13 aug 2008, Amritapuri

i was there with amma by her side during darshan. one foreigner asked me to translate his question to amma. for the past 16 years this man has been coming to amma. he asked: “my discrimination and self-will are propelled by the ego, not by the will of the self or amma. how can i go deep in my sadhana?”
he was standing behind me. amma smiled at him, gave such a look above my shoulders. her eyes were glowing with light. she just kept looking askance at him. it was so beautiful.

the man waited for a verbal answer. waited for a long time. but amma didnt say anything. later after darshan he came to me and asked why didn’t amma answer??
how do i know? i shrugged my shoulder.

i started pondering over why even though he was asking a purely spiritual question, amma did not answer him. his question, about his quest or search for truth, is the same question all the sastras deal with: analyzing every object down to its source and separating the ego from the divine. what can the master say about the truth? the best way to convey the truth is silence… “mouna vyakhya prakatita para brahma tatvam …… sishyasthu chinna samasaya.” so goes the dakshina moorthi stotram. it means through eloquent silence the supreme principle of brahman is explained and the disciples are sitting without a trace of doubt.

do we really need a verbal answer? yes, because we are not evolved… but amma wants us to be.