(from "The Goddess Lives in Upstate New York"):
After several years searching for Śrīvidyā upāsakās and asking for initiation, Aiya finally found Guruji.
A professor of nuclear physics at the time, Guruji had a reputation for both spiritual precocity and unconventional thinking.
Aiya recalls one of their first exchanges that took place at a gathering where Guruji and a small group of students were discussing religion and philosophy. Guruji was speaking about the ways certain mantras were taught only to men, off limits to women, a fact that had long bothered Aiya. Not able to contain himself, Aiya chimed in that these practices made no sense, since women were largely responsible for the existence and intelligence of their children. Women brought men into the world, raised them, and formed them as human beings. At this, Guruji stood up, walked over to Aiya, and hugged him, saying, “I’m so glad to know somebody who thinks like me.”
Later, intending to ask him for initiation and afraid he would be turned down once again, Aiya asked Balu to accompany him to Guruji’s house for moral support.
Guruji answered the door when they arrived and led them directly to his shrine room. He seemed to know, according to Aiya, why they had come. Once in the shrine room, Aiya asked Guruji if he would initiate him into Śrīvidyā, and Guruji, without skipping a beat, said, “Of course.” Immediately feeling guilty, thinking Guruji must have assumed he was a brāhmaṇa, Aiya blurted out, “But I’m not a brāhmaṇa!” Aiya recalls Guruji adamantly responding, “What difference does that make?” Guruji asked his wife to bring him the pañcāṅgam, a book he consulted to determine auspicious times and dates for events such as initiation. On second thought, Guruji said he would just go and ask Her.
As Aiya was thinking to himself, “Ask Her? Who is he talking about?” Guruji went into meditation. During his two- to three-minute silence, Aiya remembers thinking, “Oh God, I’ve come this far and now I’m going to be refused by the Devī herself!” When Guruji emerged from his meditation, he told Aiya that he would come to his house in two weeks to initiate both him and Amma into Śrīvidyā. When the time came, Guruji initiated the two of them with the entire gamut—all sixteen mantras.
One of the most enduring effects of Aiya’s initiation experience, aside from his long-awaited access to Śrīvidyā’s “secrets,” is a product of his guru dīkṣā. Normally guru dīkṣā involves a tangible gift given to the guru by the new initiate—an article of clothing, a fruit, a flower, or some other token of appreciation—in exchange for the guru’s care and guidance. Instead, Aiya recalls Guruji explicitly instructing him, “I want you to promise me something. Whatever knowledge I give you, whatever experiences you get, whatever happiness or joy you get out of it, share it with everyone.”
Just six months after initiation, Aiya, his wife, and their young daughter emigrated to the United States, commissioned with blessings from Guruji to spread the secret teachings of Śrīvidyā. Aiya, conveniently armed with the personality of a maverick, one for whom elitism is particularly irksome, began teaching students from all walks of life. His eventual establishment of an elaborate, ritual-centered temple emerged as part of a natural progression. From this point in Aiya’s life, obstacles were less daunting and openings plentiful.
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