Fwd: Br. Dayamrita's retreat at Toronto

[Guest guest]

> Aum Amriteswaryai Namaha!

> For those of you who were not able to attend the

> Retreat with Br.Dayamrita Chaitanya over the

> week-end, here is a detailed account by Savitha.

> -

> savitha ananth

>

>

> Dear Amma Devotees,

> Br. Dayamrita Chaitanya was here in Toronto last

> weekend. It is difficult to capture everything in

> words, but I will try to express some parts of it.

> It was a wonderful event. He arrived in Toronto on

> Sat morning and went immediately for the first house

> visit and then visited our home next. He left our

> home about 2.15 pm, and arrived at the public hall

> around 7.15 pm. We had a very powerful manasa puja

> guided by Swamiji. He was briefly introduced to the

> crowd. He then spoke about Amma saying how it is

> hard to describe Amma fully but he will attempt to

> say a few things about her. He stressed on Amma's

> primary ideals - spreading love and compassion and

> how Amma does it so naturally. Then there was a

> wonderful bhajan session, ending with arati and the

> closing prayers. It was about 11 pm by the time

> dinner was over and the cleaning crew were done with

> their seva.

> The retreat started on Sunday around 10.30 am with a

> nice meditation session guided by Swamiji. Amma's

> 108 names were covered in the meditation both on Sat

> and Sun. Then Swamiji talked about Amma. He talked

> about lineage and how to address questions like

> "What is Amma's lineage?" His explanation was

> beautiful. Amma is the lineage. Everything springs

> from it. Amma's tradition is of the anicent rishis

> of India. Amma is the core of it all.

> Swamiji was generous enough to share some of his

> very personal experiences with us and did not mind

> revealing to us his weaknesses as a sadhak on the

> path, and how Amma worked on him to bring progress.

> Things like how he had a hard time accepting the

> duty of cleaning up the cowshed, and cleaning the

> cowdung and how Amma gave him a piece of her mind

> ... and brought about instant transformation in his

> attitude.

> I'll summarize the key points that stand out in my

> mind. Swamiji came up with these words when he was

> responding to our questions.

> Q.

> Ideally, there is no distinction between a disciple

> and a devotee.

> Q. Assuming that householders with other

> preoccupations like family are devotees and

> renunciates / brahmacharis/ brahmacharinis/ swamis

> are disciples, when will devotees become disciples

> and is there a set transition time ....

> Swamiji gave a very reassuring message to the

> "devotee" group. He said ideally there is no such

> set distinction as a disciple and devotee. A good

> disciple is a good devotee and a good devotee is a

> good disciple. He said that you can live in the

> ashram, call yourself a disciple and yet if you dont

> have the right attitude / dont live by Amma's words,

> then you are no disciple. At the same time, if you

> are a devotee totally caught up with worldly

> responsibilities, if you can discharge your duties

> the best way you can and surrender to Amma, then you

> are no lesser than a disciple who lives in the

> ashram.

> Bottom line: Everything depends on the attitude.

> He said that instead of getting frustrated with our

> household responsibilites, if we could see each duty

> as a seva to Amma, we will find them more fulfilling

> and the people around us will also enjoy and

> appreciate our inner change. He said as an example

> that if we are giving a ride for our kids to an

> activity, we could imagine that we are giving Amma a

> ride somewhere and that will change the way we do

> it. Of course, we should not talk to them as if

> they were Amma ( or) they will think we are totally

> crazy!!!!

> So, depending on our attitude, there is no

> transition time to be a true disciple or it could

> take forever to be a disciple. All that is needed

> is to obey Amma's words.

> Q. When will Amma come to Toronto? Is it

> because there are not enough devotees?

> A. Amma does not weigh anything -

> statistics, riches .... nothing counts for Amma. If

> there is true devotion, she will come, even if there

> is just 1 devotee.

> He gave this beautiful example. ONce on their North

> INdian tour, Amma stopped the bus an hour and a half

> before the normal lunch hour and got off .

> Everybody followed and they could see a nice temple

> surrounded by a few homes. Suddenly Amma said she

> needed to use the bathroom. Swamiji was surprised

> because usually Amma sits for endless hours without

> a break. Anyways, they went around and came upon a

> home with a woman sitting in her front yard and

> asked her if a woman in their troop could use her

> bathroom to which she agreed. Then they informed

> Amma and as Amma approached her home, the lady of

> the house looked up. When Amma came in , the lady

> fell in a swoon right at Amma's feet and cried

> uncontrollably. Amma spent a long time consolong

> her. Later that lady revealed her story. She had

> heard about Amma and was eager to meet Amma,but her

> husband was totally against it. She was unemployed

> and totally dependen! t on her husband - trapped in

> a typical Indian housewife's situation left with no

> choice but to live with it. So she used to pray

> hard that Amma should come to her since she could

> not go to Amma. And it so happened that her husband

> had left the home just before Amma had come!!!

> Q. Is Amma the one for me?

> A. Yes, not only that. Amma and only Amma

> is the only for you!

> That was the most beautful, childlike response

> brimming with love and faith and total trust in

> Amma. We all enjoyed his response.

> He said that we could go shopping, but finally like

> a cow that is tied to a pole, we have to come back

> to our spot. WE have an apparent freedom like this

> cow, but the freedom is limited to the length of the

> string that is tied to the cow's neck and the pole.

> In the end, we all have to merge in Amma. And smart

> people use other's experiences to make their lives

> easy. So they could use all these narrations and

> experiences of all these other devotees to come to a

> quick and easy conclusion instead of wasting time

> and effort.

> The second set of bhajans were also beautiful. We

> finished off with an arati and closing prayers. The

> retreat was a feast for us since we have not had a

> retreat all of last year in Toronto.

> That's all for now.

> With lots of love

> Savitha

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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