About

Mai literally means mother. Mai of Mai-ism is the Final most God conceived as Mother. The principal tenets of Mai-ism are: Universality, Motherhood of God, Love, Service, Devotion and Unconditional Cheerful Self-Surrender, Spiritual co-equal status of man and woman as a necessary corollary. True, every religion claims to contain these Principals. But Mai-ism RELIGIONISES them. That is the difference. The difference is in emphasis. By the standards set by Mai-ism you will not be religious unless you live  a practical life of Universal Love and Service to all irrespective of caste, creed, color or race.

Universal Religion must have a Universal God. Such God cannot have His chosen people , temples, scriptures and pilgrimage centers.

Universality to be effective must be the supreme quality of one’s whole vision and integral outlook with a conviction about its highest value. Universality should not be the outcome of policy, a temporary acceptance for some specific object in view.
Next let us take the conception of God as Mother. It is the common experience of daily life that mother is pleased when her children are happy and that particular child is dearest to her who exerts most for the well-being of the other children. When God is Mother and all are Her children service by one child to another pleases Her. Practice feeling that you are a child; a child whom Mother could not but accept, however wicked. Be Mother’s child and Her lap shall be thrilling and throbbing to have you on it.

If God is Mother to you, there is no meaning in the belief of pleasing Her with servile recitation of Her virtues in an intellectual manner. None acts that way with his own mother. There is every right for a child to make demands on its mother. (Thus Sakama Bhakti is permitted in Mai-ism). You can always run to Her with your problems, you can confess to Her all your follies and misdeeds fearlessly, you can always seek Her protection however wicked you are. But your right and claim are proportionate to and based on your love, service and devotion to Her as Mother.
Infinity is thought of, visualized and approached as Divine Mother with all living creatures as Her children. Mother is essentially ocean of infinite Love and Mercy. She, Mother Mai is only human mother raised to the power of infinity, to Godhood. Nothing less than God of all nations, all religions, all humanity, but conceived as Mother.

It has to be understood that there is no gender in case of Mother; gender follows words and conceptions only. Mother is neither a woman nor a man nor any other thing. Mother is pure consciousness. No gender should be finally attributed to Her except for fanning the flame of devotion. The common man is unable to meditate on God’s Eternal and Invisible Form. So some qualified form is necessary and in adopting a qualified form nothing can be more natural than a parental conception; and in as much as Father is Justice and Mother is Mercy, Motherhood of God is more is acceptable.

I am reminded of the last words of His Holiness Pope John xxii who passed away on 3 June 1963. They were “Mater Mea” (Mother Mine).

Universal Love and Service are the corner stones of Mai-ism. Leave off everything else. Practise this and this alone. Service is but an application of love. Service concretises love. Mai-ism recognizes love  and serve other counts  much more than the richness of your offerings, correctness of pronunciation and strict adherence to scriptural details. 

Even if you do not believe in the very existence of God, if you try your best to love and serve all, you are a Mai-ist, because you are revering Mai in one of Her aspects : Conscience. 

Devotion : Bhakti yoga is pre-eminently suited to this age. There is no suffering that can not be alleviated by devotion. We come across in the biography of saints and bhaktas very many instances of relief from distress. There is practically nothing that a true devotee cannot accomplish.
Mai-Swarupa once said that if Religion had to be defined in one word , that word would be sharanagathi which means Unconditional, Cheerful, Self-Surrender.  Joseph Headly, a noted religious writer of England wrote in the world Religion Congress Report (Eighth report)  ” Unconditional, Cheerful Self-Surrender mentioned by Mai Swarupa signifies the necessity for every human being to merge his personal selfhood within the Divine Will and manifest the same in that greater conscious field of Universality “.

Guru: Everyone needs a spiritual mentor. This seed has been recognized by religious Savants the world over. Mai-Swarupa makes a slight departure from the usually accepted notions. According to him your Guru need not be perfect; it is often impossible to get a perfect Guru. Any one who is spiritually your superior can be your guru provided he has your spiritual welfare at heart and you confide in him whole-heartedly.

The importance of Guru-Shishya relationship is seen from the division into three trios of all the major principles.
Maiji declares: [1] Humanity, Love and Service [2] Mother, Devotion and Self-Surrender and [3] God, Guru and Disciple . Take up any trio and fire on. No handicap of what to eat, when to bathe, whom not to touch, which temple, which river, which pilgrimage place, which saint, which priest etc.” It can be seen that the first trio suits even atheists.

Symbol of Mai-ism: The Swastic is the symbol chosen by the Master. The arm drawn down from the right hand of the horizontal represents Universal Love ; the other arms ,reckoned clockwise represent Service, Devotion and Surrender respectively. The horizontal denotes Universal mindedness and the vertical stands for co-equal status of man and woman.

Regarding Adwaitism: Mai-ism says it is a stage of consciousness and not an independent path by itself. Although the supremacy of ” I am God ” is not denied the world will be happier by being taught “Thou art God “. Mai-ism is not so much for God above or God within, as for God around, God who will be ever with us while we render service with love.

EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK : SAINT MAI-SWARUP AUTHOR : MAI SHISHU U.G. MENON PUBLISHED BY : UNIVERSAL MAI-ISM TRUST, MAI NIWAS, SARASWATI ROAD END, SANTA CRUZ (WEST), MUMBAI 400054 INDIA

The image or picture of Maai is the well-known one, known as Aadi Lakshmi. This is the picture which was selected by Universal Divine Mother Maai and suggested to Mai Swarupa on the night of the Mother’s installation on 2 September 1932, as described in Mai-ism https://mohankharkar.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/divine-mothers-command-to-install-her-as-mai/when Mai Markand agreed  to install MOTHER MAAI , on certain most difficult conditions being fulfilled. This Aadi Lakshmi picture was the first and the top most and in a separate packet from other photos. Strangely enough the picture, as if had been designed for Maai-worship has no war-weapons, and main most qualification of  no Mahishasur, no garland of skulls, no tiger, no lion, not even the elephant, nor a peacock etc. All these associations would be a great barrier to the permanent fixity of the Universal conception. This should be entirely dis-associated with an importance and assertion of the Mythology and Maai identification with Shakti (Power) battlefield Daily-Demon-fight, and War Victory etc. The Universal Mother-hood conception for which Mai-ism stands should remain wholly unadulterated. It is the most suited picture for the Maai conception of God as Mother. Four holdings in hands are as under. Lower left hand has a lotus which represents Love, lower right hand is the boon hand, which so very spontaneously suggests Service. The upper right hand carries the elephant goad which represents perfectly controlled Devotion and the upper left hand holds the flag or banner, which represents unconditional cheerful Self -surrender. Thus the four holdings represent the four tenets of Maai-ism, viz., LOVE, SERVICE, DEVOTION and SURRENDER, Prema, Seva, Bhakti & Sharanagati. There is another speciality, viz., that Maai has a halo which is representative of the highest Divinity and final-most-ness. The whole picture showing Mother standing on the basic lotus in midst of the infinite ocean is an indication of the Mother being the Final-most Supreme Almighty or the Mother. Thus the whole picture creates in the heart of the meditating devotee, the conception of the UNIVERSAL MOTHER, who is  FINAL-MOST ORIGIN and who is propitiated on living a life  based on the said  four tenets, with two backgrounds of  Faith viz., GOD as MOTHER and MOTHER OF ALL The basic lotus has seven petals prominently seen in front including one full in the center, and three partly seen on each side of the central one. In the immediately rear we find two petals, one on the each side of the central petal. These two petals represent the two Lotus Feet of Maai. Meditation of Lotus Feet means, imagining that powerful Divine rays are oozing out from the nails of MOTHER’S Lotus Feet represented by the two lotus petals and entering the heart of the devotee and dispelling all TAMAS, darkness, inertia and ignorance, there-in. A little above the two petals we find the horizontal garment, golden border and that represents the ankles.The invisibility of the ankles and Lotus Feet has to convey the idea and the highest  estimation about the almost impossibility  of the attainment of PARA BHAKTI   ( ankles ) and MUKTI   the emancipation. The popular notion viz., that devotion is the easiest of all paths to reach Almighty, it should not be forgotten, is with reference to GUANA BHAKTI or primary devotion and not Para Bhakti or perfected devotion, which is attained after perfect attainment of Gyana the Divine Knowledge. It is so very difficult to have the attainment of the Lotus Feet, much more than the face, the eyes, the crown ( Grace, Divine Vision, Supernatural Powers ) etc. In Maai meditations, the higher order of spiritual attainment  is from face to feet, and not from feet to face. The final resting place for the soul is in the LOTUS FEET and the BASIC LOTUS. Mai’s lower right hand, the boon hand is ever raised to grant boons most mercifully to the devotees. The BASIC LOTUS with innumerable petals  is suggestive of the surrounding-ness of all the surrendered devotees around Mother’s Lotus Feet, with the perfected living of universal Love and Service , with Devotion and Self-surrender. The ocean represents  Infinity of space and perpetuity of time , in the midst of which Mother Maai has been standing.

NOTES　:
1] Mai-ism was represented at All Faiths’ Conference at Nasik in 1933 and the　Indian Philosophical Congress at Poona (Pune) in 1934.　Maiji was invited to Japan for the World Religion Congress in 1955. Maiji was the Sub-Councilor-in-Chief of the International Religious Federation which was started in Japan in 1955.

2] Maiji had been elected as VICE PRESIDENT and Spiritual MINISTER for PEACEFUL HUMAN RELATIONSHIP & Universal Religious Alliance ( U.R.A.) in Havana, Cuba for SIX YEARS FROM 1959 TO 1965.

3] Most appreciated representation of Mai-ism was at the Universal Religious Alliance World Congress held at Havana in Cuba from 23 October 1959 to 22 January 1960. Mai-ism was explained , discussed and commented upon in the World Congress by Revered Sister Duchesse Blanche Ladran, The Grand Chancellor of the Universal Religious Alliance. Mai-ism received the greatest approbation in this World Congress of the Universal Religious Alliance , which had a standing of over five decades. In fact it　was one of the most important universal religious institutes. As stated in the Preliminary Report pertaining to the Congress held on 23 October 1959,　the complete attendance at the Congress　 was around 3800 persons 2184 of which integrated about 318 different official delegations which came from 96 different countries. The representation was of 449 different sections and sub-sections of religions and various organizations. Further more,43 countries had sent their official observers. Appreciation and truest understanding about Mai-ism by the said World Congress would be evident from these words,” We have received valuable literature from all quarters of the world, which simply reveals that　the　regeneration of man is at hand, as well as that a new age (Aquarian) is being ushered in taking the shape of brand new Spiritual Civilisation.　We recommend such sources of research.　We recommend Mai-ism　and Mai-Institute of Santa Cruz West, Bombay [Mumbai] – 400054 India. “

EXTRACT FROM : MOTHER’S MESSAGE ; published by Mai Adherents’ Institute, Mai Niwas, Saraswati Road End, Santa Cruz (West) , Mumbai 400054　, India.

EXTRACT FROM THE BOOKLET : MOTHER’S MEDITATION  with its basis MOTHER’S SELECT FIVE HUNDRED NAMES, Published by UNIVERSAL MAI-ISM TRUST, Mai Niwas http://universalreligionmaiism.blogspot.in/2014/02/mai-niwas.html, Saraswati Road End, Santa Cruz (West), MUMBAI 400054, INDIA.