to Karen

[Guest guest]

Dear sister Karen,

 

Great that you are on the list and posting. I will never forget how

you helped me this summer in Naperville. Thank you.

 

Thank you for your post and good idea about using the timing and

energy of Amma's Birthday to make a good resolution about overcoming

bad habits we may have.

 

Some members of our list will be going to India to attend Amma's

Birthday celebration, and some will be unable to physically attend

the program. I do not know if this is a good idea or not.....but I

will post it and see what others think.

 

Maybe some list members, who can not physcially go to the program

would like to send something small (here I am thinking of maybe a

birthday card and a photo of themselves and family members), along

with a list member who is going to the celebration.

 

For instance maybe Robin would like to send a Birhtday card to Amma

along with pictures of herself and her 2 daughters, that could be at

least be put in Amma's IN mailbox at the celebration. Because there

may be 200,000 people there, it may not be possible to give it to

Amma directly.

It has been my personal experience that Amma knows what is happening

with everyone (in exact detail) all of the time, during Her programs.

 

Small story:

Swamiji Dayamrita has told the story of how Amma called him, during

one of Her programs at San Ramon( I think) and was upset with him

because the toilet was not working. He did not yet know the the

toilet was clogged up, and checked and nobody had told this to

Amma;.....but upon investigating found that it was so..the toilet

was not functioning.

 

In the Chicago program this summer, during the evening programs

there too many people for the darshan hall at the hotel. So, on the

second evening a big screen was set up in another large room of

the hotel, where those who could not be seated in the darshan hall

could go and see Amma.

 

So, Sóley ( 12 yrs. old) and I were doing seva by hold up a large

sign that said OVERFLOW with an arrow on it, directing people to

the additonal room where they could see the live broadcast of Amma

in the darshan hall, on a big screen.

We were positioned in a hallway right outside the lady's bathroom.

 

Swami Dayamrita , on his way to the darshan hall, walked over to us

and said, in a very concerned way, where is the OVERFLOW? Is it it

the lady's room?

We started laughing and said ,"No, no, we are talking about crowd

OVERFLOW, and directing people to another room."

Relieved at our answer he quickly went on his way.

 

In Amma's Love,

Sara

 

 

Ammachi, "karen koerber" <kerbie66@h...>

wrote:

> Om Namah Shivaya,

> I do not know of any specific advice Mother has regarding

addictions, but

> Mother may have uttered something you'd find helpful at this

year's retreat

> in Rhode Island. The subject of sex was addressed to Mother at the

Q & A,

> and Mother was very relaxed with the topic. She said that people

definitely

> have to learn how to deal with their desires, but they usually put

it off

> and say they'll start to try to control them "tomorrow." Mother

suggested we

> not wait to try to conquer those desires anymore. she very calmly

suggested

> we all try to bite the bullet. She only offers a solution, it's up

to us to

> try to take her advice or not. She's not attached. But She does

wish we

> would all make spiritual progress. Also, Mother says that to

change any

> habit, we should always look at the harm of that habit, whether

it's the

> financial or health costs of smoking, for example, where we could

donate the

> new-found money from a renounced addiction...

>

> Also, several years ago I witnessed a sweet scene at one of

Mother's

> programs, where two young (teenage) boys decided to quit smoking,

and

> offered Mother their cigarrettes during darshan.

>

> I think if we all tried to give Mother our addictions for Her

birthday, She

> would be very happy. She wants to help us all, She wants only our

spiritual

> growth, that is the only reason She is here among us. I have

something in

> mind I'd like to renounce on Mother's birthday. I'll share with

the group

> how it's going after I see Mother and do it!

>

> P.S. Mother also states that we have usually inherited our vasanas

from the

> previous birth, and all vasanas are very very hard to uproot. Only

God's

> grace can remove the root of the habit, but we must earn the Grace

with our

> sincere efforts to change.

>

> May Mother Bless all of our efforts and give us the perseverence

we need!

> Om Amriteshwaryai Namaha

> karen

>

>

> >Erica <sugarandbrine>

> >Ammachi

> >Ammachi

> > Addiction

> >Tue, 19 Aug 2003 12:15:36 -0700 (PDT)

> >

> >Namaste to all... _/\_

> >

> >I was wondering if anyone knew of any quotes from Amma

> >on dealing with addictions. How does She suggest we

> >handle addictions? Any words of advice or

> >encouragement would be helpful.

> >

> >With love,

> >Padmakshi

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

> _______________

> <b>MSN 8:</b> Get 6 months for $9.95/month

> http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup