Guest guest Posted October 6, 2003 Report Share Posted October 6, 2003 Re: Mike Booker's statement: "I also doubt that any Pakistanis or Afghanis were in attendance. I would guess that there were actually devotees from no more than 25 or 30 countries, most of them first-world." Mr. Mike, your doubts are so arrogant. Actually women attended from most of the countries, and all of the flags and countries were represented there in the peace procession. RE: the birthday celebration - I am still in Cochin, returning this weekend to Michigan, and let me tell all those who didn't have their bodies in Cochin that Amma's love, sense of humor and healing love is with you all - the party was HUGE. I, for one, had a great time and everything was of monumental proportions, including Amma's love for us all! Ammachi wrote: Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha! Ammachi ------ There are 8 messages in this issue. Topics in this digest: 1. registration for November retreat Mike Brooker 2. Re: Digest Number 959 "Connie Habash" 3. Re: registration for November retreat "E. Lamb" 4. Re: Kenna's report #1--the parade of nations "lbrachlin" 5. Navaratri and Vijayadasami balakrishnan Shankar 6. Kenna's report #3--Prasad from Ram and other highlights from Amritapuri before AV50 Kenna 7. Re: Navaratri and Vijayadasami Kenna 8. Re: Dreaming mantra Miranda Soliz ______________________ ______________________ Message: 1 Sun, 5 Oct 2003 07:39:12 -0700 (PDT) Mike Brooker registration for November retreat Has an online registration form for next months retreats been put up on the www.ammachi.org site yet? If it has, I haven't been able to find it. >From the http://www.ammachi.org/tours/amma-tour/us-2003.html page it isn't clear whether the Michigan retreat will be held at the Holiday Inn Fairlane (site of Nov. 19 public program, and of last year's programs) or the Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport(site of Nov. 22 devi bhava)? Keval The New with improved product search ______________________ ______________________ Message: 2 Sun, 5 Oct 2003 08:19:09 -0700 "Connie Habash" Re: Digest Number 959 Actually, Navaratri started on Sept. 26th this year. That's why the 5th is shown as Vijaya Dashmi. Blessings, Achintya - > > In this year, the dates are from Sep 27th thru Oct 05. > > If you were in India on Sep 27th taking Amma's darshan on her > birthday, then you celebrated the start of Navaratri with darshan > (read "in great and auspicious style")! > > Sep27th thru Oct 05th is actually 9 days only, but for some reason, > the calendar shows that Oct 5th is VijayaDashmi (10th day). There are > some complex astrological calculations which I could not figure out, > whereby 10 days of the festival got crunched into 9 calendar days. > > But, I do know this: > 1st 3 days - Durga Puja > Next 3 days - Lakshmi pujua > Last 3 days - Saraswati Puja (of which I know that Oct 3rd was 8th > day - Ashtami, 4th is 9th - Navami) > > 10th day - VijayaDashmi (Oct 5th) > > If somebody knows more about how 10 days of the festival have been > designated only 9 calendar days, please do explain. > > Jai Ma! ______________________ ______________________ Message: 3 Sun, 5 Oct 2003 09:05:09 -0700 (PDT) "E. Lamb" Re: registration for November retreat Hi Keval, I called the MA Center about this very issue. Unfortunately I chose to call Sept. 27, the day of their Amma birthday celebration. The person who answered the phone said that all the people who really "knew" about the retreats were in India, and the local ones who might know more than she did were getting ready for the celebration that night. So I just bit the bullet and bought a ticket to DTW:), hoping the retreat will be at the Westin at the airport. I called that establishment also, but the desk clerk didn't have the schedule out that far, and the other office happened to be closed then. If anyone else calls, perhaps they could share what they find out with the rest of us! In Her, Jyotsna P.S. I checked last night and could find no on-line registration form either. --- Mike Brooker wrote: > Has an online registration form for next months > retreats been put up on the www.ammachi.org site > yet? > If it has, I haven't been able to find it. > > From the > http://www.ammachi.org/tours/amma-tour/us-2003.html > page it isn't clear whether the Michigan retreat > will > be held at the Holiday Inn Fairlane (site of Nov. 19 > public program, and of last year's programs) or the > Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport(site of Nov. 22 > devi bhava)? > > Keval > > > > The New with improved product > search > > ______________________ ______________________ Message: 4 Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:16:55 -0000 "lbrachlin" Re: Kenna's report #1--the parade of nations Ammachi, Mike Brooker wrote: > I also questioned that 191 figure (i.e. all 191 UN > member states), given that there are a billion people > in China who have never heard about Amma, and the > charter members of the Axis of Evil (Iran, Iraq, North > Korea) likely do not have any Amma devotees among > their citizens. I also doubt that any Pakistanis or > Afghanis were in attendance. I would guess that there > were actually devotees from no more than 25 or 30 > countries, most of them first-world. Om Namah Shivaya, Just returned from Amritapuri...the entire event for me in Cochin and Amritapuri was one of pure grace! I wanted to mention that one of the keynote speakers on the Women's forum was Pakistani. Lisa ______________________ ______________________ Message: 5 Sun, 5 Oct 2003 14:50:25 -0700 (PDT) balakrishnan Shankar Navaratri and Vijayadasami Namah Shivaya Navaratri does mean 'Nine nights'- it is celebrated for 9 nights , but the 10th day is celebrated as VijayaDasami ( literally means 'The victorious Tenth day")- the war between Devi and the demons( our ego and its diabolical assistants like lust and anger) took 9 days- Devi finishes off the demon on the ninth day and emerges victorious on the 10th . My tamil calender says that today ( the 5th) is dasami which means navaratri started on 26th- in any case sometimes two days do get compressed into one depending upon the 'tithi' ( the day of the lunar fortnight)and the moon placement. hereat M.A center we have had beautiful pujas over the past 10 days- the first three days we chanted Sri Durga's 108 names after the sahasrnama, followed by the rocking tune of 'Ayi giri nandhini', the next 3 days we did the 108 name sof Sri lakshmi, and the past three days it was Sri Saraswati's 108 names .. it was very very beautiful... (also personally i think Amma cleared some stuff out for me quite literally- on the 7th day i was down with an upset stomach and spent some time throwing up and- i had to run out of the ashram puja room into the nearest restroom( which was thankfully empty at the time) and i threw up quite violently - seemed like Amma took my prayers for purification quite literally :-) bala Connie Habash wrote: Actually, Navaratri started on Sept. 26th this year. That's why the 5th is shown as Vijaya Dashmi. Blessings, Achintya - > > In this year, the dates are from Sep 27th thru Oct 05. > > If you were in India on Sep 27th taking Amma's darshan on her > birthday, then you celebrated the start of Navaratri with darshan > (read "in great and auspicious style")! > > Sep27th thru Oct 05th is actually 9 days only, but for some reason, > the calendar shows that Oct 5th is VijayaDashmi (10th day). There are > some complex astrological calculations which I could not figure out, > whereby 10 days of the festival got crunched into 9 calendar days. > > But, I do know this: > 1st 3 days - Durga Puja > Next 3 days - Lakshmi pujua > Last 3 days - Saraswati Puja (of which I know that Oct 3rd was 8th > day - Ashtami, 4th is 9th - Navami) > > 10th day - VijayaDashmi (Oct 5th) > > If somebody knows more about how 10 days of the festival have been > designated only 9 calendar days, please do explain. > > Jai Ma! Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha! Ammachi The New with improved product search ______________________ ______________________ Message: 6 Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:42:53 -0500 Kenna Kenna's report #3--Prasad from Ram and other highlights from Amritapuri before AV50 Namah Shivaya. No words to describe the joy of returning to the temple for morning prayers. Now the woman gather in the old temple and several brahmacharinis take turns leading on different days. This practice has been the center of my life since the visit in 2000 and returning to it was utter delight. (The men pray together in the new hall.) After 108 Names and 1000 Names we chanted the Sri Mahisasuramardini Stotram, which can be found in the 2002 Bhajan supplement. Does anyone know when Amma first directed that this be chanted? I think it's significant that it is being chanted now and would appreciate others' perspectives on it. I have continued the practice as part of morning prayers and find it to be a very powerful practice. The last line of each verse is translated as "To You, the whole world is one family." And at the end, that line is repeated several times to the melody of the whole verse. Since it was Friday, Amma came to the temple mid morning and answered questions and gave darshan to new comers. Unfortunately I was still in jet lag mode and can't remember anything of substance from it except the joy of being there again. In the evening after bhajans as Amma left, I joined the small herd of people who dashed from the hall to the area by her apartment to get a good spot to watch her feed Ram, the elephant. This was high on my list because Ram had arrived just after we left in 2000, and I had been wishing so much to meet him. They brought him past the back of hall and into Swami alley just as I got there and I managed to get in behind him as they closed the gate into the alley. A friend led me to the pond side where the crowd was lining up and we weren't far from where Amma stood at the bottom on her steps. There was a wooden gate separating Ram from Her and she fed him handful after handful and it was all simply delicious. She had to give him some medicine, which he didn't like, but which he would take from his beloved mother. Hence my reference in the last post: Amma knows how to get us to take the medicine we otherwise wouldn't take, even though we need it. At the end of the feeding, Ram took water and sprayed some of us. He blessed me with a good spray, and all I could do was thank Sri Ganesh for clearing the way that led me back there. Since a large group was doing the IAM meditation training, there was a need for vegetable choppers, so I joined the vegetable chopping team after morning prayers. What lovely company with whom to be peeling onions and garlic and cleaning beets and potatoes and cabbage! I especially enjoyed meeting Hamsa from Germany and learned that the first IAM meditation taught outside India was there. For some reason I felt to ask him if he had ever dreamed his mantra, because awhile back it occurred to me that dreaming mantra could be an indicator of progress in the practice of japa. And sure enough, he confirmed that during a nightmare, when he was afraid in the dream, he did japa. Wow! How inspiring! Jai Hamsa. Jai Ma! Sunday was to be the last day of public programs for a whole week before we all left for Cochin. Amma had decided to take a break in order to give herself and others more time to prepare and also to give more space to all the AV50 travelers who kept arriving in larger and larger numbers. This was the day Amma dressed me as my own mother never had. The day before at the public program, I was admiring the way the mothers would dress their daughters for darshan. I spent a lot of time studying the way so many Indian mothers are with their small children, so gentle and loving. Witnessing this was very healing for me and helped me grow closer to Amma as a loving mother. Anyway, I was at the Indian grocery for a couple of things and observed a western woman shopping for an outfit for her grown daughter. Here it was again: a mother showing love for her daughter. She examined a beautiful pink punjabi and decided it was too small. Next thing I knew I was buying it and went to put it on before darshan started. It really felt like Amma had arranged it all. I spent a lot of time in the front of the temple letting go of a few more layers before going for darshan. I remember standing in the darshan line mentally asking Amma to please prepare me for the IAM meditation training which I was scheduled to take in a couple of days. The next morning I woke up freezing, barely made it through prayers, and had my roommate summon nurse Prasida. It was eventually decided that I had ecoli infection and I was put on a 5 day round of Cipro, which turned me around in time to actually take the training. I was one of the first. There were many more. We were very well treated. The doctor came to my room. Swami Dayamritaji inquired about me. Many days later, in Cochin, someone told me that once a homeopathic expert was at the ashram developing a remedy to address malaria, parasites and other such problems and Amma called her off of it saying, "You're taking away all my tools." All I can say is, as with the poison bug that flew into my eye on my first visit to the ashram, I never doubted that Amma was giving me exactly what I needed. That it was all her grace. Pranams to my roommates, who went without the fan for a couple of days until I got over the chills. Never expected to be so cold in Kerala! Next: Amma answers some questions and sings in many languages. Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah ______________________ ______________________ Message: 7 Sun, 05 Oct 2003 21:05:10 -0500 Kenna Re: Navaratri and Vijayadasami Namah Shivaya, the sahasrnama, followed by > the rocking tune of 'Ayi giri nandhini' That's what we were doing every morning at the temple! Do the men do it too? Are there any recordings of it? > (also personally i think Amma cleared some stuff out for me quite literally- > on the 7th day i was down with an upset stomach and spent some time throwing > up and- i had to run out of the ashram puja room into the nearest restroom( > which was thankfully empty at the time) and i threw up quite violently - > seemed like Amma took my prayers for purification quite literally :-) How eerie to read this part of your post after what I just posted! In Amma's grace, p. Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah ______________________ ______________________ Message: 8 Sun, 5 Oct 2003 19:59:33 -0700 (PDT) Miranda Soliz Re: Dreaming mantra "For some reason I felt to ask him if he had ever dreamed his mantra, because awhile back it occurred to me that dreaming mantra could be an indicator of progress in the practice of japa. And sure enough, he confirmed that during a nightmare, when he was afraid in the dream, he did japa." About two years ago I started learning about mantra meditation where I was taught that the goal was to be chanting God's name at the moment of death, which is why we should chant always since we don't know when that moment will come. Anyway, I had a dream where a tornado hit and swept me up. I was terrified, and I knew I was going to die. The noise was deafening, and I could see others caught up in it too. Then I remembered what to do! I clearly remember saying, "God, take me gently into your fold." Then I started chanting the mantra I used at the time and the noice subsided into silence. I was still caught in the tornado, but I was full of peace and quiet. It was a GREAT dream! Gabriela --- Kenna wrote: > Namah Shivaya. > > > No words to describe the joy of returning to the > temple for morning prayers. > Now the woman gather in the old temple and several > brahmacharinis take turns > leading on different days. This practice has been > the center of my life > since the visit in 2000 and returning to it was > utter delight. > > (The men pray together in the new hall.) > > After 108 Names and 1000 Names we chanted the Sri > Mahisasuramardini Stotram, > which can be found in the 2002 Bhajan supplement. > Does anyone know when Amma > first directed that this be chanted? I think it's > significant that it is > being chanted now and would appreciate others' > perspectives on it. I have > continued the practice as part of morning prayers > and find it to be a very > powerful practice. The last line of each verse is > translated as "To You, the > whole world is one family." And at the end, that > line is repeated several > times to the melody of the whole verse. > > Since it was Friday, Amma came to the temple mid > morning and answered > questions and gave darshan to new comers. > Unfortunately I was still in jet > lag mode and can't remember anything of substance > from it except the joy of > being there again. > > In the evening after bhajans as Amma left, I joined > the small herd of people > who dashed from the hall to the area by her > apartment to get a good spot to > watch her feed Ram, the elephant. This was high on > my list because Ram had > arrived just after we left in 2000, and I had been > wishing so much to meet > him. They brought him past the back of hall and into > Swami alley just as I > got there and I managed to get in behind him as they > closed the gate into > the alley. A friend led me to the pond side where > the crowd was lining up > and we weren't far from where Amma stood at the > bottom on her steps. There > was a wooden gate separating Ram from Her and she > fed him handful after > handful and it was all simply delicious. She had to > give him some medicine, > which he didn't like, but which he would take from > his beloved mother. Hence > my reference in the last post: Amma knows how to get > us to take the medicine > we otherwise wouldn't take, even though we need it. > At the end of the > feeding, Ram took water and sprayed some of us. He > blessed me with a good > spray, and all I could do was thank Sri Ganesh for > clearing the way that led > me back there. > > > Since a large group was doing the IAM meditation > training, there was a need > for vegetable choppers, so I joined the vegetable === message truncated === Om Namashivaya - In Amma's service, Supriti Omenka Nnadi The New with improved product search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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