about AMMA

[Guest guest]

Dear friends

below , i have posted a detailed life history of amma

with love

ajoy

 

 

Mata Amritanandamayi is an embodiment of unconditional love, devoted to the

service of all humanity. So open is she, so approachable and accessible, that

people have come to realize in her that archetypal, universal 'Mother-Love', at

once personal yet boundless like a vast ocean, beating softly on the shores of

troubled minds and searching hearts. People from all walks of life seek out the

Mother, as she is affectionately called. She receives everyone in the same

loving way, regardless of his religious faith or non-belief. She welcomes all

alike from the wealthy executive to the leprous beggar, from the newborn babe to

the wrinkled old man, from the hostile detractor to the ardent admirer. As an

untiring servant of all people, her time and life are dedicated solely to

removing the suffering of humanity. No one's concerns are insignificant to her.

All find that her compassion and knowledge unfailingly guide them in their

uncertain lives, and her motherly affection is a soothing balm

to their afflictions. Tak ing each one to herself without reservation, she

moves like a mother with children, bringing solace and peace of mind to all.

This familiar closeness is so deeply moving that many burst into tears as they

experience the radiance of her divine love and compassion and attain a glimpse

of their own true divine nature. She teaches by the example of her own life and

conveys the highest spiritual truths in the simplest language. An inspiring

example of humility, compassion, simplicity, and patience, she has infused

devotion to God, love for fellow beings and the spirit of selfless service into

the hearts of millions.

Sudhamani, as the Mother was called, was born in 1953 to an extremely poor but

pious family in the lush state of Kerala on the west coast of India. Although

she underwent many severe hardships and encountered many obstacles, she sought

solace only in God. Her life was to serve as an inspiring example to the

thousands of people who would later come under her care and guidance. She would

show what it is to be a true seeker and earnest devotee of God, and out of her

love and compassion, she would serve humanity as Mother and Teacher. At the age

of five, she started composing songs of deep mystical significance. Her

enchanting soulful singing became well known throughout the village.

"From childhood I had an intense love of the Divine Name. I would repeat the

Lord's Name incessantly with every breath and a constant flow of divine thoughts

was kept up in my mind no matter the place where I was or the work I was doing."

Required to work long hours in the service of her family, she could not continue

her schooling beyond the fourth year. In addition to looking after all the

household chores, she served the elderly, the poor and the sick in her seaside

village, looking after them as if they were members of her own family. She would

stealthily remove food grains from her family's storeroom and give them to those

who were poorer than herself. One day, not finding anything else, she gave away

her mother's only gold bangle to a poor starving man. She received a severe

beating when her father found out, yet she was happy that she could relieve

someone's suffering.

Sudhamani worshipped God in the form of the cowherd boy Krishna, considered in

India to be a Divine Incarnation born thousands of years ago. She used to carry

a little picture of Him and would tell her sorrows to Him. When she went to

graze the family's cows, she felt that she herself was Krishna and that her

playmates were the cowherds, the childhood friends of the Lord. She was often

seen singing in a mood of ecstatic devotion or blissfully immersed in

meditation. Though her parents were religious, they were just simple folk who

could not understand her unusual behavior. They thought that her deeply

spiritual and overly charitable nature were nothing more than a kind of

eccentricity. However, in spite of repeated obstacles, her love of God and her

spiritual moods continued to deepen. Eventually Sudhamani was locked out of the

house and not even given any food to eat. When sympathetic local women tried to

bring her food and care for her, they were sent away by the family. Some of

the local villagers who could not understand her state of divine bliss

ridiculed her by throwing stones at her. They also placed thorns where she was

to walk and even went so far as to try to poison her. Once someone actually

threatened to stab her with a knife. Yet despite all these threats and abuses,

Sudhamani remained undisturbed, oblivious to the harassment and physical

conditions. She slept outdoors, the sand was her bed, the stars her blanket and

the moon her only light. Animals came to feed her. A dog brought food packets to

her in his mouth; a cow stood near her so that she could drink from its udder.

In due course, Sudhamani attained mystic union with the Lord as the fruit of her

intense spiritual longing. Seeing her in that unusual divine mood, some of the

villagers said to her, "Show us a miracle, for how can we believe that you are

really one with Him?" She replied, "Children, do not ask to see miracles. The

greatest miracle of all is for man to realize his True Self."

Yet out of compassion towards them and to inspire th em with faith, she asked

one of them to bring a little pitcher of milk; when he then dipped his finger

into it, it had changed into sweet jam which was distributed to the hundreds of

people there. This created a vast change in the minds of the people and from

that day on, large crowds gathered around the Holy Mother.

On another occasion, a devotee of the Mother brought her an oil lamp for the

little temple in which she received devotees, but her elder brother, one of her

greatest antagonists, smashed it. Mother then asked her devotees to bring shells

into which water was poured and a wick was placed in each. She asked the people

there to light them and the light from these shells lasted the entire night.

One day, while Sudhamani was sitting alone in a meditative mood, a beautiful orb

of brilliant light appeared before her. As she looked on in wonder, the Divine

Mother emerged from the globe in an exquisitely beautiful form and then

disappeared along with the light as suddenly as she had come. This vision left

Sudhamani with an intense desire to see the Divine Mother again and after many

days of deep meditation and crying to Her, she did see Her again. Following this

experience, Sudhamani withdrew herself from everything and everyone, and

remained immersed in the intense inner bliss of God-Consciousness. But suddenly

one day she heard a voice from within her say,

 

"I am in all as the One Essence and do not have any particular abode. It is to

give solace to suffering humanity that you have come into this world and not

merely for enjoying Divine Bliss. Therefore, worship Me by showing mankind the

way back to Me."

 

This was a turning point in the Mother's life. The following days found her

identified with the lov ing Divine Mother and it was from this time onwards that

people began calling her "Mother."

Since 1981 the Holy Mother has been disseminating spiritual knowledge to a

dedicated group of spiritual aspirants who have come to study with her, training

them with practical spiritual discipline. She feels that the greatest of all

blessings is to rouse an aspirant to the glory of the divinity within. The

awakened man solves all his problems for himself and becomes a blessing to

society. Today her work has blossomed into a worldwide organization, the Mata

Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which is engaged in many spiritual and charitable

activities.

Crossing the backwaters, one arrives at the Mother's birthplace, an island

flanked by these waterways and the Arabian Sea. It was here, around the middle

of 1979, that a number of young educated men and women started coming to the

Mother for spiritual advice. The Mother's home soon became a pilgrimage place

where people came seeking relief from their travails, and thus a small hermitage

or ashram came into being. Today there is a seemingly endless flow of people

from all over the world who come to the ashram to spend as much time as they can

with the Mother, as well as over 200 permanent residents who have made this

their spiritual home. Some come for relief from their problems, while others

find a peaceful retreat where they can meditate under the Mother's guidance;

still others come to take part in her charitable service projects. The Mother

insists that all of the residents or "children" as she calls them, have a

thorough grounding in spiritual practices like meditation,

devotional singing, yoga and scri ptural study. This will give them the

necessary stability and inner peace to deal with the unavoidable ups and downs

of life. But they should also have skills useful for serving the poor and needy.

It is toward this end that all of the work of maintaining the ashram and

attending to the thousands of people who come there is done by the residents

themselves. The Mother feels that only if one works hard and undergoes the

tribulations of the poor, will one be able to serve them properly through a

sympathetic understanding. The Mother practices what she preaches and she

herself joins in all of the work.

"I desire peace for the people; this is what makes me happy. In this world where

so many people live in luxury and comfort, there are many who are suffering

poverty and even starvation. With cooperation and love, we must selflessly serve

the whole world without expecting anything in return."

Mother's compassion for the poor resulted in her assuming the responsibility for

a financially troubled orphanage about 30 miles away from the ashram. The more

than 400 children were starving and lived in filthy buildings on the verge of

collapse. The Mother felt moved by their plight and acquired the orphanage along

with its huge debts. Some of the ashram residents were sent there to clean it

up. They installed electricity and plumbing and fixed the leaking roofs and

floors flooded by the monsoon rains, and for the first time in their lives, the

children were fed with nourishing food. With the material basics taken care of,

emphasis has been laid on their education. Classes in Sanskrit and activities in

music, dance, drama, arts and crafts have stimulated much interest and

enthusiasm among the children. The orphanage is only one of the Holy Mother's

many world service projects. Other charitable activities include a free medical

dispensary, a Vocational Training Center, two Computer

Training Institutes and a fifty-bed hospice for terminally ill cancer patients.

Free medical camps are periodically conducted, and food, clothing and homes are

being provided for the poor. A five hundred bed hospital is to be constructed

next year.

In 1987, some of the Mother's admirers in the West requested her to visit their

countries in order to give those who could not travel to India a chance to

benefit from her holy company. Feeling this to be the Divine Will, she agreed,

and sponsored by the devotees there, visited numerous cities in America and

Europe. Two years later, a residential ashram and retreat center just outside of

San Francisco, the Mata Amritanandamayi Center, was started for those wishing to

lead a monastic life dedicated to spiritual practice and social service in the

West. Classes there are taught daily by one of the Mother's senior disciples who

is in residence. Devotional singing and meditation are also part of the daily

practice in conjunction with the service required to maintain the ashram and the

projects it supports. Since then, similar centers have been established in

Europe and Reunion Island.

 

TO JOIN us please visit::

 

Mata-Amritandamayi/

 

or

 

at

 

Mata-Amritandamayi-

 

with in a day or two u will bemade a meber of the group

 

 

 

 

 

 

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