BHARATA YATRA 2004 - I Felt Kashi to be like Brahman Itself

[Guest guest]

OM AMRITESWARYAI NAMAH

 

"I Felt Kashi to Be like Brahman Itself"

 

Bharata Yatra 2004

 

Link: http://www.amritapuri.org/amma/2004/403kashi.htm

 

Wednesday, 24 March 2004 -- En route to Durgapur.

 

In 2004, Amma gave Her first programme in Varanasi, a place

considered by many to be the holiest city in all of India. Built on

the banks of the Ganga, Varanasi or Kashi, as it is also known--is

famous for its proximity to the river, its Vishwanath Temple and its

cremation grounds. It is widely believed that anyone who dies in

Kashi attains liberation; so many Hindus relocate there in their

final years. The city stands today much as it did thousands of years

ago--bullock carts pull people through the streets, sannyasins

meditate in the burning grounds, and thousands still come every day

to bath in its sacred waters. Very little has changed--except now

the river not only carries away half-burnt corpses but also the

pollution of many local factories. Amma gave darshan on the grounds

of Kashi's Town Hall, right in the busiest part of the city.

 

The next day, on the road to Durgapur, Amma stopped to have lunch

with the devotees and disciples traveling with Her in the yard of an

old coal factory. As food was distributed, one of Amma's Western

daughters took the opportunity to ask Her about Kashi. She had

always heard so many special things about it, she said, but during

Amma's programme there, she admitted to not having felt any of the

city's legendary splendour. In fact, she mainly found it dirty. Was

something wrong with her, she wondered? And what was Amma's

experience there like?

 

"For Amma God is not a separate entity," Amma said, going on to

explain the difference between the way She perceives the world and

how Her daughter does. "The sculptor sees the idol in the stone. The

bee sees honey in the flower. Amma sees God in everything; so I felt

Kashi to be like Brahman Itself."

 

Amma then went on to say how so many Mahatmas have done tapas in

Kashi, and that the divine vibrations of their austerities resonate

there. She also explained that the thousands of people praying every

day in the Vishwanath Temple has a powerful effect on the

atmosphere. "The atmosphere in the liquor shop is very different

than that of the one in a temple--is it not?" Amma asked. But at the

same time, Amma said, you must have faith in a sacred place in order

to have an experience there. "But for one who has faith in the Guru

all the sacred rivers are there at the feet of the Guru," She said.

 

Explaining the intensity of the faith many Hindus have towards

Kashi, Amma explained how in the olden days elderly people would

walk there all the way from Kerala--practically the whole length of

the country--in order to die in the city. Amma said it would take

them more than six months to complete the pilgrimage.

 

"Only when you are thirsty will you come to know the beauty of

water. The fish may not know it, because they are in the water all

the time. Maybe you are like a fish," Amma said.

 

"Kashi is like Brahman," Amma said again; this time explaining how,

due to their faith and surrender, the people who come there are able

to focus on God in spite of the city's dirt and commotion. "They are

focused on God, so they don't see the dirt as dirt and excreta as

excreta," Amma said. "In Kashi, you will see businessmen along the

streets haggling and cheating, priests trying to beguile the

faithful, oxen walking, cow dung. In the river you can see dead

bodies being carried away, people taking bath, people doing their

morning business on the shore, and people drinking from the same

river. But when a real devotee sees the Ganga, he or she doesn't

feel squeamish." Then She added, "If you explore any cavity in the

human body, you will find only filth. Compared to that, Kashi is not

that filthy."

 

Then Amma told a little story: "Once a man came to a sacred place to

purify himself from all his sins. When he reached there, he saw that

all the people were joking, playing and doing business. The pilgrim

asked, 'Hey, what kind of sacred place is this?' He then heard a

voice from above: 'They at least pray once a day. You didn't even do

that. Since you came, you've only looked at other's mistakes and

shortcoming. Compared to you, they are better.'"

 

Then Amma compared Kashi to Assisi, the town in Italy where St.

Francis had lived. Amma said how the citizens of both cities are

adamant that the buildings and roads not be changed; they want to

keep them the same as they were in the olden days. The only

difference, She said, is that they maintain Assisi better than

Kashi, and keep it cleaner.

 

"If someone dies and you put them in the ground, they will only be

eaten by worms," Amma said. "If you put them in the river, fish will

eat them, and birds will also get a share. 'Let the dead body also

be of some use to the world'--this is the attitude of those throwing

bodies into the Ganga. The people here catch fish to eat, so they

feel they should also feed the fish. Some people worry about the

pollutants that come from the half-burnt bodies that flow down the

river. Amma feels the poisonous chemicals coming from the factories

are poisoning the Ganga much more than these bodies. Some people had

initiated efforts to clean the Ganga but the local people believe

that there is no need to try to purify the Ganga, that she purifies

everything, she is never defiled; and the river does have a very

powerful current."

 

Kashi, Assisi, the Ganga--all are made holy by the Mahatmas who've

graced them. In that sense, had not the coal factory where Amma was

sitting become just as sacred? Perhaps, one day, it too would even

become a pilgrimage site. Lunch and Amma's satsang were both

finished and everyone began boarding the buses to go on to Kolkata.

Indeed, traveling with Amma is a pilgrimage, just one where the

pilgrims move with the Goal not to it.

 

 

::

Amma Sharanam

[Guest guest]

--- chembalacnair <chembalacnair wrote:

> OM AMRITESWARYAI NAMAH

>

> "I Felt Kashi to Be like Brahman Itself"

>

 

Thanks for sharing this item. It brings back memories

of my visit to Varanasi, on the winter solstice, Dec.

21-22, 1995 (a couple years before meeting

Amma)...chanting HARA HARA MAHEDEVA SHAMBHO KASHI

VISHWANATHA GANGE while dodging the cows,

rickshaw-wallahs, hotel touts, sadhus stoned on bhang,

etc.

 

 

Keval

 

 

 

 

 

 

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