Q & A

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

I know Amma has been doing a lot of question and answer sessions this

time. I spent 3 days in San Ramon and will be at the Santa Fe Retreat

as well, but so far haven't been present for any Q & A sessions. If

anyone remembers anything from these sessions, please could you share

it here. I'm particularly interested in what she says about the

condition of the present day world.

 

Lisa

[Guest guest]

One question and answer session I attended in San Ramon had good

questions and answers.

 

One devotee asked Amma whether it was true as some say that taking

certain drugs enhances spiritual development. She gave a long but

emphatic answer that said NO. She said that drugs dull the mind. She

referred to the fact that people who use drugs need more and more of

the drug over time to get the effect they desire. She said her

children should avoid drugs and alcohol if they wished to dedicate

themselves to a spiritual life.

 

There was a poignant plea by a young woman who seemed to say that she

couldn't come to the M.A. Center very often and she felt there was no

place for her to serve Amma even though she wanted to do service. She

said the same people always get the seva assignments. Ot they give

the seva assignments to their friends. Amma answered this delicate

question with her usual amazing diplomacy without shutting out the

questioner. Most of her answer was in praise of anyone who was

willing to do seva, of anyone who did seva. You can especially

appreciate this part of her answer if you realize that this Q&A

session happened in the middle of the second week of her stay at San

Ramon, when the amazing troup of volunteers was showing signs of

crankiness and exhaustion. At the very end of the answer, Amma said

to everyone that if anyone really wanted to do a particular service

and found that they were denied that opportunity, they should tell

her and she'd take care of it.

 

Another person asked how to deal with another person who repeatedly

engaged in hurtful destructive behavior. I got the feeling this

question referred to the situation in which a family member is a drug

or alcohol addict but I may have been reading that into the question

due to the earlier query. Amma talked about not getting stuck in the

past. At the time I thought she didn't understand the question but

as I write this, I see how good the answer was. What happes with

family members of addicts is that they become obsessed with the

history of the addiction and all the pain it has caused, thus

paralyzing their minds. Amma was giving her version of "One day at a

time."

 

Maybe others remember more details or understood the questions or

answers differently. It was a good session. Like all such

sessions, too short.

 

Aikya

Ammachi, "lbrachlin" <lalita120@h...> wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I know Amma has been doing a lot of question and answer sessions

this

> time. I spent 3 days in San Ramon and will be at the Santa Fe

Retreat

> as well, but so far haven't been present for any Q & A sessions. If

> anyone remembers anything from these sessions, please could you

share

> it here. I'm particularly interested in what she says about the

> condition of the present day world.

>

> Lisa

[Guest guest]

On Tue, 25 Jun 2002, aikya wrote:

 

>

> Maybe others remember more details or understood the questions or

> answers differently. It was a good session. Like all such

> sessions, too short.

 

One of the questions asked at the retreat was how we could distinguish between

our will and

Amma's will and act accordingly.

 

Amma's answer was that it is difficult to do so initially, but if we spend some

time doing Sadhana

everyday with a routine, then our "inner Guru" will awaken and there will not be

any doubt in our mind

whether the deed we are intending to perform is our will or Amma's will.

 

Another question was whether/how/should we forgive some one who has commited a

crime/mistake

and is not repentant about this. Specifically the question was about the FBI

officers in the

Judi Bari case (www.indybay.org/features/judibari/) and about how although they

were sentenced

to imprisonment they expressed no remorse.

 

Amma's answer was that although they did not seek forgiveness, forgiving them

was good for them and

good for us.

 

Another question was what we can do to help/comfort people who are dying.

 

Amma's answer was that praying for them woould definitely help, but if their

close

relatives prayed for them it would be more effective.

 

I might have missed/mis-reported what Amma said. If anyone can correct me it

would be appreciated.

 

Following the Q&A Amma served dinner :-))

 

 

Namashivaya,

 

Girish

[Guest guest]

Jai Girish

 

> Another question was whether/how/should we forgive some one who has commited

> a crime/mistake

> and is not repentant about this.

 

I just returned from the Dallas session and your question brought to mind a

discussion on "forgiveness" we had while savorying the fine Indian food

during the convention.

 

The question of forgiving someone else has the underlining implication that

you are making a judgement about someone else. i.e. they did something wrong

(be it an action toward ourselves or someone else that we consider was

harmful). If we take a position of "non-judgement", then how could any action

by another be such that we need to forgive?

 

So, the forgiveness we need to extend is to forgive ourselves for making the

judgement that anothers action was harmful.

 

How about them apples?

 

Peter