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Sri Sri Anandamayi Ma 1896 -1981

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Serena Duvet
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« on: Feb 24, 2011 11:47 am »



Anandamayi Ma 1896 -1981


Anandamayi Ma was born in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in 1896. Her father, Bipin Behari Bhattacarya, sang Vaisnava songs
often appearing to be intoxicated. He would rise at 3 AM and sing songs, and was given to wandering for long periods. His wife
would go searching for him and bring him back home. On one occasion, during a storm, the roof blew off the house and he
continued singing in the rain.

Anandamayi's mother, Moksada Sundari Devi, was also known for her states of bhava or religious emotion. She was visited by
avatars and deities who shown with light as she performed her household duties. While pregnant with Nirmala (Anandamayi's
given name), she would see visions of sages and statues of deities which would appear, and then suddenly disappear. She later
took vows and became a female renunciant.

Anandamayi Ma was very sensitive to religious ritual as a child, and the sound of religious chanting would bring about ecstatic
feelings in her. At temples, she would also see religious figures emerging from religious statues and reentering them. She was
often distracted and would be seen gazing into space, her eyes not focused on outer objects. Her education was very limited
and her writing skills were minimal.

She married at 13 years of age to Ramani Mohan Cakravarti or Bholanath. It was a celibate marriage though not by her husband's
choice. When thoughts of sexuality occurred to Bholanath, Anandamayi's body would take on the qualities of death and she would
grow faint. He had to repeat mantras to bring her back to normal consciousness. Sometimes in such situations, her body would
become distorted in various ways or it would stiffen. She later said that she had given her husband spontaneous electrical shocks
when he touched her the wrong way. Bholanath thought the situation was temporary but it proved to be permanent. His relatives
said he should remarry but he did not follow their advice. Later, Bholanath took initiation from her and accepted Anandamayi as
his guru.

In 1916, she became ill and moved back to her parent's home in Vadyakuta. In 1918 she and her husband moved to Bajitpur
where she began to do Shaivite and Vaisnavite spiritual practices. Inner voices would tell her what actions to perform and which
images to visualize. Her yogic practices (kryias) were spontaneous and she described them as occurring much like a factory where
the various machines all worked automatically and in perfect sequence to produce a product. Anandamayi would shed profuse tears,
laugh for hours, and talk at tremendous speed in a Sanskrit-like language. Other unusual actions included rolling in the dust and
dancing for long periods whirling like a leaf in the wind. She would also fast for long periods and at other times consume enough
food for eight or nine people.  

In the history of Indian devotional traditions, changes in bodily structure and state are considered to be spontaneous expressions
of religious emotion. Anandamayi's changes were more extreme than these more common sattvika bhavas (sweating, crying, change
in skin color, hair standing on end, etc.) which also normally indicate strong religious emotion. Some respected Indian saints of the past
were described as having had similar bodily changes. Anandamayi went on various pilgrimages traveling throughout India stopping in
ashrams and attending religious festivals. She had a temple built for her by disciples in Dacca but left the day it was completed. She
traveled to Dehradun where she lived in an abandoned Shiva temple for almost a year without money and often in freezing temperatures
without blankets.

She was known for her siddhis or yogic powers where she could read her devotee's thoughts and emotions at a distance, make her body
shrink and expand, and cure the sick. One disciple claimed that she was saved from death after a car accident when Anandamayi grasped
her "life substance" and brought it back into her dead body. When Paramahansa Yogananda met Anandamayi Ma and asked her about her
life, she answered: "Father, there is little to tell." She spread her graceful hands in a deprecatory gesture. "My consciousness has never
associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father, 'I was the same.' As a little girl, 'I was the same.' I grew
into womanhood, but still 'I was the same.' When the family in which I had been born made arrangements to have this body married, 'I
was the same.' ... And, Father, in front of you now, 'I am the same.'   Ever afterward, though the dance of creation change around me in
the hall of eternity, 'I shall be the same.'"

Anandamayi was a holy woman without formal religious training or initiation whose status was based entirely on her ecstatic states. She
did not have an outer guru, though she did hear voices that told her what religious and meditative practices to perform. She emphasized
the importance of detachment from the world and religious devotion. She also encouraged her devotees to serve others. She did much
traveling and wandering, at times refusing to stay at the ashrams her devotees provided for her. While her parents worshiped Krishna,
she could not be placed in any definite tradition. An ecstatic child of ecstatic parents, she became a famous saint who like many other
female Indian saints stood on the edge of several religious traditions, and in the midst of none.  She influenced the spirituality of thousands
of people who came to see her throughout her long life, and died in 1981.

 
Written by Sai Ankita in Great Saints and Gurus, blog at:
http://saiankita.blogspot.com/2008/02/anandamayi-ma_29.html  
 


« Last Edit: Feb 24, 2011 12:04 pm by Serena Duvet » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #1 on: Apr 11, 2011 12:37 pm »



Anandamayi Ma 1896 -1981


Anandamayi Ma was born in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) in 1896. Her father, Bipin Behari Bhattacarya, sang Vaisnava songs
often appearing to be intoxicated. He would rise at 3 AM and sing songs, and was given to wandering for long periods. His wife
would go searching for him and bring him back home. On one occasion, during a storm, the roof blew off the house and he
continued singing in the rain.

Anandamayi's mother, Moksada Sundari Devi, was also known for her states of bhava or religious emotion. She was visited by
avatars and deities who shown with light as she performed her household duties. While pregnant with Nirmala (Anandamayi's
given name), she would see visions of sages and statues of deities which would appear, and then suddenly disappear. She later
took vows and became a female renunciant.

Anandamayi Ma was very sensitive to religious ritual as a child, and the sound of religious chanting would bring about ecstatic
feelings in her. At temples, she would also see religious figures emerging from religious statues and reentering them. She was
often distracted and would be seen gazing into space, her eyes not focused on outer objects. Her education was very limited
and her writing skills were minimal.

She married at 13 years of age to Ramani Mohan Cakravarti or Bholanath. It was a celibate marriage though not by her husband's
choice. When thoughts of sexuality occurred to Bholanath, Anandamayi's body would take on the qualities of death and she would
grow faint. He had to repeat mantras to bring her back to normal consciousness. Sometimes in such situations, her body would
become distorted in various ways or it would stiffen. She later said that she had given her husband spontaneous electrical shocks
when he touched her the wrong way. Bholanath thought the situation was temporary but it proved to be permanent. His relatives
said he should remarry but he did not follow their advice. Later, Bholanath took initiation from her and accepted Anandamayi as
his guru.

In 1916, she became ill and moved back to her parent's home in Vadyakuta. In 1918 she and her husband moved to Bajitpur
where she began to do Shaivite and Vaisnavite spiritual practices. Inner voices would tell her what actions to perform and which
images to visualize. Her yogic practices (kryias) were spontaneous and she described them as occurring much like a factory where
the various machines all worked automatically and in perfect sequence to produce a product. Anandamayi would shed profuse tears,
laugh for hours, and talk at tremendous speed in a Sanskrit-like language. Other unusual actions included rolling in the dust and
dancing for long periods whirling like a leaf in the wind. She would also fast for long periods and at other times consume enough
food for eight or nine people.  

In the history of Indian devotional traditions, changes in bodily structure and state are considered to be spontaneous expressions
of religious emotion. Anandamayi's changes were more extreme than these more common sattvika bhavas (sweating, crying, change
in skin color, hair standing on end, etc.) which also normally indicate strong religious emotion. Some respected Indian saints of the past
were described as having had similar bodily changes. Anandamayi went on various pilgrimages traveling throughout India stopping in
ashrams and attending religious festivals. She had a temple built for her by disciples in Dacca but left the day it was completed. She
traveled to Dehradun where she lived in an abandoned Shiva temple for almost a year without money and often in freezing temperatures
without blankets.

She was known for her siddhis or yogic powers where she could read her devotee's thoughts and emotions at a distance, make her body
shrink and expand, and cure the sick. One disciple claimed that she was saved from death after a car accident when Anandamayi grasped
her "life substance" and brought it back into her dead body. When Paramahansa Yogananda met Anandamayi Ma and asked her about her
life, she answered: "Father, there is little to tell." She spread her graceful hands in a deprecatory gesture. "My consciousness has never
associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father, 'I was the same.' As a little girl, 'I was the same.' I grew
into womanhood, but still 'I was the same.' When the family in which I had been born made arrangements to have this body married, 'I
was the same.' ... And, Father, in front of you now, 'I am the same.'   Ever afterward, though the dance of creation change around me in
the hall of eternity, 'I shall be the same.'"

Anandamayi was a holy woman without formal religious training or initiation whose status was based entirely on her ecstatic states. She
did not have an outer guru, though she did hear voices that told her what religious and meditative practices to perform. She emphasized
the importance of detachment from the world and religious devotion. She also encouraged her devotees to serve others. She did much
traveling and wandering, at times refusing to stay at the ashrams her devotees provided for her. While her parents worshiped Krishna,
she could not be placed in any definite tradition. An ecstatic child of ecstatic parents, she became a famous saint who like many other
female Indian saints stood on the edge of several religious traditions, and in the midst of none.  She influenced the spirituality of thousands
of people who came to see her throughout her long life, and died in 1981.

 
Written by Sai Ankita in Great Saints and Gurus, blog at:
http://saiankita.blogspot.com/2008/02/anandamayi-ma_29.html  
 




Thank You so much Serena A good friend of mine spent much time with this saint. She said that Anandamayi Ma often mirrored her. Apparently to help her see what she was like. The experiences she had with her husband are of particular interest to me; How a saint would deal with sex if it was presented to them without their reciprocity. Furthermore, her husband decided not to get a divorce but rather became her devotee.

Jitendra
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« Reply #2 on: Apr 11, 2011 08:51 pm »

(((Serena)))

thank u for this post....'something within me' really needed it right now.

Quote
"""""and talk at tremendous speed in a Sanskrit-like language."""""

i wonder if one could find out more about this language.....

(((Hugs)))
yosi
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« Reply #3 on: Aug 22, 2016 02:05 am »

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« Reply #4 on: Aug 22, 2016 02:24 am »

Also... somethings she said.

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« Reply #5 on: Aug 22, 2016 02:51 am »

I love her!
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« Reply #6 on: Aug 23, 2016 03:45 am »

I love her!

That is what i meant .... that u can tell so much about a person from their face and eyes. Just looking into her face i get inspired. There is so much ecstasy and divine love and compassion exuded from her face. My friend and her boy friend stayed with her early in the 70's. i asked what is was like being with her. She said that there was so much drama going on around her but she was so beyond it that it was like water flowing off a ducks back. Even with my friend and her boy friend. She told me that men staying with her had  a lowly opinion of American women.

Yogananda said it would would be nice if she came to the United States and that people would love to see her here. He was willing to be her host here. But her chelas strongly disagreed about Yogananda's invitation and they said that she had to stay here because they needed to take care of her. She surrendered herself with what seemed to be the fate of her life to stay in India with her Chelas'.
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« Reply #7 on: Aug 23, 2016 04:27 am »

Yup. I remember reading the same. It seems that in her state you hardly have a will of your own. It is apparent to them, a point of fact, that nothing can happen that is not the will of God. 
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« Reply #8 on: Aug 23, 2016 04:33 am »

I love love love her. Every word quoted from her is music to my ears.
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« Reply #9 on: Aug 23, 2016 04:36 am »

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« Reply #10 on: Aug 23, 2016 06:54 am »

That is a beautiful picture and beautiful saying.

Thank you ding dong Smiley
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« Reply #11 on: Jul 29, 2019 05:52 am »

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« Reply #12 on: Aug 04, 2019 07:22 am »

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