selling books on the Amma list

June 11, 2001

In a message dated 6/11/01 1:31:56 PM, kasi_visvanath writes:

<< immediately i decided that i would definitely NOT buy this book....

however, later, i gave in due to curiosity....and do slightly regret

that impulsive move...especially after i have seen your unabashed

self-promotion on this Amma list! >>

In response to your criticisms. this book is an ashram book, and authorized

by the MA center and blessed and approved by Mother and her swami's. It was

written with the intention of getting Amma's story out to the general public

and into the mainstream not just to Amma devotees. Many Westerners have a

limited view of Amma and cannot relate to just an Indian biography and one

that only goes up to 1983 as does Swamiji's.

The book is meant to also help raise money for the Ashram and for all of

Amma's charities. If no one knows the book is available no matter how good

it is then it will not do its job--thus in a kaliyuga time when 100,000's of

books compete for regular bookstore space each season it is important to let

people know the book is available. This announcement of the book is in

full compliance and approvable of the MA center boardmembers.

I do not even own the copyright it is copyrighted by the MA center and

Amma's symbol is on the dedication page. It is my seva And duty to support

my guru and promoting Her heroic and phenomial story is my seva at the moment.

If there are errors in the book surely they are my own and will be

corrected in the next edition. However it was proof read and approved for

factual content by several people from the ashram who were involved in the

project.

Thank you for listening

In Amma's service Judith Cornell

Judith Cornell Ph.D.

www.mandala-universe.com

<A HREF="http://www.mandala-universe.com/">http://www.mandala-universe.com</A>

June 11, 2001

Dearest Amma group,

I guess we all react differently to the same situation. For myself, I'm glad

that Judith Cornell wrote her book. I've just begun to read it and I am

enjoying it. It is certainly different from the earlier biography, and is

probably likely to be of greater interest to those who are not already Amma

devotees and perhaps to non-Hindus. I believe that Mother will soon become a

world-renowned spiritual figure, perhaps the greatest of the 21st century (my

opinion only). I understand that Amma approved this book. Who knows what part

it will play in Mother's mission to heal the hearts of all humanity.

Jai Amma!

vaishnavi

June 11, 2001

Ammachi, ommandala@a... wrote:

> Yesterday it was offically confirmed by Amma and Swamiji!!!!

> AMMA will be on a segment of the NBC Today Show, 7am to 10am,

TUESDAY,

> July 10th in New York City. This special event marks the

celebration

and

> announcement of Her new authorized biography by Judith Cornell,

AMMA:

> HEALING THE HEART OF THE WORLD (William Morrow/HarperCollins).

Om Amrtesvaryai Namah!!

Namaste all!

i wonder if it is at all appropriate to be placing advertisements for

one's own books on this Amma list....as i understand it the Amma list

is for sharing satsang with other devotees and is meant to be

concerned mainly with Amma, and our experiences of Her, or at least

satsang which will support our individual sadhana....

to find a commercial advertisement on this list is somewhat

disappointing....if we are at all interested in the book, we most

certainly would have already decided whether we would purchase it or

not...and seeing an advertisement here just would tend to make me NOT

want to buy any book which is publicised in such a manner!!

i did buy the book in Seattle, despite my major misgivings over the

apparent self-promoting style of the author, mainly because of the

possibility of some new pictures not seen before and some stories

around Amma not heard before....

in some ways it is a very good book, but in others it is WAY too

self-consciously "scholarly"....which would be fine, but sometimes

the

author has even got her facts wrong!

For example on page 109-110, the author is describing the Chariot and

horses with Arjuna and Sri Krsna on the porch roof of the temple in

Amritapuri, where she says: " a life-sized sculture depicts Lord

Krsna

riding in a chariot while his disciple Arjuna reins in five white

horses as they strain towards the heavens."

The author appears not to have actually looked at the statue, nor has

She looked at the paintings of Sri Krsna and Arjuna at

Kurukshetra...Nor has She apparently read Bhagavad Gita....because if

she had done any of the above, she would KNOW that Sri Krsna is the

Charioteer...HE has the reins in HIS hands....and His friend Arjuna

is

the RIDER of the chariot...often depicted holding a bow and loosing

off arrows.....There is an entirely different message in this

arrangement than the one posited by the author.

in the actual representations, we are invited thru the pictures and

sculptures and thru the teachings of the Gita, to put ourselves in

Arjuna's place...and LET SRI KRSNA be the charioteer...Let Sri Krsna

control the senses....Let Sri Krsna take one wherever the Lord

desires...there is no will-power for Arjuna here, other than to give

UP his own will...in a paraphrase of the famous prayer by Jesus "Not

mine, but Thy Will alone be done, O my Divine Mother!"

this sculpture is a three dimensional representation in living colour

of that teaching...the teaching of absolute surrender and refuge in

the Lotus Feet of the Divine Beloved..."Saranagati" is the word...

When the author doesn't even know this much about the Gita, or Sri

Krsna and his friend Arjuna, or the story of the Mahabharata.....what

kind of source will she be for the more erudite teachings???

when such a mistake is made, it tends to immediately put in suspect

ALL the other information in the book!!! and when the book is often

written in a self-consciously scholarly way, assuming that the

audience knows nothing or little of science or spirituality, it

appears patronising in the extreme...even if the author didn't intend

it that way!! and thus at least some of the audience will be very put

off just by the TONE adopted by the author...a tone which is

continued

in this very advertisement on the Amma list! There are many very

highly educted in the sciences and philosophies folks on this

list....from Bharat, Europe, and America (including Canada)...to

treat

them in this condescending manner is not in the author's best

interests at all!...or in the Ashram's best interests either!

i have read almost all of the book, and found much of it interesting,

despite my above complaints, but i still find that the Swamijis'

biography of Amma, the original bigger one, is much better

written...full of Divine Love, and inspirations with NO scholarly

pretensions!

Amma's Divine Love comes thru much more clearly and sweetly in that

original book my dears...and if you haven't read a biography yet of

Amma, i would suggest to read the FIRST full length book, by Swami

Amritaswarupanandaji and Swami Paramatmanandaji!! They are NOT ONLY

DEVOTEES...but they are Mother's Trained Monastics!! if anyone should

understand and be able to explain what Mother is up to, it is THEY!

in fact i do not understand why Amma needs ANOTHER "authorised"

biography...What is wrong with the original "authorised" biography?

and why do we need to see this author's work publicised on this, a

Devotional list dedicated to Mother???

i would ask her in future to please be a little more considerate, and

think very deeply about what she is doing...every move that Amma's

devotees make will be an advertisement for Amma...if we misbehave,

then it is a negative advertisement, and people will get the idea

"don't go there"...whereas if we behave in a dharmic, loving, NON

COMMERCIAL way the opposite will hold true.

Believe it or not, Ms. Cornell, i would have been much more impressed

with your book and you, if you had not originally placed that silly

response on the Amma list, to the gentleman wishing a room mate and a

ride in Seattle!!

To write "Sorry i am female"....when the letter had gone out to the

hundreds of members and wasn't directed at any one person....why

respond at all?...unless you had a room, or a ride...or you had an

agenda....aha!! you had an agenda...you were already selling your

book, and put your website address just below the comments.....such

that when i went there i was assaulted with your book promotion...

immediately i decided that i would definitely NOT buy this book....

however, later, i gave in due to curiosity....and do slightly regret

that impulsive move...especially after i have seen your unabashed

self-promotion on this Amma list!

To sell your books in such a way merely cheapens the whole Amma list,

and the whole Amma movement...to turn it into a cash-flow proposition

is not quite what i believe that Mother had in mind, when She gave in

and permitted the Ashram to start! i am surprised that She authorised

this book.

there is a reason why Mother has insisted that the monastics may not

ask for donations...

there is a reason why the MA Center does not publicise itself and

it's

publications any more than it does....

We do not see them promoting their own works on this Ammalist, NOR

WILL WE!! Perhaps we should take a lesson from their ways of

working...

In the Divine Mother's Love,

and in Her Service

as ever,

your own Self,

visvanathan

Om Amrtesvaryai Namah!

June 11, 2001

It was through books that I found Yogananda's works and my soul's years of

hunger for what life was all about was satiated. Though I am selfish enough

to enjoy the current small darshans and to want them to remain this way, I am

equally aware of Amma's desire that all our worldly brothers and sisters

receive the same Love we enjoy. For so many of those seeking answers, books

like Judith Cornell's will introduce the idea that it is possible to live

beyond limitation, and to know that there is alive on this earth someone

whose Love will never fail them and who sits ready to hug away their tears,

listen to their troubles, and impart a bit of Her divinity in each of them.

How could such a message do anything but inspire and serve others?

Triveni

June 12, 2001

Dear Visvanath,

Although I respect where you are coming from, I have to disagree.

While there may be scholars on these lists, there are many people like

myself who are not Indian and have not spent years and years studying the

scriptures. Judith's book, only my opinion, is intended for a general

audience. She has apologized for any errors. I know from talking to her

that this book has been authorized by Amma and her organization. The

stories in her book, I think, will appeal to a greater number of average

people than would a highly specialized scholarly book. And I think that's

what Amma would want - as many people to come to her as possible.

I don't think there's any harm in anyone announcing the book and spreading

the word. The intent is not to publicize the author. The intent is to let

as many people as possible know about a book that contains information that

is life-changing because the experience of meeting Amma is life-changing.

Personally, I am not worried about offending the sensibilities of the

scholars on this list. If they are true devotees of Amma, they will try and

emulate her humility and they won't take offense at a book that shares on a

more personal level and isn't filled with footnotes. The street cleaner,

the waitress, the computer programmer and the Hindu scholar - we are all the

same. Isn't that what Amma herself teaches.

Again my personal opinion is that I very much appreciate when people share

personal stories on this list about their experience of Amma. I relate less

to quotations of scripture. Because I've been busy with my job for the past

30 years I haven't had a lot of extra time to read a ton of scholarly

literature.

To end this, I've met Judith Cornell and I didn't experience any personal

self-flattery going on and I think this book will be helpful to bring many

people to Amma. I love Swamiji's bio of Amma and would also recommend that

one, but I think Westerners will relate a lot to Judith's book.

Om amriteswaryai namah,

Amritanand

kasi_visvanath [kasi_visvanath]

Monday, June 11, 2001 12:51 PM

Ammachi