once more with feeling! Guru

[Guest guest]

Mani wrote:

 

In my definition

Ammachi is not your guru: she is the visible

incarnation of your inner guru,

who

is THE GREAT MOTHER! she dos not sit with you to

teach you anything, but sends

out her inspiration to you - and you learn by

meditating, observing and

understanding. Ammachi does not give you questions to

answer, does not correct

your answers or discuss them with you.

 

Om Amrtesvaryai Namah!

 

Namaste dear Mani!!

 

it sounds to me dear friend that we are disagreeing over the

definition of Guru here...there are Gurus and Gurus...

 

when Mother has inspired me to ask Her if She is my Guru, even despite

the fact that i DIDN'T want a Guru...and She answers quite plainly:

"yes yes yes yes!"...who am i to believe dear brother???? you or Her?

i will agree that She is the Embodiment of my "inner Guru", Who is

the Great Mother...but that is what Guru IS>>>embodiment of the Divine

to teach the devotees the way back home......

 

Mother Herself has told me that She is my Guru....She has also said

many times to people that many of Her devotees do not appear to be

doing much serious sadhana, and do not ask questions, and She doesn't

give them instructions for ONE REASON!!! She says that they may have

ALREADY received the instructions and carried them out in a previous

incarnation spent by Her side...and thus She has no instructions and

doesn't need to go thru the explanations in detail because for some

people IT IS NOT NECESSARY...and when it is, She finds a way to let

them know what they need to know...by the circumstances surrounding

them...

 

She puts it this way...we know a particular song, but we may have

forgotten how to start it...so She gives us only the first line...or

the first couple of words, and we instantly go "oh yeah" and carry on

singing it....and Amma compares this to the way She is teaching us our

sadhana...Some need the entire instruction booklet, and the word for

word instructions by mouth from Her, (because they may not have

encountered this knowledge or practice before) plus a good spanking

whenever necessary...but others, are listening to Her instructions in

the wind, in the words of their employers, their friends, family and

even enemies...Others are "self-referral" types, and DON'T NEED THE

HANDS ON INSTRUCTION which some do need...

 

Amma IS a traditional Guru by my understanding....if i were to go to

India and hang out at Her Ashram, don't you think She'll be giving

instructions and discipline in a personal way? She does this with the

thousands of devotees who currently live there...She Herself, says

that She attracts the Devotees with the Loving Mother Bhava, and then

switches to Guru Bhava...as the devotee grows to love Her more than

life itself, when the devotee is ready to accept disciplining and

teaching...However in my case, this disciplining is going on

regularly even though i am NOT physically in Her presence...thus i

feel Her to be "omnipresent"...and that She is quite capable of

teaching me if i can learn, at a great Distance, as to Her distance is

meaningless, except in terms of spiritual distance...

 

She has taught Her close disciples how to do everything from square

one...even how to cook and cut vegetables!!and wash clothes!!

this kind of instruction is carried on at Her retreats with us...when

we do seva for example...Mother is very aware of what we are doing and

how...and if we are needing correction She doesn't hesitate to give

it..thru either Her own words, or thru a devotee's advice...Often She

will address a particular problem felt by a devotee, by "coincidence"

in the evening talk...and is VERY specific as to how to deal with

it...

 

i suspect dear brother, that you have never attended an Amma retreat,

because what you say betrays you...at the retreats, it's not just a

grand entertainment with music and darshan...in reality there is

everything offered there...some lessons in Sanskrit, lessons in

meditation, Bhajans, Puja, and regular teachings by the Swamis on

various aspects of sadhana, as well as lots of seva...it's a little

like going back for a "catch-up" course in whatever we might be

interested in...there we can ask any questions, and receive direction

and teachings in the details...it's up to us to avail ourselves of the

knowledge...

 

Paramahansa Yogananda was asked by Sw. Kriyanandaji if one has to meet

the Guru in person...and Yoganandaji said "at least Once"...by which

he meant one "meaningful" meeting when the devotee receives

initiation...JUST ONCE is enough for some devotees....because they

know that song like the backs of their hands, once reminded of it...

 

Also i do insist that Mother is giving initiations all the

time...there are the Mantra initiations, the Ma Om initiations, the

Devi Puja initiations, the seva initiations...as well as the

brahmacharya and sannyasa initiations...in fact just seeing Mother is

an "initiation" for those sensitive enough to see....And then there

are the informal "initiations" which Mother is doing all the time

too...they take place everyday in our ordinary lives....physically far

away from Her.

 

Mother says that She gives initiations by sight, by words, by touch,

and by sankalpa...even over great distances....You don't think that

smile is an ordinary smile do you??? That smile is an initiation to

the devotee...he suddenly realises that he has a MOTHER who LOVES

him...something he never realised in that way before...if that is not

an initiation i don't know what one is! in that smile there is far

more than an ordinary smile...Mother is transmitting not only Her

smile, but Her incredibl Love thru that look...

 

Mother Meera on the other hand says She is not a Guru...which i can

accept...Ammachi though, IS Guru to many many people...She behaves

like Guru, and the devotees see Her that way....it doesn't matter if

we only see Her a few days a year...that is all that is required

according to Her...if we are longing for further time with Her, we can

always find a way to earn the extra money to do so....i usually feel

that Mother has filled me right up, just after the retreat, and

although i miss Her a lot...still i feel like She has transmitted what

She wanted to transmit thru that one retreat...so if i am sensitive,

why should i have to go and listen to Her give the same teachings all

over the globe to all those thousands of folks...if one listens ONCE

isn't that enough?

 

if we have trouble understanding issues around sadhana or Bhakti, or

whatever, we can and are encouraged to ask Mother...and She will often

give very detailed instructions about the problem...if we are not with

Her in the body, we can always write to Her, even Email, and She will

get it...as She is reading the letter the first time thru the eyes of

the child writing it...and we get ANSWERS to those letters...not in

the form of a letter, but in the form of our loved ones

communications, our friends telling us stuff, or the teachings that

appear regularly in Her magazines and the Amritavani email magazine...

as for myself, i am receiving all the magazines from their

organizations that i can...and believe me, Mother is very specifically

teaching Her children the proper way to live, not only as a model, but

She has also very pointed and accurate words to show us what She

means.

 

So there you go....there are Gurus and Gurus, Some of them are hands

on for most people, and others are hands-on for some of the devotees,

and long-distance hands-on for others...but all are the students of

the Guru...

 

In the Divine Mother's Love,

and in Her Service,

as ever

your own self,

 

visvanathan

 

 

Om Amrtesvaryai Namah