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[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

Some people who know more about the events I

witnessed may want to clear up my rather

confused view of things.

 

In Amma,

Jyots

 

 

21 December Amritapuri

 

My first darshan was on Thursday, December 19, which

was a Devi Bhava day, and usually I don’t go in the

morning, but this day I needed to be in Mother’s arms!

She was so sweet. She gently stroked my back and

spine and then my shoulders and arms. I think it was

the longest darshan I’ve ever had—also the tenderest.

As my face was pressed against her dress, I was

mentally saying to her (with no self-consciousness)

“You scared the shit out of me!” Then she motioned

for me to sit near her, which I did. At that time my

understanding of the airplane incident was that she

wanted to “bring up my stuff.” Now my understanding

is that she saved us. (Later in Seattle a wise

devotee said ever so smilingly to me, “Why couldn’t it

have been both?”) Anyway, I believe that in the

darshan she was taking away some of the fear that was

no doubt so obvious to her. That night at Devi Bhava

I decided to go again. It’s pretty hard to resist!

 

The next day when I went for darshan I had been

agonizing over these angry questions about the plane

incident, but I quickly just jotted down two less

antagonistic questions:

(1) Does Mother understand all the fears, doubts, and

worries this airplane mishap has brought up for me?

She grabbed me again, and while hugging and kissing

me, rubbed over my heart chakra on my back. (2) Does

She know that I’ve always been a nervous flyer and

that now I’m terrified? With her eyes twinkling and

shining with joy and a great smile on her face—looking

very Krishna—her answer, through the interpreter, was

merely, “Yes!” Laughing Krishna eyes! Even if the

verbal answer was not what I might have wanted, that

lovely Krishna face always warms my heart and she

knows it.

 

 

20 Dec 3:00 a.m.

 

After Devi Bhava, X told me that if I wanted another

“hit” of Mother I could go out through the upstairs

(4th floor) dormitory and watch Her walk to Her room.

So of course I decided to do that. We both went out,

and lo, there she was down in the “airplane hangar”

(where the brand new temple is) just sort of standing

there. We hurried down to try to get near her. Then

they brought a chair and I was lucky enough to get

right behind her chair. Then a somber procession came

toward us, and D said in a hushed whisper, “That’s the

woman whose husband died!” Then Amma got up from her

chair (with everyone furiously following, of course)

and went over to this other spot. I had heard just a

snippet earlier in the day that a man had died there

and thought that must be pretty lucky. Then the next

day X told me that it was considered very INauspicious

to die at an ashram. She didn’t know why, I, with my

oh-so-western pragmatism, figured that if swamis and

saints told people it was auspicious to die at their

ashrams, all the old and sick people of India would

flock there and interfere with their work!

 

Then six or eight men came bearing the body on a

litter held at shoulder height. There was a table or

rack of some kind (I’m not sure which, as it was

pretty dark) which the litter was placed on. The jaw

of the corpse was tied shut with a cloth, as I’ve seen

in pictures. Ammachi got out of her chair and went up

and blessed the body and then leaned over it and

either kissed it or spoke words or both—I couldn’t

tell because it was dark and her back was to me. Then

(as I recall) there was a group-chanted prayer that

was pretty long. Then Swamiji did some long

recitation of names (?) to which our response was “Om

Parashaktiyea Namaha.” When that was finally over, a

large, strongly- built man, who held what appeared to

be a freshly hewn coconut wrapped in a towel or napkin

on his head, followed the torchbearer who led the

whole procession about two blocks or so to the beach.

Everyone followed, softly singing “Om Namah Shivayah.”

It was pitch black and very quiet (3:30 a.m.?) and I

wondered if we weren’t disturbing the neighbors, but

that didn’t seem to be a factor.

 

On the beach a fire pit of some kind had been

prepared, but they still had to fix the bier,

especially difficult (or important?) seemed the

placing of six long poles in the ground and then

bending them over quite sharply and tying them

together in pairs so that they formed “x” es with

quite a lot of pressure. At one point on of these

pairs snapped the vines or whatever they were using to

bind them (definitely NOT baling wire!) with great

force. Finally the fire was lit. It was very dark

and I couldn’t see much. (At one point a car drove up

and someone got out. I figured it was the local

police and someone had called the law on us for

disturbing the peace, but realized even as I had that

thought that I was applying MY cultural conditioning

to an entirely foreign culture and event. Nothing

ever seemed to happen, so I never did know what that

was about.) I knew Mother was still there because no

one had left. It turned out she was seated in a chair

about six feet in front of me. It seemed to me that

there was something like a coconut shell which

exploded and flew out of the fire with great force,

and Mother got up and left, everyone following her. I

believe it may have been the freshly hewn coconut,

although I don’t know enough about it to say for sure.

I wondered if the explosion of the coconut signified

the breaking free of the soul, but of course that’s

conjecture on my part.

 

In addition to V, Y from Holland is my other roommate.

She is traveling around India by herself. She’s a

nurse, totally strong, independent, and sure of

herself.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Sister Jyotsna,

 

I just wanted to write in and thank you for sharing your diary. It is

wonderful to read such a detailed account of your time in Amritapuri.

I would exhort you most humbly, dear sister, to go on sharing as much

as you feel comfortable with. I only rarely write/post myself but I

do read a great deal of what others do. If the thought that the

stories you narrate are lacking in purpose or relevance to other

people ever crosses your mind and inhibits you, please do not let

that happen. Somebody somewhere may connect deeply with some detail

you considered irrelevant or pointless.

 

While the inner quest (chasing the inner Amma as opposed to the 5 ft.

version) must always be paramount for any sadhak, the urge to be

physically close to the Guru is also a reality that cannot be denied.

For the vast majority of devotees who do not have the great fortune

of being physically close to the Guru, such stories help relieve the

pangs of separation.

 

Respectfully,

 

fg

 

Om Amriteshwaryai Namah

 

 

Ammachi, Ellen Lamb <jyotsna2> wrote:

> Hi all,

>

> Some people who know more about the events I

> witnessed may want to clear up my rather

> confused view of things.

>

> In Amma,

> Jyots

>

>

> 21 December Amritapuri

>

> My first darshan was on Thursday, December 19, which

> was a Devi Bhava day, and usually I don't go in the

> morning, but this day I needed to be in Mother's arms!

> She was so sweet. She gently stroked my back and

> spine and then my shoulders and arms. I think it was

> the longest darshan I've ever had—also the tenderest.

> As my face was pressed against her dress, I was

> mentally saying to her (with no self-consciousness)

> "You scared the shit out of me!" Then she motioned

> for me to sit near her, which I did. At that time my

> understanding of the airplane incident was that she

> wanted to "bring up my stuff." Now my understanding

> is that she saved us. (Later in Seattle a wise

> devotee said ever so smilingly to me, "Why couldn't it

> have been both?") Anyway, I believe that in the

> darshan she was taking away some of the fear that was

> no doubt so obvious to her. That night at Devi Bhava

> I decided to go again. It's pretty hard to resist!

>

> The next day when I went for darshan I had been

> agonizing over these angry questions about the plane

> incident, but I quickly just jotted down two less

> antagonistic questions:

> (1) Does Mother understand all the fears, doubts, and

> worries this airplane mishap has brought up for me?

> She grabbed me again, and while hugging and kissing

> me, rubbed over my heart chakra on my back. (2) Does

> She know that I've always been a nervous flyer and

> that now I'm terrified? With her eyes twinkling and

> shining with joy and a great smile on her face—looking

> very Krishna—her answer, through the interpreter, was

> merely, "Yes!" Laughing Krishna eyes! Even if the

> verbal answer was not what I might have wanted, that

> lovely Krishna face always warms my heart and she

> knows it.

>

>

> 20 Dec 3:00 a.m.

>

> After Devi Bhava, X told me that if I wanted another

> "hit" of Mother I could go out through the upstairs

> (4th floor) dormitory and watch Her walk to Her room.

> So of course I decided to do that. We both went out,

> and lo, there she was down in the "airplane hangar"

> (where the brand new temple is) just sort of standing

> there. We hurried down to try to get near her. Then

> they brought a chair and I was lucky enough to get

> right behind her chair. Then a somber procession came

> toward us, and D said in a hushed whisper, "That's the

> woman whose husband died!" Then Amma got up from her

> chair (with everyone furiously following, of course)

> and went over to this other spot. I had heard just a

> snippet earlier in the day that a man had died there

> and thought that must be pretty lucky. Then the next

> day X told me that it was considered very INauspicious

> to die at an ashram. She didn't know why, I, with my

> oh-so-western pragmatism, figured that if swamis and

> saints told people it was auspicious to die at their

> ashrams, all the old and sick people of India would

> flock there and interfere with their work!

>

> Then six or eight men came bearing the body on a

> litter held at shoulder height. There was a table or

> rack of some kind (I'm not sure which, as it was

> pretty dark) which the litter was placed on. The jaw

> of the corpse was tied shut with a cloth, as I've seen

> in pictures. Ammachi got out of her chair and went up

> and blessed the body and then leaned over it and

> either kissed it or spoke words or both—I couldn't

> tell because it was dark and her back was to me. Then

> (as I recall) there was a group-chanted prayer that

> was pretty long. Then Swamiji did some long

> recitation of names (?) to which our response was "Om

> Parashaktiyea Namaha." When that was finally over, a

> large, strongly- built man, who held what appeared to

> be a freshly hewn coconut wrapped in a towel or napkin

> on his head, followed the torchbearer who led the

> whole procession about two blocks or so to the beach.

> Everyone followed, softly singing "Om Namah Shivayah."

> It was pitch black and very quiet (3:30 a.m.?) and I

> wondered if we weren't disturbing the neighbors, but

> that didn't seem to be a factor.

>

> On the beach a fire pit of some kind had been

> prepared, but they still had to fix the bier,

> especially difficult (or important?) seemed the

> placing of six long poles in the ground and then

> bending them over quite sharply and tying them

> together in pairs so that they formed "x" es with

> quite a lot of pressure. At one point on of these

> pairs snapped the vines or whatever they were using to

> bind them (definitely NOT baling wire!) with great

> force. Finally the fire was lit. It was very dark

> and I couldn't see much. (At one point a car drove up

> and someone got out. I figured it was the local

> police and someone had called the law on us for

> disturbing the peace, but realized even as I had that

> thought that I was applying MY cultural conditioning

> to an entirely foreign culture and event. Nothing

> ever seemed to happen, so I never did know what that

> was about.) I knew Mother was still there because no

> one had left. It turned out she was seated in a chair

> about six feet in front of me. It seemed to me that

> there was something like a coconut shell which

> exploded and flew out of the fire with great force,

> and Mother got up and left, everyone following her. I

> believe it may have been the freshly hewn coconut,

> although I don't know enough about it to say for sure.

> I wondered if the explosion of the coconut signified

> the breaking free of the soul, but of course that's

> conjecture on my part.

>

> In addition to V, Y from Holland is my other roommate.

> She is traveling around India by herself. She's a

> nurse, totally strong, independent, and sure of

> herself.

>

>

>

>

>

> Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

> http://mailplus.

[Guest guest]

---

> there was something like a coconut shell which

> exploded and flew out of the fire with great force,

> and Mother got up and left, everyone following her.

> I

> believe it may have been the freshly hewn coconut,

> although I don’t know enough about it to say for

> sure.

> I wondered if the explosion of the coconut

> signified

> the breaking free of the soul, but of course that’s

> conjecture on my part.

>

 

Namaste everybody! correct me if I am wrong. As for as

my knowledge goes, the only thing which makes

sound(like a blast) during cremation is breaking of

skull. Most of the realtives and freinds only leave

the sceen after hearing this noise, no body leaves

untill the sound occurs, that is untill the skull is

broken. In the end one or two relatives who reamin

back, pickup the ashes in a pot. These ashes are

either dissolved in the river or sometimes in the

memory of the person the ashes are mixed in soil and a

new tree is planted there. It idicates that, as along

as we are alive we depend upon plants for our

existence, but aleast when we die why not we give them

back. In fact human ash is said to be good nutrient.

 

Breakage of skull, signifies relase of our Self

confined in sthula(gross), Sukshma(subtle) and

karana(casual) shariras (bodies) through sahasrara

chakra which resisdes in skull.

 

Moreover your message clearly informs that Ammachi

left only after hearing the sound.

 

Some where I heard that Brahmins have tuft of hair

near the sahasrara chkara, to prevent its openning.

 

By the way the best place to view 24 hours continuous

creamtions in India is none other than Kashi or

Vranasi, at Manikarnika Ghat?. People generelly assume

that it is good sign if one dies in this place, I

observed lot of people moving to this city to die and

spend remining part of their mortal existence here.

Infact I did notice some people practicing brigupatana

or praopavesa(intentionally starving or refraing from

food untill one dies). As soon as one hears the sound

the body is immediatley removed from the cremation

pyre, and next dead body is placed in the flames,

infact hundreds of dead bodies are waiting to be

cremated.

>

>

>

>

> Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up

> now.

> http://mailplus.

>

> Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha!

>

> Ammachi

>

>

> Your use of is subject to

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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