WELCOME TO THE APRIL EDITION 2014
CONTENTS in this edition 1.Divine Amma s message 2. Ashram development in photographs: seva days, hall, ablution blocks, accommodation cabins, pond extension, etc 3. Children s page 4. Healthy recipes Cooking from the Heart 5. Dr.Andrew Lohrey s Amma Experience 6. Financial contributions 7. Ashram Wish List May the tree of our life be firmly rooted in the soil of Love. May good deeds be the fruits on that tree, May words of kindness form its flowers and may peace be its fruits. Let us grow and unfold as one family united in Love. Amma
DIVINE AMMA S MESSAGE Anyone - woman or man - who has the courage to overcome the limitations of the mind can attain the state of universal motherhood. The love of awakened motherhood is a love and compassion felt not only towards one s own children, but towards all people, animals and plants, rocks and rivers -- a love extended to all of nature, all beings. Indeed, to a woman in whom the state of true motherhood has awakened, all creatures are her children. This love, this motherhood, is Divine Love -- and that is God Amma
ASHRAM DEVELOPMENT February/March 2014 THE HALL The outside wall has been rendered and the inside of the Hall is painted. The light fittings and ceiling fans are being installed. The beautiful large floor tiles are soon to be laid, and then the carpet. The altar, curtains and decorations soon to be put in place. This wood circle cleverly made is one of five prepared for water tanks to be installed as rain water from the roofs is one more way of the eco friendly aspects the Ashram is developing for future sustainability along with the worm farm and hopeful future use of the bore.
SEVA DAYS As the Ashram is taking form everyone is inspired to come and assist and many folk arrive ready to weed, construct, sweep, cook, clean and plan With the PCG - Planning construction group, the AC - Ashram committee and the garden committee the jobs are spread out over a number of helpers. Usually the PCG meet once a fortnight to go over the building and financial developments as the problems arise. The Ashram committee meet monthly to discuss the daily running of the Ashram, the programs etc. The Garden committee decides where plants will be placed, pathways constructed and many other aspects of the garden. Mani Kalimuthu is the Ashram manager and is involved in maintaining peace and harmony over all. He is also very involved in seva, selfless service and spends many hours after a normal days work on Ashram activities. Heavy loads, dust and 40 degree heat are just part of a days seva working together for Amma s Ashram. The ground is rock hard due to lack of rain and watering the plants is essential to keep them alive during the summer heat-wave. The children are happy together telling jokes and playing while their parents are happy working. The kitchen is churning out delicious meals and snacks to keep everyone s spirits up.
ABLUTION BLOCKS AND ACCOMMODATION CABINS The tiling in toilets, showers, laundry and bathrooms almost completed And the painting is almost finished as well. Here we see Francis finishing tiling a cabin bathroom floor. And Annie exultantly performing the king pigeon yoga pose amongst the dust and the paint as she takes a break from painting cabins walls. The little visitor is Spot the 4-legged devotee who is enjoying the whole experience of togetherness and wondering about the huge bird that has landed on the floor.
THE HEALTH OF POND cum LAKE With the expertise of Karri who is studying environmental engineering at Melbourne University specializing in Hydrology. She is working on bringing the water and its environment to a healthy outcome of biodiversity. James and the trusty little red tractor are extending and excavating the size of the pond and it will eventually be a beautiful lake with lotus blooms and plenty of water birds and frogs Remember: A camel is a horse designed by a committee! This is a reminder that absolutely every detail during the process of the Ashram development is thrashed out by one committee or another. We eventually reach a consensus. Hopefully we do better than the horse committee! With Amma s Grace all will gradually manifest from the blueprint.
AUM AMRITESHWARIYAH NAMAH Amma s Bala Kendra at the Ashram: The term Bala Kendra generally means children s centre. The Amrita Bala Kendra in Australia came into being at the Ashram on Krishna Jayanthi s birthday 2011. It was inspired by Amma s teachings and vision on the importance of children as the world s wealth. The Amrita Bala Kendra at Ashram aims to foster among children: an understanding of spiritual values, traditions and principles, and how to bring these simple teachings into their daily lives through stories, music, bhajans, arts and crafts, celebration of festivals and service projects. Amma says: "We should tell children while they are very young that there is a power known as God who controls everything. If we teach a child to remember this divinity in all circumstances of life, that child will be able to keep his or her inner poise in every situation, whether it be victory or defeat." The very first day of the children's programme began with the chanting of a Ganesh Mantra, and we even had a 3 year-old child spontaneously chant Gayathri Mantra marking an auspicious start for the Balakendra! Since then the children have been gathering every fortnight to participate in story-telling, role-playing, making crafts such as cards and book-marks, singing bhajans and short meditation sessions. Many Children have also performed in several plays on special occasions such as the birth and life of Sri Krishna, Amma s Birthday, Diwali, Onam and Christmas celebrations. They are enthusiastic learners and there are lots of fun and laughter in the various activities. In 2014, the theme of the Bala Kendra classes and activities is SMILE. Every class involves thinking about how their thoughts and actions contribute to creating a Smile. Children are starting the year by keeping a journal and sharing stories on how they have made themselves and others smile. Here are some of the Children s responses to date to the question: Who have you made happy and smile recently? I made Dinal happy because he was new and lonely at school by making sure he had fun I made my mum happy by cleaning the house by myself last week I made Nandu and Abhishek happy by telling them some jokes, playing pranks and watched TV with them I made my friends happy by playing with them. The parents and teachers of the Australian Amrita Bala Kendra group sincerely hope that the love and spiritual nourishment shared with the Children of today will help them become inspirational leaders and strong citizens of the world, and help them transcend all difficulties by guiding them in the application of Amma s teachings. Aum Shanti. By Nava Subramaniam
The children performing the tiger dance during the Onam festival at the Ashram. It is a ferocious and very energetic dance that goes on for quite some time until the music finally comes to an end. There is always lots of laughter and joy trying to work out who is behind the mask. Maybe in this picture there could be an adult or two as well! Mikhayala (2-1/2years) loves reading Amma s book Adhithi (12 years) drew this picture of Amma
COOKING FROM THE HEART Delicious, Healthy Vegetarian Food PEA AND POTATO CURRY 1. Wash and soak 1 cup of dried green peas 2. Cook until tender approximately 30 minutes 3. Drain off excess water and use later to add to tomato puree 4. Wash 4 medium potatoes and cut into cubes 5. Cook in salted boiling water 6. Add 1 tbsp tomato puree mixed with the kept water making a smooth paste 7. Add 3 chopped tomatoes 8. Add 1 tsp garam masala 9. Cook until tomatoes are juicy for approximately 5 minutes 10. Add to the peas, adding salt to taste 11. Cook all together for a few minutes blending all the flavours 12. Serve with chapatti or rice CHAPATTI Requirements: Cast iron griddle, rolling pin and rolling board To Cook: 1.Mix water, 1 cup of flour and salt into a soft dough, and kneed well for a few minutes 2. Cover with a damp tea towel and rest the dough for about half an hour. 3. From 6-8 round balls from the dough 4. Roll out the small balls into thin flat pancakes with a rolling pin, sprinkling a little dry flour onto the rolling board 5. Put this onto the hot griddle or pan. When brown spots appear, turn the chapatti over and let it cook completely. Turn once more so first side is completely cooked Wrap in foil to keep warm and serve with curries, salads, etc The booklet Cooking from the Heart is available from the Ashram as a fundraiser towards the Ashram building project. Delicious vegetarian/vegan dishes created by the cooking team. Cost for booklet is $5. Copies can be purchased from the Ashram direct or email ashram@ammaaustralia.org.au to place an order.
Cooking Team. Each Satsang, Puja, Homa, and celebration held at the Ashram the food is donated and catered for by Amma s Children. The food is always remembered, remarked upon and enthusiastically enjoyed by everyone who comes to the Ashram. Each Queen s Birthday and Melbourne Cup weekend, Yogafest hosted by Dance of Life Yoga Studio mounts this major fundraising event with all proceeds to the Ashram building fund. The special team that cook for Yogafests are pictured below. The Yogafest brings together 100 s of interested yogis from around Melbourne to Somers the quaint seaside village for the 3-day event. The cooking team is on deck from start to finish and the food is memorable as it is cooked with love and mantra. A blessed combination of yoga for body and mind, and food for heart and soul. Back row: Mani, Dave, Anil Front row: Kavitha, Jayashree, Sindhu Future plans for a fully operating Ashram kitchen where food can be cooked and served to the public and catering for events that will be held in the new Hall. Amma stated once that Thousands will come to the Ashram and that we can rent the beautiful premises for weddings and other special events. The cooking team is hopeful that the kitchen can become a reality sooner than later as they all say with smiles on their faces, It is a privilege to be able to serve
Falmouth Beach (after seeing Amma): by Dr. Andrew Lohrey. Tasmania In 1867 the English poet Matthew Arnold published what was to become a famous poem about the crisis of religious faith in Victorian England. What follows is an excerpt from that poem and a response to it The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold The sky is dark; it is evening, I am sitting on the orange rocks. The tide is running in through the bar-way from the restless Tasman Sea. No one else is on the white sand of the beach that stretches north into the distance, but I am not alone. I am embraced by the landscape and the sky. Held in heaven for a moment. I have sat on these orange rocks hundreds, perhaps thousands of times since I was a child so why now has heaven arisen at this moment, in this place? I watch the sea and the waves that splash on the rocks around me. The sea has become the sigh of bliss that befriends the rocks and sand. Here there are no naked shingles of the world, no Dover Beach, no Matthew Arnold. Rather, Plato s phrase, moving images of eternity comes to mind. This is a metaphor for life. The sea and the sky around me move; they move within what Plato called eternity. This evening eternity is here without a note of sadness. I apprehend the whole along with my perceptions of sea, landscape and sky. This evening the eternal and the transient seem in accord; this harmony gives me the double metaphoric meaning that plays like a song. This moment of heaven is both seen by my senses and apprehended by my understanding. Is this harmony an epiphany? I am not sure but I wish it would last. Ah, there s the rub! To cling to heaven is a sure way to lose it. By grasping at the eternal we seem to create the transient. I think of Plato s eternity as love, as divine love. Jesus said that God was love, but he also said that the Kingdom of heaven was within. This evening heaven is within as well as without. With this harmony of in and out there is no split between the ordinary and the cosmic, just a blissful sense of connection and embrace. In the past love has come to me in small packages, usually through the agency of someone and as a sexual exchange or just feelings of connection and love. These are packages of human love and they are different from divine love, which is the nature of this wrap-around eternity. While these two loves are different they overlap like concentric circles so that the love we feel for another always has a divine essence that is given shape by our human desires and our human understanding. Love for another is a double love that is both divine yet human. This evening my experience of eternity does not involve another person. The heaven of which I have become a
part is a sensation filled with love without an object. Love without an object is pretty weird and hard to describe. For instance, I cannot say I love her because she is beautiful because here there is no she, only the feeling of beauty. Here there is intimacy without desire; communion without a crowd; love without an object; and truth without logic. Here there is a sense of expansion so that the I am of me has dissolved into communion with landscape and sea. All my life I have had an underlying readiness to defend myself, like some warrior on leave who never really relaxes about the possible dangers that others can cause. Yet this evening, under this regime of benign influences my instinctive guard has dropped away; the orange rocks support me like friends while the sea sings to me as a lover and the darkening sky whispers the meaning of a thousand years of happy indifference. Under the influence of this surplus of meaning my body has relaxed and my mind slowed into a delightful mesmerism. Some time later my dog pulls me by his lead up the hill towards home and I walk out of that heavenly space. I try to recapture the sensation as I walk but the more I try the quicker it seems to evaporate. In a moment I am back to the world of objects and moving images without any sense of eternity. This is the three-fold, transient and physical world of daily frustrations and well-oiled defense mechanisms. I become annoyed that I cannot control the gates to heaven and have to wait upon the cosmic harmony to come and include me. But why has the gate of heaven opened this evening? Perhaps it has something to do with returning from a three-week tour with my spiritual Master, Amma, who was once described by Jane Goodall (when presenting Amma with the 2002 Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence) as God s love in human form. An excellent description, I thought, for in those past three weeks my connection with Her had deepened to the degree that now I sense Amma s love within and behind most things I do. Paradoxically, on this tour I began to see that Amma has a physical form. In the past I had difficulties perceiving that She has a form. I think this was because I was overwhelmed by the harmonic radiance that emanated from Her. Eclipsing my ability to perceive Her form was an apprehension of Her luminous presence, which has always seemed so large, eternal and potent. But now on this last tour I have begun to see Amma s physical form and with this concrete perception I have let go of something and at last, paradoxically, seem able to come closer to the hidden source of her Divine love. Sitting on the orange rocks this evening I felt I was within Her cosmic embrace. How to return to it?
Our Financial Status as of March 2014 HOW CAN YOU HELP? One suggestion is a contribution of $1 a day. Less than 1/3rd of a cup of coffee a day! This regular donation of $30 a month could help bring the Ashram debt down really fast To Donate simply click the file below: h6p://www.ammaaustralia.org.au/apps/dona=on/dona=on.aspx T h r e e Q u e s t i o n s : A m a n i s g r a n t e d t h r e e q u e s t i o n s t o G o d ; H i s f i r s t q u e s t i o n i s G o d, h o w l o n g i s a m i l l i o n y e a r s? G o d r e p l i e s, To m e, i t s a b o u t a s e c o n d H i s s e c o n d q u e s t i o n i s, G o d, h o w m u c h i s a m i l l i o n d o l l a r s? G o d s a y s, To m e i t s a b o u t a p e n n y S o t h e c l e v e r m a n a s k s h i s t h i r d q u e s t i o n ; G o d m a y I h a v e a p e n n y? G o d s a y s, C a n y o u w a i t a s e c o n d?
Ashram wish-list ACCOMMODATION CABINS: If you have any of the items below in good working order they will be appreciated. To purchase any of the items on the current wish-list, prices are approximate only. Bunnings has small white wardrobes @ $100 each 1 Bar fridge - @ $269 1 microwave oven @ $160 1 toaster @ $20 1 kettle @ $10 folding washing line @ $200 Bunnings sell 1M2 Carpet tiles @ $22.00 each. Each of the 8 cabins will need a total 12 tiles per cabin Large Rocks/Boulders to place around the lake. $70 each Water lilies for the lake. $23.95
AUM AMRITESWARYAI NAMAH Please send your stories, thoughts, ideas and feedback to enhance this quarterly magazine and help support the on-going Ashram building fund Email: eugenieknox@iinet.net.au NEXT edition of Amrta Shala is July