Once a city was flooded; lives were in danger. A circus proprietor engaged himself; all worked day and night, it was tiring work. The proprietor saved so many lives; he could keep his sustaining power only with alcohol. He was standing for hours together in the sun. What about the religious response and recognition ? The Founder heard of his frequent drinking and his being condemned drunkard twenty times more than his bravery, service and sacrifice. To have both the spirit of service and sacrifice and its observance of religious requirements is surely most commendable. But if both don't go together, Service and Sacrifice should not be unrecognized . Mai ism wants service to humanity being recognized as not simply a praiseworthy act of humanity but a fully religious act. Mai-ism most emphatically says that selfless service with nothing - sparing sacrifice and without expectation of recognition is as religious and Mother-propitiating as Mother worship, Prasad distribution, Mantra repetition etc., if not more.
People lose their head when they think about religion. There are wrong judgments in religious matters. Beliefs, tendencies, like and dislikes play a predominating part in the matter of religion. Unfamiliarity , unapproachability and mystic aloofness become an enchantment to some and a matter of dis-like to others. Grandeur, impressive talks and congenial circumstances to forget the worries of worldliness create an imaginary heaven for some. For some others a certain unhappy mentality spoils the whole picture. All these factors play an important part in all religious judgments . These factors create certain once-for-all impressions and prejudices which form the basis of all subsequent outlook. So many inherited and acquired factors and beliefs rush in and give their color to the whole vision . After all , what counts is one's own individuality and stage of development and spiritual attainment. The very same religious person appears to some as Avatar, to some others as maniac and to still some others as even a cheat.
People believe there can be no saintliness without certain externals and settled routine ways of living and stern unapproachability . Commonsense gets occluded and confused.
Whom to approach and with what mentality for one's spiritual progress is a perplexing problem. There must be the initiation, the giving of Mantra and instructions and a particular programme and a continued personal contact through visits, letters, dreams, visions etc.
The Founder's mentality is this. God, Guru and Religion are going down and down day-to-day. People want relief from all their miseries and greater happiness of the type they conceive. Scripture's teachings , rules and regulations have almost miserably failed. Let us then meet people on their own ground. The Founder has very funny experiences how people can be brought round to a recognition of religious living on being shown that their miseries can be and are removed by undertaking a certain religious process for removal of certain misery. When people get sick about a religion because it is too old and shut their doors , its external colour should be changed and it should be poured from the sky-roof holes. That is what a Mother and Mother's religion alone would do , just as doctors do artificial feeding through injections.
~ ABRIDGED MAI-ISM BOOK / SAINT MAI SWARUP MAI MARKAND
