Category: AshramDiary
life at the Amritapuri ashram
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Monument of Compassion
I could not join the concreting seva at the bridge , as I had so much work to do. While working in the computer room, the phone rang. It was Jaya, who teaches hatha yoga in the ashram. She wanted to speak to someone. Recognizing my voice, she said, “Hey, what are you doing there? Shouldn’t you be getting your body dirty by doing some concreting seva?” I told her, “Well, from what I have understood, getting the body dirty is not karma yoga. Cleansing the mind of dirt is.” Many, unfortunately, do have a misunderstanding of karma yoga. Karma…
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Amma’s Gopa
Some days ago (16Oct), Amma came online, late at night during Finland programme. She wanted to talk to all the ashram residents through the webcam. Amma’s online presence was announced by ringing the bell thrice. Like all others, Br. Murali, who works in the tailoring department, also rushed to the stage where the webcast was being transmitted. Amma saw him through the webcam and called out, “Hey Murali! No shirt?” Murali tried to hide. But the camera followed him. Amma laughed. Everyone joined in the good-natured laughter. The next day, when Murali went to brahmacharinis’ tailoring department on some errand,…
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The Nobility of Motherhood!
Shyama, Amrita-krishna and Lakshmi now have another friend to play with, Sharan. Sharan is a newborn calf. He is a black beauty with white spots around his ankles and across his forehead. He was born this morning, at about 1 a.m. Yesterday evening, Lakshman who works in the cowshed told me that a pregnant cow would give birth soon. “How do you know?” I asked. All the signs are there, he said. He took me to the cowshed. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The cow’s udder was dripping with milk. The cow was already anticipating the birth of its…
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Milanam Madhuram
Today we finally got a connection to the Devi-bhava in Milan, Italy. Yesterday it looked like it would not be happening at all because there seemed to be no wireless connections at the program. But it seems Amma was insisting to keep trying and finally somehow everything fell into place as usual around Her. When we finally saw Amma She was dressed in a yellow sari and maroon blouse and maybe because we already thought that we were not going to see Her at all, She seemed ever so beautiful and sweet. It seemed to me like she was sweetness…
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A Yogi
Today in class, Swami Kaivalyanandaji explained the 26th shloka of the 5th chapter, in the Gita. This is ‘yontarsukhontararama..’ Whoever finds inner happiness, who delights within, whose finds inner light, he is a Yogi, he attains the Nirvana of Brahman, and himself becomes Brahman.’ Actually, we only discussed in the whole class the first word, ‘antahsukha,’ he who has inner happiness. Swami gave some beautiful illustrations of this. One, is a small flower. An ordinary person may ignore it, but the Rishi sees the purity and beauty within that. This is because he transcends the physical object, and becomes connected…
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The Happy Person
Today, we discussed in class the 23rd shloka of the 5th chapter, Bhagavad Gita. This is, ‘shaknotihaiva ya sodhum…’ Whoever is able to withstand the turbulence of desire and anger, here in this body, he is a Yogi, and happy.’ Actually, desire and anger are caused from the samskaras within the mind, or antahkarana. These are awakened through internal and external causes. External causes are situations, and internal causes are memories of objects. How can we avoid the manifestation of these samskaras? One is to separate from the external objects that make desire and anger manifest. Second is to not…
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Om Kamasvarupinyai Namah
Today Swami Kaivalyananda spent the whole class in a long discussion about desire. This was sparked from the 22nd shloka of the 5th chapter in the Gita – Ye hi samsparshaja bhoga..’ Those enjoyments caused by contact with the sense-objects are the cause of suffering. They have a beginning and end, so the wise do not delight in them.’ Here, Swami said that a ‘budha,’ a wise person finds delight in the Self, not in the external pleasures. There is a mantra in the Lalita Sahasranama, ‘kama svarupinyai namah,’ salutations to She who is the embodiment of Desire.’ Thus, in…
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Karma and the Class
Today some brahmacharis raised some questions to Swami Kaivalyananda. One was, ‘isn’t it true that some works are more difficult to perform as karma yoga than others, like a war?’ Swami said that for a karma yogi, he performs his svadharma. In the Gita, it is said, ‘para dharmamo bhayavaha,’ the dharma of another brings fear.’ So, if this wrong dharma is accepted, it will create tension within. If it is the person’s svadharma to fight in a war, which the questioner said is difficult to perform as Yoga, he must perform as Karma Yoga. For Arjuna, fighting wasn’t the…
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Concrete Devotion
Last night the webcam connection was set up as usual. This time to enable us to see the Paris Devi-bhava. The connection was a bit poor for some reason, but that didn’t prevent Amma from trying to connect with everyone here and even telling one fellow here that he has a “spring loose”. She was joking of course (or was She?). The curtains opened, and there She was, in golden yellow sari shining like a thousand suns! Well, not really, since the visual side of the connection was a bit shaky also, but what to do, one can always do…