The more that shakti manifests in your life, the more your life will change. Whether it is in the area of relationships, health, employment, family and children, or something else altogether, circumstances in your everyday existence will be altered. For some, such changes began a number of years ago with the appearance of gurus from India and later Tibet. For others, attraction to a spiritual teacher did not begin until the teachers began to appear in a feminine form.
In the years before the change over to the new millennium, numerous powerful feminine spiritual teachers and gurus began to appear seemingly quite suddenly. The shakti power inherent in both the new age and in women manifested the immediate appearance of advanced spiritual teachers who are women. While the following descriptions of such teachers are representative, they are by no means intended to be complete or comprehensive.
Daya Mata, a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and one of the first women spiritual leaders to appear in the West, has been the spiritual leader of the Self-Realization Fellowship since the 1960s. Promulgating the teachings of Yogananda through his international best-seller Autobiography of a Yogi and other works, she has followed the instructions of Yogananda in teaching the ancient Kriya Yoga techniques to a Western audience.
Although she never used the title herself, Earlyne Chaney, co-founder of Astara, who left her body in 1997, was widely regarded by her followers as a guru. Starting in 1980, she held annual fire initiation ceremonies that drew more than a thousand people from all over the world. She and her husband, Robert Chaney, would receive each spiritual aspirant seeking initiation in a ceremony often lasting from 7:00 P.M. until 4:00 in the morning. Her shakti was powerfully awake, and she used it to uplift and inspire thousands of seekers during fifty years of service.
Gurumayi, leader of the Siddha Yoga Foundation, is a disciple of Paramahansa Muktananda, a popular and well-known guru from India who traveled widely in the 1970s. She received his spiritual mantle before he left his body and has run the organization he founded since 1982. She visits Siddha Yoga centers in many major cities every year, holding satsang (divine discussion) and giving initiations. In those centers, you can hear devotees chanting the great siddha mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” long into the night.
Sakya Jetsun Chiney Luding, called Jetsun Ma, is a Tibetan teacher who visited Los Angeles in the early 1980s. Traveling from her home in Vancouver twice a year, she gave a variety of classical Tibetan Buddhist empowerments. Born into a royal family, she began her spiritual studies at the age of eight and continued her studies until forced to flee Tibet. Her brother is the prominent Tibetan spiritual leader H. H. Sakya Trizin Jetsun Kusho.
More recently, others have come into prominence. Ammachi, a woman from India with increasing popularity, is known as the “hugging guru.” People line up in long queues wherever she appears, and Ammachi patiently hugs each and every devotee who comes before her. She has probably logged more hugs in the last five years than all the rest of the gurus combined. In a world where love is needed so much, hers is a powerful message and a wonderfully positive contribution to Western spirituality.
Early in 1997, Sadguru Sant Keshavadas gave his wife, Rama Mata, guru diksha (initiation) on the banks of the Ganges River and changed her name to Guru Mata. In December of that year he left his body. Now Guru Mata presides over the Sanatana Vishwa Dharma organization he founded in 1973 from international headquarters in Bangalore, India. In this country the organization is called Cosmic Religion. She travels to the United States every year for programs. Her spiritual authority is often hidden by her great humility.
The last several years have seen the emergence of Karunamayi, a guru also from Bangalore, who, followers claim, is an emanation of Saraswati. Like the more famous Satya Sai Baba, Karunamayi manifests vibhuti and other objects before small groups of followers to inspire them on their spiritual path. She teaches mantra practices and often performs the Lalita Puja or the ceremony propitiating “She with a thousand names and powers,” discussed in Chapter 9. Karunamayi travels to the United States each year to teach, initiate students, and conduct Vedic ceremonies.
Sri Anandi Ma is a guru of the Kundalini Maha Yoga lineage who offers cassettes and CDs through Sounds True. Although little known in the United States, her students here are dedicated and ardently practice disciplines given by her.
Shree Ma, Holy Mother from Kamakhya in Assam, is the guru of American-born Swami Satyananda Saraswati. Inspired by her, he has published books on the ancient ceremonies of India, including the comprehensive works Chandi Path and Kali Puja. The energy of the Great Feminine permeates Swami Satyananda’s works, who in turn gives the credit to his guru, Shree Ma.
There is one more woman who may have been on your mind as she has been on mine, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She probably would not call herself a guru but more of a Christian disciple following the model of St. Francis. But she did exhibit some of the characteristics of a guru. First, she has disciples. The order of nuns that formed around her has spread over the globe as women in blue-and-white habits pledge themselves to the joyful service of those who are very ill or preparing to leave the Earth plane. Second, she was able to pass energy through chakras in her hands.
I first observed her passing energy to others while I was watching television. She picked up an infant and, cupping her hand oddly, slapped it on the back. I sat up straight in my chair, probably with my mouth agape. Then she waited, looked at the baby, and did it again. I could sense quite plainly that she was sending prana and perhaps spiritual electricity into the child. The next time I saw her pass energy, the pope was on the receiving end. Shown in a television meeting with Pope John Paul I, she kissed his ring then slapped his palm the same way she had slapped the infant. Then she roared with laughter. So did I when I saw it. She sent him some juice, probably hoping it might help him stay around a little longer.
These are but a few of the women gurus of whom I am aware. There are surely many others, engaged in humble service. I salute them all.
I suggest to you that as we move further into the Aquarian energy, more and more people will receive gifts of the spirit. Viewed from an Eastern perspective, the power of shakti will move in us more powerfully than ever before, and those who have been preparing to receive this power will find more resources than they ever would have dreamed of just thirty years ago. There are those among us who will suddenly become spiritual teachers with a stature we have only seen from our Indian and Tibetan friends. Indeed, they have been diligently preparing us for that eventuality for many years, some for lifetimes.
Not all those who have these resources will be schooled in the Eastern methods. Whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Native Shaman, or other, those following any genuine path with sincerity and dedication will see significant changes in themselves. More healers, true spiritual teachers and initiators, psychics, and those who manifest miraculous things will appear among us than ever before. Most of them will be sincere and service-oriented.
Throughout this work I have presented mantra formulas for your use framed in the context of stories and myths, primarily from India. The characters and the plots were fables. The mantra powers contained in the stories and the power of the kundalini shakti sitting at the base of your spine area are real.
As you practice Sanskrit mantra and grow in proficiency, you will obtain the effects you desire. After all, that is why you did them in the first place. But there will be other effects that follow the first ones. When you experience results, you will decide that there are more conditions you would like to change, or more effects you desire to create, so you will perform more disciplines with mantra. By that time, you will grow to appreciate the inflow of energy. At some subtle level, you will understand that your overall store of spiritual energy is increasing as your spiritual bulb increases its wattage. Now Divine Mother has you. By showing you the increase in energy, She will motivate you to further efforts. By solving your problems and fulfilling your desires, She will move you down the road to spiritual advancement. Like any good mother, she will pack your lunch with the finest fruit and sandwiches, then send you off to advance in the school of life. As you begin to make your way with these new tools, your life will undergo subtle changes.
Here are some statements about the movement of shakti within us. One or more of them may seem quite familiar.
• When shakti moves within, it is the Great Feminine trying to get our attention.
• When shakti moves within, our entire lives can change. There may be great upheavals that occur from nowhere. They can be disconcerting, maddening, frustrating, joyful, and life-altering, but they always move us forward.
• When shakti moves within, we must often shift from our comfortable positions (physical, emotional, and mental) or suffer some consequence until an important lesson is learned.
• When shakti moves within, the extent of our ignorance about spiritual things is made abundantly clear.
• The movement of shakti within cannot be stopped, but it can be redirected. We may have no choice but to heed its call, but choices among the paths emerging from our decisions still remain.
• The movement of shakti within inevitably leads to both Love and Knowledge, in this or a subsequent life. The Great Feminine is loving and giving by nature. Therefore, we must assume She is trying to give us something new that She thinks we need.
• When shakti moves within, the Great Feminine has blessed us in a momentous way.
• When shakti moves within, Divine Grace is at hand.
But if shakti moves within us, where will it ultimately lead?
• Shakti leads to the Divine Beloved within, where all questions are answered, all tears are dried, where all Love resides, all Knowledge is contained.
• Shakti leads to true Self-knowledge. Knowing oneself leads to knowing others as well.
• Shakti leads to contact with the higher levels of reality, such as the realms where the Great Ones and the celestials reside.
• Shakti leads to the end of the round of rebirth, producing true liberation.
• Shakti leads to the doorway, passing through which one leaves behind all realms, both physical and nonphysical.
Near the end of Healing Mantras, I posed a question that bears repeating here: What will you do once you have finally fulfilled your desires? Will you then pursue other desires? What will you do if you discover you have real power? If all power is transitory and ephemeral, what effects do you want to leave behind, both within and without?
While we are each individuals, we are also one. That which binds us together is love. It seems to me the important question becomes: How can you achieve a state of Love other than by loving? Will you pray over what actions to take? Not getting what may seem to you to be a satisfactory response from prayer, will you make decisions that just seem true and correct and proceed anyway? Are you prepared to take responsibility for your decisions and actions, no matter what? Is there any other potential choice than taking such responsibility anyway? The answers to these questions will determine your fate over many lives.
I have only one suggestion based upon my experiments and my experience. Leave everything to God first, last, and always. If you have some real power or have it given to you, dedicate its use to the service of others. Having made such a foundation decision, put forth your best efforts and leave the rest to the divine. If you even attempt to do this, you will actually escape the results of some mistakes you might make along the way.
As I said in Chapter 11, you can make honest mistakes while trying to serve with complete sincerity and be spared the karmic return of such mistakes. Sincerity is like a shield against karmic return from mistakes. Such is the compassion of God, the Masters, the celestials, and the Great Ones who walk among us. Even if our mistakes cause the necessity of some kind of karmic return, even if the mistakes are great and the negative result great, sometimes the Great Ones will take the effects upon themselves. They know they can handle it or neutralize it better than we can. When Jesus was crucified, it is said he died for our sins. Was this not taking the karma of humanity upon himself? Unknown spiritual teachers of high stature and the Great Ones have been doing such things for centuries. Maybe a time will come when you can add your shoulder to the wheel and help push along humanity’s seemingly slow, painful trek to its birthright of divinity.
Finally, there is nothing at all wrong with making changes in your life for the better. You are entitled to all the good things you can bring to yourself, your family, your friends, and your community. In the process, help to make the ultimate manifestation of your shakti rest on a foundation of Divine Love. It is our common human destiny. So make a decision to affirm your own nature as one of Divine Love, using the mantra,
Aham Prema
[Ah-hahm Preh-mah]
“I am Divine Love.”
She who empowers all, in every realm, will surely respond.