Receptores de reconocimiento de patrones

Questioner: How do you become a devotee?

Sadhguru: Today, because of the way we have cultivated the intellect and our education systems, our social order demands a certain level of intellect. All of the physical sciences have grown out of intellect, doubts, questioning and experimenting. A mind like that trying to be devout can only lead to deception.

Most of the people who believe they are devout are only deceiving themselves, because a thinking, questioning mind cannot really become a devotee. Not that there is no element of devotion at all, but such a person cannot become a true devotee, because a devotee is only seeing how to dissolve with his object of devotion. He has no agenda of his own. Whatever the object of devotion dictates, he goes that way. A devotee is never thinking in terms of his wellbeing. An intellect cannot do that. So, trying to put the intellect under the carpet and walk away is not going to happen because it will obviously pop up somewhere else and bother you.

Cultivated devotion is just deception. When you are overwhelmed by something, you will naturally be devoted to it. Devotion by practice usually does not take you anywhere. If you try to practice devotion, it will lead you into so many kinds of hallucinations, that you start believing all kinds of things. If you are overwhelmed by something or someone, naturally you become devout. A devotee means not much of him is left. A devotee means, even his physical body will change to resemble

his object of devotion. Everything in you becomes like the object of your devotion.

A wonderful example of this was this incredible man in Tamil Nadu. There was a seeress, a lady saint in India, whose name was Mayamma. Mayamma means “the illusory mother.”

When I say a saint, don’t think she is certified by someone.

These are sages, they are not stamped by someone. Their very life is a stamp. No one knows where this woman came from. She was a really puny little woman, less than five feet tall. Looking at her facial features I think she came from Nepal, but definitely she was not South Indian because she did not even know the language, and she never bothered to learn the language. She just walked on the streets in the southernmost tip of India which is known as Kanyakumari. Somebody gave her something to eat, she ate, otherwise she just walked around.

She came as a young woman and people wondered who she was and thought she was crazy. She would be dancing and singing and crying on the streets. Then somehow she drew dogs, which gathered around her. Always, eight or ten dogs would follow her wherever she went. They did not gather for her saintly qualities, they gathered because she always fed them. She loved these dogs so much that she would steal for them. This bunch of dogs would follow her, and she would go to a restaurant where they would have a display of food. She would stand there and when no one was looking, she would grab all the food and throw it on the street. All the dogs would help themselves, and so naturally she was their friend. Many times she was thrashed by the restaurant owners. If she came anywhere near, everyone would take a stick, abuse her and send her off. But on one occasion, people saw her just sitting on the water and floating around. She would simply sit on the water and float all over the place on the ocean. When she wants to come back she would swim, otherwise she would just float upon the water and go away into the ocean.

Once people saw this, they stopped abusing her and beating her because she was better than those who walk. Some people started worshipping her, and some people gathered around her, but she never spoke – not a word. She walked and some people walked behind her. If she sat, they sat around her. The dogs also sat, the people also sat. But she never said a word or gave any teaching.

Then, as she was aging, a famous musician wanted to build a small house for her. He moved her from that place and put her up in the town of Salem which is away from the ocean. She loved the ocean so much. They should have built something for her by the ocean, but for some reason they built it in Salem, and a few people gathered around her and were devoted to her. She left her body there.

There is a mountain very close to this place with a hill station. I was staying at this hill station when someone told me about this saint. They told me, “Mayamma’s place is here,” and they showed me her picture. The moment I saw the picture I said, “I want to go there,” and drove down. It happened to be a full moon day and there was a small Samadhi – a small grave – that had been built for her. The place is reverberating like crazy.

This is a fantastic place.

The people there said, “Today is Pournami, the full moon day. Stay back, we are having some prasad.” They were serving everyone dinner. The best thing was that there was this one little man who was devoted to Mayamma. Mayamma lived outdoors her whole life, so her face was all weather-beaten and in a certain way. She was like a Nepali so the features are mildly mongoloid.

This man was a South Indian man. He had been so devoted to her. When he came in front of me, I saw his face had become exactly like hers. This is a devotee of the highest order. It was so amazing seeing him.

Devotion is that kind of thing. If you dismantle the structures of who you are and get completely absorbed into something, if that something is powerful enough it will just imprint upon you. That is the idea of devotion. You are not acting it out, you can become that. It is not about being devoted to somebody or something; it is just that it is the highest level of perception.

You can imprint yourself with what you are seeking because you opened yourself up completely.

a