Amritasya Putraha

By Swami Purnamritananda Puri

The ancient sages, those seers of the Upanishads, addressed mankind with the most significant words — "amritasya putraha," meaning "children of immortality." Amma uses the words, "Omkara divya porule" — "The essence of Om." Certainly, they are not addressing our bodies or minds. We are much more than that. Though the body and mind are useful instruments, we should not make a cage of them and imprison ourselves within. We know from experience just how much happiness we can experience while living in this prison. Actually, we are all immortals. But we don't realise that. The whole universe is ours, all its beauty and mysteries.

But we are like the child collecting coloured stones from the seashore. Is this outlook due to a shortcoming? No, on the contrary, it is due to the presence of excess within us. Our "too much-ness" is creating the barrier. When you come to Amma, come alone. Don't bring along the unwanted ideas of the intellect.

We often think that we are with Amma when we are sitting in front of Her. But that may not be correct. It is not very easy to meet a Mahatma (great soul) like Amma. I have heard people saying, "I met Amma many years ago." However, some of these people do not even like to obey the line monitors, because they think that they have been devotees for a much longer time, and therefore, need not obey the line monitors.

Amma says "I am here, available for all. I am right in front of you. But where are you? You are not in front of Me. You are still hiding in your cave." The Master has found us. But we have not found the Master yet. Amma has chosen us. But we have not chosen Amma yet. One day, there will be a real meeting. In that meeting, the Master and disciple will disappear. The saint, Kabir, said, "I set out in search for You but I could not find You. Then I disappeared in the very search, and only then were You found. The one, who had set out in search for You, could never meet You as long as he was there. Only when the seeker disappeared in the process of seeking did the meeting take place." This experience is really a gift given by the guru.

There are two kinds of gifts: gifts of the world and gifts of the invisible. We can receive the gifts of the world even if we are not ready to receive them. But there is a gift that cannot be given to us until we are ready to receive it. The guru will make us pure enough to receive that gift if we are ready to surrender our ego. Then real knowledge will dawn within. The guru will take us from information to transformation, ignorance to innocence, and death to immortality.

Physicists say that an atom contains a lot of energy. In fact, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima contained only a few milligrams of matter converted into energy that levelled the entire city. If a single atom can contain so much energy, what about the spiritual energy in man? It can completely remove the numberless delusions carried over from countless lifetimes. We are all rooted in God. Think about this small flame of consciousness in man. It can grow into a roaring conflagration of infinite energy and light. That is what happened to Buddha and Amma.

We always use our limited intellect to judge the actions of the master. But no one can really understand a realised master until he or she attains realisation. Judging the Master will leave us confused. But if we surrender to the master and open our hearts, He can easily reveal his divine powers. After my first meeting with Amma, a great transformation took place in my life. But there were still many unanswered questions. It was very difficult to understand Amma. For example, during Krishna Bhava, I noticed unbelievable changes in Amma's physical appearance. I felt as if even the colour of Her skin had changed to dark blue. At the time of Krishna Bhava, Amma used to give darshan while standing with one foot on the floor and the other on a peetham (ceremonial seat), which looked like a footstool. Her actions and smile were enchanting to behold. Devotees coming to Amma with so many worries and burdens would forget themselves just by seeing the mystical smile of Krishna. Her mischievous actions would make everybody laugh; they would never get a chance to cry. If someone tried to explain his or her problems, Amma would pour holy water into his or her mouth. If that person tried to speak again, She would fill his or her mouth with banana pieces. Finally, forgetting all the problems, that person would burst into laughter.

I tried to test Her greatness in several ways. I remember one such incident. During one of the Krishna Bhavas, I was standing near Amma and fanning Her. I noticed how She made everyone feel extremely happy. Every half hour, She would walk a few steps to the door of the temple and gaze at the bhajan singers and devotees who were sitting outside and unable to see Her. I wanted to check if Amma could see things that did not fall within the range of Her direct vision. I tried to do something without Her knowledge. A vessel full of banana pieces that had been kept as prasad for the devotees caught my attention. When Amma walked to the door, I quickly took a handful of the banana pieces and swallowed it. I then remained where I was, and acted as if nothing had happened. When Amma returned, She looked at me and smiled. That look revealed to me that She knew what I had done. Amma took a shawl and, with one end, tied both my hands together. She tied the other end of the shawl around Her waist and made me stand near Her for the next five hours. It was sweet punishment. But this only encouraged me to engage in more mischievous actions.

When I was studying in middle school, I went to a flute concert. It touched my heart. I wanted to learn how to play the flute. However, my father did not allow me to do so. He did not want me to divert my attention from my studies. I became very sad. One day, there was a festival in a nearby temple. I saw a man there playing the flute beautifully; he had many flutes for sale. I bought one and tried to play it myself. But it was extremely difficult. The only sound I could hear was that of my own breath passing through the flute. I wanted a teacher to teach me to play the flute. My grandmother told me to pray to the divine flautist, Lord Krishna, and that He would teach me. I believed Her. I went to a Krishna temple and prayed to Lord Krishna to become my flute Guru. As if in answer to my prayer, I was suddenly able to play simple songs. I became excited. But in the house, I could play the flute only in my father's absence. Later, he started to enjoy hearing the flute and even asked me to play for him.

I wanted to test if Amma could remember how I learned the flute with the blessings of Lord Krishna, and if She would recognise my flute while She was in Krishna Bhava. One Bhava darshan day, I covered the flute with a newspaper and brought it to the old temple where Amma used to give darshan. I showed it to Amma and asked whether She could identify what was inside. She smiled and said, "You tell me, my son." I replied, "I already know what is inside, but I want to hear it from You." But She insisted that I tell Her. Finally, disappointed that Amma had not been able to tell that it was my bamboo flute, I told Her what it was. Then She said, "It is not a flute, My child, but a packet of incense sticks." I said, "No, it is my flute and I packed it myself." Amma asked me to remove the wrapper, and all the devotees were watching the scene with great curiosity. I removed the newspaper covering and, instead of my flute, I was shocked to see a brand-new metallic cylindrical incense case, full of incense sticks! I couldn't believe my eyes. How could such a thing happen? I mentally asked, "Are You a magician? Why did You turn my flute into a case of incense sticks?"

I did not want to test Amma any more, but I really wanted to get back my flute, which was very special to me. I asked Amma, "Please tell me where my flute is." With a mischievous smile on Her face, She replied, "It is in the puja room of your house, behind the painting of Krishna." I returned home immediately, went inside the puja room and searched for my flute. I found it exactly where Amma had said it would be. "How can it be?" I wondered. I tried to recollect the events. That day, after I had packed the flute and was about to leave the house, my mother had called me from the kitchen. She wanted me to eat breakfast before I left, but it was too early and I did not want to eat. She insisted, so I went to the kitchen after keeping my flute on the living room table. It was exactly at that time that my father came back from the shop, having purchased a cylindrical case full of incense sticks, which was also wrapped in newspaper. He also put it down on the living room table and went to the bathroom to wash his feet before entering the puja room.

After returning from the puja room, instead of taking the incense packet, he inadvertently took my flute and kept it behind the painting of Krishna, which was the usual spot where he would keep incense. After returning from the kitchen, I picked up the packet of incense sticks, thinking it was the flute that I was going to use to test Amma. I was totally unaware that She had already exchanged packets, playing a joke on me, instead. Then I realised that it is not possible to understand Mother, who is even more mischievous than I. At least I was happy that I did not lose my flute forever.

In the Mahabharata, there is an incident that took place while the Pandava brothers were in exile in the forest. One day, Lord Krishna visited them.

He and Arjuna began conversing. Krishna, reclining with His head on Arjuna's lap, asked him, pointing to a tree, "Arjuna, do you see that crow sitting there?"

Arjuna said, "Yes, my Lord."

"Arjuna, I think it is not a crow but a cuckoo."

Arjuna replied, "Yes, my Lord, it is a cuckoo indeed."

Then Krishna said, "Arjuna, it is not a cuckoo, but a baby peacock."

"Oh yes, I can see now that it is a beautiful baby peacock," responded Arjuna.

Then Krishna said, "Arjuna, it is neither a crow nor a cuckoo nor a baby peacock. It is an eagle. Why did you support Me when I said all those other things, when you could clearly see with your own eyes what type of bird it was?"

Arjuna replied, "Lord, You are so powerful that You can make a crow into a cuckoo, a cuckoo into a baby peacock, and a baby peacock into an eagle. I know that Your vision is more correct than mine."

Remembering this story, I decided to stop my tendency of testing Amma. Amma is trying to take us to the window of life's mysteries by giving us lots of love and affection. She is preparing the ground so that one day She can wake us up and bring us to the window. We should try to enhance the quality of our seeing. To see God, we have to develop the spiritual eye. Then we will be able to sing in ecstasy like Amma. A master like Amma acts as a bridge for us to reach the Supreme. The bridge has two sides: one belongs to our shore, the other to the shore of immortality. That is why the master is more important than God. One mystic said, "I can leave God but I cannot leave my master because God has given me this world, whereas my master has given me freedom from bondage."

For us, God is very far away. But a master like Amma is both near and far. Because Amma is near us, we can enjoy Her motherly affection and love. At the same time, She is always immersed in the ocean of supreme bliss and is totally detached from Her body. In that sense, She is far away. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth." When we become attached to the master, the master himself becomes a bridge to reach the Supreme. But for that to happen, we must have intense love for the master. That love can disconnect us from this world and connect us to the Cosmic Intelligence. That love takes us to the shore of infinite bliss. The Master shows us the light, the light that comes from a clarity of vision, from the awaking of the seer. The master simply shows us the capacity of our own vision. With that light, everything is possible. But to attain the Supreme, Amma says that tremendous faith is needed. If we are near Amma — not physically, but in our hearts — we will realise that nothing is impossible. Every individual is immensely strong because everyone is divine. God is the very origin of everyone's existence. But the mind tends to forget this. In the state of seeming weakness, people try to gain strength through some artificial means. This is what millions of people are doing: searching for money, power or strength. But they are searching in the wrong places. The wave cannot exist without the ocean. The wave is nothing but the waving of the ocean. It is a process. It is the ocean delighting in its being. It has tremendous energy. But this strength is possible only when we know that it is a wave of the great Infinite Ocean.

We may have forgotten this. But the Ocean has not forgotten us. Even if we have forgotten it completely and do not even know what an ocean is, we are still in this Ocean. Amma, who is an ocean of compassion, is here to make us realise our real nature. Let us pray to Amma to take us from the state of ignorance to immortality.