Anandmurti Gurumaa is an enlightened mystic and a contemporary master. Gurumaa’s pragmatic teachings show the right way of living. Thus Spoke the Master presents the illuminating words by Gurumaa in response to the questions asked by seekers at different times.

Is it fate to be born in a particular family or just an accident?

There is nothing called fate and there are no accidents happening. The nature works in great synchronicity. We are not islands; every thing is inter related. But when man lives irresponsibly then many odd things do occur. In most of the cases birth is happening because it has to happen. You are born accidentally to a particular pair of parents? You are not on this earth because your parents wanted ‘you’. When man and woman meet on the physical level and do not use any contraception, the woman is likely to get pregnant. And at that particular time, when she is conceiving, whichever individual soul is around, it just rushes. And there is not only one, but hundreds of souls, which are waiting to be born; so they just rush. And the one that wins the race enters the mother’s womb. Most of these souls are devilish. The reason being, no good soul would rush like this. Unless and until they are asked to come, they won’t. It is like unless you ask a gentleman or a sophisticated lady to sit down, they would keep on standing. They would rather wait than take anyone else’s place.All those who are dying and all those who are already dead, they are all trying to take birth. And remember, for the number of souls that are waiting to be born, there aren’t that many couples. If Jesus was born to Mary, that was not an accident. If Krishna was born to Devki, that was not an accident. Their births were planned. Mary and Joseph had meditated together for years. They prepared themselves so that a divine soul could take birth through them. That is what I imply when I say that physical relationship between a man and a woman is divine. There isn’t anything ugly there. Ugliness is in your mind, not in the act. It is through this very act that divine souls get a chance to descend in a new body. There cannot be anything wrong in that. It is beautiful, indeed. But it is beautiful only when it is devoid of lust.

Mary and Joseph meditated for a long time. Gautam Budha’s mother - Yashodhara also meditated for years. For years, she kept on doing yagnas and prayers and went for pilgrimages. Then one night, in her dreams, she saw that an elephant has come and is touching her on her stomach with his trunk. She thought it to be just a dream and forgot about it. Next day again she had a dream. This time she saw white swans. She again took it as just another good dream. But third day again she had a dream and this time she saw that there is a divine white/yellow light and it is saying, “Yashodhara, I am coming!” Now she went to her priest and asked him, what did it all mean?The priest said that her dreams meant that she would soon be gaining motherhood. And the child who would be coming would be a great divine soul. Yashodhara conceived, and she wanted to go to her parents place for the delivery but on the way, right in the middle of the jungle, she started getting labor pain. As she started getting the pain, the chariots were stopped and a makeshift arrangement was made where Yashodhara was asked to rest. Normally when a woman is in her labor pain, she is seen screaming or cursing or doing all sorts of such things as normal woman do but here Yashodhara went into a deep meditation. In fact, she was so happy that she started singing. Have you ever heard of a woman who is about to deliver a child, singing with joy? But Yashodhara was singing! She was in a trance! Happiness personified! And in that wonderful moment, Buddha was born. Both, Yashodhara and her husband prayed for a long time to have someone special as their child, and they have been waiting for this.The same goes for Jesus’ mother Mary. And the most amazing thing in all these individuals’ lives is that their followers started saying that these Gurus or these incarnations were actually never born. They appeared. They never say that they were born to their mothers. They say that they ‘appeared’. And indeed, it is true!