By Leigh Moore
Jai Karunamayi!
In early May of 2014, I celebrated my birthday and unbeknown to me at that time, I also was blessed with a re-birth when Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, my Beloved Guru of over 30 years, lovingly handed the reins of my sadhana to Amma Sri Karunamayi at the Ati Rudram at the SRIM Center.
I had become very complacent in my sadhana, did not seek out this transition and I wrestled with it for a long time—caught in duality and conditioned thinking. My Guru’s personality is bold, big and Her stride is long. The earth shutters at the force of Her footsteps. Her approach is highly structured. My Beloved Amma’s arrows are tipped with flowers, Her voice is soft. One has to listen with intent to hear the gentle jingle of Her ankle bracelets. There is less structure.
Who is Amma, what does it mean to be the Divine Mother, and why am I so irresistibly drawn to Her when I have a Jugadguru who has given me everything? Can Amma take me across the ocean of samsara?
As the fire of sadhana melts my ignorance, my contemplation and reflection on Who is Amma continues to reveal itself. I now recognize how many of my own limitations I have projected onto Amma. I diminished Her magnificence through my lack of understanding; She is the primordial power behind the entire cosmos. Her compassion and power are dancing brilliantly behind the veil and She calls to us to refine our receptor to be able to see Her fully.
She is Mother, She is Guru— all creation comes from Her alone. She looks for every opportunity to bestow grace and end the cycle of birth and death for Her devotees.
Amma has given me an inspired life—a burning desire to merge with the power of Her lotus feet, an inner flame that refuses to bow to inner commotion, a fire that melts my heart over and over again. My life is dust without Amma and this flame.
Kabir, Enlightened Mystic & Poet from Varanasi, India, says
In this upsurge of divine love,
The planets and stars are dancing in ecstasy,
Each new birth of a soul is a matter of great joy,
The hills and the sea and the earth dance.
All humanity celebrates this bliss with laughter and tears.
Amma, on October 18/19, the entire universe will be dancing in ecstasy for your birth! There are no words to express my gratitude so I will join the dance!
On your 60th birthday, Divine Mother, I offer with gratitude and appreciation $1 for every year of your life and the lives of my beautiful family members and Guru totaling $564:
Amma—$60
Gurumayi Chidvilasananda—$63
My birth Mother—$82
My birth Father—$75
Sister—$72
Sister—$63
Brother-in-Law—$73
Brother-in-Law—$65
Kitty—$11