My Amritapuri Experience: Part 12

[Guest guest]

Continued from Part 11...

 

My darshan done, I made my way off the dais where Amma was seated. I

had to step gingerly over those still shuffling forward on their

knees for their darshans. At this time, I noticed the usual throng of

meditators seated around Amma. Apart from Her attendants, there were

some devotees who sat cross-legged, for varying lengths of time in

Her vicinity, hoping perhaps to benefit from physical proximity to

the Master. I had never seriously meditated before nor had I ever sat

so close to Amma for any length of time. I was tempted to give it a

shot but decided to postpone the trial to another day. This was only

my first day here after all. I was hungry and a little abstracted

with thoughts of the reunion with Amma I had just had after an

interval of four months. I needed to eat (food of the physical kind)

and chew on my thoughts.

 

I exited from the temple and walked towards the Western canteen,

which is situated near the front gate of the ashram. Just before I

got there I met the same Swamiji who had advised us to consult Amma

and seek Her blessings for our child. Perhaps since we had met only

days previously, he recognized me readily and smiled in greeting. I

greeted him in turn with a breezy hello before realizing that I had

fouled up with protocol. The Swamiji to his credit did not convey the

slightest hint about my slip. I should have touched my heart with my

right hand and said "Namah Shivaya" of course, but I forgot. I was

still a relative newbie to this whole spiritual thing. The Swamiji

asked me whether I had managed to meet Amma and convey my story. I

replied in the affirmative and briefly narrated the exchange I had

with Amma minutes before. He took note and then went on his way.

 

Presently I arrived in front of the Western canteen. It seemed little

more than a converted cowshed. It was staffed by a couple of young

Western girls. They had Indian names. My first encounter with the

apparently common practice of adoption of Indian spiritual names by

Western devotees had taken place with my American travel companion

(from the airport to the ashram). That brother had introduced himself

to me using his Indian name. I found myself being mildly amused by

this practice. Later, in my spare moments, I would muse more deeply

about the social and spiritual implications of this process of

acculturation, if that is the `mot juste' in this context. But for

the nonce, I was content to order two vegetarian burgers and fries

while smiling inwardly (in the nicest way, without any mockery) at

the sight of a white-sari clad, young, blonde `Savitri' in the

kitchen shouting out to a 6-foot tall, middle-aged, Western man with

shoulder-length brown hair, worn in a bun that had come half

undone, "Mukunda, your toast is ready."

 

To be continued in Part 13...

 

Om Amriteshwaryai Namah

 

fg

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya,

 

> Presently I arrived in front of the Western canteen. It seemed little

> more than a converted cowshed. It was staffed by a couple of young

> Western girls. They had Indian names. My first encounter with the

> apparently common practice of adoption of Indian spiritual names by

> Western devotees had taken place with my American travel companion

> (from the airport to the ashram). That brother had introduced himself

> to me using his Indian name. I found myself being mildly amused by

> this practice. Later, in my spare moments, I would muse more deeply

> about the social and spiritual implications of this process of

> acculturation, if that is the `mot juste' in this context.

 

I hope you will share your thoughts on this. Like many on this list, I am a

western woman who asked Amma (after 13 years) for a sanskrit name. In fact,

that's what I did when I saw her for the last time at the Ashram and she

refused, saying not enough time and then gave me my name in Santa Fe a few

months later. This list is about the only place I consistently use it,

though a few devotees (some western, some Indian) use it and I enjoy it.

 

I hope others will jump into this thread. For me it was about my

relationship with Amma, another step in surrender, like asking for a mantra.

To outsiders it can seem very cultish. Don't Indian devotees also ask Amma

for a name sometimes?

 

Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah