Anandamayi Ma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Anandamayi Ma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sri Anandamayi Ma (Bengali: Sri Anondomoyi Ma; 30 April 1896 - 27 August 1982) was a spiritual personality from East Bengal. Swami Sivananda (Divine Life Society) described her as "the most perfect flower the Indian soil has produced."[2] Precognition, healing and other miracles were attributed to her by her followers.[3] Paramhansa Yogananda translates Anandamayi as "joy-permeated". This name was given to her by her devotees in the 1920s to describe what they saw as her habitual state of divine bliss.

Sri Anandamayi Ma
Studio photo of Anandamayi Ma Born 30 April 1896 Kheora, Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh 27 August 1982 (aged 86) Kishanpur, Dehradun, Indialast rites were performed in Kankhal, Haridwar, India Nirmala Sundari

Died

Birth name

Contents
1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Question of sadhana 1.3 In Dhaka 1.4 In Dehradun 1.5 Death 1.6 Anandamayi Ma's identity and state 2 Teachings 2.1 The thoughts of the Ma 3 Books on Sri Anandamayi Ma 4 References 5 External links

Quotation "Who is it that loves and who that suffers? He alone stages a play with Himself; who exists save Him? The individual suffers because he perceives duality. It is duality which causes all sorrow and grief. Find the One everywhere and in everything and there will be an end to pain and suffering."[1]

Biography
Early life
Anandamayi Ma was born Nirmala Sundari ( ; Nirmla Shundori, English: "Immaculate, Beautiful") on 30 April 1896 to Bipinbihari Bhattacharya and Mokshada Sundari Devi in Kheora, Brahmanbaria District, British India, in what is now Bangladesh. Her father,

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originally from Vidyakut in Tripura, was a Vaishnavite singer known for his devotion. He had a detached persona. They lived in poverty, and lost many children in their infancy. Nirmala attended the village school for approximately two years. [4] Although her teachers were pleased with her ability, her family thought she was dullminded because of her indifference and constantly happy demeanor. When her mother once fell seriously ill, realtives remarked with puzzlement about the child remaining apparently unaffected. In 1908 at the age of thirteen, in keeping with the rural custom at the time, she was married to Ramani Mohan Chakrabarti of Vikramapura, whom she would later rename Bholenath.[5][4] She spent five years after her marriage at her brother-in-law's home, where she was in a withdrawn meditative state much of the time. It was here that a devout neighbour considered insane, Harakumar, developed a habit of addressing her as "Ma", and prostrated before her morning and evening in reverence.[6] When Nirmala was about seventeen, she went to live with her husband in Ashtagram. In 1918, she moved to Bajitpur, where she stayed until 1924. It was a celibate marriage whenever thoughts of sexuality occurred to Romani, Nirmala's body would take on the qualities of death.[7] Nirmala told Yogananda that when Romani once made physical advances to her, he received an intense electric shock. On the full moon night of August 1922, at midnight, twenty-six-year old Nirmala enacted the ancient ceremony of orthodox Vedic spiritual initiation, despite not having witnessed or been instructed about the ceremony previously. She explained that the ceremony and its rights were being revealed to her spontaenously as and when they were called for.[6] She later stated, "As the master (guru) I revealed the mantra; as the disciple (shishya) I accepted it and started to recite it."[8]

Question of sadhana
At the age of fifteen, whilst sitting by a lake in Bajitput, as she lifted and poured some water over her head in the manner of a pilgrim, Nirmala suddenly had the inspiration to inquire as to what it would belike to be a religious aspirant (sadhaka). She then began what she would later describe as a game (Hindi "khel") of invesitgating the path of the sadhaka. At nightfall, when Nirmala would sit for worship, she would witness her body perform yogic asanas and mudruas hitherto unknown to her and Romani. She described these forms as arising automatically as in the manner of factory machinary. Unable to comprehend the meaning and origin of Nirmalas religious practices, Romani consulted priests, excorcists and medical doctors about Nirmalas condition, until a medical doctor reassured him that she was not insane. An elderly priest also confirmed to Romani that what Nirmala was manifesting were esoteric Mudras and Asanas, and that they were happening spontaeneously was indeed very auspicious. After her marriage to Romani, Nirmala would also fall into ecstacies or trances at public kirtans, in

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a manner reminiscent of the Vaishnava spiritual perosnality Chaitanya. This led locals to accuse her of hysteria. After completing her domestic chores and cooking, Nirmala would withdraw into her religious practices, where she felt there was a distinct inner guide instructing her in which religious actions to perform. When she would poise a questions about the religious actions, instantly an answer would appear. She once questioned her guide on who it was, on which the instant response came "Your Shakti" (your power). The voice then prohibited her from paying obseisance to anyone in the customary or relgious Hindu manner (by bowing or touching an elders feet). This caused offense to her orthodox father when he visited her, however as she was observing strict silence (maun) she was unable to explain the significance to him at the time. Nirmala was also until then in the habit of bowing to the forms that surrounded her as manifestations of God. When she questioned the rule against her paying obseisance, the voice responded "to whom do you want to make obesaince? you yourself are everything". At this point she came to realize her identity with the physical universe. She would, a few months later, initiate Romani, as "Bholenath".

In Dhaka
Nirmala moved to Shahbag with her husband in 1924, where he had been appointed caretaker of the gardens of the Nawab of Dhaka.[5] Nirmala continued to perform household tasks, though she often practiced silence and was said to be in a withdrawn state of ecstasy much of the time. These states began to interfere with her work.[9] To the puzzlement of those around her, she became unable to feed herself. She would find that she could not bring her hand to carry food to her mouth. In 1926 she wandered to a delapidated Kali temple in the Siddheshwari area and encouraged Bholenath to devote himself to his spiritual practices.[5] From henceforth they lived like wandering ascetics rather than householders. During the time in Shahbag, more and more people began to be drawn to what they saw as a living embodiment of the Anandamayi Ma divine.[10] Jyotiscandra Ray, known as "Bhaiji," was an early and close devotee was the first to suggest that Nirmala be called Anandamayi Ma, meaning "bliss-permeated mother". He was chiefly responsible for the first ashram built for Anandamayi Ma in 1929 at Ramna, within the precinct of the Ramna Kali Mandir.[11] Her early followers included Mahamahopadhyay Gopinath Kaviraj, Sanskrit scholar, philosopher, and principal of Sanskrit College in Kolkata, and the educationist Dr Triguna Sen.[5] Uday

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Shankar, the famous dance artist, was impressed by Anandamayi Ma's analysis of dance, which she used as a metaphor for the relationship between people and God.[5]

In Dehradun
In 1932, Anandamayi Ma moved to Dehradun with her husband.[5] From that time, until her death in 1982, she traveled across the subcontinent, never staying more than two weeks in the same place.[12] Several ashrams and teaching hospitals were established in her name by devotees at Ramna (near Shahbag) and Kheora in Bangladesh, and Benares, Kankhal and other parts of India.[5] Twenty-five ashrams are named after her.[5] She also renovated many dilapidated holy places, including Naimisharanya, where she set up a temple and arranged for the recitation of holy names and the performance of kirtan and other religious rites.[5] During this period many people, such as Arnaud Desjardins, the French producer of spiritual films, Melita Maschmann, the German novelist, and Dr. Colin Turnbull, the English author, became her disciples.[4] Kamala Nehru, wife of the future Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, became a devotee in 1933. Anandamayi Ma was then staying at a small temple in Dehradun, while Jawarharlal Nehru was incarcerated by the British in Dehradun jail. Later she took Kamala to the Ambika temple in Kajpur to perform a three-day yajna. She gave to her daughter Indira the rosary which Mataji had given her.[6] Mahatma Gandhi came to hear of Anandamayi through Kamala and sent his aid, Jamnalal Bajaj, to see her. He in turn became a devotee. After the unexpected death of Bajaj, she went to Wardha to console Mahatma Gandhi.[6]

Death

She died on 27 August 1982 in Dehradun, and subsequently on 29 August 1982 was given Samadhi in the courtyard of her Kankhal ashram, situated in Haridwar in North India,[5][13][14] a shrine was later erected over the samadhi, now known as the Ananda Jyoti Peetham.[15]

Ma Anandamayi Samadhi Mandir, Kankhal, Haridwar

Anandamayi Ma's identity and state

Anandamayi often described her presence as that of an infant child ("chhotee bachee"), and refered to her body as "yeh shorir" (this body). She described her state as immutable. She once explained to Amulya Gupta, a devotee and chronicalist, that her englightened state preceeded and was present at her "birth" (or in her description what the worldly viewpoint perceived as her birth). She differetiated this from the indian philosophical doctrine that describes one as always enlightened only one does not realize it until one's self realization.

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In "Mother as Revealed to Me" Jyotish Chandra Roy noted that when asked who she was she would respond something akin to "whatever is said, that". Roy also noted her utterences in what became known in English translation as "Mother Reveals Herself", in which she stated she was able to see the future in the manner in which people look in the mirror and could also recall the exact events at her birth from memory. However she would usually refuse to give prophecies, describing them as "sansaric" (worldly) and instead usually request the questioner to take to a religous life or else take on a personal quest for God/Truth. Other devotees noted that when asked who she was, she responded that because she had no Aham-Buddhi (literal existance-experience of 'I-am') she could not say who or what she was, therefore was whatever the questioner thought she was. She denied having any personal mission or motives, stating she travelled about on a whim or whereever devotees invited her. When people would ask her questions she either explained that the answer would come according to "kheyal" (inspiration) if at all, or else compared her body to a musical instrument such as a drum or bell, stating "as you play the instrument so shall you hear". When people argued with what she said or asked questions with a ulterior motive, she would remain silent. However she also explained to devotees that all her actions, insights and revelations had been for "you all".

Teachings
Anandamayi Ma never prepared discourses, wrote down, or revised what she had said. People had difficulty transcribing her often informal talks because of their conversational speed, further the Bengali manner of alliterative wordplay was often lost in translation. A devotee, Brahmachari Kamal Bhattacharjee, however made attempts to transcribe her speech before audio recording equipment became widely avaiable in India.[6] The central theme of her teaching, in endless variation, is "the supreme calling of every human being is to aspire to self realization. All other obligations are secondary" and "only actions that kindle man's divine nature are worthy of the name of actions". However she did not ask everyone to become a renunciate. "Everyone is right from his own standpoint," she would say.[4] She did not give formal initiations and refused to be called a guru, as she maintained that "all paths are my paths" and kept saying "I have no particular path".[16] As you love your own body, so regard everyone as equal to your own body. When the Supreme Experience supervenes, everyone's service is revealed as one's own service. Call it a bird, an insect, an animal or a man, call it by any name you please, one serves one's own Self in every one of them.
Anandamayi Ma, Ananda Varta

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She did not advocate the Quarterly same method for all. "How can one impose limitations on the infinite by declaring this is the only pathand, why should there be so many different religions and sects? Because through every one of them He gives Himself to Himself, so that each person may advance according to his inborn nature." Though she was a Tantric, Anandamayi Ma blessed Saivites, Shaktas, Vaishnavas, Muslims and Christians equally. Even Sri Anandamayi Ma statues in the now, the Muslim population of Kheora still refer to her as "our Ananda Jyoti Mandir, Varanasi own Ma".[6] She taught how to live a God-centered life in the world and provided the living inspiration to enable thousands [4] to aspire to this most noble ideal. She also advocated spiritual equality for women; for example, she opened up the sacred thread ritual, which had been performed by men only for centuries, to women. Her style of teaching included jokes, songs and instructions on everyday life along with long discourses, meditation and reading of scriptures.[16] Paramhansa Yogananda wrote about her in his Autobiography of a Yogi. His meeting with her is recounted in the chapter titled "The Bengali 'Joy-Permeated Mother'", where she explains her background: "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." The Publication Department of Shree Shree Anandamayee Charitable Society in Kolkata regularly publishes her teaching in the periodical Anandavarta Quarterly. The Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha in Haridwar organizes the annual Samyam Mahavrata congregation to devote a week to collective meditation, religious discourse and devotional music.[4]

The thoughts of the Ma

Her public utterances seem to teach a kind of absolute theism, i.e. that only God exists, that all names and forms are His names and forms. "Vah he hai." ("He/That only is"). That He is identical with the Supreme Essence of everything (Atma). She often said "Hari katha he katha, aur sab vritha vyatha" ("exposition of God is the only exposition, everything else is futility and pain). Anandamayi stated that God was self revealed, and that religous practices where only a means to remove the veil of ignroance that concealed him from the devotee. She explained that the way to realize God was to become restless for Him (His Revelation). She
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accepted traditional modes of worship as well as philosophical enquiry. She encouraged people to follow their Gurus/relgions instructions, or else to take whichever name of God was most appealing to their hearts and mind and to call out to Him with it constantly and unceasingly. She once advised a young woman who said she was an atheist to sit down in a calm state and meditate on her breath. She advised a firm adherence to truth, saying that by doing so everything could be obtained on the spiritual path. She also advised those that chose a path or life of service that they should do so with the idea that it was God they were serving, or else they could fall prey to egotism. She taught that "the supreme calling of every human being is to aspire to self realization. All other obligations are secondary" and "only actions that kindle man's divine nature are worthy of the name of actions". She often said "Apne ko paana Bhagavaan ko paana, Bhagavaan ko paana Apne ko paane"- "to find yourself is to find God, and to find God is to find yourself". Anandamayi always showed a outward reverence for ascetics, renunciants and devotees who had had renounced the wordly life and devoted their lives to God. Once when asked how someone would know whether to chose the renunciate life, she responded "would one deliberate on whether to flee a massacre?". On another occasion when a widower appraoched him in his grief she laughed and told him that there was one less obstacle between him and God. She did not however ask everyone to become a renunciate, and instructed householders that they could draw close to God whilst mainting a family life by seeing God's presence in their family members and serving Him in that manner, and by maintaining the attitude of a 'manager' rather than 'master/owner' (i.e. the latter being God's role). Then by devoting free time to worship and meditation. She often requested all householders to set aside a fixed daily time reserved exclusively for divine contemplation, even if for only five or fiteen minutes to begin with.

Books on Sri Anandamayi Ma

Banerjee, Shyamananda (1973). A Mystic Sage: Ma Anandamayi: Ma Anandamayi. s.n.. Bhaiji (1975). Sad Vani: A Collection of the Teaching of Sri Anandamayi Ma. translated by Swami Atmananda. Shree Shree Anandamayee Charitable Society. Bhaiji. Matri Vani From the Wisdom of Sri Anandamayi Ma. translated by Swami Atmananda. Chaudhuri, Narayan (1986). That Compassionate Touch of Ma Anandamayee. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 8120802047. Datta, Amulya Kumar. In Association with Sri Ma Anandamayi. Fitzgerald, Joseph; Alexander Lipski (2007). The Essential Sri Anandamayi Ma: Life and Teaching of a 20th Century Indian Saint. World Wisdom. ISBN 978-1-933316-41-3. Ganguli, Anil. Anandamayi Ma the Mother Bliss-incarnate. Ganguly, Adwaita P (1996). Yuga-Avatar Sri Sri Ma Anandamayee and Universal Religion. VRC Publications. ISBN 8187530006. Giri, Gurupriya Ananda. Sri Ma Anandamayi.

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Hallstrom, Lisa Lassell (1999). Mother of Bliss. US: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019511647X. Joshi, Hari Ram (1999). Ma Anandamayi Lila, Memoirs of Hari Ram Joshi. Kolkata: Shree Shree Anandamayee Charitable Society. Kaviraj, Gopinath (1382 B.S.). Sri Sri Ma Anandamayi: Upadesa O Prasnottara. Kolkata: Pasyant Prakasani. Kaviraj, Gopinath (1967). Mother as Seen by Her Devotees. Varanasi: Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha. Lipski, Alexander (1983). Life and Teachings of Sri Anandamayi ma. Orient Book Distributors. Maschmann, Melita (2002). Encountering Bliss: My Journey Through India with Anandamayi Ma. trans. S.B. Shrotri. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 8120815416. Mukerji, Bithika (1998). A Bird on the Wing Life and Teachings of Sri Ma Anandamayi. Sri Satguru Publications. ISBN 8170305772. Mukerji, Bithika (2002). My Days with Sri Ma Anandamayi. India: Indica Books. ISBN 8186569278. Mukerji, Bithika (1970). From the Life of Sri Anandamayi Ma. India: Sri Sri Anandamayi Sangha, Varanasi. Ramananda, Swami (2002). Bliss Now: My Journey with Sri Anandamayi Ma. India: Select Books. ISBN 978-1590790199. Ray, J. Mother As Revealed To Me, Bhaiji. Yogananda, Paramhansa (1946). Autobiography of a Yogi. New York: Philosophical Library.

References
1. ^ Ananda Varta, Vol. 9, No. 4. 2. ^ Mother, as Seen by Her Devotees. Shree Shree Anandamayee Sangha. 1995. 3. ^ Chaudhuri, Narayan (1986). That Compassionate Touch of Ma Anandamayee. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.. ISBN 9788120802049. pp. 16-18; pp. 24-26; pp. 129-133 4. ^ a b c d e f Introduction (http://www.anandamayi.org/books/Flower1.pdf) , As the Flower Sheds Its Fragrance, Shree Shree Ma Anadamayee Sangha, Kankhal, Haridwar; Retrieved: 2007-12-08 5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ghosh, Monoranjan (January 2003). (http://banglapedia.search.com.bd /HT/A_0237.htm) Banglapedia. Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Anandamayi. ISBN 978-9843205766. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/A_0237.htm. 6. ^ a b c d e f Richard Lannoy; Ananadamayi: Her Life and Wisdom (http://www.anandamayi.org/books /lannoy1.htm) ; Element Books Ltd; 1996; ISBN 1852309148 7. ^ McDaniel, June (1989). The Madness of the Saints: Ecstatic Religion in Bengal. University of Chicago Press. p. 194. ISBN 9780226557236. 8. ^ Hallstrom, Lisa Lassell (1999). Mother of Bliss: nandamay M (1896-1982). Oxford University Press US. p. 39. ISBN 9780195116472. 9. ^ Hallstrom, p. 42. 10. ^ Hallstrom, pp. 42-43. 11. ^ Lipski, p. 66. 12. ^ Heehs, p. 534. 13. ^ Anandamayi Ma resting place of body and image (http://www.anandamayi.org/photos/pages/425.html)

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Anandamayi Ma Ashram Official website. 14. ^ Life History: Chronology of Mothers life (http://www.anandamayi.org/ashram/cc.htm) Anandamayi Ma Ashram Official website. "Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi arrives at noon, Ma's divine body given Maha Samadhi at about 1.30 pm near the previous site of an ancient Pipal tree, under which she used to sit on many occasions and give darshan.". 15. ^ "Anandamayee Mas love" (http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/27726/) . Indian Express. Jul 17, 2003. http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/27726/. 16. ^ a b Mataji's Methods (http://www.anandamayi.org/books/Flower6.pdf) , As the Flower Sheds Its Fragrance, Shree Shree Ma Anadamayee Sangha, Kankhal, Haridwar; Retrieved: 2007-12-08

External links
Official Anandamayi Ma website (http://www.anandamayi.org/1.htm) MatriVani, a compendium of Anandamayi's teachings (http://www.anandamayi.org/books /Matrivani.htm)

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