I used to hang out on the stage of the temple in Amritapuri watching Mata Amritananda Mayi give her blessings by physically hugging thousands of people daily. Receiving the look, the touch, or the actual concern of an enlightened Master is known as receiving 'darshan'. The Mahatma is so filled with divine Love that just being in their presence is spiritually uplifting. The idea is to live that inspired love in one's own daily life.
I witnessed one afternoon a tall, lean Indian fisherman, wearing a long dhoti, slowly approach Amma for the customary embrace. As the queue moved forward, and this fellow got closer to the jovial, woman Mahatma he was about to be greeted by, he seemed to become agitated. As he moved ahead, and was left standing before the Saint who was embracing a local village woman, he broke down and started to cry. When he leaned forward with tears in his eyes, Amma embraced him in her arms.
The curious part about this incident was what happened next. I watched Amma put her hands into the front of the man's dhoti and pull out a knife. There was this sobbing fisherman in her arms, and Amma was holding the knife up for all to see. She was laughing out loud and telling her close assistants: "This man was told to kill Amma with this knife! He came here to hurt Amma with this knife." Needless to say, the nearby Brahmachary assistants escorted the sobbing fellow away. I realized then and there that nobody hurts a Master, unless the Master allows it.
During my early sojourns to the Amritapuri ashram I was fortunate to befriend two devotees with quite unique stories to tell. Both Shivanot and Mark had begged and prayed for over two years that the blessing of enlightenment might be bestowed by the Master. But these two weren't listening. Amma had often told the ashram residents that enlightenment does not occur until the aspirant is prepared.
I noticed that both of these fellows had one thing in common, they both avoided service work. Cleaning toilets, washing pots, or recycling ashram garbage was not on their agenda. They were both lazy and self-indulgent fellows. The Master seems to encourage all visitors and sincere 'aspirants' to participate in volunteer work (work that holds no personal reward), such as emptying containers of ashram food waste at the end of each day. In this way individual aspirants gradually become accustomed to 'selfless' service. Individuals become familiar with work that holds no self-interest; work that is necessary but without the frills of self-gratification.
Shivanot told me he awoke one morning to find he was filled with an intense love for everything in his awareness. The feel of the sand on his feet brought tears to his eyes, the fragrance of the morning air was so sweet, and the sunrise was beyond description. As the day progressed he lost all sense of self and was overwhelmed by tidal waves of love rising within his being. His eyes could not stop weeping with joy. And yet, despite all this beauty, Shivanot said that it was just too much. His sense of self was lost in the intensity of love he felt for all life. He told me that he went to Amma and begged her to take it all back. He couldn't handle the magnitude of it all. And sure enough, his body-identification returned and his old comfort zone was bought back, fully intact.
Mark had a slightly different story to tell. For years he had stalked Amma, lurking in the shadows, sneaking into forbidden areas that were out-of-bounds, and even crawling under the temple stage, all in order to be as close to Amma as possible. He told me he continually asked Amma to grant him liberation, and that Amma had always replied that "the fruit must be ripe before it is ready to be plucked from the tree".
And then unexpectedly, after three years, Mark awoke one morning to discover that his sense of self had disappeared. An exquisite beauty and unfathomable peace had taken its place. His every moment was filled with such extreme calm that he said there was simply no desire for anything; he was so fulfilled looking at the unfathomable beauty of a spoon that even the attractive woman sitting across from him at the dining table held no allurement . Funnily enough, Mark found that he just could not handle the loss of his self-identity. He was not accustomed to working, or being, in the world without selfish pursuits. At the end of the day he made his way to the Master and begged her to take it all away. His old comfort zone of small self-identity was quickly re-established.
Their stories remind me of what Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had intimated on the shores of the Mediterranean years earlier. He had told the aspiring meditation students that he had served his Master untiringly, relentlessly, for years, often missing meals and sleep, until he found his whole being completely attuned to the will of his Master. His selfless service had brought him ,unerringly, to the state of selflessness. Maharishi was so accustomed to serving his Master in the most extreme duties and labors that his self-interest had simply faded into the background. He was like a ripened fruit; his ego simply disappeared in the bliss of his selfless service and devotion to his Master. Much unlike my two self-indulgent friends who were unprepared for enlightenment.
Below is a Youtube guided meditation by Bert Salzman. Please enjoy the other short videos I came across.
