Janine Canan - Messages from Amma: In the Language of the Heart

Introduction, selection, re-translation, and arrangement copyright 2004 by Janine Canan.
Cover photograph and photographs on by David English, copyright 2004 by M. A. Center. All other photographs copyright 2004 by Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust.
For more information visit www.amma.org All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except brief excerpts for the purpose of review, without written permission of the publisher.
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www.tenspeed.com Cover and Interior Design by Lisa Buckley Distributed in Australia by Simon and Schuster Australia, in Canada by Ten Speed Press Canada, in New Zealand by Southern Publishers Group, in South Africa by Real Books, and in the United Kingdom and Europe by Airlift Book Company. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Amritanandamayi, Mata, 1953
[Selections. English. 2004]
Messages from Amma : in the language of the heart / edited by Janine Canan.
p. cm.
In English; translated from Malayalam.
eISBN: 978-0-307-81674-0
1. I. I.

Canan, Janine. II. Title.
BL1237.32.A3 2004
294.544dc22
2003027442 v3.1 The words of H. H. Mata Amritanandamayi appear with the permission of the Mata Amritanandamayi Center (P.O. [510] 537-9417, www.amma.org) and the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust (Amritapuri P.O., Kollam, Kerala, India, 690525, tel. [0476] 2896278, www.amritapuri.org), which are the publishers and sole copyright holders of the publications from which this collection quotes: Amritanandam: First Twenty Issues (M.A.M.T., 1988); Amritavani: The eVoice of Amma (M.A.M.T., 1/1/2000); Awaken, Children! Dialogues with Ammachi, Swami Amritaswarupananda (volume I, M.A.M.T, 1989; volumes 2-9, M. A. A.

Center, 19911998); The Awakening of Universal Motherhood, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (M.A.M.T., 2003); For My Children: Selected Teachings of Mata Amritanandamayi (M. A. Center, 1994); Immortal Light: Advice to Householders, Mata Amritanandamayi (M. A. Center, 1994); Man and Nature, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (M.A.M.T., 1994); Mata Amritanandamayi: A Biography, Swami Amritaswarupananda (M.A.M.T., 1986); May Your Hearts Blossom, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (M.A.M.T., 1993); The Mother of Sweet Bliss, Swami Amritaswarupananda (M.A.M.T, 1999); and River of Love: A Documentary Drama on the Life of Ammachi, Michael Tobias (videotape, M. A.

Center, 1999). The editor thanks Swami Paramatmananda and Swamini Krishnamrita for their kind encouragement; Prana Carpenter and Linda Johnsen for their good editorial suggestions; Anna Dreier, David English, Beverley Noia, and other photographers of Mata Amritanandamayi Math for their beautiful photographs of Amma; Attorney Steven Fleisher for his generous legal assistance; publisher Jo Ann Deck for her gracious support; and above all, Swami Amritaswarupananda, transcriber of Ammas words over many years, without whose books this collection could not exist. Offered at the feet
of the
Divine Mother
for all her
children

The divinely beautiful, dark Indian holy woman lovingly known by millions around the world as Amma, the Hugging Saint, Mother of Compassion, and Mata Amritanandamayi, Mother of Immortal Bliss, is one of the most extraordinary forces healing our planet today. Born in 1953 in a poor fishing village on the tropical coast of Kerala, south India, Ammas first sound is said to have been not a cry but a laugh. She was an intensely spiritual child who spontaneously meditated and composed songs to God. Though remarkably gifted, she had to leave school at age nine when her mother became ill, and she took over the care of the family.

Joyful and energetic, Sudhamani, as she was called, worked from dawn till midnight to feed and clothe her brothers and sisters and care for the animals. At night she poured out her heart in prayer and song and dance. Unable to bear seeing old people and children go hungry, she gave away family food and possessionsfor which she was harshly reprimanded and beaten. But her acts of compassion continued, until finally her family threw her out of the house. Children, read
Mothers words
not with your intellect
but with your heart. AMMA Under the coconut palms, Sudhamani lived in ecstasy, conversing with Mother Sea, hugging the trees, kissing the flowers, and rarely sleeping, eating only the milk brought by a cow, the rice delivered by a dog, and the fish dropped into her lap by an eagle.

At age twenty-two, she experienced a brilliantly luminous, spinning red globe approaching her; out of it emerged the glorious form of the Divine Mother, crowned and smiling with love. The young womans whole being rushed toward Her vibrating with the mantra Amma, Amma, Amma (Mother, Mother, Mother). From this time on, Amma saw everything as divine. Eventually, the Goddess reappeared and, dazzling like a thousand suns, merged into her totally, revealing the purpose of her life: to worship God in the hearts of all beings, and to relieve the suffering of humanity. Come quickly,
darling children,
whose essence is divinity.
Leave behind sorrow
becoming adorable,
and merge in the Light.
Though you stumble, my children,
Mother walks beside you,
revealing the Way.
Remember in your hearts
that the Supreme Being is Love,
and meditating on its living form
you will become that Love. Today Amma devotes every moment to loving and serving others.

Several times a week, in cities around the world, she receives people for darshan, wearing a simple white sari, or on special occasions, dressed as the Divine Mother in a gorgeous colorful sari and crown. All day and all night, Amma receives people by the thousandssometimes tens of thousandshugging and blessing each one individually, answering their questions and wiping away their tears. Regardless of a persons race, health, wealth, education, religion or lack of iteach is accepted with the same fierce motherly tenderness. So far, she has embraced over thirty million people. Out of her compassion Amma has created a vast network of charitable activities for the poor and suffering. In India she has established many innovative temples with female as well as male priests, and dozens of schools to further the integral development of creativity, academics, and character.

The Holy Mother has created colleges of medicine, pharmacology, engineering, management, and computer science, as well as an outstanding vocational training center. Hospitals and clinics have been built, along with cancer and AIDS hospices, orphanages, and residences for the elderly. Amma and her foundation have established legal support for the poor, housing projects for the homeless, earthquake reconstruction for devastated villages, pensions for destitute women, rehabilitation for prostitutes, and large-scale food and clothing programs. She has inspired the creation of the Mata Amritanandamayi University, the Amrita Arts and Cultural Center, the internationally renowned Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, giving state-of-the art treatment to the very poor, as well as the Amrita Ayurvedic Research Center, specializing in traditional Indian medicine. She has inaugurated a spiritually oriented television station and numerous spiritual centers around the world that teach the principles and practice of