Sunday, April 26, 2015

Amma's temples!

641. Om dhyana-gamyayai namah: I bow down to Amma who is to be attained through meditation.

How fortunate I have been to have seen Amma's Brahmasthanam temple at Delhi being consecrated by Her in 1995. When I think back about that whole event, I'm so thrilled to realise that the crowd was so much smaller and I was one amongst the few lucky people! I had no idea just how big the entire event that I had witnessed, actually was! That I was in the presence of a universal, divine leader. I had been Amma's daughter for almost 5 years by then but I had still not understood the full power of Her divinity. In fact, I always wonder if we will ever know the complete extent of Amma's divinity! I remember standing by and seeing Her do the prayers. And I prayed myself to the Gods above. Once again, my ignorance at not realising that saakshaat Devi Herself stood before me. This week, Amma consecrated the 22nd Brahmasthanam temple in Manjeri. I found a note about Amma's temples in the amritapuri.org site:
'Traditionally, if you wanted the benefits of a particular puja, you had to pay a priest to perform the puja for you. But Amma reasoned that if you are the person who is suffering, you must perform the puja yourself. “If you are hungry,” She said, “It’s not enough that someone else eats.” After so many years of listening to people’s problems, Amma determined that, generally, people experience sorrow or difficulties when their lives are under the influence of Saturn, Mars, or Rahu.
In another revolutionary move, Amma initiated mass pujas, guided by Herself or one of Her monastic disciples, in which each participant performs the puja for him- or herself. Amma asked everyone to join in these pujas, without any distinction of caste, religion, age or gender. Amma wanted to removed the oft-misused authority of the priesthood, letting the people connect with God directly.'
Well, we're lucky. We have in every which way, such a powerful and direct connection with the supreme Goddess Herself!
Om Amriteswariye namah!

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