One day at 2.00 p.m. I (Swami Vijayananda) was called to his room, and there for the first time I learned about one aspect of true spirituality. Maharaj had already given me a nickname, which he would use when alone with me. It was a Western nickname. Smiling, and somewhat jokingly he said: ‘My son, I also observe you when you are observing me. Do you know something? People don’t know what true spirituality is. In this world, most of them don’t know what pure love is, they don’t know how to love. Nevertheless, all expect to be loved by others. They come to see me, expecting that I will solve their problems. I tell them that they should tell everything to God and He will remove their pain. All suffer, but all have something good. Maybe they don’t know it. I encourage them to develop this good aspect that they have and so they get faith in themselves. They feel my love and their hearts melt and so they continue to love me and get ready for the spiritual life by nourishing that faith in themselves and their love for me. Later on, when by God’s mercy a desire for purification and permanent happiness wells up in them, I will tell them, “You do this”, then, in a clean and cultivated soil, the seed of spirituality will germinate. But if from the very beginning I would have started giving them spiritual advice, in general they would say: “What is new in this? All that Swami is telling us we already know, it is written in the books.” Besides, I shall tell you a secret: This world is made up of good things and bad things. They vary only in degree. Covered by egoistic ideas, people don’t feel the presence of real love. When this egoism increases too much, the great seekers of Pure Love pray to the Divine to come and save suffering humanity. Hearing their prayers, Pure Love, or God, incarnates. This is the secret of the Divine Incarnation. People have everything, but lost in ignorance, vanity and egoism, they forget the necessity of feeling the presence of God. Pure Love is the remedy for all ailments. With sincere and pure love you can help others. All spiritual practice without this divine love is of no value. Only love without egoism cleans all mortal impurities. Do you understand, my son? Try to practise it.’ …..
I mentioned before that Maharaj had given me a Western name. Many times in private he would call me by that name, and telling me that as I was a Westerner he would speak to me in English, said: ‘Do you know that Westerners give much importance to the concept of tolerance? According to them tolerance is a great virtue. There is no doubt about it. But I ask you to go above it. In your dealings with people who will come to seek advice from you, there should be a spirit of sympathy, not of tolerance. You see, the idea of tolerance brings together that of sorrow and to a certain extent a sense of superiority. With these concepts in your heart you will never be able to touch the hearts of others. Only with sympathy can we serve and help people. Besides, many don’t know one very important thing, which I am going to tell you now. Those who practise only tolerance, unconsciously, continue to increase their vanity; in reality they cannot help anybody and soon all begin to leave them, because nobody likes to feel continuously that he is an ignorant, wrong and useless sinner. On the other hand, through sympathy you put yourself side by side with the person whom you want to help, and give him strength. You raise him without hurting his feelings and you never make him feel that he is lowly. No true help is possible if we keep ourselves away, something that happens frequently when we practise tolerance. Above all, remember one thing, my son, your position as a monk is to serve and not to do charity.’