During that first American tour in 1988, Guruji and Amma were invited to stay for a few days at the Himalayan Institute, Swami Rama’s mountaintop Ashram in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. “Swami Rama was away, but had left instructions that Guruji and his party be given VIP treatment,” said Sundhara, who accompanied them on the visit. One day while browsing in the Ashram’s bookstore, Guruji handed Sundhara a volume and said, “You should have a look at this.”
His interest piqued, Sundhara purchased the book, brought it back to his room and began flipping through it. “To be honest, I was totally lost; it was way over my head,” he recalled. “So I glanced through the contents page and saw a chapter on Sri Vidya. That being the path Guruji teaches, I turned to that chapter and started reading. It referred to Sri Vidya as the highest form of Goddess worship and said that, within this tradition, the ultimate form of japa is called Aksha Mala, and the ultimate form of meditation is called Bindu Bhedana.”
Curious, Sundhara approached Guruji that evening and asked him, “What is Aksha Mala?”
“He looked at me with some surprise and said, ‘It is a closely guarded secret,’” Sundhara recounted. “So I left it at that, and didn’t dare ask him anything more.”
A few days later, however, during Guru Purnima celebrations at Haran Aiya’s house, Guruji delivered a long lecture on ritual technique and, upon concluding, said with a smile, “If anyone wants to hear more, come back after midnight.” Most attendees laughed, taking the comment merely as a self-deprecating joke about the length of his talk, and went home. But Sundhara and a handful of others stayed to see what might happen.
Sure enough, shortly after midnight, Guruji returned to the now almost empty room carrying a flip chart. “He went on to explain the entire Aksha Mala method in detail—how one maps the letters onto oneself during japa, how one can map every ritual onto his or herself,” Sundhara marveled. “It was a classic example of Guruji breaking all traditions and divulging ‘hidden’ secrets for the benefit of everyone who truly desired to know.”
Source: "Goddess and the Guru"
