Unforgettable Memories by Swami Purnamritananda Puri

[Guest guest]

Aum Amriteshwaryai Namah,

Aum Namah Shivaya,

 

People are usually eager to flaunt their insignificant talents before others,

but mahatmas mask their sublime greatness and revel in the world. Occasionally,

something overflows from their brimming pots and we take it in, utterly amazed.

 

" Why do mahatmas hide their glory and act like ordinary souls? " I once overheard

a devotee asking Amma this question.

 

Amma's answer was a counter question. " Why do police officers sometimes disguise

themselves during investigations? At times, they may even act like thieves. "

 

I have often felt that Amma is like one of those police officers. She has

assumed the human uise solely to bind us with Her love.Why should She bind us?

To free us from the shackles of all other attachments. To make us eternally

free. To help us attain the abode of Peace.

 

Even though Amma tries hard to conceal her true nature, her efforts do not

always succeed, particularly with her children who tail her like a shadow. This

is why the ashram residents get numerous opportunities to encounter personally

at least a little of Amma's glory.

 

I remember an incident that took place after I had become an ashram resident.

One dawn, when I emerged from the kalari after my arccana and meditation, I saw

Amma seated on the veranda, writing something hurriedly. I slowly walked to

where she was. With one hand, Amma hasatily covered what she had been writing.

Looking at me, she said, " Son! Don't come here now! " I obeyed.

 

However my curiousity was aroused. What could Amma be writing? Let me wait until

she has finished, I decided. Over the next few hours, Amma filled up two 80-page

notebooks. I went near Amma again and asked , " Amma, what were you writing? "

" Nothing, son. "

" Nothing? But I saw you writing furiously, filling up two books! "

 

Amma merely smiled and said " I don't remember. "

 

" The events of millions of years gone by rose up within me " -Amma had written

this line in a poem she penned years ago. How could someone who could recall

everything that had transpired over lifetimes not remember something that took

place moments before? My appetite for finding out what amma had written was

whetted!

 

Without further comment, amma picked up the books and ran away! I searched

everywhere, but could not find her. I knew Amma could become invisible if she

chose to. But why had she run away with those books? So what if I read those

books? I saw Amma only much later, at dusk. She was lying in the coconut grove,

in deep sleep. I searched the whole ashram premises for those books but could

not find them. Finally, I gave up the idea of finding them.

 

Many months passed. Once, while cleaning the hut Amma was staying in, a wooden

trunk caught my eye. Ants were coming out of it from all four sides. When I

opened it, I saw the books Amma had written. I felt so grateful to the ants for

leading me to the books! I picked up the books. When I opened one of them and

read the first page, I was stunned! Amma had explained the most recondite and

profound mysteries of the universe in surpassingly splendid language. Those

lines were brimming with unbelievable poetic beauty. While reading the next

page, I became aware that Amma was walking toward the hut from a distance. I put

the books back where they had been.

 

At that time, a devotee from Trivandrum who used to come ito the ashram had

recast some of Amma's ambrosial utterances as epigrams. He obtained permission

from Amma to publish them. It was to be the first ashram publication. How nice

it would be, I mused, if the contents of those books Amma had written could be

included in this publication. Let people realize who Amma really is.

 

I quickly went into the hut, opened the truck and took the books out. Suddenly,

Amma appeared from out of the blue. She snatched bothbooks from myhands. I tried

hard to snatch them away from her. Even though I knew there was no way I could

defeat the personification of Omnipotence in any wrestling match, I did not

later want to regret not having tried to get those books! Having defeated me

effortlessly, Amma seized the books from my hands. She tore them into pieces and

flung them into the backwaters. However, when Amma tore the books away from me,

some pages had remained in my hands. I dashed away with those pages, consoling

myself with the thought that I had managed to get at least something! Those

pages later appeared under the heading 'Amrta Upanishad' in the first edition of

the ashram's first publication.

 

If we read what Amma has sculpted with the expert hands of the divine

wordsmith-among other things, of how the sould enters the womb and suffers under

the weight of its karmic burden, remembering the sins of the past;how it calls

out to God in total surrender; how it comes to earth with a body bearing the

burdens of pleasure and pain; and how it roams through life, which is an amalgam

of pain and pleasure-it will become clear that Amma is omniscient; no other

proof is needed.

[AlisaDonner]

I have not been able to put this book down, such a wonderful account of the early years with Amma and the experiences he had in becoming a devotee.