Amma or Ammachi as it is commonly called, gives darshan special way. The word darshan blessing translates the vision of the shape. That is to say that the presence of the guru is a blessing. In most of the gurus, the darshan is given simply by their presence, they sit and converse before the faithful (or not) with them. Sai Baba himself walking in the middle of his followers, Amma then it takes people into his arms to give them a long hug - yes, yes, a hug.
During this visit, the arshram (place of residence of the spiritual teacher) was almost empty. It was about 10am when we entered the hall where she sat surrounded by a thirty devotees. The atmosphere that reigned pleased me immediately. I lived at that time an experience that I had already lived in the presence of Sai Baba, that is to say a very distinctive physical warmth inside my body, accompanied by great emotion followed by a state of relaxation. The kind of experience that makes you say that you are on track, at least, that's how I interpreted this experience to this point in my life.
We got online to receive the hug. A few minutes later, I find myself in front of Amma, and she asks me:
- how long you stay?
-
few hours - you sitting here next to Amma (like most wise / gurus, Amma speaks in third person)
So we sat a few feet of her during 7am - until the end of darshan, around 17h. This meeting had on me and my traveling companion, a profound impact. It is always difficult to describe these experiences to people who have not had the opportunity to be in the presence of someone they believe to be divine, because it is a unique experience.
Following this visit, I am quietly led to a spiritual discipline as a medium with the presence, life and teachings of Amma. Sai Baba had taken a secondary role in my life.
I tried, as suggested by most of the spiritual masters, to achieve a balance between reading, spiritual practices and practice in life daily. I adopted as bedside books, 9 volumes Awaken Children and two volumes of Eternal Wisdom (Q & A with Amma), I went to Amma's bhajans in my town, practicing the recitation of the Sahasranama (1000 names of the divine mother) and tried to implement the teaching of Amma in everyday life, to really practice.
Between 1995 and 2001, I moved to Boston, Michigan and India to go find her. Amma, as many''liberated''is extremely engaging and I was not alone in thinking so. Amma is followed by millions of people around the world, she founded charities that have won awards of distinctions - the most famous is undoubtedly the Gandhi-King award, presented by Jane Goodall at the UN headquarters in 2002 .
Small CNN report here.
So how could I go from devout to atheist materialist Amma in ten years? J'embêterais drive if I tried to explain the long process that led me, (I bother you with that another time) but I can say that after a change of perspective, certain situations around Amma became unjustifiable, even for a devotee like me satisfied.
Before addressing the subject, I must take the time to say I do not see Amma as a malicious guru Sathya Sai Baba like or Swami Muktananda example. I will not criticize it on the lucrative business that maintains his ashram and the many donations received since they use a portion of that money to help. It is of course easier to give other people's money, but at least they do. Many anomalies have been identified in these charities, but I will not address this issue today.
When people talk about Amma, they will mention the comfort it provides (through its presence and teaching) and the example she gives (through life). To agree with this we must of course believe in altruism total, unconditional love, we must believe that a person can be without personal interest and also consider the comfort that brings true guru , solid and not just a temporary comfort. I can not ignore the fact that the word comfort could be substituted by dependence, as the point of view.
must understand that Amma is not perceived as an ordinary human. For going out with the devotees of Amma for several years, I can attest to the incredible powers that he be given, such as omniscience and omnipresence. It is not uncommon to hear devotees say that if such a thing happened, it is by the grace of Amma, Amma who is wanted as well. Could have believed that the disciples who have invented or fantasy these skills and Amma has nothing to do with it, but it would be wrong.
Amma herself maintains this idea by repeating''Amma is always with you.'' Between them, the disciples openly affirm that belief, but in public they prefer to say that when she says this, she speaks of the divine mother and not herself. It would be impossible to compile the countless times that Amma said. The blog Cult of the hugging saint has listed a few.
Side totalitarian guru-disciple relationship also became problematic for me
In the presence of the guru, the disciple should be like a servant before his master. The servant has no opinions, that obedience to everything the teacher said - no opinion '
Amma (Awaken , Children, Vol. 1)
All your concepts and judgments belong to your mind and have nothing to do with the perfect owner who is beyond the mind.
Amma (Awaken Children, Vol. 7)
These quotes are major cases of spiritual totalitarianism.
In totalitarian gurus, there is a double discourse, the discourse that says I'm just a vehicle - my happiness to see you happy - I'm just a village / village I do not know - you too you are divine, etc. .... and speeches saying "God is a true Mahatma him / herself''. Amma ( Awaken Children, Vol. 7).
few years after me being away from Amma, I discovered the Yahoo discussion group for ex-disciples Amma , while the reasons I had to get away from Amma revolved around his teaching and his cult of personality, I was unpleasantly surprised by the testimonies that were on this forum. For example, the idea that Amma broke indirectly families had never brushed mind.
Years have passed and how I see Amma has changed. As Ramakrishna and Ma Ananda Mayi, his religious experience is overwhelming and without doubt one of the most powerful that India is seen. The songs and melodies she has made are of great quality. But there are things she does not see things or leave it make that call into question the powers of her attributes: electronic counters mantras, Amma dolls, attempted criminal prosecution against an author of a book critical of him, and acts of violence perpetrated in one of his Ashrams are some examples. Amma seems blind to what is happening around her at many levels.
For people who are not on the spiritual path, what I say here has nothing too outrageous, especially since I am taking the time to say that Amma has done more in his life that most of us will do, it has real talent and is extremely warm and attractive. But people who see it as a holy I fall over just to have said she has some human traits. Amma is like his organization portrays it, that's it, if you say otherwise, then you're blind to the sanctity of Amma or simply wicked to say the''evil''of such a person .
An Indian once told me it was a sacrilege to speak of the faults of a person who gives to the poor, but do good deeds a person is really a reason to keep silent on its darker aspects? Should we immunize Amma any questions as it has great qualities?
Photo: my photo, Amritapuri, Kerala, India, 1995 or 98 ... I'm not sure my
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