Living with the master

Roopa Rani shares her experience of having a living spiritual master in her life, Maitreya Dadashreeji, guiding and protecting her all the way

- Roopa Rani

Train journeys are beautiful in so many ways. A long journey, in particular, gives us an opportunity to connect with new people, exchange ideas and thoughts, and, of course, share food, which is becoming so rare in the present-day, fast-paced life. On one such train journey, while travelling from Mumbai to Coimbatore, I met a fellow lady traveller, Mrs Ghosh, a well-read and cultured lady with a vast knowledge of spirituality. During the many conversations we had (wherein she would talk, and I would listen), she shared with me about various spiritual programmes she had attended and her learnings from these programmes. She asked me about the reason for my travel and, knowing her spiritual inclination, I opened up to tell her that I was returning from Mumbai after attending a programme of my master Maitreya Dadashreeji.

She was surprisingly elated. Usually, people withdraw when we tell them we have a master. But her response was heart-warming. She told me it is very good to have a living master in one’s life. She said that many people follow the masters of past ages, like Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Buddha, etc., the divine masters who had come to help the people of their times. She emphasised the need for a living master who is physically present with us on this life journey and who can understand the challenges of our times and help us overcome them.

I felt deeply connected to this lady, who could understand so well the need for a living master in one’s life. This conversation triggered a train of thoughts in me. I started to think about the previous divine masters whom I had related to. I had the fortune of receiving initiation from a well-loved and established order of monks—the Ramakrishna Mission in the form of mantra diksha. But my heart was not satisfied with receiving a