in, a certain laxity in spiritual standards from what it was four decades back. Perhaps, this is an inevitable decadence of sorts but we must be watchful and secure our loosening links lest downright loss of goodwill becomes the order as the shadows lengthen further. For us, lay devotees, then lies the responsibility to serve the cause with critical care and an abundance of love for the mother that has thus far nurtured and nursed us. Jai Ma !
Written by Sugata Bose
No comments:
Post a Comment