It is not right to compare and reason saying: “Such and such a person has done sadhana for so many years and yet has not got anywhere”.
How can you judge what is happening to anyone inwardly?
Sometimes it seems that a person who does sadhana seems to have changed for the worse.
But how do you know that this tendency has not always been in him and has now come out so that it may be dealt with and purified as a result of his endeavors?
– Ananadamayi Ma
Once, when the satsang was over, an old man was taking leave. ”It is getting late,” he said, ”I must be going home.”
”Late indeed,” agreed Anandamayi, ”there you are right; but go to your real home, not to the dharmasala pilgrim hostel.”
”I am not staying in any dharmasala, I have my own house here,” he replied.
She shook her head and smiled:
”Do you call that home? You won’t be able to stay there for ever. Your days are numbered and when your time is up, you will have to leave. I call it dharmasala. There are rules and regulations; you may remain for a while but then you have to quit. This body tells you to find your real home from which nobody can drive you out, which is not of this world. Dig deep and unearth your real wealth, find your real home in God, who is your own Self.
~ Anandamayi Ma
(Discourse and Dialogue of Anandamayi Ma – Richard Lannoy, Chapter 6)
