Christmas Message from India

I am in a part of India that has a strong Christian presence, a faith community that has been there since the beginning, when the Apostle Thomas came to India to share the good news about Jesus.

So here at the ashram one can find Christmas decorations, even in the Kalari Temple where the pujas are performed.  A beautiful creche stands by the entrance to the dining hall.

Last night we had a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration.  The son and daughter of Karuna Poole, one of the persons who spoke to the adult education Sunday morning class at Emmanuel, had created a play after the fashion of the Black Nativity.  A large cast sang and danced and acted out biblical stories of the Exodus and Jesus teaching and healing.  This was followed by Amma's Christmas message and all 3,000 or so of us joining Amma in a prolonged bhagan singing, clapping hands, and dancing for almost 30 minutes straight.  Very high energy!  Then Amma served us all cake.  

Christmas is the Feast of the Incarnation, God taking human form, the Divine in human being.  My message for this Christmas is for us all to let the awareness of Christ in us come to birth.  God-with-us in the reality that has not yet fully been birthed in our awareness.  If it had, then we would realize that the potential of all of Jesus' life, ministry, teaching, serving, dying and resurrection is in us also to be manifested.  We have the same power to forgive, to heal, to love that Jesus had, and that is the Christmas miracle.  We have the power of Love.  But since this realization has not yet been fully birthed into our own awareness and lives, let us practice what that would look like until it becomes truly full in us.  How are we to do this?  Forgive, release judgment, love, serve, have compassion.  These are all ways of taking up the cross, giving up the egoic enterprise and following Jesus.  May the awareness of Christ in us be born today.

A Christmas prayer

Eternal God, in the stillness of the night you sent your almighty Word to pierce the world's darkness with the light of salvation: Give to the earth the peace that we long for and fill our hearts with the joy of heaven through our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.  

(Common Worship, Church of England)
 

Emmanuel's gift for Amma

Hi, Hunt

Well, I finally got to go for darshan and present the check.  Because there are so many here the policy is that with Amma's return from China first the permanent residents got darshan, then the two public darshans on Saturday and Sunday were for Indians and so the next darshan opportunity that was for us internationals was on Wednesday, 12/12/12.  After a long sweaty day, I got changed into my best ashram clothes, and got in line for darshan.  I practiced my three sentence speech and had it written out for the translator to use.  When I got to Amma I held out the check in the envelope with your letter and started my speech.  Amma swept me up in her arms before I could get very far and she gave me a long and very loving embrace, whispering with great emphasis in my ear, "My daughter, my daughter, my daughter" much longer than usual.  She spoke to the translator, who then told me that Amma was very grateful for the gift and that it would be put to good use, and her greetings to all the members of the church.  Then I was told to sit next to Amma, right next to her, where I stayed for the next hour and a half.  It was a tremendous honor, and such a wonderful gift to me.  I prayed for you all.

Meanwhile, I probably won't post much for awhile as I continue this Amrita Yoga study.  I am learning some great things that I will be able to apply to my own teaching of meditation.

My love to you all.

Beverly

# 10 from India

I made it through the 4 day yoga course, and deciding to practice what I preach I am continuing with a 2 week course to help establish this practice.  I am finding many things that can be applied to how I teach meditation.  I have a keyboard on this internet computer that is very stiff, so this message will be short.  I will report more later, but for now I believe that I have been given guidance from the Holy Spirit to use my time here in this way.  It is all working for my purpose in being here.

Blessings to you all, and keep meditating.

# 9 from India

Friday, 12/7

I am going to interrupt my journalling here for a few days because I am now engaged in a short four day course, and I won't have the time to report as I have up to now.  I'm taking an intensive beginners course in hatha yoga, Amma style.  I know my daughter will be delighted.

I am taking this course because I want to have a spiritually focused practice involving the body, and I can already tell after just the first session that this will be helpful for how I teach the Prayer of the Lamb.  The Prayer of the Lamb is of the tradition of the Prayer of the Heart and is meant to connect with the body, to move attention from the head and thoughts into the heart, to increase awareness of the body.  The way Amma defines hatha yogo is awareness in every action.  The intentional practice of the asanas is meant as a foundation so that the same awareness is there in every action.  The intention of the sitting meditation with the Prayer of the Lamb is likewise to end up with the same awareness al the time.  So we prayer the Prayer even while in the midst of daily routine activities.  The awareness grows outside the sitting practice into the midst of the mundane, until it becomes praying without ceasing.

The course goes through Monday.  See you after that.

And keep meditating!

# 8 from India

Monday, 12/3 continued

Food: a note about life in the ashram and our basic vegetarian diet - delicious!  Maybe it's just working up an appetite, but even in its simplicity there is an innate sense of health about it.  Yesterday I enjoyed a raw salad of tomatoes and cucumbers, something I wouldn't even think of eating anywhere else in India.  But here in the ashram there is not problem.  And there are no lists of health precautions for food preparation.  We all wash our own dishes, sometimes using a little solution of "good bacteria," rinsing our plates and spoons in cold water and wiping them dry on shared dish towels.  There are no reported cases of food poisoning or stomach upset.  Interesting...

This morning the temple bell rang three times and people gathered in the Kali Temple.  Amma arrived and without any introduction began giving darshan to the ashram permanent residents.  Even with a couple of thousand of them it appeared that Amma knew them all and was greeting each one personally.  She had been away for some months, so you could tell this was special.  The love and joy filled the air, and even as an observer I felt blessed.  For us visitors our turn will come on Wednesday, they say.

Theological Reflection

In the general confession and the penitential rite of our Book of Common Prayer liturgies there is a pronounced emphasis on unworthiness due to sin.  This is lacking in Amma's bhagans, which are the closest thing to liturgical prayer that I have come across here.  There is confession of need and asking for help and comfort, but no guilt.  There is the presumption that one is always worthy enough to ask for what you need.

Comparing the Daily Office and lectionary readings with the bhagans regarding context, the bhagans are more limited in scope, more individualistic, but God is much more approachable.  It is in the seva that intention goes beyond self-interest.  The Psalms and currently Isaiah in the Daily Office readings are explicit regarding the huge gulf between the divine and humanity.

Tuesday, 12/4

Rough night last night.  The humidity was higher and it didn't cool off as much.  About 3:30 I was under attack by a swarm of tiny mosquitoes.  I got up and set up my "bug hut."  But then I was awake until morning.  So I meditated off and on for three hours.  I also pondered how so many people, several that I know here, could give up everything to come live in this challenging country, with its challenging weather, and engage such a challenging life style as an intentional spiritual choice.  In one sense this is encouraging testimony about people making positive life commitments that are a benefit to us all.  What they do there has a global effect and also is a witness and encouragement for others for self-examination and leveling up.

Another aspect is that living like this is a calling.  it is not self initiated.  The desire to live this way is a result of having experienced the divine, the grace, the love, the encounter with one who will become the focus of attention and devotion.  The desire is planted there by all this, is a result of the grace which calls into deeper relationship.

My call came from Jesus.  I am clear about that, and the deeper, challenging call to intimacy there.  My call is not to live here in India with Amma, but to be here and observe and learn.