Guest guest Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 I'm preparing a paper for the Women and Religion Section of the Western Conference of the American Academy of Religion. It is on Amma's leadership style. I interviewed Brahmachari Dayamrita on Saturday on the subject. I'd love to get your thoughts and experiences about this. Here are my questions. Including personal experiences is a great help. 1. Is Amma's leadership style different from what you experienced in former spiritual groups/settings? How is it different? 2. In what ways does the difference benefit you in your spiritual development? 3. Are there any disadvantages from your poitn of view? Thanks for your help. In Amma's love, Aikya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Ammachi, "Aikya Param" <aikya> wrote: > > I'm preparing a paper for the Women and Religion Section of the > Western Conference of the American Academy of Religion. It is on > Amma's leadership style. I interviewed Brahmachari Dayamrita on > Saturday on the subject. I'd love to get your thoughts and > experiences about this. Here are my questions. Including > personal experiences is a great help. > > 1. Is Amma's leadership style different from what you experienced > in former spiritual groups/settings? How is it different? I was first attracted to Amma when I read that Amma gives hugs, does not speak and that some people cry a lot. I had to see this because many years before I experienced my mind drop into my heart resulting in an indescribable experience of God's Love. Since that experience, I knew the mind was the culprit and the source of all our suffering. Amma does speak ~ maybe half hour lecture ~ and then the hugs start for the rest of the day( up to 30,000 in 22 hrs ). Basically when Amma hugs someone, She fills them with God's Love. Amma does not expect anything in return. Amma just keeps hugging and hugging and hugging. Depending on person's receptivity and functionality in the world, it make take anywhere from 1 to 100 hugs or more, but sooner or later that Love begins to overflow in selfless service ~ charitable hospitals, schools of all levels, orphanages, 26,000 homes already built and over 100,000 planned for the homeless, adopting earthquake and tsunami villages, huge tsunami relief, bringing warring factions together in Sri Lanka, etc, etc. Amma teaches by example ~ giving love, serving food to her children, cleaning latrine, carrying heavy stones for construction in early days, consoling earthquake and tsunami victims, etc, etc. Amma's life is Her Message. Love is Her Religion and Silence is the Powerful Language in which it is transmitted ~ therefore ~ it is free of all dogmas which depend on words. To be fair to my former teacher who spoke and spoke and spoke all day. I did not attempt to listen. I figured His speech was just to keep us attentive. I just looked at Him and felt the Love radiating ~ especially when His glance caught mine. All gratitude to Him for introducing me to God's Love. And Amma is just turning the volume up ~ way up ~ not just for me but for the whole world. > 2. In what ways does the difference benefit you in your spiritual > development? In everyway! > 3. Are there any disadvantages from your poitn of > view? I see no "real" disadvantages in God's Love. Om Amriteswaryai Namah, amarnath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 - Aikya Param Ammachi Monday, February 28, 2005 12:09 PM Amma's Leadership Style 1. Is Amma's leadership style different from what you experienced in former spiritual groups/settings? How is it different? First, let me say that I am not sure I had ever considered Amma and leadership in the same thought! Since this probably sounds weird, let me explain. Leadership implies (to me) a give/take situation in which the leader is in it for his/her own benefit as well as for the betterment of those being led. Amma seems to 'lead,' if that can be applied, only in the same sense that the sun 'leads' every living organism. I allow myself to be led in political and intellectual situations, but I turn my face to Amma much as a green thing turns its face to the sun. On a more practical level, having come from a traditional Christian background, Amma's 'leadership' style is entirely different from what I had perviously experienced. What I felt I heard during church services was that I should do 'good' so I could go to Heaven some day (if I had been good enough to avoid being banished to Hell!) and thereby be allowed to see God. Christianity, as I experienced it, made God's presence on earth something phenomenal and rare. Moses was granted a vision of God on earth, as were a few select others, but I did not have the feeling that God was among us and available to each of us in the 'here and now.' It seems that being a devotee of Mother's, I have come to understand that the Divine is inseperable from our own breath and closer than our own heart beats - and the issue of Hell is off the table. I've also found a home for my heart in Amma's love for every being. She doesn't turn anyone away because they look, think, or believe differently; I can't say that of my previous church homes. Divine love doesn't strike fear or show partiality; living grace given without strings in the silence and sanctity of an embrace says it all. And please, please remember that these thoughts are my opinions only; my quibble has been with the way Christ's teachings have been dispensed by organized religion, never with Christ 2. In what ways does the difference benefit you in your spiritual development? First, the distance is removed and Amma's love doesn't come with conditions. With Mother, I also see the difference between 'doing good' and love in action - with the tsunami, for example, I didn't feel Mother helped because She should, She helped because She is love embodied and it couldn't be any ohter way. A far cry from televangelism, right? Are there any disadvantages from your poitn of view? Yes; I regret the amount of time several close friends spend praying that I'll change my ways so I won't have to burn in Hell. (-: Thank you for the presenting the opportunity to roll these issues around. Your sister in Amma, SnehalatA Thanks for your help. In Amma's love, Aikya Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha! Sponsor -- Ammachi/ b.. Ammachi c.. ---------- Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 266.5.2 - Release 2/28/2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Dear Snehalata, Thank you for your thoughtful reponse. I so appreciate the way you express your thoughts! Through my Choctaw class I cross paths frequently with the folks for whom hellfire is a real option and the good life happens after you die. They are Southern Baptists, bless their Native American hearts. I know they pray for me because I'm obviously headed for that red hot place they are sure they have avoided. Blessings! Aikya Ammachi, "Dixie Thacker" <dixielou@s...> wrote: > > - > Aikya Param > Ammachi > Monday, February 28, 2005 12:09 PM > Amma's Leadership Style > > > > > 1. Is Amma's leadership style different from what you experienced > in former spiritual groups/settings? How is it different? > > First, let me say that I am not sure I had ever considered Amma and leadership in the same thought! Since this probably sounds weird, let me explain. Leadership implies (to me) a give/take situation in which the leader is in it for his/her own benefit as well as for the betterment of those being led. Amma seems to 'lead,' if that can be applied, only in the same sense that the sun 'leads' every living organism. I allow myself to be led in political and intellectual situations, but I turn my face to Amma much as a green thing turns its face to the sun. On a more practical level, having come from a traditional Christian background, Amma's 'leadership' style is entirely different from what I had perviously experienced. > What I felt I heard during church services was that I should do 'good' so I could go to Heaven some day (if I had been good enough to avoid being banished to Hell!) and thereby be allowed to see God. Christianity, as I experienced it, made God's presence on earth something phenomenal and rare. Moses was granted a vision of God on earth, as were a few select others, but I did not have the feeling that God was among us and available to each of us in the 'here and now.' It seems that being a devotee of Mother's, I have come to understand that the Divine is inseperable from our own breath and closer than our own heart beats - and the issue of Hell is off the table. I've also found a home for my heart in Amma's love for every being. She doesn't turn anyone away because they look, think, or believe differently; I can't say that of my previous church homes. Divine love doesn't strike fear or show partiality; living grace given without strings in the silence and sanctity of an embrace says it all. And please, please remember that these thoughts are my opinions only; my quibble has been with the way Christ's teachings have been dispensed by organized religion, never with Christ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Thanks, Anatole. I appreciated your thoughts about Amma's leadership style. Amma makes such a direct personal connection with each of us that we almost overlook that she heads up a huge international organization with hospitals and school and..... What she does seems so natural, so familiar, so like a mother. Aikya Ammachi, "anatol_zinc" <anatol_zinc> wrote: > > Ammachi, "Aikya Param" <aikya> wrote: > > > > I'm preparing a paper for the Women and Religion Section of the > > Western Conference of the American Academy of Religion. It is on > > Amma's leadership style. I interviewed Brahmachari Dayamrita on > > Saturday on the subject. I'd love to get your thoughts and > > experiences about this. Here are my questions. Including > > personal experiences is a great help. > > > > 1. Is Amma's leadership style different from what you experienced > > in former spiritual groups/settings? How is it different? > > I was first attracted to Amma when I read that Amma gives hugs, does > not speak and that some people cry a lot. I had to see this because > many years before I experienced my mind drop into my heart resulting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Namah Shivaya. A true leader is a humble servant to the Divine, and no one demonstrates this better than Amma. pr > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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