A crystal manifested out of Her head into his hand. He said, “You see that?”
credible power object linked directly to the energy of Mother, “Let’s go take darshan of the statue then come back to the ashram.” Before we left the farm, he said maybe there’s a chance some of you can get Mother Divine darshan tonight. Ooooh! Then my heart rate and interest really went up. “Okay, okay, now we’re on our way!” When we got there, it was in dilapidated condition, repairs needed seemingly everywhere you looked. The inner sanctum
Nityanandaji:
where the Mother statue sits is very cramped. You
Many years ago, Swami took a process group
enter by ducking through the single, small en-
seemingly to see Mother Divine. It was a group
trance. Inside the tiny inner sanctum, the statue is
of ten men. We had been basically living togeth-
huge. It fills up the whole space. You cannot walk
er upstairs in the Jesus temple with Swami, doing
on either side of it, or behind it. Stepping inside,
our process, grinding our blocks of sandalwood,
there is just three to four feet in front of Her to
lots of things. We didn’t leave the upstairs Jesus
stand, The statue of Her is massive. She’s sitting
temple day or night, which is really an amazing
down in a half lotus position. It’s a form of Kali
experience. But it’s a little claustrophobic too.
and She is holding a sharp sword, the priests al-
Casually one late afternoon, Swami said, “Would
ways put a lime stuck on it. In a sitting posture,
you guys like to get out? Let’s go to my farm.” We
She is seven feet tall and four feet wide.
were happy to go. We came downstairs to the cars
Arriving, we all went into the outer sanctum,
which were already prepared and ready, as if by
where Swami had everybody sit down. He told us
magic. We piled in and we went to his farm.
to meditate with our process mantra. Then Swa-
It was really a magical setting, the late afternoon
mi went inside the inner room and was there for
sun was setting, the dusk was coming and every-
a while. When he came out. He said, “Sorry, the
where was beautiful greenery and groves of coco-
energy is not cooperating. No chance for darshan,
nut trees. Swami was very nonchalant, not letting on about anything. He had his staff serve coconut water to us, we were just chit chatting. When the stars came out, he said, “The stars are blooming. That’s the perfect time. There’s a Mother Temple nearby in a little place called Bukkapatnam,” which it turns out is the village where Swami grew up. There is an ancient Mother Divine temple there where he did a huge amount of sadhana. He had had conversations with Mother Divine there many times. That Mother Divine statue is an in-
Jesus temple, 2002 artist: Joani Mitchell
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