ABSTRACT
I have argued in Chapters 4 and 5 above that devotees’ attachment to Mata Amritanandamayi is largely a matter of personal freedom and choice. First, they are free to select the Mata, from among a vast array of spiritual leaders, as their chosen guru. Second, they are free to select, from the MAM’s religious and spiritual repertoire, those practices and orientations that best suit their temperaments and lifestyles. Third, as I shall demonstrate in this chapter, devotees also exercise considerable freedom in deciding how long they might want to sustain this guruattachment. Devotees choose to remain attached to the Mata so long as her mode of spirituality ‘works’ for them. How then is the effectiveness of their guru-attachment gauged? When does devotion to the Mata cease to satisfy, making it necessary to seek other sources of spiritual gratification?
