Maharaj is sitting with his very close devotees, Swaranjit and Prem, speaking privately about various things that he does not normally talk about in public. Prem tells him of her vision of him as a lovely woman in jewels and sari—as her “sakhi seheli” (closest girlfriend, an unusual way of relating to God that appears in Guru Granth Sahib).
Maharaj responds,
Who are You? God can also be like a woman, the Mother who makes the system of running the whole cosmos, giving different departments to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Swaranjit says, “God can be like a lion. We imagine Him ourselves.
Maharaj agrees, “This is hard for people to understand.”
Swaranjit observes, “It is our system for concentrating on some form.”
Maharaj says,
Worship God in whatever form appeals to you. God shows you whatever form He wants to. Understand it as our weakness, that we need something to concentrate on. Even Guru Gobind Singh concentrated on God’s feet. Guru Arjun Dev said, “I meditate upon the image of the Guru within my mind…I enshrine the feet of the Guru within my heart.” We can call it weakness, but it is a great path. Otherwise, where will you concentrate? It is our way of joining that University.
Then Maharaj changes the subject:
No one is reading books about policy. Gyan [enlightened wisdom] is another thing, to check your inner condition. Now we don’t read books about either policy or gyan. There are two very dangerous things in our country: We don’t have leadership or management in our genes. If you read books about progress, take those things that lead to progress and discard those that don’t. We have no policies. People just try to gain power over others.
We need to go to the villages and speak of policy, explaining, “We are trying to work for you.” Speak with those who are beneath you; don’t just speak in the air. People have left their homes because of danger. If everyone thinks they can operate and prescribe medicine, people will die.
Looking at this drama of darkness, one wonders what a human is. In meeting our country’s VIPs, I think our people have gone crazy. They all consider themselves authorities. Everyone is a master; there are no students. It is not good for our country.
Then Maharaj ponders why so many Indians want to emigrate to Canada or the United States:
One of our people who went to Canada says there is no hospitality at all. Here if you go even to the poorest house, they will welcome you with tea, with whatever they have. India has no equal in this. So many people leave their jobs here to go to North America, where there is no market, whereas the Indian market is going to the skies. We have beautiful mountains, rishis—what is there that is not here? Here, even if you are traveling at night, anybody in any village will help you.
And over there, there are no servants. The husband and wife have to work so hard and also do everything themselves. Here in India, an amazing thing has happened: People who had no food are now spending lakhs on weddings.