posted by Kamala on Sep 26
Dearest Friends and Family,
Tomorrow is the celebration of Amma’s official birthday here in Amritapuri. The celebrations have started fully today, and there are tens of thousands of people in the ashram. I haven’t gone down yet today…the crowds are thick…every time I look over at the bridge that we made after the Tsunami, to connect the island with the mainland, there is a thick human stream, like a river flowing in both directions, coming and going over it. This year, I feel the greatest service I can do, is to stay out of the way. We don’t have much heart for a party.
We are very slow at going over Anni’s works. We went though all her school notebooks a week or so ago…looking for her doodles, or any signs of self expression. It is unfortunate that the schooling system here, even on the university level, really discourages self expression and genuine analysis. I found comments from teachers on her exams chiding her for expressing her own opinions…if only they could realize how their own stilted thinking prevents India’s progress…. We are keeping aside all of her doodles.
What amazes me is how many little sayings captured her attention. She always wrote down little bits of wisdom that she found. And rewrote them in later journals. She was unconcerned about their source, only in the way they struck her heart. What amazes me also, is how they are mostly all about love. I am ever in awe of her pure, sweet heart.
Here are 9 of her inspirational quips:
- “When the power of love overcomes the love of power…then the world will know peace.”
- He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, while he who has an enemy shall meet him everywhere.
- The best way to cheer yourself up, is to cheer somebody else up.
- The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn.
- Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
- The only abnormality is the incapacity to love.
- A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.
- God is that which the blind can see, to whom the lame can walk, to whom the dumb can speak…
- God is there in everyone’s eyes, they only don’t know it. We should be able to see God there, in their eyes, even when they don’t know it, for She is ever-present. Have faith in that.”
Wishing you love and peace,
Kamala Aunty, Anni and Link
posted by Kamala on Aug 26
Dearest Friends and Family,
We found this little list of “Aspirations” in Anni’s Diary that we wanted to share with you all. As a family, we often talked about what we thought were our shortcomings, the reactions or feelings we had that we did not feel we could honestly be proud of in front of Our Beloved Indweller. We also tried to look with naked eyes at the external things we were doing with our time to see if they were actually helpful or not to our higher purposes. If they were not, we took decisions to change them. We did not make vows with each area of lassitude, vows are for harder things…but, we aspired to change ourselves in small ways. This work still goes on, as we all try to battle negative thinking. The advantage of living in the ashram, is that there is a lot of support in thinking in these ways.
The date is not given. The next entry is dated September 2, 2005. She would have been 16. So it was before that. The entry has a few doodles of plants, Omkara, and suns and stars. Text is as given in her diary:
ASPIRATIONS:
*To think positive
*To meet everyone with love and kindness
*Not to say bad about anyone
*Not to gossip (I rarely do anyways)
*Count 3 good things about everyone who is repelling to look at (gonna need help w/this one)
*To remember that God is in everyone (me too)
*Keep this goal in mind
*Not find fault in others
*Don’t blame others for your own faults
Having reviewed this, we again take heart to try to instill these concepts, oft discussed, into our psyches.
Loving you,
Kamala Aunty, Anni and Link
posted by Kamala on Aug 18
Dearest Friends and Family,
I finally opened her diaries and journals – mostly two books, and found quite a few poems and songs. Link said we should put them on the blog, one at a time. Here is one, written January 1, 2006. It seems to refer to the description she had given me of Mother Mary, and is ineffably sweet and dear. I am just amazed that she left this for us to see:
One night, that love came to me.
Clad in light with blue over her head
Sweetly smiling.
She caught me, the child that I was
And held me in her arms.
Such a gentle touch
And whether She spoke,
I do not know
She held me, hugged me,
Showered her love upon me
She then layed me on the bed,
Tucked the quilt around me,
And glided away in that brilliant orb
Of white light
My mother with the
Sweetest hands and Gentlest touch
How could you leave me here
Then go to the place where we both belong
A place beyond the stars…
I long to hold you
To touch you
To have you beside me, in doing everything,
Everywhere.
But then you left
After giving me just a taste of that love
Have you left me to struggle all by myself?
I want to be with you again
When will you come?
–Anni
More later,
Loving you,
Kamala Aunty