My New Favourite Day in the Schedule!!!

March 3, 2009

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah...

I don't think I need to constantly state that my day started with the breakfast cashier seva. That's a given now.

I will however say, that I think Tuesdays are my new "favourite" day in the Ashram schedule! The Questions & Answer period with Amma is very special. The questions seem to be a lot more intelligent here at the Ashram compared to the questions that get posed in the West on tour.

Today, I was seated about 5 people away from Amma and it was really beautiful to watch Her. Once She had finished giving the answer in Malayalam and while it was being translated to English, She was playing with the 5 or 6 children that were sitting right in front of Her peetham (platform). She was making little sculptures with playdough and putting playdough bindis on each of the children's foreheads. She started drawing flowers with pencil crayons in an art pad. It was all really beautiful to witness. She became a total child with the children.

The questions that was posed today was:

"How can one engage in God when one works in a job that doesn't allow much focus on God? When will I be able to see God if I am unable to focus on God more often due to my job restrictions?"

Some of the highlights of Amma's (lengthy) response were:

"One who ALWAYS thinks of God becomes the devotee and one who prays to God reaches His abode." This quote was from Lord Krishna from the Bhagavat Gita.

Amma elaborated by saying: "ALL thoughts flow and become prayer so there's no difference between thought and prayer if the thoughts are pure and the intention is to reach God."

"God is not confined to just one thing or form. There is no God sitting up in the heavens on a gold throne. Go beyond ALL forms and become one with the All-Prevading Consciousness which is formless."

"Once you realize that I am not the Karta (doer) and I am not the Bhugta (receiver) then you loose the ego. God is the STRENGTH behind ALL our actions. This realization allows us to transcend the ego."

"One cannot even move a finger without the power of God behind the movement. It is by the grace and power of God that one can close his mouth after yawning. If God's power was not there, then the person's mouth would just remain open."

"We are all just instruments. Everyone is just a form of the Supreme Consciousness. All your actions should become an offering to God. When there is a strong doership (I did it) then the offering becomes a war."

Amma related a story from the Shiva Purana about a monk who performed a Fire Ceremony but took a lot of credit for it and expected to be praised for the wonderful ceremony. This became a war and the beauty of the fire ceremony was lost because the ego leared its ugly head and came in the way of the pureness of one's actions being controlled by God and therefore realizing that the beauty of this fire ceremony was not due to the monk, rather it was due to God's power behind the actions of the monk.

"It's more important to put the teachings to practise rather than always wanting to be physically close to the Master. It is that devotee that will be remembered by the Master." So many of us fight to get the closest seat to Amma or to be able to do the sevas that put us right in Her view, but in fact it's the ones that are out of sight that Amma remembers the most.

"To serve and love people you automatically have God on your "list". God doesn't carry a "list", but by serving others, you serve God and therefore remember God on a constant basis."

"We get merrits (punya) by purchasing things from Amma's shops because the money goes to all of Her charitable causes. It is better to buy things from Her shops because more than just one person benefits from that purchase. The purchaser benefits by getting the thing that he/she wants, and then so many less fortunate ones benefit from the monies raised through the sale of that item."

"Going beyond the "I" is the best way to do seva. Doing seva this way will allow us to reach God."

Amma related a story from Gautum Buddha. A monk visited a woman who did not believe in these spiritual things. The monk put his hand out to her and she spat in it. The monk responded "This is for me. Now what will you offer the world?" This illustrates that the monk had transcended his ego and was only looking to serve humanity with love. He did not get angry at the woman for spitting in his hand, rather he accepted that as an offering to him.

One really cute thing happened just before Amma concluded the Satsang with a bhajan. While the Brahmachari was still translating that last portion of Amma's response to the question, Amma was playing with the children and the playdough. She looked over Her shoulder and noticed a devotee (brahmachari/renunciate) was sitting near Her who had his eyes closed. To anyone of us, he would appear to be in meditation, but Amma knew that he was in fact sleeping and picked up her face cloth and threw it at him with perfect aim. This all happened very quickly. Amma was going to throw something else at him too, but when She turned around for the second time with the other item in Her hands, She noticed that he had awoken and was sorry that he had fallen asleep. He had his hands clasped at his heart and Amma placed the item down and motioned to him to do 10 namaskarams (standing and turning on the spot with hands clasped at heart centre offering prayers to everyone and every direction). He did this and sat back down.

It was quite humourous to watch this interaction with Amma and Her child. She did not even watch him perform these namaskarams. She continued playing with the children in front of Her.

Another story was shared when they were setting up the food lines (as Amma serves everyone lunch on Tuesdays after Satsang). There is a man with some kind of a mental illness here on the Ashram compound. He has a very large belly and his name is Raju. Once when Amma was travelling outside of India, Raju was walking around aimlessly (as he often does) on the Ashram compound and he was saying that his biological mother has no time for him and now even his Amriteshwari Amma did not have time for him either. He was contemplating taking his life as he felt that there was nothing left to live for if his Divine Mother doesn't pay attention to him. In rebellion, he went over the backwaters and went to a restaurant and ate mutton one day.

While Amma was at one of the programs in the West, She specifically asked to see the live feed computer systems which transmit live feed through Amrita TV to India. Amma looked into the camera and started waving and calling for Her Raju - Her Mutton Raju. Amma knows ALL that is happening. She does not need to be physically present in order to know what our actions are.

What a Satsang! I really loved it a lot.

Now I am needing to study my Malayalam before the Kali Puja in the Kalari at 8pm. I need to be there on time to get a good seat as I am to take pictures of the puja. This Kali Puja is for purification.

I shall write more a little later after more experiences are had.

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah