God's Precious Form

[Guest guest]

An excerpt from *Sacred Journey* by Swamini Krishnamrita Prana:

 

"In the early days, Amma told us that we should not meditate on Her form,

but should choose another form for our meditation.  She said we should long

for something we did not have and since we were living with Amma, we had Her

there with us all the time.  Mother gave the example that if we made a

mistake and She were to scold us, it would be difficult to sit down and

meditate on Her form afterwards, because the ego would react to being

reprimanded.

 

"I asked Amma that since westerners usually believe in God without form, how

could we concentrate on God with form when we believe in the formless

aspect?  Amma replied '*You just pretend to have devotion and one day it

will really come*.'

 

"I thought of all the different forms of God and finally chose Krishna to

meditate upon, but I could not find a picture of Him that I really liked

anywhere.  Someone else owned the only one I felt drawn towards and they

would not give it to me.  One day, feeling very frustrated, I prayed and

cried to Krishna, 'I just can't find a picture of You.  I have looked

everywhere, but I can't find You.  So You are going to have to come to me.

 

"That night we went for a program outside the ashram.  After the bhajans had

finished, we went to one of the houses nearby, as it was customary that the

devotees would arrange a meal for us.  When we walked into the house, I saw

two identical photographs of Krishna on the wall right next to each other.

Krishna's form was beautiful, and I felt immediately drawn towards it.

Because there were two photos I did not feel shy about asking if I could

have one.  The owners of the house gladly gave it to me.  This became my

meditation photo.  Amazingly, Krishna had heard my prayer and appeared to me

that very same night.  Even over twenty years later, this photo still

remains in my room.

 

"I used to pretend to have devotion to Krishna.  I tried to develop some

love for His form.  On another occasion, we went to a house in Cochin for a

small program.  I remember sitting, trying to meditate for some time in

Amma's presence.  I reamined totally concentrated for a long time.  A vision

of Krishna suddenly became firm in my mind, and with tears flowing from my

eyes I felt love for Krishna growing in my heart.

 

"In those early years I used to meditate on the verandah of the meditation

room.  I remember crying and crying at the thought of Krishna while I was

meditating.  This was quite a surprise to me and I asked Amma, 'Is this

devotion or just emotionalism?'  She replied '*A little bit of emotionalism,

but mainly devotion.  Being able to cry for God is like holding the winning

lottery ticket*."  I had believed Mother's words about pretending to have

devotion and it really did come.

 

"Once we develop love and devotion for God, it is something we can never

lose.  Although it may grow dim at times, it never really leaves us.  This

has been one of Amma's greatest gifts to me.

 

"When the Master opens our innermost heart and offers us a glimpse of the

essence of our true divine nature, then a wave of joyful gratitude flows

toward the one who helped us to see this.  When we discover our real Self,

longing and respect for the one who helped us blossoms in our heart."

 

(MAC, 2005), pages 65-66

 

[Hope this is not too lengthy for the digesters!  And perhaps inspiring to

those of us in the NY area hoping for our own glimpse of our dear Mother.]

 

 

 

 

 

Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha!

 

 

 

 

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