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| Q&A with Br. Dayamrita Chaitanya |
| Amma's Expectations |
Excerpts from Swamiji’s talk on Amma’s 66th Birthday Celebrations.
What can we offer to Amma for Her Birthday? Amma does not need anything from us, but there are two things that She always asks us to do. The first is to do our spiritual practices (formal spiritual practices), and the second is to be compassionate to our fellow beings and to nature. These are the only two things She asks of us.
Amma asks these things not for Her own gain but for ours. Doing our spiritual practices benefits us more than it benefits Amma. If on any day we miss our practice, we can feel the ill effect. For example, we might not be in the right frame of mind and might get angry at others, and the whole day may be wasted. Whereas if we do our spiritual practices, it puts us in the right temperament and paves the way for a smooth day; we might even finish our work in less time than we ordinarily would take.
Amma always talks about compassion -- compassion towards our fellow beings and nature. She asks this of us because it is compassion that flowers into enlightenment. There is a beautiful story to illustrate this point.
There was a disillusioned young man who travelled to a monastery and approached the master there. He said he was disappointed and tired with his life and wanted to seek enlightenment and freedom from all suffering. But he also mentioned that he was not capable of endless meditation and austerities. He noted that he almost always falls asleep when attempting to meditate and also that he hasn't been capable of any austerities. So he asked the master if there was a shortcut to enlightenment.
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Amma's 2019 USA Fall Tour Dates
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Amma will be holding programs in North America this Fall per the dates below:
Los Angeles Area
- Thu. November 21: Public Program
- Fri. November 22: Public Program
- Sat. November 23 - Mon. November 25: Retreat (Pre-registration required)
- November 25 evening: Public Program (Devi Bhava program)
Detroit, Michigan
- Wed. November 27: Public Program
- Thu. November 28 - Sat. November 30: Retreat (Pre-registration required)
- November 30 evening: Public Program (Devi Bhava program)
Please note that the venues are new this year.
Please check www.amma.org for updates and to register for retreats.
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| Fall activities at Olypen Satsang |
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Several years ago, Br. Dayamrita asked our Satsang what we did for fun. There was a long silence. This was not the silence of sweet memories or the deep silence of the Self! This was the silence of fumbling about for an answer when there wasn’t one. After a few attempts by us to respond, he gently suggested, “Try to have fun.”
We talked about fun in Satsang meetings, tried to schedule it, made up “fun” activities but we never pulled it off. Then for no reason, several of us got very excited and carried away with Krishna’s Birthday this year. We dreamed and planned, decorated outside and inside, made two big altars – one for Amma, one for Krishna and even a little one with an Amma doll dressed as Krishna. We wanted to break pots outside like they do at Amritapuri! Two people made pots, another painted them and we put up poles and pulleys for the pots. We even had a water hose to spray the pot breakers and set up speakers outdoors to play Bollywood Krishna songs! And Radha made her famous delicious laddus for prasad!
We didn’t know if anyone would show up!
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| PNW GreenFriends Newsletter |
Read the November 2019 GreenFriends newsletter here.
Read the back issues here http://greenfriendsna.org/newsletters.html
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"Having the freedom to decide how to act, we should exercise the faculty of discrimination to choose the right actions and attitude. "
- Amma
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