More from the recent Michigan retreat

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya,

Thankyou Jyotsna for your notes-I remember this speech but didn't

take notes for it.

I did wind up writing down a lot from Swami Amritaswarupananda's

satsang. I had come to Michigan with a list of questions in my mind

to ask Mother and found, as it so often seems to happen, each one

being answered either by other people there or by the satsangs. And

of course, any time I got near Mother my mind would go completely

silent!

 

Here the notes:

 

"To experience love, one must express love.

 

When disciplehood awakens, the guru appears.

 

You are nobody. You come from nothingness. You are going nowhere. You

are here to ask questions!

 

Offer what you can to society. Here and now is what matters. Focus on

your sadhana.

 

A question must arise out of the depths of longing, from the deepest

inner recesses, not just as another passing thought.

 

Cultivate longing for truth. Meditate. Focus on one thing. e.g.

mantra, breath.

 

The very nature of the mind is opposed to silence.

 

Anger is literally a loss of consciousness.

 

Don't give too much importance to interpreting dreams. Saty in the

present.

 

What is surrender? It is when we stop fighting our thoughts and

emotions.

 

Practicing neti neti (self inquiry e.g. I am not this, neither that)

is the same process as offering the thoughts and emotions to the

guru. The internal offering is subtler than an external offering."

 

*End notes Part 1*

 

Namah Shivaya,

Angela.

 

 

 

Ammachi, "jyotsna2" <jyotsna2> wrote:

>

> Namah Shivayah,

>

> Here are the notes I took during the talk

> Swami Amritatmananda gave on Nov. 27 in

> Michigan:

>

> Great masters are a purifying force in

> the world. Everyone wants a joyful life.

> How to attain this happiness? The final

> end will be sweet, but the means will be

> hard. A disciplined life means happiness:

> an undisciplined life leads to unhappiness.

>

> Discipline can only come from culture. Amma

> describes the word culture as control. Outer

> things like clothes and manners don't matter.

> Controlling ourselves is not an easy thing.

> If we want peace and contentment, we have to

> control the tongue in two ways--speech and

> eating. If controlling one's senses is so

> hard, how difficult it is to control the mind.

> The man of control is the man of happiness, it

> says in the scriptures.

>

> One day we all have to start looking inside.

> TIME will force us to. We have to turn toward

> God. In front of Amma is a good place to

> start this huge yagna.

>

> He told the story of approaching Amma while

> she was seated near a large waterfall. His

> question was, "Amma, what is the real

> meaning of spirituality?"

>

> "Son, can you return this water to its source?"

> was Amma's reply. "This is spirituality--

> reversing the flow of the five senses."

>

> It is a Herculean task, but we have Amma. We

> need to try to transform ourselves into

> introvert meditators.

>

> Here in the presence of Amma, we are doing

> inner cleansing. We are in the yogi hospital

> now. The doctor has diagnosed our disease,

> and if we have enough courage to surrender

> to the doctor, we will be cured.

>

> I would like to share one of my "surgeries."

> It was my first public speech. Everyone

> praised it except Amma, who, whenever I was

> near Her, praised other's satsangs! I decided

> never to give another speech if I couldn't

> please Amma. Amma then asked me to give another

> speech, and I told her I couldn't because she

> didn't like my other one. She told me that

> now that I was not attached to giving talks,

> he could give them!

>

> Amma's mother bhava is very sweet, but the

> guru bhava is tough! (Here Amma interrupted

> and said that if she were really in Guru Bhava,

> NO ONE would be in the ashram!)

> Swami told the story of lying in bed one morning

> after a few hours sleep. He was feeling sluggish.

> Amma upbraided him and told him that he could

> have stayed at home and gotten married if he

> wanted to be sluggish. (Amma pantomined beating

> him.) To this day, all he has to do is think

> about Amma telling him that to get himself up

> and out of bed.

>

> It is an honor to serve Amma. We should be an

> instrument in the hands of the guru.

>

> In Amma's service,

> Jyotsna

>