| You Say: | God Says: | Proof: |
| "It's impossible" | All things are possible | (Luke 18:27) |
| "Nobody really loves me" | I love you | (John 3:16 & John 13:34) |
| "I can't go on" | My grace is sufficient | (II Corinthians |
| "I can't figure things out" | I will direct your steps | (Proverbs 3:5-6) |
| "I can't do it" | You can do all things | (Philippians 4:13) |
| "I'm not able" | I am able | (II Corinthians 9:8) |
| "It's not worth it" | It will be worth it | (Roman 8:28) |
| "I can't forgive myself" | I FORGIVE YOU | (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1) |
| "I can't manage" | I will supply all your needs | (Philippians 4:19) |
| "I'm afraid" | I have not given you a spirit of fear | (II Timothy1:7) |
| "I'm always worried and frustrated" | Cast all your cares on ME | (I Peter 5:7) |
| "I don't have enough faith" | I've given everyone a measure of faith | (Romans 12:3) |
| "I'm not smart enough" | I give you wisdom | (I Corinthians 1:30) |
| "I feel all alone" | I will never leave you or forsake you | (Hebrews13:5) |
Saturday, September 30, 2006
You asked for proof…
My lifelong aspiration…..
By conservative estimates, Mata Amritanandamayi, known simply as “Amma,” has given more than 26 million hugs. This may not seem so unusual to Angelenos accustomed to greeting with an embrace, but in Amma’s native
Born to a poor fishing family in Kerala, Amma witnessed deep pain and poverty while growing up. While still very young, she concluded that the world’s problems were rooted in a “shortage of love.” Her solution to this disturbing condition was to pledge her life as an offering.
Over the past 35 years, Amma’s reputation has grown as a result of her charitable work. She has been compared to Mother Teresa and Gandhi for her devotion to the poor—providing food, shelter, hospitals and schools. Sleeping merely a couple of hours each day, she teaches by the constant example of her own life, emphasizing selfless social service. Amma is considered a living saint in her homeland.
On May 2, the Interfaith Center of New York bestowed the Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Award on Amma, India’s “Hugging Saint” and five other global humanitarians including Noble Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Mohammed Elbaradei; Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer; actor and Healing the Divide Director Richard Gere; Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan, Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement.
Despite the prestige attached to the award, for Amma, the most important prize is “the happiness of people.”
WLT met with Amma for a rare interview on the day after the award ceremonies. She spoke in her native Malayalam dialect and her responses were translated into English.
After the awards ceremony,
Whether it is in
People are born to be loved. They live for love. Yet, a famine of love plagues the world. When Amma embraces people, it is not just physical contact that is taking place. The love I feel for all of creation flows towards each person who comes to me. That pure vibration of love purifies people, and this helps them in their inner awakening and spiritual growth. It helps both men and women awaken to the qualities associated with motherhood, which are severely lacking in today’s world.
This year, in
I am used to big crowds. Everyone who is patient enough to wait will get darshan. Sometimes I will give darshan to around 40,000 people, sitting for 24 hours straight. Even what is considered a big crowd in
As long as I can continue to reach out to those who come to me, as long as I have the strength to caress people, console them and wipe away their tears, I will continue to do so. One day, everyone’s body will die. This is inevitable. Therefore, rather than allowing our bodies to rust from lack of use, it is better to wear them out in service to the world. Where there is true love, there is no feeling of burden. For example, a maid finds the task of looking after another’s child burdensome, but for the mother of the child, it is not so. The love for the child is natural.
You often say, “Compassion to the poor is our duty to God.” What do you mean by this statement?
Just as the sun doesn’t need a candle’s light, so too God doesn’t need anything from us. But we should come down to the level of the poor and needy, try to understand their pain and serve them in any way we can. For me, there is no such thing as a God living up on some throne in heaven. God is the all-pervading Consciousness that throbs in everyone and everything. My God is each and every one of you—all the people, plants, animals, trees, mountains, rivers…. This is Amma’s God.
In Sanatana Dharma [Hinduism], the Creator and Creation are not two. The ocean and its waves are not two. There is water in both the ocean and its waves. Gold, the golden earring and the golden necklace are not different. Likewise, we worship everything in nature, seeing God in everything. Our prayer is Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu (“May all beings in all the worlds be happy”). When we see the entire world as a manifestation of God, will we allow anyone to go without food, shelter, medicine or clothing? No, of course not. This is how we should serve the world—seeing all as embodiments of God.
We human beings seem so selfish. Can we overcome that through meditation?
Our true nature is not one of selfishness, but one of love and compassion. We just need to realize this and awaken to that truth. The problem is that people are not really asleep, but only pretending to be asleep. If they were truly asleep, it would be easy to wake them up. But it is nearly impossible to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep.
Our selfishness and the resulting selfish actions that spring from it are due to our identification with the ego, the sense of “I” and “mine.” Thinking of ourselves as limited, incomplete individuals, we naturally struggle to gain and maintain the things we feel we need to be happy. In reality, we are the eternal, ever-blissful Self, full and complete. But currently, our minds are not pure enough to imbibe this truth. Divinity is everyone, but it is expressed more in people with pure hearts. Electricity is the same, but it manifests differently depending on the capacity of the medium. There are 1000-watt, 50-watt and zero-watt bulbs. Similarly, the more pure your mind, the more divinity manifests within you.
Spiritual practices such as meditation and selfless service are essential to purify your mind. It’s like cleaning the vessel before you pour in the milk. If the vessel is not clean, the milk will spoil.
It is not possible for everyone to meditate with one-pointed concentration all the time. Therefore, I recommend that people spend their extra time trying to do something beneficial for the world. This way, everyone benefits. The goal of spiritual life is to understand our fundamental oneness—with one another and with God. Only when this realization takes place will we be truly content and happy. But this philosophy should not be limited to mere words. It should reflect in our actions. It must be brought into the heart and practiced. If we truly believe everyone to be one with our own self, then we should reach out to caress the suffering as quickly as we would apply a bandage to our own injured hand.
There is no precedent for an individual expressing compassion the way you do—embracing upwards of 26 million times. Do you think the world is more accepting of this from a female?
First, God is neither male nor female. If anything, God can only be referred to as “That.” God is the Consciousness that throbs in all objects and beings. But if you really want to give a gender to God then God is more of a She than a He because “She” contains “He.” The need today is for the awakening of qualities associated with motherhood—love, compassion, acceptance and patience. I want to awaken such qualities in humanity. Only a true mother who can love everyone as her own children can be a true humanitarian and serve the world selflessly.
Between global warming and terrorism, there could be an endless succession of disasters. Are you concerned about the future?
We should never fall victim to pessimism. Patience, optimistic faith and enthusiasm are essential in life, and we must always strive to cultivate these qualities and keep them alive in our hearts. In many ways, people are becoming more and more aware of the need for a spiritual way of living. Spirituality is the very essence of all religions and, in its essence, it is the path of love and compassion.
If there is a one-word solution for all the problems in today’s world, it is compassion. Only love and compassion can solve the problem of terrorism and bloodshed.
Most people today are blinded by ego. There are two types of ego. One is the ego of power and money, but the second type is more destructive. That is the ego that says, “My religion and viewpoint alone are correct. All others are wrong. I will not tolerate anything else.” This is like saying, “My mother is good; yours is a whore!” Unless we eradicate these two types of ego, it will be difficult to bring about peace in the world.
The willingness to listen to others, the ability to understand them and the broad-mindedness to accept even those who disagree with us—these are the signs of true spiritual culture. Unfortunately, these qualities are exactly what are missing from the world today.
The greatest enemy the world faces is poverty. Prostitution, terrorism and much of the other violence are, to a great extent, caused by poverty. There are two types of poverty: the lack of food, clothing and shelter, and the lack of love and compassion. If we can eliminate the later, the former will automatically be taken care of. For when people have love and compassion in their hearts, they will spontaneously and wholeheartedly reach out to help those without food, clothing and shelter.
Taken from: http://wholelifetimes.com/2006/06/amma0606.html
Imagine if this was your purpose in life. The reason you were created was to hug people. A gesture that seems so simple yet one people can throw around carelessly. The simple, the precious – hug…..could there be a more beautiful calling?
Saturday, September 09, 2006
The Everyday...
One month has flown by. One year has flown by. Here we sit, the seven of us in
Although Lincoln and Marcos live a few miles away and teach at a different high school, we all get together on Wednesday evenings for some JV bonding. Recently, we decided to check in with each other in the form of a roses/thorns question. In other words, what's been going well and not so well. The following with give you a little rundown of how we're all doing.
AJ is the moderator for the Student Senate at Xavier. There are about thirty members and there were twelve boys who were removed from their positions due to a disciplinary violation at the end of last school year. AJ was responsible for telling them that they were fired. This was his recent "thorn" because he was not sure how they would react- or what the upcoming years' Senate was going to do to replace these young gentlemen. However, his "rose" was that after relaying this news, the boys handled it very well and maturely. They were aware that they had chosen to break the rules, and recognized that they should be punished accordingly. A teacher's best happy: a lessoned learned.
Chris's "thorn" was having lots of time to get work prepared for the past few weeks and no deadlines to actually force him to get that work completed. A few hours of meetings a day, reading a bit about upcoming courses, going swimming, repairing guitars, and cleaning his office have not made him focus on the beginning of school. However, his "rose" was realizing that his relationship with AJ was more brother-like now. They laugh, they fight, they joke around, but still remain family.
Colleen's "thorn" was that a Jesuit priest who had spent his retreat at Xavier for a week had just left to return to Pohnpei. He was a great man who livened up any conversation. Her "rose" was that after feeling overwhelmed by creating syllabi and lesson plans and being here in general, she read a bible quote that made her feel at peace. In essence it said that the battles are not ours, but God's. With that, she had a great night sleep the night before.
Ellen's "thorn" was struggling to find a place within the Xavier community- amongst a staff of twenty or so. The familiarities of home are no longer around; the ways to relax are different; the stress level is different. She described it as a daily struggle to handle the rush of everything unfamiliar. The "rose" was bonding with people over silly things- like hanging out in the kitchen with the ladies who cook our meals and pretending to toss cocoa puffs into their mouths.
Jackie's "thorn" was leaving her pillow out on the balcony to air out- but hours later it was soaked by the island torrential rains. The "happy" was getting excited that the students were arriving back on campus. It is different this year to actually know most of them as they move back into the dormitory and into the homes' of their host families. Additionally, Jackie was happy about the general optimism amongst the staff and general willingness to foster the greater staff community.
Marcos's "thorn" also had to do with teaching. He is trying to find material for the Theology class that he teaches and is dealing with the general drain of teaching many classes and coaching basketball at the same time. However, his "rose" had to do with the Music class that he teaches. He continues to be amazed by the natural talent these students have- they have no formal training but they can pick up a song quickly and sound incredible.
Although this only gives you a glimpse of what's been going on in Chuuk, it may show you that although we are all here immersed in one culture, our experiences are vastly different. Xavier started school today so things are certainly picking up speed. We are in two high schools, in three houses, in different staff communities but still united by the fact that we're JVs.