Sri Anandamayi Ma –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Ma!

Mokshadhasundhari /Swami Mukthanandhagiri who was the biological mother of Ma, was born as an eighth girl child to a pious couple Sri. Ramakanthabhattacharya and Harasundharidevi, one of the well-respected family in the society, they celebrated year-round religious festivities with great attention and devotion, numerous guests attend their house was taken care with respect and kindness.  During Durga Puja celebrations many scholars, religious leaders, priests, and intellectuals pay a visit to their home to take part in the grand festival.  Their presiding deity was Lakshmi Narayana attracted a large number of devotees to their house.  The entire family members were well versed with the religious texts.  Mokshadhasundhari was a very pleasing child with good manners; she was kind, compassionate, caring and loving.  Her parents died in her early years of childhood, leaving this little girl under the loving protection of eldest daughter-in-law.  Mokshadhasundhari was married at the age of 12 years to Sri Bipinbhattacharya, she was unaffected by the poor financial conditions of the family, and she practiced to offer the last piece of a meal without consuming.  Mokshadhasundari gave birth to eight children, but none of them survived long, she remained untouched by the extreme grief with her firm spiritual strength, she took all the tragedies with calm mindedness, she was grown too compassionate and kind, all her inborn qualities were flowing out naturally, she did not work hard to bring out those qualities, she had immense faith in God, later none would have thought that Mokshadhasundhari will give birth to a divine personality.  In the year 1938, Mokshadhasundhari was initiated to asceticism by great sage Mahamandaleshvaraswami, after that, she traveled at length with Ma to various religious places accompanied by all the classes of people, her steadfastness and compassion assured that none would stay away from the grace of the Supreme Being.  She lived for 94 long years, extending great service to humanity; she attained the heavenly abode on 8th August 1970.

Sri Anandamayi Ma –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Ma!

Ma led her disciple to locate the Siddheshvari Kali Temple in Dhaka; she took them to the lost temple for several years in the middle of the wilderness, which was impossible to access. She had great healing powers; she wiped out the tears of suffering and illnesses.  In May 1928, she visited shrines of Deoghar in Bihar, she met illustrious saint Balanandha Bhramachari, who was deeply impressed by her spiritual conduct and called her ‘she is Divine Mother of Universe personified on Earth’.  Ma made it clear about the non-existent concept of ‘I’, all the creatures on Earth is trapped inside the body/vehicle for a destined period of time, for the attainment of wisdom, knowledge of self and God-realization.  Ma was not restricted by time, passion, or space, she moved at her own will in a transcendental state.  In August 1982 Srimad Shankaracharya of Sringeri Math paid a visit to  Ma in Kankhal, Uttarakhand, he insisted her to take care of  health, her reply was inexpressible ‘This body has no illnesses, other than the feeling  of the strong pull of Bramham.’  On the evening of  27^th August 1982 her soul attained unison with the Bramham, she attained Samadhi in Kishenpur, Dehradun Ashram.  Thus, Ma who captured the hearts of millions of millions of people in the world, with her graceful speeches, everlasting smile, enthusiasm, innocent child like acts, simplicity, kindness and selfless unconditional love, took final rest in the beautiful marble chamber which is always surrounded by the subtle form of divine personalities.  Ma lives in the hearts of her devotees, with her constant guidance and inspiring smile, tirelessly steering her devotees to continue the search for absolute Bhramam which is supreme bliss, to keep away from miseries and afflictions of worldly existence once for all.

Sri Anandamayi Ma –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Ma !

This divine couple enjoyed their celibacy in a state of supreme bliss.  Ma, who is a beautiful, young and vibrant girl with a soft and melodious voice, thin delicate physique, an ever-lasting smile on her face, captured the attention of all.  Her loud laughter has the resemblance to the surging waters of Ganga from the mountain peaks, it echoed in the hearts of her devotees.  She extended a magnificent light of optimism, kindness, forgiveness, tolerance, selflessness, unconditional love and compassion which drawn a multitude of people towards her.  Whenever the Supreme Being incarnates on Earth, they bring all their celestial assistants to take care of their needs, Supreme Being assumes the form of a human on Earth to accomplish their specific purpose.  The objectives are very clear, save the soul from the worldly bondage, miseries, and sorrows, and liberate them from the repeated births.    As part of the purification process, the divine personalities initiate us to spirituality; they prompt us to gain knowledge/Jnana yoga, knowledge of self and God- realization.    During the execution of tasks of divine personalities, they will definitely capture the attention of ordinary and fortunate souls with their godly deeds, though the Supreme Being makes all efforts to hide within them.  She is absolute Bhramam, does a supreme being requires a preceptor to initiate to the knowledge of Bramham?  She took self-initiation to spirituality, her devotion and spiritual practices took her into different heights, though she was not a Sanskrit scholar, mystic syllables flew out of her lips effortlessly, her delicate fingers drew mystic design of Yanthra, she was completely immersed in a state of ecstasy, and her life was completely dedicated to the spiritual practices.  She had started a spiritual journey with her beloved husband Bholanathji who became one of her disciples.  Her horoscope predictions proved it right, she was not meant to carry out the duty of a householder, she was meant to take the responsibilities of the entire house-holders bringing them in the path of righteousness.  She traveled extensively to be in the union with the Supreme Being, she attracted millions of hearts with her mesmerizing smile and simplicity.

Sri Anandamayi Ma -

‘Pranams at the lotus feet of Ma’

India has been the birth place of illustrious Rishis, Sages, Yogis, and Yoginis for several decades.   Krishna says “Yadha Yadha Hi Dharmasya Glanirbhavathi Bharatha | Abhyuththanam Adharmasya Thadhathmanam Srujamyaham ||”.  Whenever the righteousness gets tarnished in the hands of evil-doers, Supreme Being personifies on Earth to reinstate the righteousness.  Almighty never abandon His children; instead He makes sure that all the living beings on Earth has a fair share of means towards spiritual development.  Supreme Being has created the whole Universe and its creatures with his imagination; he ensures all the creatures are benefited with rich values to return to the abode of supreme consciousness with the powerful tool of spirituality.     Ma was born on April 30^th in the year 1896, in a pious Bengali Bhramin family, her Father Bipinbattacharya and Mother Mokshadhasundhari were a highly religious minded couple, and they were named their beautiful little girl ‘Nirmala’.  Unlike another girl child, Nirmala was exceptionally beautiful with a rich sense of spirituality.  Those days’ marriages of girl children were performed at a young age to make sure that the little bride is getting familiar with the custom, religious rites, and family traditions of the new family, it helped to create a strong bond between the child couple and their family, and in this way they have well protected the institution of Marriage.    Ma was married at the age of 13 to Sri Ramanimohana Chakravarthi/Bholanathji, on February 7^th in the year 1909.    Ma’s comments on her husband Sri Bholanathji/Sri Ramani was ‘ He is Bhola always’, she looked at her husband with a lot of admiration and affection,  yes  these divine couple resembled Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi.  Ma performed her duties and responsibilities of the wedded wife of Bholanathji, she relentlessly served her husband in the day time, she practiced spirituality in the night hours, and this couple had a divine relationship, they continued to be Akhandabhramacharin who sincerely follow celibacy in their whole life.

Sri Anandamayi Ma –

‘Pranipath at the lotus feet of  Ma’

“Her smile is infectious”

Vishuddhadi describes her childhood days spent in Kanyapeeth, Varanasi, where girls were brought up with discipline, simplicity, and practice of meditation.  She narrated an interesting incident that happened during Basanti Puja, it is a celebration of Goddess Durga in the spring season, it is celebrated with great pomp in Kolkata.  During this auspicious occasion of Basanthi Puja, Ma serve the meals to the girls in Kanyapeeth, I could envision Goddess Annapoornni in her,  who is the mother of living beings, serves meal to the entire Universe, Ma gracefully served the meal to all the girls who were made to sit in a particular order, Didi who used to feed Ma on regular basis would hold the bucket of the meal, Ma enchantingly move around the girls serving meals with the ladle, all those girls assembled  were sung in praise of her loudly ‘Jai Ma Jai Ma’ and consumed the offerings, suddenly Ma applied those offerings on her body and hurried through the steps of river Ganga, she was so young and vibrant, she flew through a large number of steps like a jet and leaped into the waters of Ganga.  Ma beautifully narrates human are born with a purpose; we are born to experience the unison with supreme consciousness, which is the permanent cure for miseries and sorrows of worldly existence, attending the requirements of soul and  physical body are important, unfortunately, we  are still attached to the needs of our physical body.

Sri Anandamayi  Ma –

Pranams at the lotus feet of Ma!

I never had an opportunity to hear about Ma until now; recently I happened to listen to the commentary about Ma in the book of ‘Life of a Yogi’, Yoganandji described her as a divine child, later my mind was chasing to know more about that divine child, though I have seen her photographs, I know nothing about her.  I kept searching on the internet to learn more about  blissful ‘Ma’, I read and read about her, her a child like gestures, delicate physique, ever-smiling face, mellifluous and the innocent voice was completely occupied in my mind, I have fallen in love with her the moment I saw her videos.  Her beautiful explanation about the search of supreme-consciousness, her constant connection with the Supreme Being made her loss of words, she was always surrounded by divine effulgence, her soft and shiny skin tone, beautiful line of teeth, eyes that are soaked in the supreme bliss, I have not seen her without a smile for a second in any of her videos, she was absolutely liberated soul, Ma reminds me Sri Rajarajeshvari who is the Empress of Tripura, in few of her videos I have noticed her classiness while sitting, her elegance forced me to think that she is none other than the creator of trinities,  Ma reminds of Radharani who is childlike yearn for the constant unison with Supreme Lord Krishna, I have understood from the interviews were given by her divine assistants, Didi who was feeding Ma on regular basis, Ma never felt the requirement of food, Ma never knew the taste of the meal, she was not aware of sweet, bitterness, sourness, etc.. and she was not at all  interested to feel the taste of it, she  was regularly fed by Didi to keep Ma healthy, it was entirely for keeping her physical body hail and healthy.  Ma’s divine assistant Vishuddhadhi speaks about her childish act on the night of Lunar eclipse, Ma was riding in a boat with her divine attendants, the moment of Lunar eclipse was  got  over, Ma leaped into the waters of Ganga.  It made me laugh out of extreme joy.  I have been true in expressing my feelings about Ma, I am not an experienced person to write about Ma, my whole life is not enough to understand the divinity of Ma, I was trying to put my feelings for Ma, forgive me for my mistakes.

What is meditation –

Sri Ananandhamayi Ma says there is no specific discipline for practicing meditation, constant remembrance of Supreme Being is meditation, you can recite or listen to sacred texts, and you can read or re-write scriptures, there is no restriction in remembering Supreme Being, anyone can do that, any time or any place. Birds and animals never forget to chirp and produce noises in the early hours of dawn; therefore we humans should practice meditating upon Supreme Being on a regular basis.  You need not leave your family or material happiness or material world to conduct in search for supreme consciousness, all you need is a few minutes of practice on every day contemplating upon supreme being, keep few minutes  exclusively for meditation with a vow that you will not share these precious moments with no one other than supreme being, be adamant on that, after several years of practice, you can’t leave that habit, our body and mind reminds us to go on with this practice, it is the mystery of meditation.  We are satisfying all our bodily needs in the form of food, sleep, pleasure etc.., and meditation also one of the prime requirements of mind to attain self- realization and God-realization.  In ancient times, saintly people have chosen Bhramamuhurtha/early hours of dawn as the appropriate time for meditation, Thrisandhya/ dawn, noon, dusk, and darkest hours of the night/Mahanisha were considered as highly propitious hours of meditation, remembrance of Supreme being has a purifying effect on our body and mind.   Constant remembrance of Supreme Being gives immense benefit to us, it is our choice whether to follow it sincerely or not, it is called Abhyasa Yoga/Practice, with the regular practice it will become part of our indispensable activity.  Supreme Being is Mahayogi, with the regular practice of Yoga we are achieving nearness to Mahayogi/bliss, and once we put meditation into regular practice it will become natural and habitual as well.