Guruji and Dipa Ma: The Incense of Love and Learning

Written by Pravallika Kullampalle

The first book we read in our Wisdom Circle was Dipa Ma: The Life and Legacy of a Buddhist Master. At the beginning of this reading journey, I did not know what to expect since it was my first time reading about a female saint. As I turned the pages of the introduction, I came across a photo of Dipa Ma seated and wrapped in a cotton cloth. Her smile was ebullient, and the serenity in her gaze could be felt through the pages. The calmness I experienced while looking at her picture reminded me of the feeling I have when looking at Baba and Guruji. As we continued to learn more about Dipa Ma through our weekly reading sessions, we drew parallels between her life and lessons and those of our Guruji. During our discussions each week, after reading a couple of chapters, we would share how the sections we read connected to our own lives. Many times during this segment of our Wisdom Circle, Sruti Akka and some of the girls would connect the reading to Gurugaru. Below are some of the main points from our weekly discussions.

In Dipa Ma’s early life, she faced significant adversity, including the profound loss of two of her children through miscarriage. As one of the girls in our discussion noted, “if you were happy for her in one chapter, then you would be equally sad for her in the next chapter.” Married at the age of 12 and living far from her parents, Dipa Ma endured further loss when her husband passed away from a heart attack shortly after the birth of their only daughter. In the face of this immense loss, Dipa Ma immersed herself in meditation.For saints like Dipa Ma, meditation seems almost like a survival need. During her first meditation session, a dog bit her leg, causing her to become sick and having to leave the meditation center. However, Dipa Ma never gave up on her meditation practice. After her husband’s death, Dipa Ma entrusted her daughter, Dipa, to a community member's care and committed herself to meditation. Driven by the question of what she could take with her when she died, Dipa Ma realized that she could not take any physical object or even her child with her.

Within this period of intense meditation, Dipa Ma achieved the first level of enlightenment in just six days. Dipa Ma’s journey resembles that of other saints that I am familiar with. Ramana Thaathaya left home after his death experience to return to his Father, Arunachala, where he spent the rest of his life. The longing to go to Arunachala was based on need. Setting out for Arunachala, Ramana Thaathaya did not even know what Arunachala was, he just knew he had to go. Similarly, Buddha, driven by a deep inquiry about death and disease, meditated under the Bodhi tree until he found his answer. Our Gurugaru also left home to seek enlightenment, feeling an intense burning to leave which he expressed to his guru, Master garu. Master garu advised him to first visit Poondi Swami and then go wherever he pleased. In the presence of Poondi Swami, Gurugaru achieved enlightenment at the young age of 19. One of the main takeaways from reading about Dipa Ma was understanding that achieving enlightenment does not require renouncing the world and meditating under a tree in the forest. As our Gurugaru said, “Spirituality is not for a later time in life. It is not its own separate section of life after your material needs are fulfilled; both should co-exist.” After Dipa Ma reached enlightenment, she began teaching those around her to achieve the same through mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of what you are doing and being completely focused on that one task. For example, being mindful of your breath as you inhale and exhale involves concentrating solely on your breath. If your focus wanders, you do not judge or analyze those thoughts but instead bring your focus back to your breath and let the thoughts go. The power of this practice is exemplified through Malati, a young mother of multiple children who achieved enlightenment by being mindful while breastfeeding her children. Mindfulness was also an important concept for Gurugaru. Sruti Akka shared how, when she was younger, Gurugaru asked her to wash and fold a small cloth. On one occasion, Akka did not wash the cloth with the utmost care, and it was not properly folded. Gurugaru told her to perform the task as if her life depended on it. Even a simple task like folding a piece of cloth with full focus was important to Gurugaru. Inspired by this, I decided to apply this concept to any task I did for a week. I realized that I was less forgetful and more satisfied with every task I completed. Another aspect of Dipa Ma and Gurugaru that I found similar was the transformative experience people had during their darshan. When people visited Dipa Ma, they often felt as though they were walking into a force field. This same feeling has been felt by many Gurubandhus fortunate enough to receive Gurugaru’s darshan. This was also why Gurugaru encouraged visiting Shirdi and being in Baba’s presence. Simply being near Baba works on us without our conscious awareness, and the problems that we deal with subside unknowingly. The transformation we undergo in the presence of a saint might not be immediately noticeable until someone points it out to us. Because saints possess a grounding presence and clarity, they can profoundly influence their environments.

Sruti Akka shared how Gurugaru’s room always seemed brighter than hers, despite having an additional tubelight installed. The brightness, she realized, came from Gurugaru himself, not from the lights. Even during Satsang, when the lighting was dull, Gurugaru shone brightly in the darkness. The experiences that Dipa Ma’s visitors felt when walking into her presence was similar.  After Ma left the meditation center, she lived in a small room in a crowded, poverty-stricken area with her daughter, her sister and her children. Despite the initially loud and chaotic environment, within six months, the neighbors had quieted down, influenced unknowingly by Dipa Ma’s presence. During her later years, she continued teaching mindfulness in this small apartment, and many of her visitors achieved various stages of enlightenment.

There was always something to learn from the experiences detailed in the book, many of which reminded me of stories about Gurugaru that I had heard from Gurubandhus. The book begins with the author’s first encounter with Dipa Ma. During a visit to the International Meditation Center, Amy Schmidt found a picture of Dipa Ma seated with her legs crossed and covered in a white cloth. She was captivated by Dipa Ma and learned that Dipa Ma had recently passed away. Despite this, Amy's desire to learn more about Dipa Ma was profound, and her teacher encouraged her to learn more about Ma, and to write Dipa Ma’s biography.This experience reminded me of Gurubandhu's first encounter with Gurugaru. Venkat Rao uncle from Germany shared how the first time he saw Gurugaru was on a Saipatham badge. After seeing that picture, he felt a deep connection and was eager to learn more about the man who had sparked such curiosity within him. Soon after, Venkat Rao uncle met another Gurubandhu who explained that Gurugaru was a saint, marking the beginning of Venkat Rao uncle’s journey with Gurugaru. It was fascinating to see how the author’s initial connection with Dipa Ma mirrored the experience of our Gurubandhu with Gurugaru. Both felt an immediate, deep connection upon seeing a picture of the saint, which sparked a lifelong connection with their guru.

The experiences of those who visited Dipa Ma were profound. One man described feeling as though he was floating above the ground and experiencing lasting happiness after receiving Dipa Ma’s darshan. Others noted how problems in their lives seemed to disappear after Dipa Ma came into their lives. This mirrors many experiences recounted in Sai Deevana, where devotees spoke of their troubles vanishing after coming into contact with our Guruji. Gurugaru had the remarkable ability to physically take on the ailments of Gurubandhus, transferring their pain away from them. This shared ability to transform and heal those around them highlights the deep spiritual power and compassion that both Dipa Ma and Gurugaru embodied. One of the chapters that we covered while reading about Dipa Ma detailed her supernatural abilities. She had the ability to travel back in time, transforming one element into another, which made it possible for her to even walk on air. Although these abilities may sound unbelievable, a university researcher once had Ma sit in a room and be accompanied by an observer who confirmed that Ma had never moved from that spot. However, Ma appeared and had a conversation at the same time with another member of the university staff a great distance from the room she was seated in.

Similarly, many Gurubandus experienced similar supernatural abilities that Gurugaru had. Experiences in Bound to Love detail how Gurgaru would hint at events that would happen in the future, guiding gurubandhus into thinking twice about an action they were going to take. During satsang sessions, Gurugaru would respond to questions gurubandhus were only thinking about and would point to external events that were happening in their lives that they hadn’t told Gurugaru about. Many of these supernatural abilities were also recorded in experiences with Baba in the Satcharitra. Additionally, Dipa Ma practiced metta meditation, which involves showing loving-kindness to yourself and everyone around you. Loving-kindness is the deep love and care one feels towards others. This practice begins with oneself and extends outward to close family and friends, then to people who are struggling, and finally to the entire world. Ma encouraged thinking of moments in your life where you felt loving-kindness towards someone and recreating that feeling within yourself.

The love that one felt in the presence of Dipa Ma extended well past the darshan they had with her. Ma was known to place both her hands around one's head, and people could feel the love radiating into them. This experience reminded me of an experience shared by a Gurubandhu about Satsang with Gurugaru. During Satsang, Gurugaru would gaze at each person in the audience, and each person could feel his care and love pouring into them. Even during personal darshan, when the lines were long, he would patiently listen to each devotee's problems and bless them with udi. The different connections noted above reminded me of a quote I read in the Satcharitra. Baba often related how all saints are the same, and I truly felt I understood this while reading the life and teachings of Dipa Ma. Each of the chapter readings led to discussions about how every teaching and experience related to saints that I grew up learning about and to our guru, Gurugaru. Through the reading of Dipa Ma’s life, my connection to Baba and Gurugaru strengthened. Ma and Gurugaru both talked about the importance of sangha, the community, and by reading this book with Wisdom Circle readers, I was able to be an active member in our reading satsang where we shared our love for Baba and Gurugaru. Through our weekly discussions and chapter readings over the two months, we would share how each of us were incorporating these teachings into our everyday life and many related to a positive change in themselves. From being able to control how we react to conflict, to spending more time with Baba and Gurugaru, Dipa Ma’s life has helped us better understand our connection with our Guru.