Those were the initial days of my association with Amma (early eighties), when Amma was revealing her magnificence to an uninitiated one like me.
On one visit to Jillellamudi in those days, a thought came to me. while climbing the stairs to Amma’s room that Amma has not verbally given me guidance in the spiritual path. I remember that in that visit, along with me, my other family members and my brother-in-law from Ongole who studied Vedas, were present.
All of us were seated in the presence of Amma. After paying obeisance to Amma, we sat around her cot and Amma suddenly started a conversation:
“All is That”, she stated and explained some philosophical points in her own inimitable way choosing simple and ordinary words. This came as the answer to my musing a while ago. It is perhaps Amma who made me think on the above lines and respond.
It is in the knowledge of thousands of persons who met Amma that she can perceive what goes on in others’ minds.
In her childhood, Amma for some days takes food along with her father Sitapati in the house of Pulipaka Machamma who runs a village inn. Machamma does not respect her husband Adeiah, a very tolerant soul and even cheats on him. One night, Amma tells Her father that she would stay for that night in the house of Adeiah.
Machamma does not invite her husband for dinner. Adeiah later goes into the kitchen and drinks a glass of buttermilk. Amma asks her the reason. Machamma tells Amma that some days he will not eat and young Amma chides her saying that in all the houses, wives take food after the husband eats. Machamma, a strong willed soul, tries to dismiss the episode lightly but Amma casts a severe glance at her. That one glance makes Machamma realize her mistake and with a changed heart, seeks the pardon of her husband. Machamma wonders initially why she felt so low before a child and what authority the young one has over her. But in a very short time, she is convinced that Amma has control not only on Her mind but that of all others.
This phenomenon is not easy to comprehend. A simple explanation would be that for Amma, the personification of the Universal Mind, it is natural to know the others’ minds.
Let us see some unconventional thoughts in modern times on the nature of the mind and its workings:
An interesting explanation has been proffered by the Nobel Prize-winning biologist George Wald on the universal consciousness the mind is capable of assuming, in the following paragraph:
“I had always thought of consciousness, or mind as something that required a particular complex central nervous system and was present only in the highest organisms. The thought now was that mind has been there all the time, and the reason this is a life breeding universe is that the pervasive, constant presence of mind had guided the universe that way Our growing scientific knowledge points unmistakably to the idea of a pervasive mind intertwined with and inseparable from the material universe. This thought may sound pretty crazy, but such thought is millennia old in the Eastern philosophies” (Page 162).
Another modern thinker who came close to this idea of the Universal Mind though the description of such a mind is more from an intellectual point of view is Stanislav Grof. See how his thoughts read:
‘All the phenomena we experience are understood as experiments in consciousness performed by the Universal Mind in an infinitely ingenious creative play. The problems and baffling paradoxes associated with human existence are seen as intricately contrived deception invented by the Universal Mind and built into the cosmic game and the ultimate meaning of human existence is to experience fully all the states of mind associated with the fascinating adventure in consciousness; to be an intelligent actor and playmate in the cosmic game. In the framework, consciousness is not something that can be derived from or explained in terms of something else. It is a primal fact of existence out of which everything else arises….”
The noted Physicist Dr Fritjof Capra³ in his book ‘Uncommon wisdom’ in which the above passage also finds place (p.150), states in a more philosophical vein –
“Whenever the essential nature of things is analyzed by the intellect, it will seem absurd or paradoxical. This has always been recognized by mystics but has become a problem in science only very recently.
For centuries, the phenomena studied in science belonged to the scientists’ everyday environment and thus to the realm of their sensory experience. Since the images and concepts of their languages were abstracted from this very experience, they were sufficient to describe the natural phenomena.
In the twentieth century however, physicists penetrated deep into the sub-microscopic world, into realms of nature far removed from our macroscopic environment. Our knowledge of matter at this level is no longer derived from direct sensory experience and therefore our ordinary language is no longer adequate to describe the observed phenomena. Atomic physics provided the scientists with the first glimpses of the essential nature of things. Like the mystics, physicists were now dealing with a non-sensory experience of reality and like the mystics they had to face the paradoxical aspects of this experience. From then on the models and images of modern physics became akin to those of Eastern Philosophy” (Page 32).
In Amma’s words, an unadulterated mind is the Divine. “A thought emanates…Wherefrom is the thought emanating…? We cognize the thought only after it surfaces. The source of any thought, the ‘prerana’ is responsible for the subsequent action. ‘Prerana’ is invisible but the effort (action) is visible.” Amma said. Amma gave a lot of importance to the intense ‘bhava’ the mind is capable of assuming. The intense ‘bhava’ of a pure mind or the ‘sankalpa’ (resolve), is bound to manifest in the physical world of name and form.
In her childhood, once Amma sees a number of persons seeking alms coming together and joyously sharing the food in the verandah of a choultry at Bapatla. She wonders how nice it would be if all the families in a place join together, pool their resources and live together while pursuing their respective vocations.
Then, Amma resolves to establish a choultry which will be available to all where everyone can feel free and a temple in a village where there is no temple. The two came into being in Jillellamudi as ‘The House of All’ and the temple complex in due course of time.
Amma not only can fathom the depths of the minds of others but subtly redirect their thinking process to more positive ways (may not be by an act of will, but by her ceaseless awareness). Not only that, the phenomenon of a pure mind being a great purifier is evident from the following episode:
Once, Pardhasaradhi Ayyangar, a sincere seeker from Chennai was sitting with Amma on the terrace, enjoying the pleasant evening breeze. Suddenly Amma began to stare into space with a faraway look. After Amma returned from that mood, Sri Ayyangar asked Amma what she was staring at. The unexpected reply was ….thought waves’. By a series of probing questions, Sri Ayyangar elicited the following information.
Amma was just observing thought waves passing by in space. They were all knotty, twisted and distorted. But as they approached Amma, all the twists and distortions disappeared, became straight and passed!… Did Amma wish for a wonderful transformation? No… She was just observing!
This is a superb phenomenon with far-reaching benefits to the universal population in general and to those physically near her in particular. It means Amma was, by her mere presence, acting as a great purifier of thoughts that are so effective, so powerful and so vital to human beings. By transforming the negative thoughts into positive thoughts, the very thinking process of humanity is transformed. All this is taking place all the time without any fanfare or publicity! More importantly…the process is still continuing.
Doing so much inscrutable, imperceptibly and all mysteriously, Amma used to say that she does nothing.
It may be apt to conclude this narrative on mind with the following sentences of Amma from the book ‘Talks with Amma’ (Edited by Rodney Alexander Arms4) about the nature of mind and related aspects which takes us to deeper realms:
“There is something to which we give the name ‘mind’ (manas). That to which thoughts occur is what we call the mind.. We consider that which perceives, thinks and causes us to speak and to act to be one thing (i.e., the mind), and that which speaks and acts to be another (i.e., the body). But I say that both are the same Shakti.
Only if there is a body, can the mind be known. What is mind? What is it like? In the course of enquiring into the mind, such thoughts arise as: “The mind is not the eyes, not the ears…Is there a mind in addition to all these, existing separately in this body?” But asking where in the body the mind is located is like asking where in a damp cloth is its dampness located. Mind is not located exclusively in any particular place in the body; it is everywhere. Mind is Shakti. That Shakti which exists within a body and thinks many thoughts and performs many functions is called ‘mind’…. (Page 103)
“In fact, what is mind? That which understands all this, that Shakti (power) which speaks, hears, understands and perceives everything, is called ‘mind’. We have given the name ‘mind’ to that which does all this (i.e., sees, hears, understands etc.). What is the swabhava (inherent nature) of mind? Shakti has become many; it perceives many. It is change; it is what changes; It is the changeless also. Its swabhava is to cognize many reasons (karanas). Cognizing many reasons, accepting some, rejecting others, hearing many sounds, thinking many thoughts that state. of Shakti is what we call mind. In fact we do not know what the mind is. We do not know what it is like…” (p.110)
“…Whether you call it ‘manas’, ‘buddhi’ or ‘chitta’, they are all one. The differences are only apparent. They are giving the same thing different names. Thoughts received at one level are called ‘chitta’, thoughts at a different level, ‘buddhi’ and thoughts at yet another level ‘manas’. I am giving the one name ‘manas’ to all these…” (p. 112).
“…How do thoughts come? It seems that some Shakti, God, Impulsion (prerana) or something must produce them. Volitions occur to the mind: some happen (i.e., are fruitful), some do not. Both kinds come. The mind’s swabhava is to think dualistically in terms of ‘what happens’ and ‘what does not happen’. Not all violations are fruitful, so it seems that there must be some Shakti beyond the mind. I do not feel this duality. I feel that the sole cause for all these kinds of thoughts and experiences have come and gone, that is its swabhava. Mind, volition and Shakti are not different. The volition whereby ‘That’ becomes all volitions – that volition is volition less volition…” (p. 114).
“Mind has individuality (Vyakthtitva). How are four rooms obtained in the same house? In the same body, if some good thoughts occur, he is called a ‘sage’; if some terrible thoughts occur, he is called a ‘savage’. The very same mind thinks of killing one fellow and protecting another. If the mind of a person perceives all as One, we consider such a person as ‘Jnani’ (enlightened one); on the other hand, if he/she perceives us as dualistic, we consider him/her as ‘Ajnani'(ignorant). The mind that has a worshipful bhava is ‘divine’; if the same mind thinks about the wrong things, we call it ‘devilish’. Mind devoid of compassion is the Devil. Mind is itself Divine; Mind is itself the Devil.
“Every human being judges others according to his own mind. Whether it be one’s wife, husband, children, brothers, sisters, parents or even those who consider themselves spiritual guides and gurus and who teach others, nobody understands another’s mind. This is what is meant by ‘variety’. If the mind were understood, there would be no teaching.
“The mind calls something ‘guru’ and worships it, rejecting something else. Since the mind is unable to understand that the mind is everything, it selects a particular form and calls it ‘God’. Then it seeks that God within itself. That means that the mind itself does everything. Finally it understands none other than itself..” (p. 119&120).
The mind is at once the cause for bondage as well as liberation. An unadulterated mind is Divine whereas the mind in most of us is coloured by various tendencies with the ‘unripe ego’ in charge. But the persons pure in heart although not conversant with Shastras or did not do any serious austerities (which obviously involves mind and its machinations) seem to be naturally drawn to Amma with their guileless heart guiding them.
Always trying to keep in mind a perfect one like Amma and meditating on her divine nature will cleanse the minds of their impurities. What else is more desirable than such a state of mind?