Maharajji - The Myth-Fact Fusion

Maharajji was a continuous source of laughter for his devotees. He kept those Indian devotees with whom he was most intimate always in a state of mirth. Humor was a central feature of Maharajji’s teaching style. Yet from time to time he manifested a much fiercer form.

These were often myth-shattering darshans. From the longtime Indian devotees we learned one set of myths developed by them over the years. Personal experiences, other people’s stories and myths all blurred together.

We Westerners developed another set of myths, often based on our own pre- and misconceptions of who Guru was and how he behaved.

Maharajji seemed to enjoy shattering all the illusions, so important to some people. Whether it was the oft-repeated story of his record breaking age in that body, somewhere between one hundred and twenty and two hundred years old, or that a saint only shows a persona of light and love, these limitations on our understanding and awareness of Guru were, like our other attachments, there for him to dispel.

The true Guru is more than we can imagine and beyond our self-imposed limitations. While allowing, even encouraging us to develop an attachment to him and his persona, he was at the same time helping us to sever our attachment to more mundane things. These include both worldly attachments and those we hold so dear, that is, to our own identity. Our own limitations sometimes demanded that we try to limit Maharajji. Our consciousness was not ready for the full darshan baba was offering. Instead we try to limit him with our definitions of Guru, and with stories passed on to us by older devotees of his personal history, along with the myth-fact fusion.

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