In 1963, with only $25 in her pocket
and her small stash of belongings packed in the trunk of her
Ford, Durga Ma set out to find answers she had sought since childhood.
She had completed her BA at the University of Missouri in only
three years with an eye to breaking free and satisfying her quest
for knowledge and enlightenment.
Working jobs as she traveled westward,
her journey came to an abrupt halt when she reached the Pacific
Ocean. Within months of arriving in a small town in California,
Durga Ma began her first foray into the spiritual world for which
she was destined. She had her first experience of samadhi, years
before she was to hear the word or discover it described in Sanskrit
mystical texts.
Her attempts to find someone who had
the knowledge she sought and the mastery to guide her, continued
to fail. She became depressed, sought distraction, and completed
a Masters degree. Discouraged and in despair, she threw in the
towel and gave up. In spite of all this, a few years later samadhi made
a surprise return, this time with clues that would take her to
the portal of discovery.
Durga Ma found her spiritual master.
She did not see bright lights or hear fireworks. She simply recognized
the teachings of her master and his lineage as "familiar"
and was drawn to pursue them to their end. After so many years of
seeking, she was finally on her way.
Now, having attained success after many
years of yoga sadhana (spiritual practices leading to
union with God), Durga Ma has become a master in her own right.
Replacing her original spiritual name, Gandharvi, with the name
of the goddess from whom even the gods seek counsel, her students
began calling her Durga Ma. The story of her spiritual journey, Living
the Mysteries, by Dr. Terry Preston, may be found here (a
new window will open).
If you were to see Durga Ma on the street
today, you would probably not recognize her for who she is. On
those rare occasions when she leaves her home, what you would see
would be just another woman in her sixties. Having abandoned "uniforms"
in favor of moving about incognito, she wanders through life looking
at it through a very different set of eyes — eyes that see
God everywhere, in you and me, and in all creation. When asked how
she felt about having successfully completed her sadhana, she
responded, "Oh, there's always more."
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