Fwd: Amritavani # 166 ~ English ~ the eVoice of Amma

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Ôm

Amriteswaryai Namah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

eVoice:-

nº 166

Mata

Amritanandamayi Math,

Amritapuri, India

15th February 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this Amritavani

Ø- Around Amma: Amma Won't Let You Sleep

Ø- Around Amma: As With Vivekanada, So With Amma

Ø- Mothersite: Amritapuri Updates

Ø- Mahayatra - Itinerary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amma's Words

Amma

Won't Let You Sleep

 

 

 

 

 

Shivaratri Celebrations, 16 February 2007 —

Amritapuri

 

 

Sanatana Dharma has two types of festivals:

festivals of rejoicing and festivals of austerity. Shivaratri is typically

considered a festival of austerity—a night wherein food and sleep

are forgone so that one can spend their time in remembrance of the divine.

But with Amma, there are no black and whites. And who is to say austerity

and rejoicing cannot go hand-in-hand?

 

 

 

It has been a long time since Amma has been in

Amritapuri during Shivaratri. For the past 20 years, Amma has almost

always been travelling as part of her Bharata Yatra during the festival.

And Amma's India Tour is nothing but Shivaratri after Shivaratri after

Shivaratri—night after night of devotees and disciples trying to

keep up with Amma as she gives darshan from dusk till dawn. As such, when

Shivaratri proper comes around, not much is made of it.

This year Amma's Bharata Yatra started a little later

than usual, so the Shivaratri fell in between the first and second leg of

the tour. On the auspicious night, the ashram residents assembled in the

bhajan hall around 10:00 and began singing songs of Lord Shiva. It was

only after a couple such songs that Amma came from her room to join

everyone.

" How long is Shivaratri? " Amma asked

everyone. Was Amma asking how long tradition dictates one stays physically

awake on the holiday or was she asking how long her children were going to

remember God?

Amma then began to lead everyone in bhajans dedicated

to Lord Shiva. One of the bhajans Amma sang was " Prabhum Isham, "

a very old song that Amma herself has not sung in many, many years.

After singing three or four songs about the Lord,

Amma stopped and began talking about the significance of Shivaratri.

" How many days are there in one year? " Amma

asked.

" 365, " everyone replied.

" So, God is watching over you 365 days a

year, " Amma said. " But Shivaratri is the one night wherein we

are asked to sacrifice and watch over God, taking a vow of fasting and

maintain vigil at night. God is always present within us—wide awake.

We, on the other hand, are fast asleep. This is why we are unable to

recognize the divine presence. All the different experiences of life are

just like the dreams we experience in our sleep. If we really want to

experience that divine presence, we need to forgo sleep as an act of

renunciation for at least one day. "

" Food and sleep are the most important things to

us. No one is ready to give them up just like that. Only when we develop a

liking for remembering God will we be able to fast and forgo sleep without

suffering. "

Amma then said that staying awake does not mean just

merely keeping the eyes open, but means maintaining awareness of one's

thoughts, words and actions. " Ignorance disappears with the dawning

of such awareness, " Amma said. " Darkness is not something that

can be physically removed. But when we let in light, darkness

automatically ceases to exist. In the same way, when true knowledge

awakens, the darkness of ignorance disappears. Then we awaken to eternal

light. "

Amma then related one of the Puranic stories from

which comes the significance of staying awake all night on

Shivaratri—the time the demons and the gods churned the ocean in

order to obtain amrita [the nectar of immortality]. " When

they did this, the first thing to come to the surface was a deadly

poison, " Amma said. " It is said that Lord Shiva drank this

poison in order to protect humanity from it. Here, the dreaded poison

represents our prarabdha karmas1. Lord Shiva, in the

form of the Guru, accepts our prarabdha and protects us. "

Amma then told another element of the story, saying

that in order to protect Lord Shiva from the poison, everyone around him

maintained vigil throughout the night. Amma explained how when someone is

bit by a snake, the doctor will force him to stay awake as to do so

lessens the effect of the poison and can ultimately save his life.

" To prevent the snake-bite victim from falling

asleep, his friends and family will sing and dance and pour water over his

head, " Amma said. " They will also make him drink bitter

medicines. Onlookers may feel sorry for the patient. They might even say,

‘Poor guy! Just let him close his eyes for a while! Why are you

troubling him like this?' But the doctor knows that if he is allowed to

fall asleep that he may die. "

Amma said that the Guru is like this doctor. He will

do anything and everything to keep us awake. We may not like it. He will

make you drink bitter medicines in the form of experiences. But all this

is done with the our higher good in mind—to awake us and keep us

awake. Amma said that this is why people consider the guru their

enemy.

" Unfortunately, many prefer to remain in

darkness, " Amma said. " If God were to come before them and offer

them liberation now itself, they would say, ‘Now, we want to watch

TV. Will you please come later?'

Some of the devotees and disciples gathered for the

holiday expressed disagreement, not wishing for Amma to think they

considered her their enemy. Amma laughed and said, " We'll see. Amma

will test. " And then Amma snapped her fingers a few times, indicating

how confident she was that they would consider her the enemy once she

started her tests.

" Lord Shiva is the k?la-k?lan [the

death of time], " Amma said. " This means that he removes the

time-bound notions that ‘I was born, am growing and will die,' and

bestows the awareness of eternity. "

Amma then explained that people often turn towards

God when they undergo a lot of hardship and sorrow in life. In those

moments, they often come across the light of God. But to maintain this

vision, we must maintain alertness, " Amma said.

Amma then explained the inner meaning to why Shiva's

eyes are always half-closed: " Even when mahatmas see the external

world, their eyes remain focused on their True Self. They see the world

verily as their Self. Their wisdom is clearly expressed in all their

actions. "

 

 

 

Amma concluded by saying that Shivaratri also

represent the marriage of Lord Shiva, the embodiment of knowledge, and

Parvati Devi, the embodiment of pure love. " One attains completeness

when knowledge and love come together. May my children's hearts also

become full of true knowledge and love. May my children be become the

light of the entire world. "

 

 

When Amma finished her talk, it was almost 1:00 a.m.

" What now? " Amma asked. Someone suggested that Amma should

dance. But Amma had an idea of her own—the promised testing was bout

to begin— " One of you should dance! " Amma said. Eventually

her eyes fell on one brahmachari from Kashmir—the land of Shaivism.

He agreed. He rose to his feet, stood before Amma and offered his

pranam. The music started: " Bolo Bolo Sabmilla Bolo Om Namah

Shivaya. " For the next 20 minutes Amma and the ashramites sang the

ecstatic song in praise of Lord Shiva while the brahmachari offered his

devotional dance to Amma—in front of 5,000 people. It seemed like

Amma would sing the bhajan all night long. She just kept going

and going, calling out louder and louder, raising the tempo faster and

faster.

It was the middle of the night, but everyone in

Amritapuri was wide awake—inside and out.

Was Shivaratri in Amritapuri a festival of austerity

or of rejoicing?

—Kannadi

******

1 The results of our past actions that are

destined to bear fruit in this life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Around Amma

As

With Vivekanada, So With Amma

 

 

Bharata Yatra 2007, 6 February 2007 — Ramnad, Tamil

Nadu

 

 

After the maha-samadhi of his guru, Sri

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda wandered for several years

throughout the length and breadth of India. Towards the end of this period

of parikrama, the spiritual visionary met two kings who

encouraged him to act upon his idea of going to America in order to

propagate Vedanta—the Maharaja of Mysore, and Bhaskara Setupati, the

ruler of Ramnad [a.k.a. Ramanathapuram].

 

 

 

Both kings offered to bear all of Vivekananda’s

travel expenses. Swamiji left for America in 1893, where he won over

countless hearts and minds through his discourses at the Conference of

World Religions in Chicago. Swamiji returned to India in 1897. When

Vivekananda came through Ramnad on his journey homeward, the horses

carrying his carriage were unhitched and Bhaskara Setupati and the people

of Ramnad drew Swamiji through the streets themselves—such was their

respect and devotion for the dynamic samnyasin.

On 6 February 2007, during Sri Mata Amritanandamayi

Devi’s first darshan program in Ramnad, Sri. Hassan Ali, a Ramnad

MLA, addressed the 15,000-strong gathering. In the presence of Amma and

the current Raja of Ramnad, Sri. Kumaran Setupatti, Hassan Ali reminded

everyone of Swami Vivekananda’s historic visits to Ramnad more than

100 years prior. He also said that that Bhaskaran Setupati had deputed his

grandfather to see Swami Vivekanada off to America and to welcome him upon

his return to India soil.

“Today, we are having with us one of the best-born of

India,” he said of Amma. “Ramnad has been identified as the

most backward district in Tamil Nadu—only in material, not in

spiritual. Vivekananda came to Ramnad during the time of Bhaskar

Setupatti, then King of Ramnad. And during his time, one man was deputed

to send Vivekananda to America. His name was Lembe Nena Marakkayar

… and I am his great grandson. He welcomed Vivekananda. Today, I

welcome Mata here. Mata, welcome to our place.”

Lauding Amma as a spiritual master and humanitarian, and

specifically thanking her for the Amrita Kuteeram houses the Ashram has

built in Rameswaram, Hassan Ali asked everyone to join with him in prayer.

“May I request you all to pray with me that Mata gets the Noble

Peace Prize next time,” he said.

 

 

 

Sri. Suba Thangavelan, Minister for Housing and

Slum Clearance, Sri. Muthu Swami, the District Collector of Ramnad; and

Bhavani Rajendar, MP, were also on hand to welcome Amma to Ramnad. The

government officials helped distribute pension checks to widows and

handicapped people as part of the Ashram’s Amrita Nidhi Project, as

well as distributed sewing machines to impoverished women in order to help

expand their financial horizons. This marked the inauguration of the

Amrita Nidhi Project in Ramnad, with a 1,000 beneficiaries being allotted

in the area. A total of 100 sewing machines and accessory kits were

distributed.

 

 

Many of the devotees present for the program were from the

Ashram’s Amrita Kuteeram housing colony in Rameswaram, which is

situated 59 kilometres from Ramnad.

Darshan continued on until 10:45 the next morning.

—Kannadi

 

 

 

 

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Mothersite

 

 

Amritapuri.org

Updates

 

 

 

 

Darshan by The

Sea

Tiruvananthapuram:

30 Photos

The Goddess of

Kanya Kumari

Kanya

Kumari: 18 Photos

Ramanathapuram: 17 Photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mahayatra

Itinerary of Amma

 

 

Amritapuri

Feb 13 - 23

Mananthavadi Brahmasthanam, Kerala

Feb 26-27

Mysore Brahmasthanam, Karnataka

Mar 1-2

Bangalore Brahmasthanam, Karnataka

Mar 4-5

Hyderabad Brahmasthanam, Andra Pradesh

Mar 8 - 9

Pune Public Programme , Maharashtra

Mar 11

Pune Brahmasthanam, Maharashtra

Mar 13

Mumbai public program, Maharashtra

Mar 15

Mumbai Brahmasthanam,Maharashtra

Mar 17 -18

 

For details of all other programmes, please visit Mahayatra

 

 

 

 

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Ôm Namah

Shivaya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

eDharma

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