Anandamayi Ma

[Guest guest]

"Always bear this in mind: Everything is in God's hands, and you are

His tool to be used by Him as He pleases. Try to grasp the

significance of 'all is His'. and you will immediately feel free from

all burdens. What will be the result of your surrender to Him? None

will seem alien, all will be your very own Self."

 

 

 

"Suffering is sent to remind you to turn your thoughts towards That

which is real - to God who will give you solace."

 

 

"Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of a sacred Name. To

repeat His name is to be in His presence. If you associate with the

Supreme Friend, He will reveal His true being to you."

 

 

"Just as fire burns away all dross and rubbish, so the three fold

suffering purges man's heart from all impurity and results in a

growing single mindedness in his search after Truth. When he becomes

deeply conscious of his weakness and tormented by the thoughts of his

undesirable impulses and distressing characteristics, when

afflictions like poverty, bereavement or humiliation make him feel

his life is futile, then and then only does he develop real faith and

religious fervour, and becomes anxious to surrender himself at the

feet of the Supreme Being. Suffering should therefore be welcomed.

Never does the soft moonlight appear more soothing than after the

scorching heat of a summer day."

 

 

 

 

"Enquire: 'Who am I?' and you will find the answer. Look at a tree:

from one seed arises a huge tree; from it comes numerous seeds, each

one of which in its turn grows into a tree. No two fruits are alike.

Yet it is one life that throbs in every particle of the tree. So, it

is the same Atman everywhere.

 

All creation is That: There is beauty in the birds and in the

animals. They too eat and drink like us, mate and multiply; but there

is this difference: we can realize our true nature, the Atman. Having

been born as human beings, we must not waste this opportunity. At

least for a few seconds every day, we must enquire as to who we are.

It is no use taking a return ticket over and over again. From birth

to death, and death to birth is samsara. But really we have no birth

and death. We must realize that."

 

 

 

"As you love your own body, so regard everyone as equal to your own

body. When the Supreme Experience supervenes, everyone's service is

revealed as one's own service. Call it a bird, an insect, an animal

or a man, call it by any name you please, one serve's one's own Self

in every one of them."

 

 

"There is a great book of life. To one who has dived deep into it,

all truths of Science, Philosophy and allied subjects never remain

unexplored."

 

 

 

Place of Destruction and Ruin

Questioner: "How is the idea of a benevolent God compatible with ruin

and destruction in the history of peoples and lives of families and

individuals"?

Ma: "Do you believe that God is the creator of this world and

therefore its Lord"?

Questioner agrees.

Ma: "Very well, If God is the Lord of the world, He can do with it as

he pleases. Suppose you have grown beautiful flowers in your garden,

but decide to plant fruit trees in their place, won't you have to

remove the flowers? If you have a fine house, but wish to build a

larger and better one on the same plot, you demolish the old one. The

freedom that is yours in small things, God exercises in great ones.

In both is He, in destruction as well as in construction. The history

of nations, families and individuals is the great Lila (divine sport)

that He stages with Himself."

[Guest guest]

Dear Kripa,

 

Thank you for this post. I really appreciate it and hope you will

post more on/about Anandamayi Ma. Here is something from a little

book I have entitled, "Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma", put out by Shree

Shree Anandamayee Charitable Society, Calcutta l982:

 

"QUESTION: _When there is spiritual experience, how is it

interpreted in terms of worldly occurence?

 

MATAJI: As one is released from bondage, the destructible destroyed

and the Beloved alone shines forth--say, what can one behold? When

ties are being broken it is the breakable only that breaks. But the

bond of the love of God is not that kind of bond; it is

an 'unbinding'. Further, where the Knowledge of the Absolute (

_Brahmajnana_) is, there the ordinary function of understanding

('standing under') no longer exists. For to understand means to thow

off one load, only to stand under a new one; whereas the Knowledge of

Supreme Reality is beyond thought and speech.

 

When the average person sees a performance of the _Rasalila_ or

__Ramalila_, what can he possibly grasp of its significance that will

not be coloured by his worldliness? Where is the capacity to

experience anything beyond it? Nevertheless, since it is God's

Divine Play that he is taking in through his ears and eyes, there is

hope that the capacity may come.

 

It is the nature of the mind to accept the many. All that is needed

is to focus this acceptance on one particular thing, with or without

form, which when accepted, leaves no further choice between

acceptance and non-acceptance. This One Thing altogether excludes

the possibility of duality. This is why one becomes one-pointed.

The mind points to the many. Amidst the cross-currents of the

divergent mind, one has to become firmly concentrated on one goal.

 

Think of a tree. The boughs and branches that spread out from every

side yield the same kind of seed as that from which the tree

originated. This is how one single seed potentially contains

innumerable trtees, innumerable boughs, brancesh, leaves and so on.

There is infinite becoming and infinite being, infinite manifestation

and infinite potentiality; the seed grows into a tree, the tree

brings forth seed. Therefore, when one becomes wholly concentrated

on any one thing, why should not the One be revealed? There is

endlessness in the One and end in the endless; but where the Infinite

ONE is, there the question of finiteness and infinity cannot arise.

Whais, IS; that is what is wanted. Where you perceive an end, there

is actually no end: for verily, He is infinite. In all forms and in

the formless is He, and He alone.

(p. 84-86). Thanks to my good friend Gordon Westerlund for gifting

me with this little book some years back. Please forgive any and all

typos, I am rushing this and not going to edit this due to

"timing me out" if I spend too much on one particular post.

 

Blessings,

 

Kathy

 

 

 

@}-->----

 

 

 

-- In , "kripa05112002" <kripa05112002> wrote:

> "Always bear this in mind: Everything is in God's hands, and you

are

> His tool to be used by Him as He pleases. Try to grasp the

> significance of 'all is His'. and you will immediately feel free

from

> all burdens. What will be the result of your surrender to Him? None

> will seem alien, all will be your very own Self."

>

>

>

> "Suffering is sent to remind you to turn your thoughts towards That

> which is real - to God who will give you solace."

>

>

> "Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of a sacred Name. To

> repeat His name is to be in His presence. If you associate with the

> Supreme Friend, He will reveal His true being to you."

>

>

> "Just as fire burns away all dross and rubbish, so the three fold

> suffering purges man's heart from all impurity and results in a

> growing single mindedness in his search after Truth. When he

becomes

> deeply conscious of his weakness and tormented by the thoughts of

his

> undesirable impulses and distressing characteristics, when

> afflictions like poverty, bereavement or humiliation make him feel

> his life is futile, then and then only does he develop real faith

and

> religious fervour, and becomes anxious to surrender himself at the

> feet of the Supreme Being. Suffering should therefore be welcomed.

> Never does the soft moonlight appear more soothing than after the

> scorching heat of a summer day."

>

>

>

>

> "Enquire: 'Who am I?' and you will find the answer. Look at a tree:

> from one seed arises a huge tree; from it comes numerous seeds,

each

> one of which in its turn grows into a tree. No two fruits are

alike.

> Yet it is one life that throbs in every particle of the tree. So,

it

> is the same Atman everywhere.

>

> All creation is That: There is beauty in the birds and in the

> animals. They too eat and drink like us, mate and multiply; but

there

> is this difference: we can realize our true nature, the Atman.

Having

> been born as human beings, we must not waste this opportunity. At

> least for a few seconds every day, we must enquire as to who we

are.

> It is no use taking a return ticket over and over again. From birth

> to death, and death to birth is samsara. But really we have no

birth

> and death. We must realize that."

>

>

>

> "As you love your own body, so regard everyone as equal to your own

> body. When the Supreme Experience supervenes, everyone's service is

> revealed as one's own service. Call it a bird, an insect, an animal

> or a man, call it by any name you please, one serve's one's own

Self

> in every one of them."

>

>

> "There is a great book of life. To one who has dived deep into it,

> all truths of Science, Philosophy and allied subjects never remain

> unexplored."

>

>

>

> Place of Destruction and Ruin

> Questioner: "How is the idea of a benevolent God compatible with

ruin

> and destruction in the history of peoples and lives of families and

> individuals"?

> Ma: "Do you believe that God is the creator of this world and

> therefore its Lord"?

> Questioner agrees.

> Ma: "Very well, If God is the Lord of the world, He can do with it

as

> he pleases. Suppose you have grown beautiful flowers in your

garden,

> but decide to plant fruit trees in their place, won't you have to

> remove the flowers? If you have a fine house, but wish to build a

> larger and better one on the same plot, you demolish the old one.

The

> freedom that is yours in small things, God exercises in great ones.

> In both is He, in destruction as well as in construction. The

history

> of nations, families and individuals is the great Lila (divine

sport)

> that He stages with Himself."