My sweet, sweet Amma!

 915. Om svabhāva-madhurāyai namah: I bow down to Amma who is sweet in Her inherent nature

This is one of my favourite names of Amma's! When I first stood in line for Her darshan nearly 30 years ago, I cried with no idea why I was crying. I felt overwhelmed. But by what? I had no clue. I just stood there crying softly to myself, confused and overwhelmed. When I finally got Amma's darshan, it felt like all the armoury of the world had been lovingly wrapped around me, to protect me forever! I was home. I had met my Mother. I still remember the sweet, all-loving embrace She enveloped me in. I left the ashram crying. On the train journey back to Kannur, my parents and I discussed Amma and how wonderful the darshan had been. In that 8 hour journey back, I thought so much about Amma. I felt Her continued protection. And then, life took over. I travelled for my post-graduation. I found new freedom in the outside world. I made silly mistakes, wrong decisions. But once a year I would collapse in the arms of my sweet Mother who would forgive me all my mistakes and give me renewed energy. It has been the same for years. I wait for that hug that wipes away the tears of an entire year. My sweet, sweet Amma accepts me with all my faults, mistakes and false ego. Through the years She has smoothed down my rough edges. She has taught me lessons in humility. They've been harsh lessons but perhaps much needed. She has taught me to appreciate the smaller joys in life. She continues to teach me in Her own gentle way - and for that, I am ever grateful to my sweet, darling Amma!

Om Amriteshwariye namah! 

The path of hope and faith

 914. Om svasthāyai namah: I bow down to Amma who abides in Herself; who is free from all afflictions.

The more I see the power of group chanting, the more I realise what I have missed out on in the past. I preferred to sit by myself and chant, while my monkey mind ran all over the place, from my work to my friends to Amma and to problems I was facing. Suddenly a new world has opened itself up, where wrapped in each chant is the love and support that everyone affords each other, in a group. Suddenly I have understood the importance of praying for others. I was explaining this to a friend and in all innocence, he asked me who prayed for me? Why, everyone else, I said! And that felt so good. Because when we are Amma's children, we are under the umbrella of the grace of our ever-loving Guru- She who abides in Herself and yet loves millions of Her children unconditionally. She is free from all negativity even when willingly taking the burden of our own negativity and ego. She infuses us with love and acceptance, optimism and hope, faith and life. She teaches us to be inclusive in every situation. She teaches us to remember the divine name with every breath. She saves us from the illusion and the deceit of the material world. I pray that we may all walk in the path that Amma has created for us because if there is one person in the world who knows how to make us better beings, who knows how to make us walk the path of hope and faith, it is the Divine Devi Herself! 

Om Amriteshwariye namah! 

Oh to live a life of Joy!

 913. Om sarvāpad-vinivārinyai namah: I bow down to Amma who removes all dangers

Our Satguru is the all-powerful Mother of the universe. When we stay in a state of constant remembrance of Her (and even when not!), Amma is always looking after us. She is clothing us in Her grace and shielding us from danger and our own negative tendencies. Most times I feel that the biggest danger we face is ourselves. Our Selves. We may well chant prayers but as soon as the prayers are done, we forget to continue the inward journey. Instead, we get caught up in the frenetic outside world, in little trivial fights and get entangled in the impossible mesh of our ego. We forget what we have prayed for; we forget Amma's teachings; we forget that Amma's religion is unconditional love. So many times I have stood in front of Amma and vowed to give up negativity. Within hours, I have allowed it back into my life with open arms. We are all so flawed and it is only prayers and an understanding of exactly who and what we are praying for that will help us move ahead in a dharmic manner. I pray to Amma that She removes the biggest danger to my life: my own negativity. Instead, I pray She graces me with the joy of life, the bliss of losing myself in chanting Her name every minute of the day! 

Om Amriteshwariye namah! 

Unflinching faith...

 912. Om savyāpasavya-mārgasthāyai namah: I bow down to Amma who occupies (or is reached by) both the left and the right paths of worship.

The different ways of reaching Amma bring us to the doorstep of unflinching faith. It is possibly the most difficult concept to inculcate within us. What we often are unable to fathom is the full extent of Amma's divinity. To reach Amma's divine feet, we have to first remove the layers of ego we clothe ourselves in. To even remotely begin to understand Amma, we need to go inwards as much as possible. Amma tells us to "Love" everyone the way we love Her. She makes the concept sound so simple but how impossible is that?! I find it extremely difficult to see Amma in anyone else. That's my fault, my ego playing out. I need to remove the illusion that I am in control of any situation or that I am the creator of my destiny. I need to understand that we are all of humanity, in this world, together. As Amma's example of the burning building, we have to feel the fire burning on the 1st floor even as we lounge in our home, ten floors above! The interconnectedness between all of us cannot be ignored. We are all human beings living a spiritual experience while Amma removes all our negative tendencies and erases the karma from our past births. So I bow down to Amma and pray that whichever path I take to reach Her, may it be with unflinching faith and the realization that I take my next breath only because of Her infinite grace!

Om Amriteshwariye namah! 

United by love

911. Om sadāśiva-kutumbinyai namah: I bow down to Amma who is the wife of Sadashiva

In the book "The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother" by T.V Narayana Menon, he writes that 'this mantra may also be taken to mean "always" (sadā) blissful (Śiva) and with family (kutumbini)".'

I love that interpretation because when we remember Amma constantly in our lives, we experience constant bliss. We are never alone. Our spiritual family has our back at all times. When this pandemic started, my panic and anxiety were reaching mammoth proportions. It had become an every day - sometimes three to four times a day - occurrence. That's when Bindu told me to join a WhatsApp group that concentrated on chanting. She didn't give me a choice. She added me to the group and I shied away from praying with total strangers. Today, that group is my spiritual family. Comprising of 66 people, of whom I have met only 5, I feel such a strong sense of spiritual kinship with everyone. It is a no-judgement zone where the common thread is our love for Amma. This love then radiates towards our brothers and sisters. It's the safest place to be. And Amma has created such a world for all of us. We only need to reach out and touch the lives of those around us, spreading the love that Amma always advocates.