A Day at the Ashram
Yesterday, Sunday, was the last day that Darshan, blessings from the Holy Mother, were offered. We were not allowed to partake because Amma wanted to make sure that all of the Indian people in this area, her home village, were served.
I began the day with a yoga class, women only. It was challenging for 7 o'clock in the morning. After I meditated for a bit I went and spent some time on the internet writing to all of you. After that I meditated some more using the mantra, a sacred chant, given to me from Amma the evening prior. I found out that she called me here by asking her if she was my Sat Guru, main teacher. The answer was yes! So I asked her for a mantra and, later in the evening, I was taken to her again and she whispered it into my ear. So now I use it to stay close to her and to bring love and peace into my life.
It is very hot here, about 90 degees by noon I believe. I went back to sit in front of the Divine Mother for a bit and watch as others received their Darshan. It is beautiful to observe the village people melting into her arms. Some have known Amma since she was a girl. For dinner I had a veggie burger, my favorite dish here at the Ashram. The food here has been so delicious, the best we have had so far.
On the way back to the room I remembered there was a Puja to Kali at 8pm which I attended for the next hour and a half. People gathered in a space about the size of a garage without doors. This is actually part of Amma's original home. Holy men known as Brahmins performed the ceremony. There was chanting, singing and clapping, flowers thrown into fire and water being offered to the great Goddess Kali. The mood was ecstatic and joyful. When it was over everyone rushed to the bowl of fire the Brahmin held to wave their hands over it and pull the energy towards themselves. I felt so light when I left that I floated up to my room and slept like a baby.
This morning I went to the morning chanting of the 1000 names of the Divine Mother at 5:30am. Afterwards, intending on practicing yoga on the tenth floor balcony while the sun came up, I ended up practicing T'ai Chih for an hour and a half instead. I watched the sun rise into a ball of bright red-orange as I moved with my breath in flowing motion. It was lovely and I still feel it in my body now.
After breakfast I attended a 2 hour workshop on healing energy by Devananda. He is a Japanese man who was a Shinto priest for thirty years and was called by a dragon through a dream to meditate for twenty-one days in a cave chanting a mantra. After that he met Amma and he and his wife now live here at the Ashram. He gave away everything to be with Amma, including a very prominent ashram where he was the head priest in Japan.
Today we are leaving the Ashram and it feels like the right time. The people who live here full time are very intense and sometimes it's difficult to just sit and relax because they are always trying to recruit people for Seva, or volunteer work, in which we feel like we have been partaking in to our fullest ability. The entire Ashram is run by volunteers and I feel that sometimes the ones who live here become a bit resentful of the ones who are just passing through, but life is about choices. We will take a river boat about 2 hours down the backwaters to a small beach community called Varkala. There are supposed to be excellent yoga classes there or you can just practice right on the beach! We plan on relaxing for a while before we head up to Mysore where I would like to do some intense yoga training, but time will tell.
Namaste!
Lynne
I began the day with a yoga class, women only. It was challenging for 7 o'clock in the morning. After I meditated for a bit I went and spent some time on the internet writing to all of you. After that I meditated some more using the mantra, a sacred chant, given to me from Amma the evening prior. I found out that she called me here by asking her if she was my Sat Guru, main teacher. The answer was yes! So I asked her for a mantra and, later in the evening, I was taken to her again and she whispered it into my ear. So now I use it to stay close to her and to bring love and peace into my life.
It is very hot here, about 90 degees by noon I believe. I went back to sit in front of the Divine Mother for a bit and watch as others received their Darshan. It is beautiful to observe the village people melting into her arms. Some have known Amma since she was a girl. For dinner I had a veggie burger, my favorite dish here at the Ashram. The food here has been so delicious, the best we have had so far.
On the way back to the room I remembered there was a Puja to Kali at 8pm which I attended for the next hour and a half. People gathered in a space about the size of a garage without doors. This is actually part of Amma's original home. Holy men known as Brahmins performed the ceremony. There was chanting, singing and clapping, flowers thrown into fire and water being offered to the great Goddess Kali. The mood was ecstatic and joyful. When it was over everyone rushed to the bowl of fire the Brahmin held to wave their hands over it and pull the energy towards themselves. I felt so light when I left that I floated up to my room and slept like a baby.
This morning I went to the morning chanting of the 1000 names of the Divine Mother at 5:30am. Afterwards, intending on practicing yoga on the tenth floor balcony while the sun came up, I ended up practicing T'ai Chih for an hour and a half instead. I watched the sun rise into a ball of bright red-orange as I moved with my breath in flowing motion. It was lovely and I still feel it in my body now.
After breakfast I attended a 2 hour workshop on healing energy by Devananda. He is a Japanese man who was a Shinto priest for thirty years and was called by a dragon through a dream to meditate for twenty-one days in a cave chanting a mantra. After that he met Amma and he and his wife now live here at the Ashram. He gave away everything to be with Amma, including a very prominent ashram where he was the head priest in Japan.
Today we are leaving the Ashram and it feels like the right time. The people who live here full time are very intense and sometimes it's difficult to just sit and relax because they are always trying to recruit people for Seva, or volunteer work, in which we feel like we have been partaking in to our fullest ability. The entire Ashram is run by volunteers and I feel that sometimes the ones who live here become a bit resentful of the ones who are just passing through, but life is about choices. We will take a river boat about 2 hours down the backwaters to a small beach community called Varkala. There are supposed to be excellent yoga classes there or you can just practice right on the beach! We plan on relaxing for a while before we head up to Mysore where I would like to do some intense yoga training, but time will tell.
Namaste!
Lynne
posted by Lynne | 2:31 AM
3 Comments:
Dearest Lynne,
As a 3 year resident of Amritapuri, I take gentle exception to your description of ashram residents: "the ones who live here become a bit resentful of the ones who are just visiting." I think "tired" is a better word. Many come to India, absorb as much spiritual energy as they can, begrudge being asked to work to support the ashram, then leave when they become bored and ready for their next Indian spiritual "experience". You say, "it is all by choice." I say, "it is all by karma." As Christ has said,"You shall know a tree by its fruits."
We both could learn a lesson from Amma when she says,"Wherever we go, we find fault. Our minds become restless because of this. This habit should change. We should forget about the shortcomings of the place we are in and try to discover what is useful there and respect it. Always see only the good everywhere and in everything; then all our suffering will come to an end."
With Love of Amma -
Always in Her Service,
Jyotsna
Dear Lynne,
I would like to respond to Jyotsna's comments. Maybe I'm being an overprotective friend or just indulging my ego but I find myself with perhaps not so gentle exception to the assertion that you were finding fault with the ashram residents. I heard you saying that you experienced them as perhaps resentful that visitors got to visit and not work. I did not hear you say that the ashram residents were resentful people. I heard you simply expressing an experience you had with them, which is none other than your experience, a feeling you had that you wanted to share with us which is the gift of this blog, sharing yourself on this journey. I appreciate seeing the world of India through your eyes. I honor your journey every step of the way. I know you know the lessons of Amma. You've been sharing your practice of them all along on your journey.
Lynne-
I experience Ammans and most other human life form as highly illogical. Beware the grape Kool-Aid.
Beam us up Mr. Scott,
Spock
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