malas

[Guest guest]

I have several malas that I got in India back in '95

for a buck (Rs. 30 back then) or less. They each

carry the "vibes" and the memories of the place where

I bought it: Haridwar, Kayavarohan, Vrindavan, etc.

My Haridwar malla is a humungous rudraksha job that

hangs down almost to my knees.

 

If one of my malas were to break, I might attempt to

re-string it, after I collect all the beads and

determine that I still have all 108. Murphy's law of

broken malas: there will always be a bead or two that

rolls under a piece of furniture or into some obscure

crevice and might never be found until years later

when you're moving house if at all. The only mala I

ever had that broke was the first one I got as an

entry-level sadhak at Kripalu, blessed by Yogi Amrit

Desai circa 1991. I didn't bother collecting the

beads and re-stringing that one since I knew that in

India I would find malas coming out the wazoo. I took

a few beads from that old Kripalu mala with me to

India and left one at Swami Kripalvananda's

mahasamadhi site along with a rupee coin from the year

I was born. I also chucked one of the beads into the

Ganges.

 

Though I wear one of my malas most of the time, I

remove it before I shower, go swimming, do yoga, or

other activities that could damage the beads and/or

are tough on mala strings

 

I had the string break on one of those single

rudraksha beads, so I put the bead on my Amma doll.

There was enough string left to fit her perfectly.

And last summer I got a new rudraksha bead, blessed by

Amma.. she put it around my neck.

 

 

Keval

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

A freind of mine, also an Amma devotee, believes that, when one's

mala breaks, it means that some karma has been exhausted. Who knows

if this has anything to it, but, since malas will break eventually,

it provides a nice attitude toward an otherwise disappointing event.

 

I seem to have accumulated lots of malas. I was quite fascinated by

them in the early days. Then, inexplicably for another decade,

friends and acquaintances gave me malas. For years I wanted a

rudraksha mala and was surrounded by Vaishnava friends who, of

course, gave me tulsi, sandalwood, etc. Other friends, distressed by

my sudden preoccupation with prayer beads, gave wooden bead necklaces

to see if these would mean the same thing to me.

 

During Ammachi's last trip to San Ramon, the friend, mentioned above,

with the belief about broken mantras and karma, had me bring her mala

to the mala and Vedic jewelry guy. He has made her mala and had

attached a huge double-faced rudraksha on the end in place of a guru

bead. She had had it for quite a few years and it had broken. He

very thoughtfully fixed it.

 

This errand was very moving. My friend had just moved to the West

Coast and couldn't attend much of the program, having just started a

new job. Obviously she loved this mala, which had been blessed by

Ammachi years before. The mala itself had obviously been used many

many times and had that "glow," you know?

 

Aikya

 

Ammachi, Mike Brooker <patria1818> wrote:

> I have several malas that I got in India back in '95

> for a buck (Rs. 30 back then) or less. They each

> carry the "vibes" and the memories of the place where

> I bought it: Haridwar, Kayavarohan, Vrindavan, etc.

> My Haridwar malla is a humungous rudraksha job that

> hangs down almost to my knees.

>

> If one of my malas were to break, I might attempt to

> re-string it, after I collect all the beads and

> determine that I still have all 108. Murphy's law of

> broken malas: there will always be a bead or two that

> rolls under a piece of furniture or into some obscure

> crevice and might never be found until years later

> when you're moving house if at all. The only mala I

> ever had that broke was the first one I got as an

> entry-level sadhak at Kripalu, blessed by Yogi Amrit

> Desai circa 1991. I didn't bother collecting the

> beads and re-stringing that one since I knew that in

> India I would find malas coming out the wazoo. I took

> a few beads from that old Kripalu mala with me to

> India and left one at Swami Kripalvananda's

> mahasamadhi site along with a rupee coin from the year

> I was born. I also chucked one of the beads into the

> Ganges.

>

> Though I wear one of my malas most of the time, I

> remove it before I shower, go swimming, do yoga, or

> other activities that could damage the beads and/or

> are tough on mala strings

>

> I had the string break on one of those single

> rudraksha beads, so I put the bead on my Amma doll.

> There was enough string left to fit her perfectly.

> And last summer I got a new rudraksha bead, blessed by

> Amma.. she put it around my neck.

>

>

> Keval

>

>

>

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