Temples

In this world, there are a lot of creations. Of all those creations, the human birth is blessed in many ways. For example, if you take a dog or a donkey, if it gets hurt it has to suffer. There is no other way for those animals. Even if their lives are threatened, they cannot go to anyone for help and protection. Except for humans, all other creations have to face whatever trouble and problems alone. They cannot get rid of them and there is no way for them to solve them. Only for humans, if they have a problem, there is a solution. It is devotion.

For all other creations there are no solutions. If they have problems, they have to face them and bear them. There is no other way for them. They have to cry, they suffer, they worry. Only humans can pray and receive blessings. That is their solution for problems. But even so, how many humans are blessed in this way? How many humans are aware of the Divine? Very few. So, people — those who are already on the spiritual path should feel that blessed because first of all, having the human birth is a big gift, and then, knowing the Divine is another big gift.

There are still a lot of people who are not aware of the Divine. There are still a lot of people who don’t want to listen to spiritual things. So, first of all, the human birth is a big gift. Within that, having the opportunities to do good deeds is one of the greatest blessings.

You should realize that you have a treasure because the spiritual path is not possible for everyone. If anyone wants to, they can make money. If anyone wants to, they can find trouble. But it’s not possible, even if someone wants to, to find peace. This is only possible for those people who are on a spiritual path. So being on a spiritual path, you have a great opportunity and you should feel blessed.

Once you know that you are blessed, you should be a good model for Amma. Generally, the world thinks that only children have exams. But really, the children’s exams are also the teacher’s exam. They are not just for the teacher. To illustrate: In a class of fifty students, if thirty students fail their exam, you can say either, “Oh, these kids are not studying well” or you can wonder, “What is with this teacher? Does the teacher not know how to teach”?
The fulfillment that you are experiencing now, the joy that you are having now, the happiness that you are having now, it is not just for this moment. All these things should be used to make you a model student for this world. That is what will bring Amma real joy. So for you the joy of doing the good deeds, means joy for Amma. Amma experiences joy by seeing how the devotees are doing, what they are doing in the world, and how they are changing the world. Remember, it is not only a test for you; it is also a test for Amma. Like the student and the teacher, it is up to you, to ensure that Amma gets good marks.

Devotee   : It is very easy to sit here in this beautiful place, but we’ve been traveling around India and have seen thousands of people living in such terrible circumstances. It’s very hard to understand.
Amma     : Sometimes while sitting on a bus, you might see a person riding a bicycle and think, oh poor guy, why don’t you come on the bus with me? You know what he will probably say? No thanks I enjoy riding my bicycle. It’s true. Even if we think they are suffering, they don’t think they are.
Many of these same people regularly buy lottery tickets. Sometimes they win. But, if anyone asks, “What are you going to do with the money”, they will say “I just want to change roads”, they don’t want to sell their bicycle. So maybe we feel sorry for them and pity them, but for them, they are comfortable and very happy and don’t want to change their lives, it happens in all kinds of ways.
Other people win the lottery and they don’t think of building new homes. They want to continue with their life the way it is because even though they might suffer, even though they work hard, they find joy and happiness with their situation. For them, life is comfortable. Of course, some might want change their lives, even if they are happy. In these cases, as Amma already explained, sometimes there is karma in the way.

Here is another story: there are two devotees, very staunch devotees. One is the president of a nation and the other one is a beggar. They are both very devoted to God and they pray and they pray. One day, God decides to grant their prayers. God appears before them and asks what each one wants. They both felt that their prayers to be very confidential matters, so they privately whispered their wish to God. First the president told God what he wanted, then the beggar. God thought about their wishes for a minute and finally said, “Okay, I’ll grant your wishes by allowing you to continue to live just the way you do”.

The president and the beggar were very confused as to why God would respond in this way. “We are asking for big changes in our lives, and God agrees to hear our prayer and then changes nothing. God tells us to stay as we are.” Thoroughly confused, they finally they go back to God and ask for an explanation. “We were both expecting a big change since You said that You’d grant our wishes, but nothing has happened. You said that the president will remain the president and the beggar will remain the beggar. We prayed and prayed. So what’s going on”?

God replied, “You want to know why I did this? Okay, whenever the beggar sees the president’s car go by, the beggar thinks, Oh, the president is such a lucky man. He has such a luxurious life. He has a nice car, security, everything”. At the same time, whenever the president drives by the beggar’s home and sees the beggar, the president thinks, “Oh, what a lucky man the beggar is, he gets eight hours of sleep every night, he can come and go where ever he wants, he can do whatever he likes, he can do all the things I can’t do. It seemed to Me as though you just wanted to change your problems, not your joy. So, it is better for you stay as you are. While you think the other one has a better life, that other one wants your life. While we think someone is suffering, but if we were in their place, then we would feel their joy.
Devotee   : For young devotees, the kids... how are we to carry Amma’s message that we want to change the world.
Amma     : If you read, you can learn something; if you listen, you can learn something else, but the real learning is when you walk the walk. When you really accept the lesson and make changes in your life. So, to carry Amma’s message, you just have to do what you’ve learned. This will change you and others will want to change too. Just spreading the message is one way, but that is not your duty. It’s good to want to spread the message though you need to practice what you preach.

It’s like the discussion earlier about the people who are suffering. It is good to have mercy on them. It’s good to have mercy and love it shows a good heart. It is better than saying, “This is their karma, forget about them”; even where that is the reason. So, what your heart is feeling is good. It is your duty wherever you find people that need service to help. But it is not necessary for you to change everything. You just do your best. This is good for you, it will open the door of love and joy. It is good.

Devotee   : Coming from America where so much of our country is promoting war, how do we reconcile that?
Amma     : Once you have created the divine sanctity in you and once you have the divine sanctity in you, it will create the good energy in and around where you are. So, it will change peoples’ minds.
Devotee   : One of the great wonders of being here every year is to watch the transformations in individuals and in all of us. And, as a human being, it is really almost impossible to describe why the Divine Grace does to an individual. Is there any way that Amma can address what happens to us when we meet You? What is the yearning that Amma reaches in us?
Amma     : It is the joy of what you are experiencing now. You are feeling blessed. That is why you feel happiness. Definitely, you get this with Amma’s blessings.

Amma continues the story of the beggar and the president:
If the beggar wants to be the president and if the president wants to be the beggar because it appears to him that the beggar has lots of free time and can do whatever he wants. So, God says, “Okay, but before I grant you a permanent birth as the president and as the beggar, first you can trade places for a day. What happens?
The beggar can’t wait for the next day to come so he can go anywhere and whenever he wants. He discovers that when you are the president, you have to wait for everything. You have to wait for security, even to go to next door, you have to wait for your secretary, you have to wait for someone to finalize your schedule. You even have to wait for security if you want to take a shower or use the bathroom. They will tell you, “Just give us another three minutes to clear the security for you”.

Similarly, when the president becomes a beggar; for him, he used to think, “Oh, this will be the good life, sleeping a full eight hours”, but when he is the beggar for a day, he misses the royal life. So, even though he can’t sleep in the president’s chair, he still likes to be in the president’s chair. So, both were used to their lives and would miss them if things were otherwise. That is why God granted their prayers by doing nothing.

More Questions and Answers
Devotee   : Amma, with all the good energy that there is at Peedam, does it attract evil or does it push evil away? When we go back to our lives outside of Peedam, does it mean bad energy will attract us or will the good energy in us push the bad energy away?
Amma     : The Divine, is like Mother. For a Mother, all the kids are good kids. So even if it is something is bad, the Divine will try to change it -its thoughts, its aspects. If there is no way to do that, only then do you need to push it away. Before that, it may also try to change you. It will attract you and it will try to change you, suggesting that you join them on their path. If it is not able to change to the good path, then you need to push it back.
All those in the presence of Amma, all those who are doing good deeds, all those following Amma’ s messages will have a circle of power around them. Once you start to do these things, the circle of power will be created around you and it will protect you from all those evil things. Sometimes, if the being has good karma, it will change. But, if not, you will be protected. So, there is always, there will always be a circle created around all Amma’s devotees. It protects you against the bad forces entering you.

Devotee #1   : So when I watch you Amma doing lamp puja or Abishekam, I see Amma doing the puja and Narayani, doing it. What is the difference between Amma and Narayani
Devotee #2   : No difference, they are the same.
Amma          : As Amma already told, the reason Amma is doing puja is on behalf of the whole world. Before Amma starts the puja, whatever puja, there is one ritual. It is called the ‘Sangkalpam”. It is to think about why you are doing this puja. So, when Amma starts any puja, Amma will bring the whole world into this physical body. Then, the whole world is doing puja. So, the puja is not for Amma, but for the world.

Sometimes, as a devotee suggested, the negative forces control the energy. In Peedam, good energy is very concentrated, so the negative forces can’t come in. But if that energy goes to places that are fully influenced by negative forces, then, good energy will be disturbed. The bad forces won’t like the good energy. They will try to disturb it. Still, devotion and prayers will protect the good energy. If your prayers and pujas continue, more and more good energy will be created and eventually it will control the energy from the negatives forces.

Devotee  : So if the negative forces somehow have influence, is that because devotion has fallen?
Amma    : Sometimes. It is not just because of devotion, but because of karma also. That’s what Amma has already mentioned. Now you have the opportunity to create more good energy, so just do it. In this way, you can create more and more good energy, so the good energy level won’t come down. But, if you say, oh, I’ll just wait for tomorrow to do good deeds, you may not have this opportunity tomorrow. Amma just said, consider your spiritual path a treasure. Start now, start this second to do good deeds. From the moment you create good deeds, your good karma will stay with you. If you wait, and say let me do it when the time comes, then you’ll lose even the good karma you already have.
Devotee  : Mother is it all right for a devotee to feel when Mother is doing puja on Indrani or on Narayani, that Mother is also doing puja on the devotee?
Amma    : As the song goes: “We’re all in this together”.

Devotee  : Whenever we pray, we don’t know whether our prayers have been received or what the results will be.
Amma    : It is better to pray for blessings. You need not ask for this or for that because you do not know whether you are going to need it. Sometimes you may feel everything will be better if you get this or that. But, if you do get it, it might create another problem for you. So, let’s say someone prays like this, “If I win a million, then I will pay off all my problems. I’ll be very free.
Then, once he wins the million, he will have new problems: like, how to save his million, where to invest that million, what to buy with that million. So, the human mind cannot tell you what to do. It is better for you to surrender and ask for blessings. In asking for blessings, you know that blessings will bring everything. Everything that you need will come. Everything that is not necessary won’t come. So, you should pray just like that.

Devotee   : Is it also true that when Amma says, “Amma take care”, that means that Amma will take care in the way in which that we need and not in the way that we might be thinking?
Amma     : Yes.
Devotee   : Is faith, the same as free will?
Amma     : Once you enter into the spiritual path, once you feel that you are filled with joy and unconditional love; then, having the freewill is good. Before that, if you try to exercise free will, you are not sure what you really want. So you need to know where you are. Only then can you decide whether you need to take that free will or not.

Devotee    : Do you ever feel like dancing?
Amma: Everyday. You know, once you see joy, it’s a dance. That’s why Shiva is always dancing. Even the name of that dance is the “Dance of Joy.”
Devotee     : What do the names “Vaishnavi” and “Indrani” mean?
Amma       : Vaishanavi comes from Krishna, Vishnu, Rama. So it is the male form. The power of the male form is Vaishnavi.

Indrani, is from the name of the king of the angels, Indran. So his power, in the female form, is Indrani.
Amma       : You know to change the world into a better place what you need to do as devotees, you just need to spread the message. But to just spread the message in words is not enough. The world will look to see what you are doing, how you are changing. So, in addition to spreading the message, you need to follow the message in what you are doing. It’s too easy also, to say, hey do this, don’t do this, better to just do it also.

Amma blesses you all.