A Tale of Grace

posted by Kamala on Dec 25

Dearest Friends and Family,  

We hope you have a wonderful Chirst-mass, and are able to pour your hearts out on those you love.

Here, Amma was too busy giving darshan to stop and make a separate time for the Christ-mass eve program, so, it carried on, on the main floor of the Bhajan hall…I didn’t come out, I’m still having difficulty with cloth on the skin from the skin disorder.  Its getting heaps better now though…we have been on Ayurvedic medicines for over a month, and I guess its kicking in….(good ole american slang, loaded with violent metaphors….)

Anyhow, everything Amma does is a teaching. So, I ask myself, what does it mean?  Amma, for the first time, did not come and sit below and watch her children prancing about….

There are several things that come to my mind, as quite obvious.  It has always distressed and dismayed me, since we came, that it seems Amma’s children are for the most part, unaware of the value of her time on this earth.  This is only because we are all unaware of the value of our own time.  We all believe everything in our little heads will go on and on and on…despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary right around us.  Its really astounding how what is most obvious is least observed by us.  I speak for myself only,  perhaps the rest of you are more aware.

I found this quote from E.F. Schumaker, who wrote Small is Beautiful in the 1970’s.  He was an English economist who followed and preached what he called “Buddhist economics” .  His thinking appears to have developed out of his sojourns in Asia.  He was a compassionate and intelligent human being, who appears to have been awake to his ethical instincts.

Having looked at his thought, I find that these ‘Buddhist economics’ of Asia, are really, the indigenous way of life found in peaceful socieites dedicated to ethical ideals of Ahimsa and Truth.  This thinking was encapsulated by Gandhi with his ideas on Trusteeship, Bread Labour and Swadeshi.  Anyhow,  Schumaker also once commented something to the effect that  the watefulness involved in industrialization is so monstrous, that it is beyond the scope of our imagination, which is perhaps why we don’t even see it.  For example, to produce one bottle fo cocacola which sickens and damages our bodies, takes 9 bottles, (NINE) of clean drinking water.  Go figure.  Somehow, the great silent majority has settled for absolute inanity and insanity in the name of human liberty.  

Its just food to chew on, but, seems we will need something harder to chew soon, besides the fanciful dreams of never ending bigger and better, more and more, consumer life.  This is taken from Schumaker’s last speech at Caux in 1977 before he passed on.

“The first thing when we think about what we call the Third World or the developing, or to put it more simply about the poor, the first thing we ought to realise, is that they are real. They are actually people, as real as you and me, except that they can do things which you and I can’t do. They have a know-how that we don’t have. They are real, and we must not think of them as poor little souls, and luckily we come along and we are going to develop them.  No, they are survival artists and it is quite certain that if there should be a real resources crisis, a real ecological crisis, or this, that or the other crisis in the world, these people will survive.

Whether you or I will survive is much more doubtful. India will survive, though whether Bombay will survive is more doubtful. That New York will survive is an impossibility.    Probably the same applies for London orTokyo. And an awful number of other big cities.  You cannot help a person if you yourself don’t understand how that person manages to exist at all.”

So, where are we going as a human race, what was Amma’s teaching last night?

Another thing that comes to me, is that it is obvious that Amma has no time left to devote to enjoying herself or really, pleasing us, by being part of the audience.

For me, that teaching also means, that perhaps I do not have much time left for doing the unessential.  How can I do, and what is the essential that I must do? These are questions I am trying to understand.  It is important somehow, to get ourselves in order…before our Maker….it only takes utter truthfulness in heart….

Gandhi once commented something to the effect, that he had no disciples, he was trying to become his own disciple….I think I got a glimmer of understanding on that, I think it means that he was trying to make himself true to his conscience.  It takes constant listening.  It takes fearlessness, for we are asked frequently and constantly to do something other than the dictates of society and the world, and we squirm with uncomfortableness about what others may think of us….how others will take our actions….

How to become Truthful and Fearless before our Conscience?

I can’t think of anything more important, and pray that all of you will be able to become disciples of your own conscience, fearlessly and truthfully….may we all become True disciples of that which is the Christ within us, our conscience.

Loving you, 

Kamala Aunty

posted by Kamala on Dec 5

Dearest Friends and Family,

Amma will be home day after tomorrow, rumor has it. Today, a spring like air came into the atmosphere here. The response of Nature to Amma has always been amazing to feel and see.
There was a response in Nature for Anni also, I think we told you all how so many birds, big and small, seed, flower, fruit, and meat eaters alike gathered outside her bedroom window the day she left….
Its really true that one who is attuned to Nature, who is Natural, carries Nature in an embracing dance with them in their lives.
This is not the first time that the atmosphere has changed in the ashram prior to Amma’s arrival from her long absence…its not just the ashram, its the whole area…Of course, the people in the ashram are all happy and busy, but its the whole of nature….
This time, tucked away from it all as we are by reasons of health - nothing serious, just minor things that keep up confined to our precincts…I could still feel the change…spring.
Spring is a most beautiful season, and Nature here, is rejoicing that Amma is coming home.
When we first came to Amritapuri, it was on the verge of the bizarre turns of Nature….it was amazing to see how Nature was in such harmony with Amma here then. The evenings would invariably have a cooling shower. If there wre going to be storm, it would be during the night, and everyone would wake to fresh air….invariably, there was a 5AM shower, which if you were late for archana you experienced….the evenings were filled with sheets of golden light….
This pattern is very disrupted now…
I’ve been pondering about Mother Mary lately. Poor dear lady. Her son was perfectly healthy, he loved everyone, he was truthful and good, and she had to see him go through all that. Its just terrible. She was able to connect with him after he left the body, and know his eternal nature, and I suppose that helped her alot.
I had a dream where Anni came to us, and I was crying with relief to see her again. I asked her many questions, about death, about herself now, in it, she told me that she is always with me.
I just pray that all the fine strings of the mind and heart will tie me to Truth, so that I can be with her and be of service to her.
Link and I have undergone Nasya, and Ayurvedic sinus cleansing….Link did it first, and it cured a long standing problem he had. then I thought I should do it, and since then have little sense of smell or taste, and numerous other toxic symptoms have come up in both of us. So now, Link is doing the Ghee stomach cleanse - another Ayurvedic part of Pancha Karma, to help clean his blood….both of us apparently have unclean blood, filled with heaven’s knows what. They said it could be due to stress….During Anni’s sickness time, we both got what appeared to be a fungus, but neither of us mentioned it to each other until months later….anyhow, so, all this has served to keep us very internally focussed, we haven’t been able to do any of our previously regular outside activities….
Please let us hear from you,
Loving you,
Kamala Aunty

posted by Link on Dec 5

Dear Friends and Family:

Long time since any posts.  We’ve been holed up in our room, weathering.  I finished one more semester of college (just 3 more - one year - to go) and with God’s Grace passed all the papers.

The following article is one that I wrote for my Mechanical Department’s quarterly, Sanketika.  It did get printed (I guess there weren’t many submissions!).  We thought that everyone might like to read it.

So without further ado…

Darwin’s theory, “Survival of the Fittest” rocked modern science. Evolution, according to Darwin, was governed by competition, and the victors were the ones with the most favorable traits. His theory is truly versatile, and it’s tenets extend beyond the boundaries of species. But human consciousness as a whole has never had competition. It has so far evolved sans the conditioning of failure. That evolution has brought us to a point where we must now ask, “Will our future survive?”

Not if mankind continues “evolving” as we have been. Why is it so?

Life has a history of optimism. No matter what the setback, living beings (including humans) continue to see a glimmer at the end of the tunnel. Food, comfort, leisure, security have been the guiding goals of development. But now we must examine that light: “Is it really there at all?”

Not unless we change our track. How can we steer a different course?

Darwin’s theory, along with many other basic discoveries in his era, paved the way for the advent of Science. This Science has held as its sole aim, the Triumph over Nature, thereby establishing the supremacy of Man. But this is a false aim, with disastrous side-effects. The call of the hour is a Science that works with nature, instead of on nature. Man must secede supremacy to symbiosis.

Only three generations ago, in the time of our grandfathers, “organic” food was unknown. It’s not because of a lack of awareness… It’s because there were No pesticides! All food was organic, and people were healthier as a result.

Then Science brought us the “Green Revolution”, promising to produce more food on less land, raise revenue, and abolish hunger in the world. And the preliminary results were promising: food production was more, and pests were “easily” controlled. Then the unforeseen happened: Pests became immune to the chemicals; Soil became depleted and unable to grow crops; Prices of fertilizers and pesticides went up; Pesticide and fertilizer runoff made water supplies poisonous… We now see the long term effects of artificial food production: species extinction, environmental degradation, widespread inequity, debt, and farmer’s suicides. From the temporary excess of agriculture came the development of processed foods with long shelf lives. The media assisted by creating appetites for such foods. Chemicals present in these foods have poisoned humans, and lead to a worldwide increase in cancers, asthmas, etc, harming our very bodies, harming our viability as a species.

The former most admired country in the world, the USA, is mired in the most disreputable economic system – one driven by greed. Capitalism was commenced with grandiose ideas that every one should have a chance to get ahead. Now it is culminating in worldwide monopolies, exploiting markets of supply and demand, enslaving the poor, and destroying natural resources all over the planet to further line a few pockets. The capitalist model is being extended and applied where it should not be: hospitals are run for-profit (no money? no treatment); students are “raw material” (on entrance) and “products” (on graduation) rather than the clients that they should be; food is distributed, not to where there is hunger, but to where there are hoardings waiting to be spent. All this spreads unrest, destabilizing our systems of governance and order.

Farms are now businesses, with no relation to the earth other than it being the only way to turn chemicals and seeds into salable produce. Nations calculate the wealth of their forests not in terms of flora and fauna, but the tonnage of paper “available” for manufacture. Now with genetic engineering, we are again foolishly trying to assert our supremacy; unknown as yet are the consequences. The role of Nature in planetary health is ignored…

When Henry Ford drove his experiment out of his workshop many years ago, it had to be towed back by a “polluting” horse. But people still thought it would be great: it would clean up the city roads, filled with horse manure which produced a stench that was considered “unbearable”.

Nowadays, we drive “clean” cars, and there is no more manure on the roads. The cities are filled with car exhaust, producing a fine soot and gas that is medically unBREATHable. Not only that: with the worldwide demand for oil-powered personal transportation, the scramble for crude oil puts prices on the environment – there are “economic benefits to be gained” in destroying unique wildlife habitats! Additionally, there is a heighten risk of oil spills, which completely KILL all life wherever they happen. CO₂ emissions have changed the chemical balance of our planet, endangering planetary systems that are vital for our civilizations’ survival. Attempts to mass-produce “cleaner” energy have resulted in vast tracts of land rendered uninhabitable, toxic, and dangerous due to nuclear activities.

All over the world, there are cries for MORE. More chemicals, more oil, more money, more labor, more speed, more development, more…

What is needed is to moderate: to slow our break-neck race for riches to a snail’s crawl of sanity. Real quality of life will come when everyone can eat, sleep and perform their daily duties without fear or want. Then will true peace prevail.

Amma, the Dalai Lama, Satya Sai Baba, Mother Teresa, Al Gore, the Pope, all the world’s great leaders have been for long advising us to care for the earth and each other, not just ourselves. And atheists take note! Today’s scientists have started echoing these sentiments. We need to look at the collective state of the world, and take steps to fix the crumbling foundations of our future. The solution to the mess that greed has created lies in developing our higher noble selves; in rising above our crude wants and desires to enter a true global brother- (and sister-) hood.

History has seen geniuses ridiculed in their time for their “un-orthodox” theories and propositions. Time has watched and waited; eventually those same “fools” were looked upon as prophets, heroes, and saviors. They saw the direction, and were ridiculed, disbelieved, and slandered. Only too late, did the rest of the world catch up, and realize how right they were. But in those days, “too late” did not have many consequences. In our present situation, “too late” spells “disaster”. Let us not be too late! For it is the survival of our future that is at stake.

I hope nobody is using their cell phone…

With Love,

Link