I am always in awe of Amma's ability to not only spread the love but to also attend to matters of administration and the running of the ashram. How many times we see Amma giving darshan while at the same the speaking to someone about ashram matters or giving advice to a devotee. The beauty is that Amma never compromises on either. Both get an equal share of Amma's attention, which I find so incredibly beautiful! Everytime I go to Amma for darshan, I pray fervently that someone will come with an important question and Amma will hold me in Her arms forever! But to be fair, even if no one comes to speak to Amma, in Her beautiful and warm hug lies a lifetime of love, compassion and assurance. Amma represents the spiritual and divine intelligence of this world. The knowledge Amma has of life, people and of course the scriptures has its firm roots in a divine intelligence. I love listening to Amma's satsangs because they are so practical and yet endearing. You realise that Amma is always looking out for Her children! The following is the excerpt from Amma's satsang at a retreat in Toronto. Michael send this to me and I am grateful to him for it. The answers Amma gives to how best to lead our lives is an eye opener. It also gives us a small hint of the vast expanse of Amma's pure intelligence!
"Ego is nyan-enna bhavam. Doing karma is not ego. It is action with the idea that "I" am doing it. Our
biggest richness is being able to speak kind words. But we never do.
Ego hurts others. Example: Because of something that happened at home, we give others (at work) a hard time. This causes pain in those that we hurt. That pain creates like a smoke or glass pane around our aura that prevents grace from reaching us. So we must not hurt others. We should use the ego as a tool. But be aware that when it hurts others it creates a block and prevents kripa from reaching us. Sailing the boat in the direction of the wind gets us there faster. That is grace. Going against the wind makes the journey harder.
Attachment binds us. You don't need to give up anything. But you need to understand the nature of objects and move forward with awareness. The scriptures say we should do three things with the guru's teachings. 1. shravanam (listening); 2. mananam (meditating and reflecting on it); and 3. nithidhyasam (practically applying it; practicing the guru's teachings).
Darkness can't be scooped out of our lives. It is there. But it immediately dispels in the presence of light. So we must bring light. One word is extremely powerful. We must speak with kindness and awareness. This will make tremendous difference in our lives. One single word is so powerful. So speak kindly, compassionately, use words with extreme care! Giving solace to even one person is a huge accomplishment. So think good, do good, speak good.
Awareness is there. We are ripe fruit. We are a huge powerful flashlight, but the lens is covered in dust so you don't see the light. Amma says we should practice detachment so that you won't be sorrowful. Attachment creates sorrow. So there is only oneness. When our finger pokes our eye, we console both the eye and the finger. Seeing both as one self. That is what we need to be practice awareness on.
Brahmacharis from ashram go to build houses. The villagers don't help. Instead they just think that the ashram is getting government dollars from it. The trucks won't reach some of these far inland locations. The brahmacharis load it into a wheel-barrow and push it to where it needs to go. The people (beneficiaries) will sit and watch and play cards, and will even give the brahmacharis a hard time. These brahmacharis work without eating in the gruelling sun. The brahmacharis tell Amma, "They won't even help us." Amma tells them that that is their dharma. They are ignorant. They lack understanding. Their nature is that way. Our nature is to help. Story of a mahatma bathing in river and trying to save a scorpion. Scorpion kept stinging the mahatma that was saving him. When questioned, the mahatma said, "It is my nature to save him. It is his nature to sting. I can't be mad at him for being true to his nature." Similarly our dharma is to help others.
Kindness and compassion in adverse situations is hard sometimes. So when we develop non attachment, we will not have/experience sorrow. Then we will spread light and help to others.
If you pour water on the leaves, it is no good; pouring water at base of the tree has benefit. So detachment allows us to work with compassion and kindness and understand the nature of the world.
Understand your dharma, understand your karma, understand the nature of the world, understand the situation and move forward. Action without understanding is like rowing a moored boat."
Om Amriteswariye namah!
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