Guest guest Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 Hi All. I posted the following message at the guru ratings chat room, which is geared to western adviata discussions. for the most part they don't really get Amma, so i was trying to translate. I thought I would post this story her as well: Im trying to get across the play of Ammachi and her devotees, which is subtle, and most often misunderstood by the casual observer,as i have come to understand from listening to others talk about what happens during darshan. Ammachi is very accessible and emotional, which she does as the expression of the divine mother. She teases, chides, laughs with, consoles and scolds her "children". Who are Amma's children? Everybody, there aren't any distinctions for her in this role that she is playing. Ammachi's scolding is pretty much reserved for her senior disciples, the bramacharis and bramacharinis. She really goes after her senior disciple who constantly travels with her and leads much of the singing. She will interupt his talks in the middle of the program and call him a big baby. She will tell him that his translations are wrong. The more uncomfortable it makes him, actually, the more hilarious it gets. The main thrust of her comments to him is that he keeps on neglecting to talk about love, and that he is too cerebral and dry. My thought about this is that men and Indian men in particular who are into Vedanta, have an overly intellectual, dry, adviata bent which is blocking their realization. They don't have the ability to get into the emotional lives and console the families and wide variety of people who come to see Amma for relief of their problems. As an example of the constant stream of people who come to see Amma twenty four hours a day: A friend of mine, Tom, has a sister who is almost homeless and has been living on the margins of american society for years becuase of a meth addiction. She had pretty much given up hope, and did not believe in the possibilty of love and well being in her life. To make matters worse, her daughter who was doing well, suddenly died from an overdose of prescribed medication. That pretty much set his sister over the top, and she was resigning herself to suicide. So my friend Tom brought her to Ammachi as a last resort. When they came up for a hug, Tom's sister was pretty depressed. When they got to Amma, Amma began rubbing her chest and then, Amma began to cry. Amma said to her "I lost my daughter too" three times, and was genuinely upset. Needles to say Tom's sister was a bit stunned. They finished their darshan and sat to the side. They both began to cry uncontrollably for about over a few hours. Tom said they really could not control themselves, that their hearts had opened and a floodgate was let loose. He didn't think that he had the ability to cry. So now Tom and his sister are in close contact, and she feels much much better. She has faith in love in her life, an inner love. Tom talks to her almost everyday, and sends her a few bucks and consoles her. Now they talk together about spiritual topics and Amamchi. Does this convey better what I mean when I say that Ammachi is emotional?? I have known Tom for years and years. He is 68 and I helped him get on Mass health here in Massachusetts so his medical needs are taken care of. Peace, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 Interesting, Amma is emotional, which is wonderful and her message is to Love. I have wondered about the paradox of renunciation and Amma's darshan where she hugs and kisses everyone. It is normal in the West for friends and families to hug and kiss one another. I know not all families do this, but some do. I was brought up this way and even among friends, in the many and varied places that I have found myself this lifetime....hugs and kisses have been the norm. The idea of renunciation, I think is to have the ability to feel that Love and Peace within, and to not have to search without for it. It seems that ones studying closest to Amma have given up this way of relating to the world, as a means to find this within themselves. I am not sure about Vedanta, and this intellectual stance versus being openly emotional and affectionate, as I only know what I have seen in my own cultural background and what I have seen in other Western Countries. I would say that Big Swami, is emotional though and affectionate in nature. Not sure why I am adding my two cents here...but there you go. > My thought about this is that men and Indian men in > particular who > are into Vedanta, have an overly intellectual, dry, > adviata bent > which is blocking their realization. They don't have > the ability to > get into the emotional lives and console the > families and wide > variety of people who come to see Amma for relief of > their problems. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 Ammachi, Stacee Kramer <stacee.kramer wrote: > > Interesting, > > Amma is emotional, which is wonderful and her message > is to Love. > > I have wondered about the paradox of renunciation and > Amma's darshan where she hugs and kisses everyone. > > It is normal in the West for friends and families to > hug and kiss one another. I know not all families do > this, but some do. > > I was brought up this way and even among friends, in > the many and varied places that I have found myself > this lifetime....hugs and kisses have been the norm. > > The idea of renunciation, I think is to have the > ability to feel that Love and Peace within, and to not > have to search without for it. It seems that ones > studying closest to Amma have given up this way of > relating to the world, as a means to find this within > themselves. > > I am not sure about Vedanta, and this intellectual > stance versus being openly emotional and affectionate, > as I only know what I have seen in my own cultural > background and what I have seen in other Western > Countries. > > I would say that Big Swami, is emotional though and > affectionate in nature. > > > Not sure why I am adding my two cents here...but there > you go. > Hi, yes, i agree with you about Big Swami, but of course Amma's empathy is at another level. I think that the idea of renunciation meaning that you are isolated, and find it all within is an "intellectual" interpretation of true renunciation which has nothing at all to do with disconnection from others. Renunciation is disconnection from "selfish " interaction with others, I beleive. The divine Mother's return to the spiritual scene of humanity is the return of a deeply rich, creative and pure emotional relationship to eachother and ourselves. Peace, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 my 2cents( as i understand amma ): what needs to be renounced is the ego( =selfishness ) ! for some, isolation in a himalayan cave may help for others intense activity( selfless service ) for others challanging relationship for others challanging health problems etc, whatever whittles down the ego and makes one surrender to amma's love( ones true Self ) amma bless, amarnath Ammachi, "ckeniley2003" <ckeniley2003 wrote:.... I think that the idea of renunciation meaning that you are isolated, and find it all within is an "intellectual" interpretation of true renunciation which has nothing at all to do with disconnection from others. Renunciation is disconnection from "selfish " interaction with others, I beleive. The divine Mother's return to the spiritual scene of humanity is the return of a deeply rich, creative and pure emotional relationship to eachother and ourselves. Peace, Chris >>>> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2006 Report Share Posted November 4, 2006 True enough Amarnath, but it is a rare and advanced individual who can find richness in isolation in the himalayas. Usually when people isolate themselves in Western culture its because they are depresed. Peace, Chris Ammachi, "amarnath" <anatol_zinc wrote: > > my 2cents( as i understand amma ): > what needs to be renounced is the ego( =selfishness ) ! > for some, isolation in a himalayan cave may help > for others intense activity( selfless service ) > for others challanging relationship > for others challanging health problems > etc, whatever whittles down the ego > and makes one surrender to amma's love( ones true Self ) > > amma bless, > amarnath > > Ammachi, "ckeniley2003" <ckeniley2003@> > wrote:.... > I think that the idea of renunciation meaning that you are isolated, > and find it all within is an "intellectual" interpretation of true > renunciation which has nothing at all to do with disconnection from > others. > > Renunciation is disconnection from "selfish " interaction with > others, I beleive. > > The divine Mother's return to the spiritual scene of humanity is the > return of a deeply rich, creative and pure emotional relationship to > eachother and ourselves. > > Peace, > Chris > >>>> > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.