Guru
There are only two ways to reach the Truth: either to see the world as Guru or to see your Guru as the whole world.
Another beautiful morning. I went late to sleep yesterday, after midnight. So I slept until 06:30, which is quite long for me. After having a shower and my morning readings and Portuguese learnings, I drove to Tasty Cafe. Moksha was there, we didn’t meet for some days. Satsang started at 09:30, I am there from Monday to Saturday now, so don’t miss a day.
The room is at capacity by 9:30 am. When Amma enters the room and takes her seat, the room fills with contentment and peace. The Satsang opens with silence for 10 minutes.
At the front, a man reads a quote from Adi Shankara:
Whatever is seen, and felt, is only the Atman.
Nothing, no one exists other than Atman; accept this.
Amma gently looks upon the devotee and slowly smiles. The Satsang returns to silence for another 20 minutes.
A devotee mentions he read about a young Nisargadatta Maharaj. The book provided the mother’s perspective about Nisargadatta: ‘When he behaved badly, I called him a little brat. He would reply to me: I am not a little brat; I am that.’ It takes a little while for the joke to register.
A few moments later, a devotee stands towards the back and shares sincerely about very difficult circumstances in her personal life. She explained that she has been required to take on new tasks and challenging roles that are not natural. It is much more natural to be in Satsang and in Ramana Ashram. Her question to Amma is: I am confused. Should I change anything next?
Amma replies gently: No one can answer that question except for you. You need to find the answer yourself. No one else can advise. What is natural to you, you should follow.
A short break in questions.
Amma: (returns to the previous topic) The confusion comes so that certain decisions can be made. But until things become clear, just wait. When there is a difference between what you are within and the outer situations that you are in the middle of, we say that is a conflict. Let life unfold naturally, in its way so the karma gets exhausted. If we choose a different path or force a solution, the karma is only temporarily avoided and it will simply return.
Amma: (continues) The way out of karma is through the way in. We don’t need to change anything outwards. Don’t see things in a divided way – that this is good, this is bad. Karma gets deleted by total surrender and going through what one has to go through without any inner resistance. This is full acceptance of destiny, otherwise, the karma reappears.
Amma: (continues) You have a free will to seek the Self, to come back to the Self. But there is no way ‘out’ of destiny. There we can only surrender.
A final question from the front: In the west, we say ‘falling in love: Is there a similar expression in Tamil?
Amma: The ‘I’ sense falls in love. It falls off (laughs). That is the real falling in love.
After a few moments, Amma says ok.
For lunch, I was again in Saatvik Restaurant and enjoyed my special Thali. Last time the Indian waitress asked me to bring some small German money. Somehow Indians are crazy for coins from other countries. I only had 1,2 and 5-cent coins. It was not easy to explain that 1 cent is around 1 rupee. In the past India had rupees and paisa, paisa is like cent, 100 paisa = 1 rupee. Now they have only rupees, otherwise the coin would be too small in value.
When I was driving back, I stopped on the small road where the German Bakery and Shanti Travel are located. I was looking for a Kurta, kind of a longer shirt, typical for here. While I was looking around I saw Mirka, the Finnish lady I met before several times. So we had a coffee in the German Bakery. Today it is the Finnish Independence Day (Itsenäisyypäivä), they became independent from Russia in 1917, after the October revolution in Russia. Mirka knows one of these Kashmiri shop owners around here and brought him a piece of cake. I was buying my Kurta there.
Later at 16:45, I picked up Michael in front of the Ashram’s guesthouse. We joined Satsang, and then had a nice dinner at Auro Usha Restaurant.
Later when driving home I stopped at the mini market and got some Tiger Balm and Mach 3 razor blades.
The white Tiger Balm is cooling, and good when you catch a cold or flu. Red Tiger Balm is hot and good for strains and bruises.
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