Even in the Face of Madness

A magician in strange attire once came to a village, and the people began to mock him. As the jeering grew, he lost his temper. He chanted over a handful of sacred ash and cast it into the common well, and all who drank that water lost their senses. Only the village chief, who had his own well, was untouched. The rest began to shout whatever came into their heads, dance wildly, and make an uproar.

When they looked about and saw the chief alone behaving normally, it was he who seemed strange. They decided he was the mad one and set out to seize and bind him. In the confusion, he barely escaped. Afterwards, he thought it over. “They have all lost their reason. If I go on behaving differently, they will never leave me in peace. If I am to live among them, if I am ever to help them, there is only one way. I must seem to be as they are. To catch a thief, one must dress like a thief.”

So the chief, too, began to shout and dance like the others, and the people rejoiced that his madness had been cured. Then, quietly, he had a new well dug, and little by little, he drew the villagers to drink its clean water. Slowly, their sanity returned. Mahatmas are like that village chief. They serve the people expecting nothing in return, and for this others may scorn them. They may even brand them as mad.

But the Mahatmas, who look upon blame and praise with the same calm gaze, pay no heed to such obstacles. They come down to the level of ordinary people and, through the living example of their own lives, teach them to serve without expectation and to love without demand.

Mahatmas also reflect the limitations of the age they live in and teach people by personal example. They too have to undergo trials and tribulations to show us not how to escape from problems, but how to face them without compromising our ideals. They continuously overcome great challenges with unshaken poise. Their lives then serve as an inspiration for others to walk the path of love, compassion, and peace.

Mere belief in God, or the outward keeping of rituals, is not yet spirituality. Spirituality is awakening to our own true nature, experiencing the Self already within. A king who does not know he is a king draws no benefit from his crown; he cannot taste the comforts that are already his. Beneath the very hut where a beggar sleeps there may lie a priceless treasure, yet so long as he does not know of it, a beggar he remains.

Many people today are in just this state. For the sake of money and pleasure, they harm one another and ravage nature as well. As a result they sink deeper and deeper into sorrow. To lift such people up, one must go down to where they are. That is what the Mahatmas do, and through them, dharma is kept alive in the world.

Just like everyone else, Mahatmas face sorrows, challenges and limitations. But there is a deeper reason. They accept their circumstances to allow others to draw closer and establish a personal bond. In truth, the purpose of the Mahatmas goes beyond even the safeguarding of dharma. Their wish is to bring happiness to all human hearts, so they captivate those around them with their enchanting lilas.

Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, known simply as Amma, is a spiritual master and humanitarian who has given her darshan in the form of a motherly embrace to more than 4 crore people. Listening to the cries of the suffering, Amma leads the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, an NGO that reaches across more than 50 countries, working in healthcare, disaster relief, education, gender equality, and environmental restoration; Views presented are personal.