Amma has the last laugh!

[Guest guest]

[i can't recall if I've already told the backstory here, so if so, bear with

me...]

 

When I first met Amma, I asked her some questions. Unconsciously, I was testing

her out.

One of the questions was about what my spiritual practice should be. Every time

I read of

someone asking that (e.g., in the Awaken Children books, and devotee stories),

Amma

would respond that s/he should chant Lalita Sahasranama. I remember saying to

myself,

"If Amma tells me to do that, then she doesn't know me at all and I won't EVER

do it!!!!" At

the time, I felt connected to a number of different spiritual traditions and I

wasn't ready to

focus on any one of them to the exclusion of the others. Plus, I'd never managed

to do a

daily solo practice of that length before, regularly. So, Amma foiled my test,

by

responding, with complete graciousness and spaciousness, "Just do something,

anything,

that gives you joy for a few minutes, every day!" I remember thinking, "Oh, no!

She saw

right through my test and she didn't fall for it! She knows me! This is the real

deal!" ;-)

 

So, fast forward some six years later. Just this summer, I started feeling some

inner pull to

the Lalita Sahasranama...and I just had this sense that she was going to have

the last laugh

on me with this one! Showing up for archana that first morning at Amritapuri in

the

temple...I began to fall in love. Of course, being seriously nocturnal, I had a

hard time

waking up at 4:15am in order to get to archana after awhile, despite my best

intentions.

So, one day, I'd just had darshan and asked Amma a difficult question. I was

sitting to

Amma's side, crying, when one of her attendants came up to me and told me she

felt it

would be very good for me to chant Lalita Sahasranama...and I felt it was Amma

speaking.

I'd missed archana that morning, but I decided to go back to my room and try to

chant it. I

was really unfamiliar with it, though, and so I (internally) said to Amma,

"Okay, Amma, if

you want me to chant this, you have to help me out here!" I prayed that the

words arise

from my heart and (ha!) that they flow effortlessly from my tongue....and they

(mostly) did!

 

When I came home from India, I thought to myself, "Well, there's no way I have

an hour

every day to chant archana, but I really want to at least chant it

periodically." I thought to

myself maybe I'd do it on the week-ends, when I have more time. However, I

couldn't seem

to stop! Yesterday, I was so busy, though, that I only listened to the recorded

stotram and

I thought to myself, "Hmm, maybe that's what I'll have to do for the next few

days because

I have so much work to finish and so little time!" -- and that's what I intended

to do.

However, my heart felt otherwise! I was sitting here at my desk, and I felt Amma

staring at

me from one of her pictures that I keep in my office....and I felt this longing

building

inside me, until I couldn't think of anything else. I HAD to chant these 1000

names!

 

So, here I am LONGING to do something I swore I'd never, ever do...and I feel

her laughing!

 

Jai Ma!

Iswari

[Guest guest]

Aaahhh! So perfect! So beautiful!

-

ammasiswari

Ammachi

Friday, September 16, 2005 9:57 PM

Amma has the last laugh!

 

 

[i can't recall if I've already told the backstory here, so if so, bear with

me...]

 

When I first met Amma, I asked her some questions. Unconsciously, I was

testing her out.

One of the questions was about what my spiritual practice should be. Every

time I read of

someone asking that (e.g., in the Awaken Children books, and devotee stories),

Amma

would respond that s/he should chant Lalita Sahasranama. I remember saying to

myself,

"If Amma tells me to do that, then she doesn't know me at all and I won't EVER

do it!!!!" At

the time, I felt connected to a number of different spiritual traditions and I

wasn't ready to

focus on any one of them to the exclusion of the others. Plus, I'd never

managed to do a

daily solo practice of that length before, regularly. So, Amma foiled my test,

by

responding, with complete graciousness and spaciousness, "Just do something,

anything,

that gives you joy for a few minutes, every day!" I remember thinking, "Oh,

no! She saw

right through my test and she didn't fall for it! She knows me! This is the

real deal!" ;-)

 

So, fast forward some six years later. Just this summer, I started feeling

some inner pull to

the Lalita Sahasranama...and I just had this sense that she was going to have

the last laugh

on me with this one! Showing up for archana that first morning at Amritapuri

in the

temple...I began to fall in love. Of course, being seriously nocturnal, I had

a hard time

waking up at 4:15am in order to get to archana after awhile, despite my best

intentions.

So, one day, I'd just had darshan and asked Amma a difficult question. I was

sitting to

Amma's side, crying, when one of her attendants came up to me and told me she

felt it

would be very good for me to chant Lalita Sahasranama...and I felt it was Amma

speaking.

I'd missed archana that morning, but I decided to go back to my room and try

to chant it. I

was really unfamiliar with it, though, and so I (internally) said to Amma,

"Okay, Amma, if

you want me to chant this, you have to help me out here!" I prayed that the

words arise

from my heart and (ha!) that they flow effortlessly from my tongue....and they

(mostly) did!

 

When I came home from India, I thought to myself, "Well, there's no way I have

an hour

every day to chant archana, but I really want to at least chant it

periodically." I thought to

myself maybe I'd do it on the week-ends, when I have more time. However, I

couldn't seem

to stop! Yesterday, I was so busy, though, that I only listened to the

recorded stotram and

I thought to myself, "Hmm, maybe that's what I'll have to do for the next few

days because

I have so much work to finish and so little time!" -- and that's what I

intended to do.

However, my heart felt otherwise! I was sitting here at my desk, and I felt

Amma staring at

me from one of her pictures that I keep in my office....and I felt this

longing building

inside me, until I couldn't think of anything else. I HAD to chant these 1000

names!

 

So, here I am LONGING to do something I swore I'd never, ever do...and I feel

her laughing!

 

Jai Ma!

Iswari

 

 

 

 

 

Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha!

 

 

 

 

 

a.. Visit your group "Ammachi" on the web.

 

b..

Ammachi

 

c..