Real Sadhus

About the disciples of saints, Mother used to say, “Chaitanya-dev had some very good disciples. Saints come and go, but there are very few to reach the goal by following them. Men are eager to pass for sadhus but do not like to be sadhus.” …

Mother had an unending stock of anecdotes and stories to illustrate and impress any point. Her object was always to make it clear to us how in spite of the fact that there were innumerable sadhus, only a very few were in earnest; how they would forget their object only to wander down into bye-lanes, passing the whole of their lives in slumber, as it were. She would say, “I always tell you about the pitfalls so that you may avoid them. If a seeker proceeds along the right path, however slow he may be, he will surely reach the goal—it is because he keeps on wandering down the bye-lanes that his journey never ends. It seems to me that these sadhus are like pilgrims who intend to go to Benares, but instead of taking the road to Benares, put their luggage on their heads and roam about in the streets of their own city. All this is maya.” Mother would never criticize outsiders except before a chosen few. She wold say, “A religious organization on a big scale is bound to fail because good aspirants are not as cheap as blackberries.” She also said, “There are many gurus but a very few good disciples. I rarely come across a sadhu who seems to be following the correct path. All sadhus are moving in the domain of avidyā but no one can be called a sadhu if he is not earnest in getting beyond this domain.”

—The Life and Teaching of Sri Brahmajna Ma, Swami Prabudhananda, Sadhu Arunachala (Major A W Chadwick), ed. (Deoghar: D N Sen, Santi Asram, Bela Bagan, 1961) 11–12.