New to Ammachi

[Guest guest]

I see from your email that you're in the UK. Amma will be coming there next

fall. Until then, you might sign up at

AWAKENCHILDREN and read the archives.

 

 

on 2/7/05 6:04 AM, jenny ruskin at jennyruskin wrote:

 

>

>

> Dear Devotees,

>

> just wanting to know more about Amma really. I'm not new to Hinduism or

> following a spiritual path, have been worshipping Krsna for about 26 years.

> But.. have never found (or been found by ) a Guru. Hearing or Amma, watching

> her video lent to me and attending a satsang recently I am very attracted to

> this amazing person. I would like to know more, would like to know how others

> came to her and what your experiences are. also is there anyoine near the

> Bath area I can meet with. Are there any groups that meet for bhajans or

> meditation? I intend to take the IAM course but it's not until the summer and

> I would so love to have more contact and knowledge of Amma before then. Any

> replies appreciated.

> Jaya Radhe

> Jenny

[Guest guest]

Dear Jenny,

 

it is very nice to have you on our List.

There are many wonderful stories in previous posts on our List.

I will look for them and point them out. Best Wishes,sarama

 

One such beautiful posted message about Amma and Krishna

is Message 3932 ,

from: balakrishnan Shankar

Wed Jul 2, 2003 1:13 pm

Tour update- conversation with Amma 06/20/03

 

Namah Shivaya all,

It has been a divine time with Amma so far on the tour . I managed by

Her grace to attend Her programs starting with the Seattle retreat and

the evening programs at San Ramon . Amma is as usual ever fresh and

beautiful . I guess most of you would have kept up with the updates at

Amma.org . I want to repeat here a wonderful conversation some of my

friends and I had with Amma on the night of June 20th here in San

Ramon. I had just been telling some friends about how nice it would be

if I could just walk up to Amma and talk to Her from the side ...

well that night She answered my prayer- I went up to Her on the side

to ask a personal question- then sat there and with a few

friends next to me had a conversation with Her for the next couple of

hours that has filled me up with all the answers that I perhaps ever

need.

 

Here is what happened.

As i was sitting next to Amma, the conversation somehow went to the

topic of householder devotees. As many of you know, Amma usually jokes

about married life being like a bullock cart- one of the spouses is

the bull that draws the cart, the other spouse is the cart and the

children are the luggage the cart carries.

Amma sometimes jokingly asks people to get married and says ' Mattu

vandi ottura'-"Go drive the bullock cart".

She had just joked like that with someone- and someone asked Her

"Amma, if the spouses are the bull and the cart respectively, WHO IS

THE DRIVER?"

 

Amma replied " LIFE!"

 

Amma then said "Life is the driver. Life will give you blows and teach

you how to pull the cart!"

 

At which point I asked : "Amma if YOU drive the cart then there is no

problem isnt it?"

 

Amma replied " YES. BUT NO ONE WANTS TO GIVE ME THE ROPE TO CONTROL

THE CART. THEY RUN AWAY BEFORE I CAN TIE THE ROPE ON THEM".

 

She was referring to the rope that the bull is tied with- in India you

will see the bullock carts with the rope tied through the bull's nose.

 

Amma said "They run away before I can tie the rope"- meaning very few

surrender to Her and allow Her to drive the cart .

So I asked Her " Amma how does surrender( saranagati) happen?".

 

Amma replied "When you are hungry You will eat"-( I took it to mean

that when you are hungry for God, surrender will happen).

 

Amma then added "When you are hungry you will eat.... Saranagati-

...... that is very difficult".

 

My friend Ullas asked Her "Amma if husband and wife are both spiritual

minded, then isnt spiritual life possible after marriage?"

Amma replied " Valara nalladu- thats very nice. if both of them are

spiritual minded then thats a very happy circumstance- very good . But

they shouldn't increase their attachments. - If they start having

children and distract themselves with attachments, then that may lead

to problems". Amma probably referred to the fact that there are many

householder disciples of Hers who practice celibacy and lead spiritual

lives or practice celibacy after having their first child .

 

At this point in the conversation, Nandu walked in and the topic

changed to Vedanta.

 

Amma saw Nandu and said "Oh the vedantin has walked in" - and then

asked him "What is vedanta?"

" Amma doesn't know any vedanta.. People merely read books and preach

vedanta without practicing ".

 

I said "Amma- you see the Yourself in all beings and hug them all-

isnt this vedanta?- what you do is vedanta in practice".

 

Amma ignored that comment and spoke again :

 

"Some people read books and they dont practice anything- they mere

mouth'vedanta'. They say 'I am not the body' but their mouth waters if

they see a delicious dish - they merely read books, dont do sadhana,

lose their tempers all the time, dont cultivate virtues, ... and call

themselves vedantins'.

 

( I was wondering if She was referring to me! )

 

Amma continued" Even Ramana Maharishi , who is accepted as a great

vedantin talked about puja and japa- in his work the Upadesa Saram ,

Ramana says first the aspirant starts with puja, then japa, then

tapas- then only when the mind is in 'leenasthithi'- in an absorbed

state does the time come for Self enquiry'.

 

'People read vedanta, and decry bhakti- but they walk around

Arunacahala like Sri Ramana did- isnt that bhakti- seeing God in a

stone?"

 

" In the olden days the Guru used to make the students study the

shastras for 20 years. Only after 20 years of study, to a few selected

worthy disciples the Guru used to give the Brahma Sutras- ( vedantic

text on brahman). But nowadays people just buy a copy of the brahma

Sutras and read them and dont practice anything".

 

Amma then gave a few startling comments on Her own role- " In Ramana

Maharishi's case a few advanced disciples came to Him and asked him

spiritual questions. So he talked vedanta to them. In Amma's case

thousands come- and they ask Me all sorts of questions-what job to

take, should i buy a house, can i get a girlfriend etc etc- how can I

talk vedanta to them?- all kinds of people come to Amma- doctors,

lawyers, engineers, clerks-prostitutes, thieves ......

Can Amma start talking vedanta to all of them? Amma has to come to

their level and talk to them".

 

Amma again said " I have descended into the market place".

( the crowd laughed ).

"I am not selling diamonds now- i have to start selling trivial

things, then give people the diamonds when they are ready for it".

 

Then Amma drew a great comparison - "Krishna was also like this- He

had to talk to everyone about their dharma- to the student, to the

teacher, to the soldier etc.. He too had to deal with the masses".

 

I felt this was a great comparision and just then the conversation

literally took off :

 

Nandu asked Amma:" Amma, some people say that realizing God is greater

than Realizing Brahman. Is this true?"

 

Amma said" No they are the same- but one can have a vision of God-

Iswara Darsan but still not give up the ego and be fully realized-

like Namdev".

 

( Amma was referring to the saint Namdev who used to visions of Sri

Krishna but still did not give up his ego- he became fully realized

only after that).

 

At this point, by sheer grace , I was inspired to ask what i think is

THE question of my life:

" AMMA, YOU TALK ABOUT PEOPLE WHO GET A VISION OF GOD- ISWARA DARSHAN-

AMMA, WE ARE SEEING YOU NOW IN FRONT OF US- WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN SEEING YOU AND HAVING A VISION OF GOD?"

 

AMMA looked at me and very simply and spontaneously replied :

"That depends upon your Manobhava- attitude . ..... Arjuna saw Krishna

only as a friend- but later on when he realized the truth, he saw

Krishna as God".

 

We were all stunned by the answer. I was blown away by the utter

simplicity of the reply- The comparision again between Krishna and

Herself- and the reference to Arjuna's point of view.

 

Pressing the point, I asked another question:

"Amma, then how how does one develop the attitude to see you as God?".

 

Amma replied " GET LOST!" ( in tamil She said 'Nee Poda ".) "Amma

doesnt want anyone to see Her as God. On the contrary Amma wants to

see all of you as God and worship you as such. Today people will call

me God- tomorow they will call me something else. Amma knows who has

real faith and who is giving mere lip service-when Amma tests them,

then the truth will come out -if they really feel what they say. Amma

is not interested in anyone calling Her God".

 

The conversation ended there - frankly i was too stunned by that reply

of Hers. Basically She was saying that like Arjuna saw Krishna as a

friend first we are seeing Her as a normal person. But when he

realized the truth He saw who Krishna really was. Similarly ,

depending upon our manobhava, Amma is either a simple lady from India-

or if we realize the truth- we will see who She really

is - a manifestation of God.

 

Jai Ma

bala

-----------------

------------------------------

 

> Dear Devotees,

> just wanting to know more about Amma really. I'm not new to

Hinduism or following a spiritual path, have been worshipping Krsna

for about 26 years. But.. have never found (or been found by ) a

Guru. Hearing or Amma, watching her video lent to me and attending a

satsang recently I am very attracted to this amazing person. I would

like to know more, would like to know how others came to her and what

your experiences are. also is there anyoine near the Bath area I can

meet with. Are there any groups that meet for bhajans or meditation?

I intend to take the IAM course but it's not until the summer and I

would so love to have more contact and knowledge of Amma before then.

Any replies appreciated.

> Jaya Radhe

> Jenny