My Amritapuri Experience: Part 8

[Guest guest]

Continued from Part 7...

 

Before coming down to Amritapuri, I had met Amma (for the first time

in my life) in the country where I reside. My first 'darshan' (I plan

to leave the narration of that event to a later date) took place just

four months prior to my Amritapuri visit. It was only after going

through the first 'darshan' and attendant interaction with other

devotees that I began to grasp the contours of Amma's routine and

methods. I quickly figured out that I wanted to take 'mantra-diksha'

and learnt that it was normally done during 'Devi Bhava'.

 

My first 'darshan' was a quick in-and-out affair and I had not

bothered to stick around for the rest of the program (satsang,

bhajans etc), much less the 'Devi Bhava'. However, soon after Her

departure from my country I found my spiritual hunger increasing. I

wanted to do something, anything to get started on the spiritual

curve. I kicked myself for not taking 'mantra-diksha' when I had the

chance during that first visit. I thought things over and decided I

could not wait for another year to pass before I did something that

at least seemed concrete.

 

'Mantra-Japa' appealed to me more than some of the other forms of

spiritual effort such as 'pooja' or 'seva'. All my life I had been

inclined to view 'poojas' as something of a spectator sport at best

and a nuisance at worst. My visits to temples also had been few and

far between, undertaken with reluctance or under family pressure. As

for 'seva' although I had read enough by then to appreciate that

selfless service was an integral element of the spiritual path, I was

not yet ready to grab a broom or write a cheque.

 

So anyway, the point of that preamble was to explain that one of my

missions in visiting Amritapuri was to take 'mantra-diksha' from

Amma. There were other objectives as well. I have a child with a

serious medical issue and my family (more than I) hoped for some kind

of benevolent intercession from Amma. My wife and child had

accompanied me on my first 'darshan' so the issue had already been

brought to Amma's notice but my wife wanted me to make a second

reference. This (the child's condition) is an issue that absolutely

dominates my wife's consciousness (and also occupies a substantial

part of my own) so I saw no harm in following her suggestion. Also,

prior to my travel, I had consulted with one of Amma's Swamis; he

told us that Amma sometimes asks for sandalwood paste to be applied

and that with Her blessing we might observe some amelioration of our

child's condition. So I had come down to Amritapuri, armed with a

stick of sandalwood and expected to get it blessed by Amma.

 

Apart from these two (major) objectives, I also intended to use my

visit to conduct a deeper survey of the Amma phenomenon. I had been

attracted to Amma via her biography and the "Road to Freedom" books

but now, as I stood on the cusp of a deeper involvement with Amma, I

wanted to check things out in person. My intention was not to conduct

any rigorous kind of study; rather the idea was to absorb, in an

unstructured and amateurish way, influences that would either confirm

my intuition that Amma was my Guru or weaken it. The mission was data

collection, in other words.

 

To be continued in Part 9...

 

Om Amriteshwaryai Namah

 

fg