'The Greatest Miracle Is Mental Peace'

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*'The Greatest Miracle Is Mental Peace'*

*Beliefnet interviews Mata Amritanandamayi, a Hindu holy woman who

literally embraces the world.*

Interview and photos by Arun Venugopal

 

For a woman who is revered by millions as the Goddess incarnate, Mata

Amritanandamayi, or Amma, has a surprisingly down-to-earth quality. She

laughs easily and often, throwing her head back. There is nothing

self-important or vain about her; even her translator and disciple,

Swami Amritaswarup, occasionally teases her, singing devotional songs to

her as if they were characters traipsing through an Indian film and

earning more laughs from the guru.

 

Our interview was conducted on the stage of Roone Arledge Hall, at

Columbia University, as Amma, dressed in a simple white sari, gave

/darshan/ (literally, 'a vision of') to hundreds of spiritual seekers

who lined up for a long hug. Even as she answered questions, she

continued embracing her devotees, offering words of comfort along with a

Hershey's Kiss. Divinity or not, it becomes clear just what makes grown

men weep at her touch. When they're hugged, however briefly, many feel

that the crowd recedes and the world fades away. The Goddess becomes the

mother, a child in her arms.

 

*You had a difficult childhood, and many of your devotees come to you

with heavy hearts. Can true understanding and compassion come to us only

after great suffering?*

 

For those who have a spiritual understanding, this will happen. Not for

everyone. If you understand the essential principles in life, then

sorrow can become the light in the darkness. But normal human beings

sometimes become deeply depressed when faced with challenges of life's

sorrows and pain. Whereas the spiritual seeker channels all his energies

to God, the pain and the sorrow. He pours out his heart to God, to a

higher reality. For him, it becomes a source of great understanding and

compassion.

 

*So pain is necessary?*

 

It's not that it's necessary. It's just the nature of the world, it's

the nature of experiences, the nature of life, that it will bring pain

and pleasure, failure and success. But how you receive it, and how you

look at it, how you evaluate it, is more important.

 

So a normal human being, he doesn't receive it with a positive attitude.

So it becomes a source of unhappiness and sometimes even culminates in

depression. Whereas a spiritual seeker channels that to God, the pain

and sorrow, he pours out his heart to the Divine. Then it becomes a

source of compassion, and it really deepens your understanding.

 

It's like, in the heat of the sun, ice melts and mud hardens. When there

are trials and tribulations in life, our faith and our determination

should become stronger, like the mud that hardens. We should not be like

the ice that melts.

 

As the wax melts, the candle becomes brighter. Likewise, in the case of

a spiritual seeker, when there is more pain, when there is more sorrow

and suffering, his inner light becomes more and more brighter.

 

*Is the wax representative of the ego?*

 

It can be compared to the ego, but it depends on how you interpret it.

You're going beyond the body and the mind mechanism. Basically, it's the

ego or the mind or the thought process. A spiritual person--or a person

who has a higher goal in life, like self-realization or

God-realization--gains more awareness and alertness while going through

the pain and sorrows of life. Suppose you have a headache and you

suddenly become aware of your head. Until then, although we have a head,

we have a forehead, we're never aware of it. It's the way you look at it.

 

Some people become depressed and they even reach a dead end of life, but

others utilize it as a path to attain more understanding and also to

move closer to God.

 

* The story of your childhood is filled with many miracles. Aren't you

worried that these miracles will distort your true message?*

 

I'm not interested in all these miracles. There are no miracles which

don't exist already on Earth. The biggest miracle of all is the miracle

of mental peace. That's the only miracle I'm interested in. I never did

anything. /[in her youth, Amma was often berated by her elder brother,

who disapproved of her spiritual ways. As the story goes, he one day

destroyed the oil lamp that she and her followers used for prayers. She

then instructed her distraught followers to fashion lamps out of

seashells, substituting water for oil. The lamps managed to stay lit

overnight.]/ They wished to bring water, so I said, "OK, go ahead and do

it."

 

They alone did it. I didn't touch anything with my hand. They wished it

themselves. I have no interest in it. They were the ones who created an

uproar.

 

When we went there [the temple], there was neither oil nor lamps, so

what was I supposed to do? I just told them to go get some seashells and

pour a little water into them.

 

*There are many people who do not believe in you, and others who do not

question a thing you say. Is a little skepticism a good thing, or is

complete surrender necessary?*

 

A little bit of skepticism, but it should be born out of

inquisitiveness. Some people's questions are born out of ego. That won't

help you to know the reality. You will be closed. You will be

obstructed, your view will be obstructed by the ego and the egoistic

thoughts. People who are willfully ignorant are difficult to teach.

 

Someone who pretends to be asleep is harder to wake up than someone who

actually is asleep. So an inquisitive nature is good.

 

All the scriptures, like the Bhagavad Gita, or the Upanishads, they're

all in dialogue form. The disciple asks questions to the master and the

master replies. But they were very genuine. The questions were very

genuine and the disciples or the questioners were very sincere.

 

But finally, we have to go beyond all questions and all doubts. All the

questions we express should be to go beyond. It's like when you look at

a flower. The insect or worm will completely destroy the flower. And the

scientist will make it an object of research. And the honeybee will come

and suck the nectar from the flower. And the poet will write a beautiful

poem, looking at the flower. And the believer in God will offer it to

God. It's the same flower. Likewise, you can look at an object or a

person or an experience in different ways, it depends on your mental

constitution and your inherited tendencies from the previous lives.

 

There will come a time when all the answers will be answered from

within. We will not have to ask the questions externally.

 

 

 

Arun Venugopal is Beliefnet's Hinduism producer.

 

 

 

--

Be Love,

Egyirba

 

-=-=-

....

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free;

Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.

--Chuang Tsu

 

--

 

Be Love,

Egyirba