Oh! Mother, thy holy feet are the sole refuge.
Ever sought in this mortal world, for well being
In the realms earthly as also beyond, the domains Para and Apara
Through which one has to pass through in the given order.
THOU make manthra of thy mere endearing words, that becomes
The mindful, diligent chant verily bereft of haloed words,
Yet, bestow the much valued boon of life;
Their protective, benevolent hands ever save us.
In the slippery path of this fleeting world, we look
To you for knowing the very meaning. life’s inner truth
In following the sermon of domesticity; all the time
Seeking thy prop and succor in reaching the shore of salvation.
Cajoling us in the unseen time, and the unknown karmic lot,
Gently caressing us in meeting the unflinching destiny
The unrelenting, preordained lot to be gone through,
We are nursed by thy boundless love and motherly care.
In this harsh, unforgiving order of life.
We undergo the given lot always craving
Thy benign touch in mellowing the same
Or making us stride through with ease.
Oh! AMMA, we seek refuge in thy holy feet,
Ever mindful of THEE, cherishing THY form,
Chanting THY glorious name, every moment,
We find no other succor in this worldly living.
AMMA never drew a line between the worldly and the otherworldly, the so-called spiritual aspect or pursuit of life. While the conventional wisdom viewed both facets of life differently, to be pursued or sought apart from each other, AMMA brushed aside this divide between the two. Held the very same cause or force guides or rules the worldly and otherworldly, the so called ‘Para’ and ‘Apara’ domains.
The causative force or the decisive factor, for all the aspects in this universe being the ‘ONE’ and the ONLY ONE’; such ‘ONE’ has become the many or the multiple in this physical expression of the world. If so, the lesser mortal is persuaded to commit himself to that singular force and address the same for all the ends in life whatever they be.
Granting this fact of the ‘ONENESS’, AMMA is identified as the personification of such ‘ONENESS’, the supreme ruler of all the mortal and immortal worlds. The very same force found expression or has become manifest universal mother, AMMA, the MOTHER OF ALL that exists, the visible, the invisible and all that is in this existence; the entire ambience. In such a situation, the lesser mortal finds his good in bowing at HER HOLY FEET for his well being whatever be the sphere or aspect of life and for the eventual ultimate freedom from all bondage.
It is our experience that AMMA neither pronounces high sounding words nor makes any abstractions. SHE lovingly addresses us as the adorable children and cares for us as such, ever subject to HER motherly touch and concern. These simple, loving words of AMMA act as the sacred chants or powerful mantras for us, registering AMMA’S form and presence in our little minds.
Henceforth, mindfulness of AMMA, cherishing the very presence, repeating HER loving words becomes the formula of our lives for eventual redemption in this mortal life. Such continued attention and mindfulness of AMMA shall bestow the much valued boon in our lives unfolding the way forward. This shall also subject us verily to the soothing touch and protective hand of AMMA that shall enable our strides in this fleeting world with all its little fixations.
AMMA never spurned or so to say avoided the day to day concerns or woes of life in HER personal ways of living nor exhorted others to drift away from the regular life. Further, AMMA extolled domesticity and matrimony, setting a living, glorious example of the same.
AMMA proclaimed that married life and matrimony never impede nor come in the way of HER mission and ministry as the Universal Mother. Accordingly AMMA lived and exemplified the very same life of the householder worthy of emulation for all of us. AMMA proclaimed that getting married is like fighting from within the fort while being outside is exposing the self to the pitfalls of the senses.
Being in the family is like experiencing all the flavors of life and then giving up the same. Being attached to the family is truly human; yet to be concerned and loving towards all others is being divine. Thus the individual from being within the matrimony shall scale greater heights of the spiritual sphere saving the self from the sensory compulsions that may lead him astray.
Although this is much said and little done, in the real course of life, the person is ever subject to the vicissitudes of the unforeseen time and the uncertainty of the preordained lot; he has to bear the brunt. The individual is ever subject to these twin unknown realities of life with little choice. Obviously, his personal choices are relegated and pushed to the background.
Whatever one may be inclined towards, the ordained happens with little choice relentlessly, to be gone through and the expected may not always come true. This inevitability or inherent cold truth causes pain and hardship. Pain and suffering become obvious and unavoidable. Even so, pain sublimates the being. “The sculpture suffers the chisel to gain its beauty” – AMMA.
AMMA in these hardships and difficult path of life shall shepherd us to the shore safely amidst all these uncertainties and unpredictable time and preordination. AMMA’S gentle words are like soothsayers for the troubled human being. The one who suffers painfully seeks solace from the one who goes through his lot joyously whatever that be. Pains are the flowers to worship the god of forbearance. Hardship while going through teaches acceptance and even disposition to one’s lot, setting aside the element of personal choice.
In course of time the subject is tuned to the inevitable divine dispensation and disposition of his life. He realizes that success and failure are equally the causation of grace in the unfolding life in terms of the given situation. Both shall be deemed positive and both form the inevitable choice less duality of life.
While moving through or living through all these changes, unpredictable times, the person realizes that AMMA is the sole cause and the source of all life processes. AMMA is capable of positive intervention, if so inclined and the situation merits, warrants such motherly intervention in case of personal odds or even progress.
In the end, he is led to the conviction that AMMA is the be all and end all of human life. Not merely so. AMMA is but the cause, source, the effect and the conditioner of this entire universe and all the worlds within, dispensing with all the living species. Equally so determining their ends in this existence in its entirety.
We bow and prostrate before such AMMA, and her holy feet, the ever and the only prop, succor and recourse in this fleeting life and its trivial concerns.
(Adapted gratefully from ‘NEE CHARANAMULE SARANAMBU’, Song No.35, Page 37 of “ANUBHAVA SARAM’ by Brother Mannava Butchi Raju Sarma; and the book ‘LO CHOOPU’ authored by Brothers A.V.R.Subramaniam and Ravuri Prasad)