Amma and Christ

[Guest guest]

Om Amrtesvaryai Namah!!

 

Namaste dear sisters and brothers!!!

 

this was posted first on the other Amma list, where Eknath had

described his "encounter" with Christ...for any one who may just not

have already seen it....

 

my dear little ones, Jesus is visiting us all the

time...it's just that we are unable to see Him

usually...the same with Krsna and Amma...and all

the devas...whenever we are receptive, tho, we

can feel their loving energies...and if we are

really receptive, like Eknath was, at that time,

we may even "see" or feel the presence of one of

these Great Ones.

 

it is not that They do not visit us, but that we

do not let Them OUT...from our heart's locked

room....and then we blame them for not appearing

in our lives....when we won't let them out of our

own hearts....

 

Amma or Christ is always "knocking" on the door

of our hearts...from the inside...we are too

"busy"...so we say: "go away i'm too busy right

now..." and Amma says..."ok"....and then we blame

Her for not helping us!!!even though we won't let

Her!

 

How can there be any real difference between any

of those Great Ones...are they not all cut from

the same Cloth....the Cloth of Divine

Consciousness...this is why Swami Sivanandaji

could talk of Jesus and the other Great Ones so

"casually"...he saw that they are all essentially

"ONE"....

 

as Amma has said, God is not a Hindu...nor is He

a Christian, or Jew, or Moslem.....those are all

our own labels applied by us for mostly political

reasons. The masters would get together and have

a big party...no disagreements there, but we, the

followers....that's where the trouble

begins...with our misunderstandings of the Master

and misinterpretations of what S/He might have

meant when S/He said so and so....

 

Eknath, thank you for your loving presentation of

your experience with Christ....i think it is

entirely possible to love Christ, and not be a

'Christian' as they are known...what is the need

for "conversion" when we see that all these great

ones are One....and we have our own Master...our

Mother, Amma...Who has said that all of these

great ones are really incarnations of the Divine

Mother...Christ included....

 

when i met Mother the first year, after the

outside, afternoon meditation, we were all

walking back across Fort Flagler's fields, from

Amma's house to the Dining Hall, where Amma would

distribute the food to all Her children there...

 

We were singing along with Amma...Amba Bhavani,

Jaya Jagadambe!.....

 

Around the time we got to the dining hall area, i

was overcome with the strongest feeling that i

was with Christ and the multitudes...just before

He would feed us with the loaves and fishes...it

was like a deja vu so to speak...very strong,

powerful impression...just as i had thought this,

a friend turned to me (she was also a first

timer, and raised an Italian Catholic...)and

said: "i feel like we are with Christ and the

multitudes!"

 

my hair stood on end...and with tears running

down my face, i told her that was precisely what

i had just thought...we were speechless with awe

after that....

 

i would imagine that many of Amma's western

Children were "christians" earlier...we had such

longings for the Divine...and it could only be

satisfied in our culture by loving Christ...as He

was the only available Incarnation to attach our

love to...so i suspect that many of us had a very

loving personal intimate relationship with Christ

in our hearts already, before we met Amma....for

some of us it may have been the calling to

Christ, which seemingly brought Amma into our

lives...

 

There is no distinction in my mind between either

Christ or Amma...the same loving being...what you

might call "christ consciousness"...it doesn't

really have a body, but it incarnates in bodies

occasionally to give the children some

help...some Divine Love...and to be a model of

how to live in this world....

 

Thus we shouldn't be surprised at a similarity

between Amma and Christ...if there is ONLY ONE

Divine Consciousness....how could there NOT be

similarities?

 

this doesn't mean however that we must join a

christian church!

 

We may love the master without wanting to join

the followers in their particular sect...in the

same way we may love Krsna without being

Vaishavas...

 

as Swami Vivekanandaji once said:

 

"God founds a religion and the devil steps right

in and organises it.."

 

So we don't have to be attached to the

"organisation"...we can go directly to the

source...and have our own personal relationship

with the Divine, in whichever form we love the

most, be it Christ or Krsna or Amma....They will

all take us along to the Goal.

The key is not WHO we love, but THAT we DO LOVE..

 

Paramahansa Yoganandaji used to visit all the

time with Divine Mother, Christ and Krsna....he

loved them all equally...and i take his example

in this...they are all equally loveable...

 

Amma too, has said that all these Devas are

within us...

 

in this vein we have not to "become a

christian"...as we ARE already devotees of the

Divine, in whichever form appeals to us....

We needn't exclude anybody here...all are welcome

to the feast.

 

Eknath, when you described Christ standing there

beside you with His hand on your shoulder, you

reminded me of an experience this past year with

our own Amma....

 

it was Seattle 2000...in that hotel at

Lynnwood...

Atma Puja was happening...(i'm more used to the

idea of DEVI Puja...and have wondered why they

changed the name)...it was VERY hot, and stifling

in that huge room, and people were pretty

crowded, although possibly not as crowded as

sometimes....

 

so many people experienced a lot of discomfort

there...one friend told me of how he had felt

like just jumping up and running screaming from

the hall! (he's a little agoraphobic...and was

feeling VERY crowded, and hot...doesn't take heat

well either)....

 

However i felt so honoured and happy to be there

with Amma performing this puja together, that

soon i didn't notice my discomfort any more....

When we started to sing the Devi's Names....i

just REALLY got into it...like Amma had taken me

over in a way...i just lost my self in those

beautiful names and the responses....i suddenly

became aware that Amma was standing right

beside/behind me, in Devi Bhava (in a green

sari)...and touching me lovingly on the

shoulder...i had to look at the stage to see that

She was still there...but i could strongly feel

Her Divine Presence just behind me, hand touching

my shoulder for the rest of the Names and more of

the Puja...in Devi Bhava already...although She

was actually in Her usual Whites(onstage)...this

feeling was so strong of Amma's presence behind

me and touching my shoulder, that i felt She was

blessing me for so getting into the puja (i have

been doing pujas on my own too, since the second

year after i met Amma...so i felt particularly

blessed and honoured to be there with Amma doing

the same!)...so i never felt the heat or the

suffocation which many people felt, because i was

lost in Divine Bliss...lost in Amma's Love...Lost

in Her Names....melting in the Sea of Love.....

 

it's interesting that Amma was doing exactly the

same thing with me that She was doing with Swami

Nealu, on the cover of his book....standing

protectively, lovingly beside Her child with Her

hand on his shoulder....

and it is also interesting that Christ was

experienced by Eknath as doing that very same

thing...standing behind with a hand on his

shoulder...Are they One or what?

 

Om Christave Namah! Om Gurave Namah!

Om Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devyai Namah!

 

 

In Amma's Divine Love,

and in Her Service,

 

as ever,

Your own Self,

 

visvanathan

 

Om Amrtesvaryai Namah!!