Nevertheless, she still had the breathtakingly youthful appearance and disposition of a woman much younger in years. All is He, He plays in countless forms and ways. these more common sattvika bhavas (sweating, fainting, Because, misled by your perception of difference, you think of yourself and of each and everything in the world as apart from the rest. She constantly poured out a stream of highly practical instruction to everybody, with meticulous care for the fine detail, and somehow possessed the uncanny ability to know and to keep track of every individual and where exactly each person was on his or her particular path. This mind carries an absence of independent activity of its own, but generates a clear mirror for the reflection of Truth. When the village simpleton, Harakumar, her devout neighbour, presciently divined Nirmala's true nature and called her Ma, he could not possibly have guessed what would become of her. He represented a firm regarded as among the most distinguished in France on such topics. religious traditions, and in the midst of none. At the point where the narrative ends in the present book, description necessarily replaces the conventions of biography; and the most vivid description of Mataji's later life that I can offer is the collection of photographs assembled here. . All were wondering what would happen next. Everyone was highly amused. Her eyes were turned upward without a flicker of the lids, her face shining with a supernatural glow, and her body became suffused with a red effulgence. But she looked like one who was far away, completely detached from all these feats, untouched by the thrill of executing them. At all times, the mind must be intensely vigorous, energetic, and alert - then only can you forge ahead with great speed. ", "And what will be the use of this silence? Supreme Union means the whole universe is within you and you are in it, and moreover there will be no more occasion to speak of a universe, for it will then no longer exist. Here, in fact, was my solution: I would adapt the methods of contemporary photojournalism for purposes of visual anti-hagiography. Nirmala and Bholanath stood there for a little while, watching as the water trickled away. In the history of Indian devotional traditions, changes in bodily structure It occurred at a time, so far as the observer's outward eye can perceive, when the role of Anandamayi crystallised. Always remember that you are a fool and that therefore you cannot become angry. Whether you say it exists or does not exist, or that it is beyond both existence and non-existence, or even beyond that - as you please: the important thing is that it should become revealed, be it in whatever form. The eyes of all three of us were now fixed on the strand of hair. Here are two examples of dazzling word-play in the service of thought of the highest subtlety - though, alas, there must be recourse to explanation: You should understand that one who loves God is but out to destroy identification with the body. What is especially interesting is the hierophany of the hole in the ground and the fact that this particular occurrence led to the ritualised construction of a vedi and shrine room. Yet outwardly her manner towards him did not change at all and she remained his affectionate, dutiful wife. machines all worked automatically and in perfect sequence to produce a She had, I should say here, not yet come out and very few people had any knowledge about her. Although both words and photographs can lie, the photograph does have a certain workaday veracity. Suppose one has acquired the power that whatever one utters becomes true or whatever one desires is fulfilled. Here on the terrace people would gather for Mataji's darshan blessing by presence during her promenades. Very late at night the fruit was offered to the deity, and then eaten. Nor does the link with white ants "demystify" the hierophany. The obedience of an unmarried girl in this case would be tantamount to starting life as a wife. Her face was bathed in a radiant glow. Her incomparable gifts were absorbed into the lives of all who came to her. Put your hand in." What is there in ice? At the appointed time, however, Nirmala sent for him. For to find the Beloved is to find one's Self to discover that God is one's Self, wholly identical with Oneself, one's innermost Self the Self of one's Self. she came into direct contact with an amazing diversity, of people. This body has served the husband, so you may call it a wife. In Bengal, Anandamayi was known as Manush Kali, the "living Kali". None but a spiritually-evolved soul can understand or fathom their spiritual depth. The tulashi is sacred to Krishna and is usually garlanded on festival days, with incense waved before it. Question: If this is so, is it of any use to ask you further questions? It is their life stories, which became hers. She often objectified her body by describing her actions in phases like "this body did this" or "this body went there". Question: You say all are God. Discover (and save!) All sorrow is due to the fact that the many are seen where there is only One. Not long ago a Frenchwoman, on a pilgrimage to visit Anandamayi's birthplace, searched the area for a whole week without any success. She later said that she had given her husband Upon this domain, as one can often feel in the Gangetic plain, there remain faint traces of an ancient uniting force, that of Greece, which spread across immensities of time and space to leave their gentle impress - no more than ghostly traces now, but palpable none the less - upon dwellings and people. Until then, I had sought to record, among many other themes, the spiritual life of India as and when I found it, consistently from an outsider's point of view. it sometimes stretched out to extraordinary length; at other times it shrank to a very small size; sometimes her body rolled about like a ball; on other occasions it seemed boneless, or bounced like a rubber ball as she danced. On reaching there, Mataji immediately went and sat in the pit. By any standards, this is one of the most arduous of all trekking pilgrimages. In fact, it was much more feeling-saturated and communicative than I can put into words. If one is to attain the Eternal, it is helpful to look for that in everyone and everything. There are waves that carry away and waves that bring back. The true Guru is never to be regarded by the disciple as merely human but as a divine being to whom he or she surrenders in total obedience. Others began asking her outright: "Who are you?" While she, since childhood had frequently fallen into bhava in the privacy of her own home, the first public manifestation occurred during a solar eclipse on Pausha Sankranti day, in January 1926 just before the inaugural Vasanti Puja. In the face of what this woman visibly manifests I can only play with words. . As a result, the spectacular experiences ceased and he attends now to his meditation and other spiritual exercises in a very quiet and unobtrusive manner. Nirmala Sundari turned towards Bholanath, smiled slightly and awaited his permission. We tried to hold her body but it was impossible at that speed. Question: What about the ancient rishis? Answer: One has to ask oneself, how then does a Guru give instruction? She believed her chaotic actions were expressions of the divine will. But He has no limitation whatsoever. Sustained effort ends in effortless being - in other words, what has been attained by constant practice is finally transcended, and then spontaneity comes. . It was a good life, enriched by the unfolding human drama and spiritual endeavour of the devotees as they strove to develop and perfect themselves over the years. Answer: (Laughing)... What you say now, I also accept. Sorrow will certainly be encountered on the journey undertaken for the sake of sight-seeing and enjoyment. Behind the veil lies Reality, but before you is the veil. Anandamayi did not curb my immoderate zeal; one of her most persistent leitmotifs was the need for skill in action. If you adopt this sort of mercenary attitude, you will not get anywhere. Since she often said "I look upon all hands as mine; actually I always eat with my own hand," we can more easily understand what otherwise might seem grotesquely bizarre. As you think and feel in parts, you speak of "touch" but He is whole, That which Is. This bare-minimum view opened upon a void cleansed of everything save the omnipresence of God. Suddenly, as we were watching her, she fell on the floor from a standing position, but it did not seem to hurt her in the least. Hymns containing many "seed mantras" began to be recited by Mataji in uncommon accents, producing wonderful resonance, which affected the whole surroundings. During her maunam she was visited by Dr Nalini Kanya Brahma, who has described this encounter most vividly: It was a cold evening in December 1924 when I was taken to Shahbagh for darshan of Mataji. Nowadays, we indiscriminately call such a charismatic figure a Guru, without being any too clear what that term means other than, perhaps, somebody with pretentious claims to spiritual wisdom. Her body was then taken on an open vehicle from the Kishenpur ashram to another at Kankhal. Those who can give themselves up, will be taken by Him. A few days later, they planted a sacred tulasi and some flowering shrubs round the hole, and the surrounding area about 5 metres, 16 feet, square was lightly fenced in with bamboo according to Nirmala's instructions. Nirmala's mother, Mokshada Sundari Devi, familiarly known as Didima, was a gentle, pious woman who lived to an advanced age; she took sannyas became an ochre-robed renunciate with the name of Swami Muktananda Giri, and accompanied her daughter on her incessant peregrinations. Her usual light response to this increasingly common enquiry was: "I am whatever you take me to be.". ", When really pressed to answer this question she appeared to experience, at least in her younger days, a considerable degree of agitation. The extreme guilelessness of her nature and her habit of carrying out orders to the letter sometimes led to amusing consequences, but not always. Question: From what you have said, I gather that you consider the formless nearer to Truth than God with form? Bholanath liked the place. Everyone has his own path. At a certain stage this question is simply not there. These clothes were white and indeed the whole scene was very muted in colour. They formed that brotherhood of which Cohn Turnbull wrote in 1961 - a network of warm, friendly, family loyalty spread across widely scattered communities. The milkmaids dedicated body and mind to Sri Krishna; if you do not do likewise, your accepting me as your Guru is absolutely futile. Question: People are asked to worship God, to sing His praise in hymns, to perform puja, to repeat constantly His name, and they do all this without knowing what God is. At last someone by way of a joke dropped a rasa gula, a juicy Bengali sweet, into the half-open mouth of the sleeping man. She did much traveling and wandering, at times refusing to stay at the ashrams her devotees provided for her. Duniya, the world is dikha, sorrow; that is, the sense of separation is itself suffering. Have you to consult your husband about every little detail? Someone who has reached the stage of the last picture in the Zen Ox-Herding Pictures, their commentary explains, is regarded as being so elevated as to look no different from ordinary people: I use no magic to enhance my life; now; when I approach, trees bloom.". she enquired. Question: Are there grades, krama, in spiritual knowledge? Inner voices would tell her what actions to perform and which Although she was not a sannyasi, the rituals connected with her Mahasamadhi were performed according to the unanimous wishes of all eminent heads of the religious orders who had assembled in conclave for the occasion. . In the search after Truth, one must not allow oneself to be overpowered by anything, but must watch carefully whatever phenomena may supervene, keeping fully conscious, wide awake, in fact retaining complete mastery over oneself. For purposes of explication, the cosmogony has been presented earlier in its mythical terms. Therefore, whichever side God within the woman's heart prompts her to take, that is right for her.". She selected one particularly handsome bloom, a big dark red dahlia, so dark that it was almost black. Mystical states, or yogic states, on the other hand, deliberately precipitate a restructuring of being in order to achieve coherent spiritual goals. Shop amongst our popular books, including 7, Articles On Hindu Mystics, including, Mother of Bliss and more from anandamayi ma. A year before I arrived, the celebrated anthropologist of the Ituri pygmies, Cohn Tumbull, had spent a while imbibing Mataji's compelling ways. . Here was my model in a dual sense: on the one hand, a paragon of that "I am a camera" truthfulness I sought to emulate; on the other, a photographer's "model" whom I could record from every angle. There were many occasions, especially during festivals, when the music provided an insistent and compelling rhythmical pulse to quicken the spirit and carry people to the border of rapture. To be released from all kinds of fear, such as the fear of insecurity of what people might say, the fear of failure, pain and death. In this condition, inert like a statue, her eyes unblinking, gazing upwards her appearance was delightfully sweet and serene. it bhava roga, or the disease of feeling On any occasion when this inauguration is related, as it is here, the entire community, including the living and the dead, is renewed; it rediscovers its "source", relives its "origins". Perhaps, they are implying, there must be something wrong with me, something in my samskaras, which prevented her looking directly at me. When I got there, Mataji said: 'Let us go to Siddheshwari Ashram.' Then everybody stood. The eyes of a sage are, of course, the focus of intense interest. Of course, 'Ma' has the highest connotations in India, as in the mantra-like vocable for the Mother Goddess, the Great Mother, Shakti, the Devi, but it is also a term of deep respect and affection for everything maternal and all aspects of the divine in its feminine aspect. We can see how all this developed in the first decade of her travels. . Then after Mataji made me get up, Nandu was asked to sit on her lap. . However, in order to find out for yourself why you are in the world, to find out who you are in reality, there are various sadhanas. What you call electric light or electricity in general is nothing but the union of two opposites: thus does Supreme Being flash forth at the moment of conjunction. Question: What have you to say about those who insist that only one religion is the right one. Perhaps, but what I find particularly appealing is Gopinath Kaviraj's scrupulous modesty, at all times he admits the powerlessness of his intellect to fathom a phenomenon that is intrinsically paradoxical and resistant to rational deduction. Thus, in her own way, Nirmala re-enacted consecration rituals dating back to earliest times, at the very fount of Hinduism - rites with which, three or four thousand years ago, Aryan priests celebrated the cosmogony. Is there even a question of whether the body exists or not? Signs of Nirmala's unusual nature were barely visible, even to the most attentive eye. But to live a life of pure detachment from all needs of the body, from all desires and longings of the mind, all your actions and thoughts need to be directed towards Him. The ants bring up this remedy from the subterranean waters. She was seated in the pit very near the priest, her face veiled, her hands always positioned in some mudra.". In his Glimpses of Bengal, Tagore writes: "the flow of life in the village is not swift, but neither is it entirely inactive or inert. Mataji gazed at me for some time but did not say anything. He called her "mother" (Ma in Bengali) and predicted that one day the entire world would address her in that way. You speak of the Absolute as Truth, Knowledge, Infinity. The young wife was careful to keep her face veiled, so men found it difficult to approach her and were thus obliged to receive her darshan from a distance. At that moment, the wayfarer saw a bee flying swiftly towards the lotus. Was right? said the bee joyfully, "this is a marvellous flower, full of delicious nectar which I have been drinking so that I now feel completely refreshed.". Feeling sore all over, I comforted myself: What more can they do to me? Question: . For to know yourself does not mean to know your body only, it Signifies the full revelation of That which eternally Is - the Supreme Father, Mother, Beloved, Lord and Master - the Self. Yet they could instantly recognise her as one of themselves, a simple woman simply dressed and accustomed to village ways. Saying this she began to laugh loudly. I would also like particularly to thank Markell Brooks for taking such a bold leap of imagination and thereby making it all possible. In other words, when the floor was cemented the vedi formed a hollow pit in the middle, and only the mud covering with which Nirmala and Bholanath had stopped up the original hole in the ground would remain untouched. - 'Live in God's presence.'. . Arthur Koestler was aroused to particularly contemptuous scorn by this essay, pointing out that this kind of scholasticism went out of fashion in Europe in the 16th century. To start with, she confined herself to moving to and fro all over Bengal, then moved beyond that to various places in North India, especially in the Himalayan foothills, before undertaking two long journeys through South India. If Bholanath asked her to speak to anyone she would do so, but not otherwise. Those around Mataji could not help but be impregnated with this wonderful ideal, and at the same time feel all the petty differences and distinctions which normally surround us disappearing. On her peregrinations there were no fixed plans, no arrangements were made beforehand, particularly in regard to accommodation. There are infinite possibilities and, consequently, which for any particular person is the specific path along which the Universal will reveal itself in its boundlessness, remains concealed from most individuals. way of being. What is required is a realisation that will uproot conflict and divergence of opinion, that is complete and free from inherent antagonism. It was a perfect, unhurried setting in which to imbibe the nature of her being and savour the atmosphere of this enchanted spot. It felt like warm, empty space to him. "I had one and a half seers, roughly one and a half kilos, of green gram dal.., having cleaned it, and made everything ready, I said to Bholanath, 'Come, let us go to Siddheshwari': Bholanath never put obstacles in my way. There was, besides, my ignorance of my subject. When a restless child is caught hold of, taken inside the house and given a toy, he will, for a short time at least, remain quiet and absorbed. She gave to her daughter Indira the rosary which Mataji had given her. Only when my emotional temperature was sufficiently high, or sufficiently cool, so it seemed, did she pick up the correct signal and make way for me. If we could only realise it, she is saying, she can do nothing by her own volition and nor can we. After the Guru has given sannyasa, he prostrates himself at full length before the disciple in order to demonstrate that there is no difference between Guru and disciple, for both are indeed one. Give yourself up to the wave and you will be absorbed by the current - having dived into the sea you will not return. What about Mataji's detachment from the Indian independence movement which raged throughout the first half of her life? The body is in love with the mind and the mind with the vital prana. Sri Ma is answering questions in Hindi at the samyam saptah. So I accompanied her and Bholanath. Answer: Beautiful? One must be fully conscious, wide-awake. ", "In your country? So long as one's real home has not been found, suffering is inevitable. Even though I sometimes photographed her when she was looking up or away from others in the immediate vicinity, only once did I ever photograph her alone, not looking at, speaking to, or listening to anybody else but me. 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