The Mother and Sri Aurobindo were not interested in numbers

Ned Says: October 11th, 2007 at 3:40 pm Alan, regarding what you say about taking up the spiritual path when your personal issues are sorted out — this reminds me of something very important about Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. That is, they did not admit everyone into the Ashram. Auroville was (and is) open to all, but the Ashram was meant to be for people who truly were ready to put down all attachments and consecrate their lives totally to the Supreme and to the integral yoga. Mother and Sri Aurobindo were not interested in numbers, in gathering around them a large following of devotees just for the heck of it. There were many people whom they told clearly that they weren’t ready for the yoga, that they should basically go live the “normal” life and come back if/when they were truly ready for such a commitment. This is because the spiritual path is truly dangerous for someone who is not ready to take it up. The physical body kind of “protects” us from all the dangers of the occult worlds, but once you start going beyond the body, without a highly-developed psychic center, you are in big trouble, potentially.

Point being, I see this as a demonstration of how Mother and Sri Aurobindo took their responsibility as gurus very seriously. They were not willing to endanger their devotees. Compare this to pop-gurus who take on just about anyone, and then can’t handle it — and their devotees even end up with schizophrenic breaks and such things.