Amma's mysterious grace

[Guest guest]

> "When someone steps on a thorn, he becomes upset. But there is a

> ditch just beyond and the thorn saved him from breaking his leg by

> falling into the ditch. Because of the thorn in his foot, he took his

> steps carefully, so he did not fall into the ditch. A devotee must

> see unhappy experiences in this light."

 

Namah Shivaya dear Siblings in Amma

 

Am several hundred messages behind due to attending to the passage of my

father, by Amma's grace.

 

The above message from early in the year, reminds me of a message I'd been

wanting to write for some time.

Remember the story about Amma stepping on the needle at the birthday

celebration?

While at the IAM training in MI, I learned that it was not the day after her

birthday, but the day before (the day She met with the CEO's) that it

occurred. Some people noticed that Amma seemed to be somewhere else during

Her birthday, and one explanation was that she was having to take medicine

to avoid infection for the wound and was in a lot of pain.

 

It just occurred to me that the elephant Ram was taking medicine for an

injury to his foot just before the celebration. Hummm...

 

Anyway, a story Swami Ramakrishnananda told in his book Racing along the

Razor's Edge made me think of the needle event.

 

"God's grace or the Guru's grace can also mitigate our negative karma. Once,

some brahmacharis went with Amma to hold a program in Kottayam, a city some

distance from the ashram. On the way back, we visited a house in a small

vilage at the request of the devotees living there. Amma conducted a puja in

their house, and after the puja She spent some time talking with the

family.

They were overjoyed to have Amma visit their home. At one point Amma became

introverted, and the room fell silent. Suddenly, Amma got up and walked out

the back door without a word of explanation. It was already three or four in

the morning and pitch black outside. The father of the house rushed to bring

Her a flashlight to light Her way, but by the time he brought it, She was

already out walking through the mango grove in the backyard. As he didn't

want to disturb Her, he followed at a slight distance and shone the light at

Her feet.

 

Amma returned to the house about ten minutes later. Right away everyone

noticed that one of Her toes was bleeding; She must have cut Her foot while

walking in the dark. The family was very upset and did everything they could

to clean and dress the wound properly. Then the brahmachris accompanied Amma

back to the ashram.

 

One day, a few months later, this family came to visit Amma at the ashram.

They told Amma that the village where they lived had been robbed; a gang of

criminals had gone from house to house, robbing, severely beating, and even

killing a few of the residents who resisted. This family's house had been

robbed, but no one in the house had been hurt. The family knew it was due to

Amma's grace that they had not been attacked, and they came to the ashram to

express their gratitude to Her. When they told Amma about this incident, I

heard Her comment, "I already spilled blood in your house. That is why no

one was hurt there." Amma didn't explain further, but when I heard Her say

this, I understood that blood was destined to be spilled in that house. By

receiving the wound on Her foot and bleeding in their home, Amma had

protected the family from the harm that had been destined to befall them."

 

Om Amriteshvaryai Namah