AMMA SAYS - STORIES & JOKES

[Guest guest]

OM AMRITESWARYAI NAMAH

 

AMMA SAYS - STORY

 

An Incarnation is among you

 

"There is an old story about a group of monks who lived in a

monastery with their master. The monks led a very devoted and

disciplined life. The place had such a wonderful, spiritual

atmosphere that people flocked there from far and wide. But one day

the master left his body. To begin with, the disciples continued in

the same way as they always had; but little by little they began to

slacken, their devotion and discipline gradually disappeared and the

monastery fell into a state of neglect. People stopped visiting and

no new monks wanted to join the place. All the monks felt deeply

discouraged. They often argued with one another, their hearts were

dry, and they no longer felt any love or devotion."

 

"One day, a senior monk decided that something had to be done. He

had heard of a spiritual master who lived as a hermit in a nearby

forest. So he left the monastery and went to look for him to seek

his advice. When he found the master, he told him about the

neglected state of the monastery and its desperate condition. The

master smiled and said, 'There is one among you who is a great

saint, a true incranation of God Himself. The residents are not

showing him any love or respect, and that is the cause of all your

problems. But the incarnation of God is living with you in

disguise . He will not reveal his identity.' Having said this, the

master closed his eyes and went into samadhi. The monk could get no

more information out of him."

 

"On his way back to the monastery, the monk kept wondering which one

among his brothers the incarnation could be. 'Could it be the monk

who washes our clothes?' he thought to himself. ' No it can't be

him, for he has too much of a bad temper. Could it be the cook?' he

wondered. 'No, it can't be the cook because he is far too sloppy in

his work and he doesn't know how to cook good food.' Thus, he went

down the list of all the monks, dismissing each one of them with

some bad quality that he had seen in that monk. But suddenly he

thought to himself, 'it has to be one of the monks, because the

master said so. But I cannot see who it is, because I am only seeing

the faults of each one of them; and what if the Holy One is

deliberately showing some fault in order to better disguise himself?'

 

"As soon as he reached the monastery, he told his brothers the great

news that the master had made known to him. They were all astonished

and looked intently at each other, trying to discover who the divine

incarnation might be (each one knowing it was not himself). But as

they looked around they could only see their brothers who they knew

so well, with all their faults and blemishes. There was a big

discussion among them about who the Mahatma might be. They finally

decided to make an effort to respect each other, and to be kind and

humble towards each other, because they had no idea who the

disguised Mahatma could be, and they didn't want to be disrespectful

and arrogant towards a Master. All the monks agreed that this was an

excellent idea. From then on they started treating each other very

differently, with great respect and kindness; for they never knew if

the monk who stood before them was the Mahatma; and making every

effort to see only the goodness in everyone, they began to love each

other dearly."

 

"Not knowing which one of the monks the Holy One might be, they

could not help but imagine they could see Him in every one of their

brothers. Through the love that filled their hearts the bondage of

negativity, which had bound them for so long, dropped away. They

gradually began to perceive the Holy One clearly, not only in each

other, but everywhere - even within themselves - and they attained

the state of eternal freedom. The atmosphere of the monastery

changed completely, and people began to return there to drink in the

love and the divinity that permeated the place."

::

AMMA SHARANAM