sharing a story of Vaishnavi's

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya,

For those of you who don't know Vaishnavi (Cathy Crowl), here is a sample of one

of her posts back in 2001. She shared a story about her life. I am repeating

it below.

 

May Vaishnavi be at peace and in Mother's arms.

 

Fe Langdon

 

 

Dec 29, 2001

 

 

 

Beloved Sisters and Brothers,

 

 

 

Aikya recently put out an invitation for us to share stories of "extending

grace," how others have been affected by our devotion to Amma. I don't know this

story fits into the category, but I'd like to share it.

 

 

 

This is the story of Anil. It began about a week after my second retreat with

Amma. For days after being with Amma, I was so full of bliss that I'm sure I was

radiating something very unusual. I was taking my daily exercise, walking in a

beautiful park that's quite near my house. My heart was unusually open. Just as

I was leaving the park, I noticed a man lying down under a tree who seemed to be

in some distress.

 

 

 

Totally influenced by Mother's inspiration, I walked over to him and asked him

how he was. Initially, I thought that he was an African-American, although it

turned out he was from India. He was reluctant to talk to me at first, but we

did get a conversation going. He was homeless and had just gotten out of the

hospital because of serious heart problems. He was in a lot of pain, and he had

some terrible scabs all over his legs. He was very depressed.

 

 

 

Then all of a sudden he noticed something hanging around my neck. It was a

sandal wood mala that Amma had blessed which had a very pretty picture of Amma

hanging down from it. He reached out and grabbed the picture and said, "Mataji,

Mataji," I told him who it was, and he just kept grabbing hold of it. So I took

mala off and handed it to him. He immediately started doing mantra japa, "Om

Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya......."

 

 

 

This helped him to relax enormously and to take some comfort. He was totally

with Amma's presence. We talked some more for a while and I told him about Amma.

Then I had a packet of sacred ash (given to me by Amma) in my pocket which I

gave him, and I also gave him the mala.

 

 

 

Well, this was the beginning of a friendship which lasted for several years. The

next day when I took a walk I saw him again, and he had used all the sacred ash

to rub over his legs. The scabs on them had almost cleared up, and he was no

longer in pain.

 

 

 

In those early days of knowing Amma, I didn't have satsang with anyone, so Anil

and I became satsang for each other. He had become estranged from the early

traditions he grew up with after living so long in a Christian country. So it

was also wonderful for him to have someone to talk with about his Hindu roots.

Just about every day, we would talk about Hinduism and about devotion. His

family were Shiva devotees, and his grandfather had built a temple to Lord

Shiva. Anil was very eager to come up to the ashram and to meet Mother someday,

however it never happened. Yet Amma had filled his heart.

 

 

 

It was only by allowing myself to become a vehicle of Mother's love, just as I

had observed it in Her ashram when She was there, that I was able to be so open

and compassionate. I felt that it was really important for me to show Anil that

I cared about him, rather than that I felt sorry for him because he was

homeless. So every time I saw him I would bring him a little present. Sometimes

it was something very practical, and sometimes it was just something personal or

for fun. His favorite presents were always tapes of Mother's bajans. Throughout,

Mother was always my inspiration as well as my

grace.

 

 

 

I learned so much from Anil, much more than I can relate in this e-mail. But it

certainly was a meeting blessed by Amma. I don't know where he is now, he moved

out of the area and we lost contact. So now I pray that he is well.

 

 

 

Om Namah Shivaya!

 

 

 

At Her Feet,

 

 

 

vaishnavi