Guest guest Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 I'll try to be clearer: Compared to SSB's devotees, there are a great many more renunciates among Amma's devotees. Her "many" ashrams are evidence of this. Though there are some long-time residents of Prashanti Nilayam, SSB Generally doesn't teach it COMPARED to Amma's. Yes, I'm aware that the teachings came from those books, I was making the point that if someone were to take the strictist teachings, it gives a different picture, and those particulars are not found in SSB's. The CD rom I mentioned gives more detail about daily life and daily sacrifices. tom Ammachi, Mary Ellen Robinson <mare3 wrote: > > Hi Tom, > You can find some of these teachings of Amma's in the little book, > "Immortal Light" The Divine Mother's Advice to Householders...it is a > charming book, full of information on how Amma feels a householder, or > those of us outside of an ashram, can live their life the right way. She > talks about in the old days in India how every house had a few trees and > a pond nearby, and each house had some basil planted near their front > door. How each garden should have flowers planted for cutting to put on > the altar to offer to God. All animals were fed and watered, as were the > plants, before the householder sat down to a meal. She also recommends > that if you have a tiny bit of space, to plant trees. Amma also talks > about married life in this little book. I didn't feel she discouraged > marriage, but does suggest keeping the number of children down, and as > soon as possible looking at the reason why you have marital relations and > eventually cutting back on the physical intimacies. And she of course > says celibacy outside of marriage is a good thing too. I find many of > these teachings to be informative and helpful. (And yes, many of them are > hard. I have to admit I was surprised to see the advice on laxatives! > hahaha) I guess what I was saying about the difference between Sai Baba's > teachings and Amma's wasn't so much the content, but how the information > was delivered. In Amma's Service, mare > > On Sun, 11 Jun 2006 22:44:17 -0000 "Tom" <tomgull writes: > > Amma too, has stricter less practiced/known teachings (ideals of > > course). I had once found them collected on a German(?) anti- cult > > website. Recognize these stricter teachings? (my paraphrasing > > from memory below) > > > > 1. A sadhak should wear clothing of a single color. (i.e., reduces > > daily mental vacillation) > > > > 2. In the morning when you awake, don't lie there. Rise up on your > > Right Side, then bow down and meditate for a few mintutes. > > > > 3. A (male) sadhak should not look women in the eyes. > > > > 4. A sadhak should take laxatives 2 times a month to assist in the > > removal of excess fecal matter. > > > > It's these types of strict teachings you won't find among SSB's. > > And his path generally encourages married life, versus renunciation > > (internally or externally) like Amma. > > > > I keep forgetting to mention the CD-Rom of "From Untruth to Truth" > > as being helpful in my path. Some people may not care for the > > traditional upbringing of Indians, but there's a good illustration > > of the process of re-incarnation, the construction of temples, etc. > > and other goodies of Sanathana Dharma. > > > > tom > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Ammachi, "Tom" <tomgull wrote: > > I'll try to be clearer: > > Compared to SSB's devotees, there are a great many more renunciates > among Amma's devotees. Her "many" ashrams are evidence of this. > Though there are some long-time residents of Prashanti Nilayam, SSB > Generally doesn't teach it COMPARED to Amma's. > > Yes, I'm aware that the teachings came from those books, I was making > the point that if someone were to take the strictist teachings, it > gives a different picture, and those particulars are not found in > SSB's. > > The CD rom I mentioned gives more detail about daily life and daily > sacrifices. > tom > > ONS, I don't know how often you have been to Prashanti Nilayam, but there are just as many if not MORE renunciates in Sai's path. Its just that they may also be householders. Sai also seems to have kept his promise to focus mostly on India, as his Western mission seems to have cratered. Sai's Indian devotees are "hard core" devotees: extremely dedicated and focused on their spiritual practices. But simple PRACTICE, not talk, seems to be the focus of the Indian devotees I met, since they assume that everybody already knows the "talking points" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Sai's "Indian Devotees" tend to be more hard-core than western ones because there's very little effort to acclimate westerners to the strong Indian background to Sai's teachings/practices, and a general rejection of the thought of changing into a Hindu by westerners. I attended one local 'westerners' satsang (discussion group) once that actually had enough Indians in it to negate any positive effect towards the westerners (ie, the problems unique to western devotees were immediately shot down by the Indians present as not being valid). My point is not that Amma doesn't teach marriage, but if you were to ask any active or formerly active Sai devotee, they tend to see a large difference between Sai's teachings on renunciation (in this usage, "joining an ashram for life") and Amma's. Many people new to Amma, through Sai's teachings, don't like the whole "joining an ashram" mentality as is evident by so many of Amma's numerous ashrams. If SSB focused on such, you'd Obviously see 'branch' ashrams besides PN and Whitefield. I rest my case on that fact. You're forgetting Sai's own teachings about the Dharma of a householder vs. a renunciate (i.e. priorities) which makes things complicated. Even Amma says that a householder renunciate should practice Renunciation from the beginning because it'll be harder to do it later once one is accustomed to the comforts of life. But this also brings up the part that Amma says a real householder makes their house into a virtual ashram, serving the devotees, etc. How many householders really do this? I once talked with a young women tour-staffer who used to live at Amritapuri, and when I asked if she still lived there, she said, "Oh no, I'm married now." And I asked, "But don't married couples and families live at Amritapuri?" tom Ammachi, "ckeniley2003" <ckeniley2003 wrote: > ONS, > > I don't know how often you have been to Prashanti Nilayam, but there are > just as many if not MORE renunciates in Sai's path. Its just that they > may also be householders. > > Sai also seems to have kept his promise to focus mostly on India, as his > Western mission seems to have cratered. > > Sai's Indian devotees are "hard core" devotees: extremely dedicated and > focused on their spiritual practices. But simple PRACTICE, not talk, > seems to be the focus of the Indian devotees I met, since they assume > that everybody already knows the "talking points" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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