To Aikaya on DC Hotel and Imbibing

[Guest guest]

Aikya wrote (of Amma's DC Programs):

 

The hotel is indeed very strange. It is very expensive, the most

expensive of the tour...Walking down hallways was like being buffeted by the

energy of your own aura being bounced back at you. It was

disorienting and draining...Amma didn't like the hall which was three large

hexagons

that curved around. She couldn't see the people in the third

segment which housed the bookstore...

In Chicago, since it was a resort, there were pleasure seekers.

They were golfing and swimming, drinking and partying. We had a

wedding reception with rock and roll music competing for our ears

during the Devi Bhava talk...We are minutes from the Pentagon and so there

are

plenty of military men, in and out of uniform.

 

My small group is having a bit of a crisis over the often used

term "imbibe good qualities." ...For Americans, it has no meaning. We

imbibe

hot chocolate, not qualities, whether good or bad. We have a

discussion about that in my room. I put out that maybe it's

like "internalize" as in "internalized oppression" or

like "embody." "Embodied spirituality" is a big buzz word in

religious studies these days. These suggestions don't help anybody

but me. The next question is WHAT good qualities?...

 

....The next day I took a break from the scene, walking out past all the

people in white trying so hard to look as if they had "imbibed good

qualities," or were at least willing to do so, whatever it meant...I went to

the National Museum of the American Indian...I felt that I was in an

anteroom of Amma's program...

 

Now this morning I am back to "normal" and the other person is over

being angry at Amma. I'll ride back to Western Pennsylvania with

Kalika and visit a Circle of Love Inside recipient of letters and

visits over the weekend.

 

 

Dear Aikya ~ since I am originally from DC, and most of my experiences with

Amma occurred there, I felt compelled to respond. One thing I can say is that

the venue has really changed, and I hope the word gets out to the DC tour

hosts that Amma did not like the hotel and that other people had difficulty

feeling connected due to the strange layout and the noise.

 

The first time I saw Amma in DC it was in an old VFW building. The hall was

a medium sized square room. Wherever you were you could see Amma. But every

year, the crowds got bigger and bigger, and the hosts had to look for bigger

and bigger venues. Originally, the programs were held in Maryland, and then

were switched to Northern Virginia. I am sure one reason for picking the Hyatt

was its proximity to the airport (a long drive from the airport to Maryland

was probably not much fun for Amma). But the proximity to the military ... hmmm

.... maybe it did some good. Who can say?

 

I know many of us would like to wind the clock back to the time when the

gatherings with Amma were small and intimate, but those days are over. At least

it is smaller than the crowds who throng to see Her in India.

 

Also, I have a little story about noise and worship. Before Swami Satyananda

Saraswati became a Swami, while he was still wondering about Inda, he had

found a guru whom he worked with for many years. This guru set many tasks for

Satyananda ~ building an ashram, learning the Chandi Path and being able to

recite it from memory backwards and forwards.

One day they were visiting a town; it was crowded and noisy, and the guru

decided it would be a good lesson for Satyananda to do the Chandi right there in

the midst of all the crowds, which, of course he did. Now he is with Shree

Maa, and there is. another funny little story. One of the devotees at their

California ashram complained because another devotee recited the Chandi (which

they did, I think, every morning) very loudly. Shree Maa says, "Ok, tomorrow

you will do you puja right next to him." LOL I know that this child of Amma's

would not be up to such a task ... noise is very distracting to me. I even

have to sleep with a fan on, so the "white noise" of the fan will block any

other sounds.

 

I'm so glad you visited the Museum of the American Indian. It was not

finished before I left, but I knew it was in the works. It sounds beautiful ...

and

as if perhaps Amma sent you there to get back in touch with Her.

 

In terms of the word, "imbibe," it has never confused me. I don't know why.

I never looked it up in the dictionary, but to me the meaning is to take into

ones' self, to make a part of ones' self. We could be imbibing alcohol, or

violent movies or art and music. I feel that what we imbibe can be tangible or

intangible. When we sip the Pada Puja or Devi Bhava water, or eat our

Hershey kiss or Prasad, we are imbibing something tangible, but that also is

filled

with Amma's Love and Grace and all Her good intentions for us. When we watch

Amma sit for hours doing darshan, or hear Her giving a talk, or participate

in the puja (I can't think of what it's called, but it's the one where

everyone sits in groups of four and says Om Para Shaktyai Namaha), we are

imbibing

the intagible ... we are imbibing qualities like selfless service, like

shradda, like the important of loving all unconditionally. We are even embibing

humor from the Swami's or Amma's talks, or even just from seeing Her smile or

laugh. We are imbibing the knowledge of how to do seva by participating in seva

duty and by seeing how others work.

 

We may not be consciously aware we are embibing all of this, because we are

caught in the moment; we are participants; we are in bliss, in love, yet at

the subconscious level of our being, all this is being taken in. I believe this

is why spending time with the guru, with other great souls, with our peers

in satsang is so important. Even on this digest, when we respond with an "a

ha" to someone's post, we have embibed some new knowledge or awareness.

 

Anyway, sorry ... I didn't mean to write a novella, but your post excited me

and made me feel close to Amma, despite the hotel vibes. Jai Ma ~ Linda