In honor of Amma's Birthday

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya to all of Amma's darlings.

 

As each year passes, this Westerner, who loved Christmas so much as a

child, feels more and more like Amma's birthday is the real Christmas.

Unlike the Christmases of my childhood, which were about waiting for a whole

year to get a few presents that were never that satisfying, this celebration

of God's birth seems to be more about celebrating the innumerable gifts

Amma lavishes upon us from moment to moment, day to day, all year long. More

and more it is becoming a time for serving my siblings and rejoicing in the

gift of Amma's Supreme Love.

 

In honor of Her and of all of you dear Selves, I would like to offer a

little story about one of Her many gifts:

 

It used to be that when I was in Amma's presence, I would often focus on

Her glance, hoping it would fall on me. She has always been so generous with

of Her glance, and whenever it has felt like She might be looking right at

me, if only for a moment, it has always felt indescribably delightful. Once

sitting in the old temple at the Ashram, I was meditating on a large picture

of Amma that hangs there, and suddenly it was as if Amma came alive in the

picture and was pouring Divine energy from her eyes into mine, filling my

whole Self with pure love. And unlike those brief moments at programs with

all the other devotees, this went on for some time! It was so delicious,

that I became a little addicted and brought back a large picture of Amma to

hang in our bedroom so I could always see Her when I awoke and feel that She

was looking at me while I slept.

 

When attending the Chicago satsang with Dayamritaji Swami last spring, I

noticed a large picture of Amma on the altar that gave the same feeling as

the picture in the old temple. So I began wishing for a picture like that

for our altar. She seemed to hear my prayer and guided me to such a picture

in the bookstore in Iowa during the Devi Bhava. Happily, I brought it home

and enjoyed meditating with it on our altar, always feeling like She was

looking deeply into me, just me. In this way I could have Her all to myself

without feeling that I was competing for Her attention with throngs of other

devotees.

 

In early August we traveled to see our families in California and New

Mexico. Because one of Amma's brahmacharis was staying at our home for a few

days while we were gone, I didn't want to remove the picture, so instead I

packed another, more typical picture of Amma looking off to one side. I

figured I could live without that Divine glance directed right at me for at

least a few days!

 

Toward the end of our trip, we had just finished saying morning prayers and

I was looking at Amma's picture and meditating on the suffering we had

encountered among various family members and friends as we were traveling.

Suddenly it occurred to me, by Amma's grace, that when She wasn't looking at

me, She was looking at some else who also needed Her love. With this

realization, my heart melted and all those pictures of Amma looking at

someone else took on a whole new meaning. Instead of feeling deprived by my

Mother, I felt included, no matter where Her glance fell!

 

Praying that each of my beloved siblings in Amma is feeling the river of

love pouring from Her eyes directly into your heart right now.

 

Joyfully celebrating Amma's birth.

premarupa

Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah

 

"Some leaves are close to the flower and others are far away from it, but

all the leaves belong to the same plant. Likewise, all are Amma's children.

Don't doubt that one bit."--Amma

 

ps.I just discovered that the picture I was referring to is the very first

picture in the 2003 calendar. Jai Ma!

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

> It used to be that when I was in Amma's presence, I would often focus on

> Her glance, hoping it would fall on me. She has always been so generous with

> of Her glance, and whenever it has felt like She might be looking right at

> me, if only for a moment, it has always felt indescribably delightful. Once

> sitting in the old temple at the Ashram, I was meditating on a large picture

> of Amma that hangs there, and suddenly it was as if Amma came alive in the

> picture and was pouring Divine energy from her eyes into mine, filling my

> whole Self with pure love. And unlike those brief moments at programs with

> all the other devotees, this went on for some time! It was so delicious,

> that I became a little addicted and brought back a large picture of Amma to

> hang in our bedroom so I could always see Her when I awoke and feel that She

> was looking at me while I slept.

 

Thank you, dear Kenna, for sharing this lovely piece of story....

 

I was particularly struck by one word that you used, on which I wanted to

comment - delicious. This is so good a word to use to describe the feeling that

you experienced, and is probably extremely appropriate. In fact, delicious is

Sanskrit is 'rasa', that glorious term used to describe the gopis' love for Sri

Krishna, and the climax of their outpourings which is popularly described as

the Rasa-Lila.

 

'Rasa' means delicious as in the feeling you get in the tongue when you eat,

say, a mango. An indescribale joy fills your tongue/perceptive organ when you

eat a mango, drying it to the skin! The love experienced by the gopis was

somewhat similar (I guess), only it was in the heart, not the tongue.

 

I have had a few 'rasa' moments like that. In such moments, the heart feels

like it is getting churned in a delicious slow grind, and the entire mood is

one of ecstasy. Your eyes refuse to open in that intoxicating time; it always

remains half-closed, afraid that when you open your eyes you will lose that

feeling and perceive the solid, cold world. Such moments do inevitable go away,

atleast for me, and I wait for the next such moment.

 

One day, while sleeping, I had a dream/vision of Devi Parvati. She was such a

beauty that I could not take my eyes off Her. Her eyes were SPARKLING with life

and love. And Her smile was so kind, so loving, so full of acceptance and humor

even, that in my dream, I was staring at Her open-eyed while sitting at Her

feet, afraid to blink and lose a single moment of that grandeur. No words were

exchanged, and then She faded away, in what seems like 30 minutes in my

judgement. Even during the dream, I felt an enormous churning in the heart

region, and felt as if my heart were placed in a waterfall and water was

pouring all over it and making it extremely SUPPLE. Then and for the next few

days, that feeling remained. All I have now is a 'delicious' memory of that

moment. And it continues to 'still' me everytime I think of it, only the

intensity is a less severe, but potent enough nevertheless.

 

Jai Ma!

manoj.

 

 

 

New DSL Internet Access from SBC &

http://sbc.

[Guest guest]

--- Manoj Menon <manoj_menon wrote:

> > It used to be that when I was in Amma's presence, I would often focus on

> > Her glance, hoping it would fall on me. She has always been so generous

> with

> > of Her glance, and whenever it has felt like She might be looking right at

> > me, if only for a moment, it has always felt indescribably delightful. Once

> > sitting in the old temple at the Ashram, I was meditating on a large

> picture

> > of Amma that hangs there, and suddenly it was as if Amma came alive in the

> > picture and was pouring Divine energy from her eyes into mine, filling my

> > whole Self with pure love. And unlike those brief moments at programs with

> > all the other devotees, this went on for some time! It was so delicious,

> > that I became a little addicted and brought back a large picture of Amma

> to

> > hang in our bedroom so I could always see Her when I awoke and feel that

> She

> > was looking at me while I slept.

>

> Thank you, dear Kenna, for sharing this lovely piece of story....

>

> I was particularly struck by one word that you used, on which I wanted to

> comment - delicious. This is so good a word to use to describe the feeling

> that

> you experienced, and is probably extremely appropriate. In fact, delicious is

> Sanskrit is 'rasa', that glorious term used to describe the gopis' love for

> Sri

> Krishna, and the climax of their outpourings which is popularly described as

> the Rasa-Lila.

>

> 'Rasa' means delicious as in the feeling you get in the tongue when you eat,

> say, a mango. An indescribale joy fills your tongue/perceptive organ when you

> eat a mango, drying it to the skin! The love experienced by the gopis was

> somewhat similar (I guess), only it was in the heart, not the tongue.

>

> I have had a few 'rasa' moments like that. In such moments, the heart feels

> like it is getting churned in a delicious slow grind, and the entire mood is

> one of ecstasy. Your eyes refuse to open in that intoxicating time; it always

> remains half-closed, afraid that when you open your eyes you will lose that

> feeling and perceive the solid, cold world. Such moments do inevitable go

> away,

> atleast for me, and I wait for the next such moment.

>

> One day, while sleeping, I had a dream/vision of Devi Parvati. She was such a

> beauty that I could not take my eyes off Her. Her eyes were SPARKLING with

> life

> and love. And Her smile was so kind, so loving, so full of acceptance and

> humor

> even, that in my dream, I was staring at Her open-eyed while sitting at Her

> feet, afraid to blink and lose a single moment of that grandeur. No words

> were

> exchanged, and then She faded away, in what seems like 30 minutes in my

> judgement. Even during the dream, I felt an enormous churning in the heart

> region, and felt as if my heart were placed in a waterfall and water was

> pouring all over it and making it extremely SUPPLE. Then and for the next few

> days, that feeling remained. All I have now is a 'delicious' memory of that

> moment. And it continues to 'still' me everytime I think of it, only the

> intensity is a less severe, but potent enough nevertheless.

>

> Jai Ma!

> manoj.

 

Am I am getting the same feeling now when I see the beauty in this link:

 

http://www.ammachi.org/main/b-day-4.html

 

 

 

New DSL Internet Access from SBC &

http://sbc.