Anandmurti Gurumaa in Houston, July 28 – 31
HOUSTON: Houston has been blessed to become a site of Anandamurti Gurumaaji’s divine presence and her words of great wisdom after five years. The four days of amrit varsha with Gurumaaji were days of wonderful spiritual illumination. The fundamental theme of her discourses centered on the understanding the real nature of human self. She emphasized that human beings are already divine and are embodiment of bliss (ananda). The recognition of the innate divinity is achieved by making the mind quiescent. On the second day, Gurumaa taught the preliminary meditation technique. It involved doing deep, slow breathing and attentively observing different parts of the body. These practices had an amazing effect on many. The mind which ordinarily is very unruly had come to be in a much more quiet state and in a more acute state of awareness.
One of the wonderful features of the amrit varsha was Gurumaaji’s explanation of complex ideas in ways that people can relate to in real life. Gurumaa pointed out that spirituality is not about seeking God in some far away land, but it is the path to know our very self and to live a fulfilling, blessed life. Hence by putting off the quest for spiritual development, one is depriving oneself of deeper meaning and peace in life. Gurumaa provided penetrating arguments to show the limitedness of a life focused on wealth, success, and entertainment. She explained that the drive for success would in the long run inculcate apathy and inhumaneness in a person since success also depends upon other people failing. You also develop a dislike for a person who gets ahead of you and thus success oriented approach in life leads to disharmony with others. Moreover, if ultimately our identity is not constituted by the body and the mind, then success at the level of body and mind is barely an achievement. Today’s so called entertainment serves to accentuate material desires and has the effect of keeping a person tied to material things and bodily pleasures. This in turn weakens the ability to develop a focused mind since the mind is almost constantly in the state of longing, and subject to stress when it does not obtain the object of desire. Thus pursuit of wrong ideals distracts from the purpose of self-realization.
Gurumaaji’s presentation included tips from Ayurveda regarding healthy dietary practices. Thus, this amrit varsha was also an opportunity to learn about how to care for the body. An important highlight was Gurumaa’s discourse on death. She explained that until there are personal desires and attachments, one cannot escape the cycle of rebirth and that your karmas dictate who your parents will be and what kind of environment you will be born into. She stated that death is of the body but the real self (the atman) is unborn and eternal. Her exposition on the phenomenon of death was very powerful in alleviating the fear of death and in seeing death in a positive light.
Gurumaaji also possesses an incisive sense of humor. There were many moments when the entire hall was resonating with laughter. The anecdotes that Gurumaa related served to show the consequences of attachments and other mental ailments in life and also to convey ideas of spiritual import. Overall, this amrit varsha beautifully showed the relevance of spiritual ideas and yogic practices to our current lives. In the presence of Gurumaa’s radiant personality, the amrit varsha was the occasion for experiencing a powerful dose of spiritual energy and inspiration.
For information about Gurumaaji’s upcoming program in US or in India, please visit www.gurumaa.com.
About Anandamurti Gurumaa:
It takes an extraordinary being to consummately conclude the extraordinary journey to truth. Anandmurti Gurumaa is one such rare paragon of virtue and purity, an enlightened master. Moved by the pervasive plight of the masses, she has been bestowing upon people the greatest gift ever viz eradicating the root cause of all suffering. And she has been doing this relentlessly for over thirty years through innumerable discourses and meditation camps held in India and abroad. She is emphatically secular, declaring herself to be religion-less and bears no allegiance to any one particular religion. Everyone irrespective of their cultural and religious background and belief systems is welcomed. And yes, atheists are welcome too, for Gurumaa is a sound rationalist and never advocates unquestioning faith in anything or anyone. Her exhaustive know how of various paths of spirituality is indeed unparalleled. She has a comprehensive mastery and in-depth knowledge of ancient scriptures including the Upanishads, Bhagawad Gita and the Gurbani, to name but a few! She effortlessly expounds on the teachings of a myriad of sages from different parts of India and oversees. Essentially Gurumaa can adeptly guide any seeker, any aspirant, no matter which path he or she wants to follow. And herein lays the uniqueness of this splendid master. What’s more, the compassionate Philanthropist that she is, she spearheads a noble mission called Mission Shakti which is aimed at empowering girls and women. An awakened being, a rationalist, a visionary, that is Gurumaa, may mistakenly invoke an image of a person with an austere disposition.