I sat before the computer to type an article about Amma. Lots of thoughts crowded my mind. Can I describe the depth of an ocean? sitting at the shore? Am I competent and qualified for this task? Amma said that the ‘Mahavakyas’ would sound hollow if uttered without the authority of experience. Then… the thought came that it would be necessary to share a glimpse of the Mother Divine with those who didn’t happen to see her… and for those who will have to imagine and draw their own images of Amma. Thus I ventured to continue.
‘Avyajakarunamurty’ is one of the thousand names in ‘Lalitha Sahasranama Stotram’. Causeless compassion… that compassion arising out of no reason is epitomized in Amma. Right from childhood Amma has showered compassion on all beings… She perhaps didn’t know how to be otherwise. The young Amma once tells her father at Tenali Railway station while boarding the train thus…” We just are not there without His (Her) grace. Everything is because of grace. Whatever we do is because of grace. In my view, pain and pleasure also are due to grace. Even a small deed. Though we feel we are doing with our hands and in whatever way we do, is due to grace. We are impelled to do various acts at different times (taruna) due to grace.” Though these words were not taken seriously by her father Sithapathi, Khadervali the Tonga driver for whom perhaps the message was intended is moved to the core and thinks of coming to Bapatla to be near Amma even if it means begging for his survival.
Amma’s life is a treatise on compassion; the aspect of grace which we could almost touch in Amma’s demeanor. That universal Mother coming in the five feet form with a heart overflowing with compassion drew every one irrespective of age, gender, background, good or bad nature and even animals onto her lap. Amma is the ‘Mother of All’ and she expressed in various contexts her maternal nature imbued with infinite compassion. It is common knowledge among those who visited her that even octogenarians and nonagenarians used to curl up in her lap like little children receiving her affection. Animals behaved as if they knew she was their mother. In fact, the instinctive animals felt instantly her boundless compassion than their more evolved brethren, with complexes and inhibitions. Indeed the motherly compassion welled up to steep the entire creation.
The unparalleled compassion flowing out of Amma led to Amma being misunderstood on several occasions. Once the young Amma laid down with fever and thus physically weak, sitting in the front yard of her grandparent’s house observes a scavenger woman going along the street in front of their cart while her child walks behind the cart. Amma notices two buffaloes running wildly towards them from behind. People looking at the scene remain mute spectators. Though they seemed to express a little sympathy by clucking their tongues, no one does. an effort to rescue the child. Amma quickly runs to the middle of the street, picks up the child and carries him to safety. The child refuses to part with Amma and on seeing the spontaneous response of the child. to Amma’s unbounded affection, the woman cannot resist hugging her, convinced that Amma is mother for her also. This incident creates a furore among the members of the household since the scavenging community was considered untouchable. Amma questions the wisdom. of the society… of not giving value to the persons doing the menial. task, valuing however the need for scavenging.
Yet another time, Amma who herself was in thick of problems in her in-laws house due to her very compassionate and motherly disposition to one and all, comes across someone covered with a blanket from head to foot lying on the sidewalk of the road near the Bapatla Railway Station. Though the person was lying like that for three days in a miserable condition, no one cares to have a second glance and the person would have faced death left in that condition. Amma, despite being warned by a passer-by when she attempts to lift the blanket, ventures to save the orphan named Rahi. She cleans his body, replaces the soiled clothing (by tearing off the end of her sari and using the piece of cloth to cover him up) and gets him admitted. in the hospital by persuading the Doctor, even offering an ornament to meet the expenses. The Doctor, though reluctant to admit the patient who he thinks will die in a few hours, realises later that a fresh lease of life was granted to Rahi. He was convinced that the patient recovered. more by the elixir of Amma’s compassion and her ministrations than by his medicines. He was moved by the almost intuitive response of Rahi as a new-born child and is convinced that she is ‘Loka Matha’.
It is the experience of all those who saw Amma in physical form that Amma’s glance is full of compassion as the monsoon clouds laden with pure water. The looks of Amma that can see only purity and innocence at the core of any being, touch the hardened mountains of impurities. It is the experience of thousands of persons that their dry and arid hearts are transformed into lush green fields with the torrential showers of her grace.
The most compassionate deed of Amma to redeem the world is the creation of Himalayas. Amma has offered Hyma whom she described as her reflection as the ‘sankhu’ for Hymalayam. It is a divine act, which perhaps no one can fully understand. Amma declared… “I gave birth to Hyma,… I nurtured her…. I killed her….. and I only gave her divinity”. What a poignant statement? We are comfortable with the creative and sustaining aspects of the Godhead. Amma is the manifestation of the primordial Creatrix, Sustainer and Destroyer. And only the ‘Shakti’ could do the act of offering her own daughter for the redemption of the world.
Amma indicated about the impending death of Hyma in many subtle ways. Whether she couldn’t have prevented the death of Hyma? There are several instances when Amma gave a new lease of life and even resurrected the dead! But these questions come to those who are swayed by the dualities of wanting one thing and not the other in the pairs of opposites. The eternally free One that has adorned a human form said…. “The one who ordains also is bound by what is ordained”… A very great purpose that of granting serenity and succor to the souls in agony is served through Hymalayam. It is only Amma who could create an oasis of bliss for mankind from her ocean of tears.
Hyma is the thousand petalled lotus that bloomed in the ‘Manasarovar’ of Amma. She stands today as the beautiful, cool marble statue in Himalaya.
Attaining Amma is the be all and end all of all ‘sadhanas. Hyma being the wish fulfilling tree, acquiesces easily and our mundane wishes are granted. Happy and satiated, we take a few steps to the adjoining Anasuya Swaralayam. There, Amma as Ardhanareeswara resplendent in shining black ‘Archamurty presides over the Universal Consciousness to aid in our journey towards Her.
Let our hearts open up and receive ‘Avyaja Karuna’ from the Compassionate Ones.