Śrī Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī (Amma)

Amma teaches that the divine exists in everything, sentient and insentient. Realizing this truth is the essence of spirituality – the means to end all suffering. Amma's teachings are universal. Whenever she is asked about her religion, she replies that her religion is love. She does not ask anyone to believe in God or to change their faith, but only to inquire into their own real nature and to believe in themselves.

Quelle: Amṛtāṣṭakam - A Vedantic Inquiry Into Supreme Devotion, Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri, M. A. Center, 2016, S. 6

Self-realization is just that – a realization, a permanent shift in understanding. It is the firm knowledge that we are not the body, emotions or intellect but pure blissfull, eternal consciousness. This is something that Amma tells us every day. She even begins every public talk by saying, 'Amma bows down to everyone whose nature is divine in love and the Self.' Many of us have heard or read such statements regarding our divinity thousands of times by now, yet we still remain the same grumpy, irritable, frustrated people. If this knowledge really liberates, why are we still suffering mentally? Amma herself gives us the answer. She says, 'Children, what you lack is not knowledge, but awareness.' What does Amma mean by awareness? She means the ability to never – not even in the most stressful, action-packed, potentially fatal of circumstances – forget the truth of who we are. As said in the Bhagavad-Gīta:

naiva kiñcit~karomīti yukto manyeta tattvavit |
paśyañ~śṛṇvan~spṛśañ~jighrannaśnan~gacchan~svapañśvasan ||
pralapan-visṛjan~gṛhṇannunmiṣan~nimiṣannapi |
indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan ||

"Even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating,
going, sleeping, breathing, speaking, emptying, holding,
opening and closing the eyes, the sage remains centered
in the Self, knowing, 'The senses are moving among the
sense objects, yet I do nothing at all.'"
Bhagavad-Gīta, 5.8-9

This is the awareness that Amma is telling us we need to cultivate. Most of us can intellectually understand Vedānta but when the body experiences pain, we forget the truth 'I am not the body.' Most of us can intellectually understand how we are not the emotions, but when someone wrongs us, we forget this truth and lose our temper. Most of us can even understand that the center of who we are is beyond the intellectual ideas popping in and out of our head, but how many of us can maintain a deficiency in our power of awareness – our inability to remain focused on this teaching as we conduct our lives.

It is through our various mental spiritual practices that we hone our power of concentration. When it is properly developed we can the use that power to maintain awareness regarding our true nature throughout our daily lives. In his comentary on Chāndogya Upaniṣad, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya defines saguṇa meditation as 'establishing a continuous flow of similar modifications of the mind [i.e. thoughts] in relation to some object as presented by the scriptures and uninterrupted by any foreign idea.' Śaṅkara then reveals that Self-realization is also continuance of a mere mental modification – the knowledge that one's true nature is blissful, eternal consciousness. He says that the only difference between this mental modification and other modifications is that when we constantly abide in thoughts of our true nature, it demolishes all sense of division between us, the world, the people around us, and God. With the demolition of these divisions comes the demolition of all the afflictions springing from them, such as anger, depression, loneliness, jealousy and frustration.

This concept of honing the mind through saguṇa meditation and then using that refined mind to focus on the scriptural teachings is explained in Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (2.2.3-4) through a metaphor involving a bow, arrow and target. In essence, the upaniṣad advises us to sharpen the arrow of the mind through saguṇa meditation and then, using the mighty bow of spiritual wisdom that is the upaniṣads, make it merge in the target – imperishable, all pervading, blissful consciousness. The  Gīta also clearly defines the role of saguṇa meditation along the same lines:

tatraikāgraḿ manaḥ kṛtvā yata~cittendriya~kriyaḥ |
upaviśyāsane yuñjyād~yogam~ātma~viśuddhaye ||

"Sitting there on his seat, making the mind one-pointed
and restraining the thinking faculty and the senses, he
should practice yoga for self-purification."
Bhagavad-Gīta, 6.12

Saguṇa meditation is a stepping stone – the 'sharpening of the arrow.' Just like karma yoga, it purifies our mental equipment. Even though karma yoga and saguṇa meditation do not directly bring about Self-realization, one would have to be foolish to say they are not important. They are essential. Without them, we will never be able to attain the goal we are seeking. Our favorite part of Pūja [worship] may be eating the prasād [consecrated offering], but unless we go through all the preceding steps – the invocation, the offerings, the prayers, the ārati, etc. - the prasād in fact is not prasād at all, but just food. Similarily, the fruit of knowledge will only come if we've done the preceding steps. Amma often compares these steps to cleaning the vessel (i.e. the mind) before adding the milk (wisdom). 'If we pour milk into a dirty vessel, the milk will spoil,' Amma says. 'We have to clean the vessel before transferring milk into it. Those who desire to be spiritually uplifted should first try to purify themselves. To purify the mind is to eliminate negative and unnecessary thoughts and to reduce selfishness and desires.'

Some people say they are not interested in performing saguṇa meditation. They say that they will refine their power of concentration using thoughts regarding their true nature. However Śaṅkara says that, at least in the beginning of spiritual life, it is better to improve our power of concentration through these saguṇa meditations. This is because contemplation on something without name or form is extremely subtle and, therefore, all the more difficult. Unless the mind is properly refined, attempts at contemplation on the formless reality often result only in sleep or stupor. On the other hand, saguṇa meditations – concentrating on a form or name of God, on the breath or locations in the body, etc. - are relatively easy. Thus until our power of concentration is perfected, we can use these types of meditation to improve it. […], when one is ready, nirguṇa meditation [meditation on the formless Self] is supposed to be done constantly – even while walking, talking, eating, sitting, etc. With this in mind, it is very relevant that Amma instructs us to not only set aside some time for formal mantra japa (i.e. seated with eyes closed), but also to try to perform it 'with every breath.' In fact, this is preparing our mind for that constant nirguṇa meditation, which comes as the ultimate spiritual practice.

Śaṅkara also says that as our minds become more and more refined through saguṇa meditations they can come to provide us with 'a glimpse of reality of the Self.' Such glimpses will fill us with inspiration to preserve in our practice with more and more intensity and enthusiasm.

The Timeless Path - A Step-by-Step Guide to Spiritual Evolution, Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri, M.A. Center, 2014, S. 130-134

Om
lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu
Om shanti shanti shanti

Om
May all beings in all the worlds be happy
Om peace peace peace

• Spiritualität & Lebenskunst bei michaelditsch.de
• Mantra bei michaelditsch.de
• Jnana Yoga bei michaelditsch.de
• Amrita Yoga bei michaelditsch.de
• Mata Amritanandamayi Math - Official Site
  www.amritapuri.org
• Mata Amritanandamayi Math - Official video uploads
  www.youtube.com/c/MataAmritanandamayi/
• Amrita e.V. - Offizielle Website Deutschland
  www.amma.de
• Amma on different Spiritual paths
  www.amritapuri.org/6757/spiritual-paths.aum
• Amma über Bildung
  www.amma.de/amma/internationale-anerkennung/ehrendoktorwuerde-kalinga/botschaft
• The Amma Shop M.A. Center
  theammashop.org
• Amma Shop Deutschland
  www.amma-shop.de
• Amrita Organics
  www.amritashop.com