Narrator:
[00:00–00:11] (Sound of temple bells and a conch shell blowing)
Disciple:
Pranam, Gurudev.
Gurudev:
Pranam, son.
Disciple:
Gurudev, a gentleman named Anup Chakraborty made a comment. He said there is no proof that Mother Tara ever fell ill. He claims it isn't written in any book, and Bama Baba (Bamakhepa) never mentioned it.
Gurudev:
Then he clearly hasn't read the books thoroughly. The life of Bama Baba is vast. I have the records; he can come and see for himself. It is mentioned that Mother Tara did fall ill, and Bama Baba was deeply distressed and concerned about it. I answered a similar question from a boy once before. This gentleman is speaking without proper study. He should read more before making such claims.
Gurudev:
You see, spirituality is not just about books, pens, and pencils. It is an experiential path. There are things that happen which you cannot perceive or understand through ordinary logic. These events are absolutely true. Perhaps he hasn't had access to the right texts, but Mother Tara's illness is a recorded spiritual event.
Disciple:
Gurudev, my question is—as you have spent twelve years in Tarapith—you know these truths well. People look at things from a common perspective, but the perspective of a saint like Bama Baba was entirely different.
Gurudev:
Exactly. If she is the ruler of creation, preservation, and destruction, why couldn't she protect herself when a thunderbolt struck the peak of her temple? Why did it hit her "head"? People ask these questions without understanding.
Gurudev:
It was Bama Baba's curse. He once said, "May a thunderbolt strike your head." And remarkably, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky that day. It was a "bolt from the blue." If she is all-powerful, why couldn't she stop it? These are spiritual mysteries that science cannot explain. Similar things happened in the lives of Tailangaswami and, to some extent, Ramakrishna. Wicked people often come to cause harm rather than seek the Mother's grace, but there comes a point where the Mother intervenes.
Gurudev:
Our perspective will never match yours. To understand this, you must stand where I stand—renouncing home, family, and money. Only then can you realize these truths. You can't just comment after a meal and a nap.
Disciple:
Gurudev, in a previous episode, you mentioned that Mother Tara is not just a woman, but "Mother" herself.
Gurudev:
Of course. Who else gave birth to Bama Baba? She can end our lives at any moment.
Disciple:
Then why do we worship her if she can be affected by a curse or fall ill?
Gurudev:
That is a great question. Why worship her with all this knowledge? You see, this is a high level of spiritual science. In the realm of advanced spirituality, one out of a million people might reach this stage. Some people comment on my videos after watching only half of it. They don't understand the depth.
Gurudev:
One person commented that my "knowledge would run out." I told him he is like a frog in a well. Knowledge never runs out. If you take a spoonful of water from the ocean, does the ocean dry up? No. The more knowledge you share, the more it grows.
Gurudev:
Another person said my "power" would eventually fade. Well, everyone's power fades when they die. But as long as I am on this earth, I want to enlighten people. People come to me from all over the world—Switzerland, America—even a cancer researcher came for initiation recently. Are they all fools?
Gurudev:
In the highest stages of Sadhana (spiritual practice), the power of the devotee (Sadhak) sometimes exceeds that of the deity. In those moments, the Mother becomes the servant of the devotee. As the saying goes, "If you do not leave my lap, I shall become the servant of your servants."
Gurudev:
This is why Bama Baba could do things like urinating in the temple or stopping the rain during a ritual. These seem like "unscientific" or "mad" acts to an outsider, but in that "Turiya" (transcendental) state, the devotee plays with the Mother.
Disciple:
So, only these great souls can "play" with the Mother in such a way?
Gurudev:
Yes, but they never played a "bad" game. They did everything for the welfare of humanity. People still chant the names of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Bama Baba, and Lokenath Baba because of the good they did.
Gurudev:
I invite those who have doubts to come to our Shantipur ashram. Sit with us and discuss. Don't just make comments based on a YouTube video. Spiritual life is deep. Bama Baba's life is full of incidents—like the burning of the Shimal tree—that the whole village witnessed.
Disciple:
Friends, you heard Gurudev's logical explanations. Please think deeply about these words.
Gurudev:
Everyone has questions. "How can God fall ill?" is a valid, high-level question. But as I said, in the life of a Sadhak, things are different. Through his yogic power, Bama Baba saw the Mother was unwell. You will never see that. You can't hurl a thunderbolt at the Mother, but Bama Baba's relationship was such that he could.
Gurudev:
Even when he was criticized for his behavior in the temple, his response was simple: "Does a child not urinate in its mother's lap?" Think about the depth of that relationship.
Disciple:
Gurudev, we conclude today's episode by offering our Pranam to Mother Tara and to you.
Gurudev:
Pranam, son. Pranam.
Spiritual Insight
Guru Shyama Khyapa reveals the profound mystery of the devotee-deity relationship at its highest level. The concept of "Khelvi"—Bama Baba's curse that caused a thunderbolt to strike Mother Tara—illustrates that in advanced spiritual states, the devotee's power can transcend even the deity's. This is not contradiction but the ultimate expression of divine intimacy, where the Mother becomes the servant of her true devotee. Such mysteries cannot be understood through ordinary logic or book knowledge alone; they require the direct experiential realization that comes from complete surrender and renunciation.