The word mastery sets my mind spinning. What can I master, what have I mastered, and what will I master? Mastery is both a means and a goal. As I contemplate the word, space opens within me, light plays in my being, and my awareness turns to the Guru's attainment: her mastery of the mind and the senses, her mastery of life. I believe that Gurumayi's attainment is my destiny also. I feel certitude about this as I experience this virtue in my own self.

 

I am in the process of learning mastery, and in this way, I am becoming the goal of sadhana. Joy is there, together with a quiet contentment.

As I set aside time today to repeat the mantra, I heard beneath its sound these words: "Yes, mastery is who you are and who you are becoming."
 

What is mastery? As I look back over my life—working in the theatre, as a professional writer, and as a teacher—I see that in all these fields, I was constantly striving to achieve something that satisfied others, or fulfilled a job brief. In doing that, I would often not feel satisfied in myself. What I am discovering very powerfully, as my sadhana progresses, is that the achievement that deeply satisfies comes when I have accomplished something that has developed from within me, that is the result of all my life experience, my years of sadhana, and my God-given abilities. This is a true sense of mastery: a deeply centered sense that I have within me the means to accomplish something great.