Cooking in Amma's kitchen

[Guest guest]

Dear Ammachi Group:

 

Today, I had dental surgery and had to stay at home icing and

medicating, so I found the time to look at the responses to the posts

I made here. I wanted to share some thoughts with you that I have had

about AmmaBhakti and Ammachi groups and get your feedback.

 

Thomas Raam started AmmaBhakti in 2004, and when he was in the

process of moving last fall, he asked for help in keeping up the

Daily Amma posts because group members were really appreciating them.

I started posting the Daily Amma and things and have really enjoyed

doing it. I've come to feel that AmmaBhakti Group is sacred space in

which to share Amma's words and her teachings, and the writings of

others that support Amma's message of Love and Compassion, and that

further grow our sense of connection and spirit. I've posted from The

Yoga Sutra, and some Rumi poems.

 

Someone posted a message at AmmaBhakti one day saying that the

message board there is moderated (it is), and thus, "top down," (the

message could be edited or rejected) and this person encouraged

members to join Ammachi where they would get a lot of feedback,

different viewpoints, and more sharing than happens at AmmaBhakti. He

said that the folks at Ammachi Group are "cooking in Amma's kitchen,"

which at the time I took offense at because I love Amma, that's why

I'm at AmmaBhakti posting my heart out, sharing about Nonviolent

Communication, etc. and I would really like more people to come there

and create and enjoy that sacred space, too, as if it is Amma's

temple.

 

When I cooked in Amma's kitchen in Los Angeles, I was told (reminded)

to stop talking with others (we had been sharing stories of meetings

with Amma) and just work and think of God. When I have participated

in the LA Satsang music group in Los Angeles, there is also often a

push to silence talking so that we can focus on touching God through

music. But when we have needs for community and self-expression and

power-with others as we explore our growing spirituality and bring it

out into the world, we do want to talk and interact. We may have

questions about how to put our spirituality into practice, and

sharing with others is a good way to do that.

 

Maybe it is a mistaken notion to want to keep AmmaBhakti Group as a

sacred space or temple and Ammachi Group as the kitchen, hallways,

and lobby. I see that many post Amma's words here often, but there is

a lot of other stuff here too, and my time is limited. Since Amarnath

asked me to post Daily Amma here, and then everyone was so

appreciative of the NVC post, I thought I'd share all this with you,

and invite you to come to AmmaBhakti to see if you can

feel the sacred, contemplative space that we have been working to

create there. Would it be worth your while to participate in both

groups for the different things they each offer? I invite Ammachi

members to post Daily Amma quotes at AmmaBhakti, too, along with

other wonderful writings, so that discussions may be sparked there

and then carried on in the hallways, the lobby, the kitchen, the

cafeteria, and outside in the world. This is the idea, anyway! I'm

posting all of this to find out if it can work.

 

Kind regards,

Mary Ann