She who sings to the Sea
In the early days before thousands of us came to Amma, Amma used to spend a lot of her time singing to the Ocean and Nature. But now, with so many coming to receive her embrace and teachings, Amma breathes and moves only amidst a sea of people. Many of us sometimes feel sad about this, wishing that we could have been there back then to experience those sweet magical moments of nature communion with Amma. This year in Australia, a few of us were fortunate to share in a profound experience of Amma connecting with the ocean.
When we arrived to the Gold Coast retreat location in Australia, I asked Mother if we could swim in the ocean right behind our accommodations. She strongly advised me against it, noting the recent shark attacks and a bad undercurrent. She reminded me how the ocean there had claimed two local children the last time we had come. It was difficult for me to accept her strong warning as I loved the ocean so much and it was just so close. But I trusted Amma. I wondered if the ocean is perhaps getting more dangerous and unpredictable these days as Mother Nature is becoming more out of balance from our carelessness.
When her last darshan there finished sometime after dawn, Amma invited those of us traveling with her to meet her on the beach before leaving for the airport. By exotic palms and birds of paradise, a small group of us gathered on the seaside outside the hotel with her and walked down to the water. The clouds were puffy in the blue sky and Amma was almost child-like in her excitement to see the ocean. But expressing protective motherly concern when we got there, Amma insisted only experienced swimmers come with her to wade in the water and asked everyone else to stay behind. As she walked out into the waves, she kept shooing those to the back who wouldn.t listen, like a mother swan. warning how dangerous the undercurrent was.
She walked out into the waves about knee-high. When one huge wave came, it almost knocked all of us over. Laughing, Amma protectively grabbed us, as if to keep us from falling or being carried out to sea. She then playfully showed us how to flex our feet forward and dig our toes into the sand to hang on when the waves came.
Then her mood deepened and a wave of her love to the ocean flowed out from her heart as she soulfully started singing prayers to the sea.
Shristiyum niye...
You are Creation, You are Creator, You are the breath of Life in all Nature...
Reverence, respect, and love rushed out of Amma's heart to the ocean through her eyes, her voice, her hands. The passionate expression of her universal love seemed to meet the intensity of the waves as she honored the divinity of the ocean with song. It was like seeing a mother running to embrace her child after a long period of absence.
Amma's voice along with others seemed to become one with the waves. During nightly bhajans, [devotional songs] I have often perceived the expansiveness of their voices as being one with the sacred sound of creation, or OM, but witnessing the sounds of their voices meeting and merging with the ocean was like beholding Divine Union in a visible form. As they sang soulful melodies like Anandamayi Brahmamayi, and Devi Jaganmata their voices seemed to harmonize the waves into a softer, more natural rhythm. The ocean appeared to grow more beautiful, radiant and somehow more expansive with every song, or maybe it was just me. Were my eyes deceiving me or was the water changing before my very eyes, its molecules visibly transforming as it took on a golden-silver sheen and the harshness of the crashing waves softened into foam.
Amma's eyes were liquid with love and adoration as she sang. They glowed bright white with the reflection of the milky waves. She appeared one with the ocean. Her white sari, mostly wet, became an extension of the white waves. She sat with us praying at the edge of this brilliant ocean of bliss for what seemed like eternity. Light danced on the swelling waves, like devas, [divine beings- who are also known to be attracted to spiritual singing]. And every time a wave rose up and came flowing down over our laps, it felt softer and sweeter. The ocean seemed so charged with the divine energy of Pure Love, I felt I had been let into heaven.
Immersed in these melodious vibrations of creation, as I looked out into the suddenly divine horizon, I felt I was sitting in the center of all existence. A new hope for our planet and a deeper faith and gratitude in the miracle of spirituality that Amma is sharing with the world arose from within.
Amma has said that the vibrations of bhajans help to keep Mother Nature in balance. She has also been mentioning in recent satsangs how different music creates different vibrations that cause different emotions within us and therefore different actions- depending on the quality.
Scientific research confirms this and has evidence to prove the restorative power of prayer can bring nature back to its natural harmonic state, especially through water as water is the most receptive element as well as a conductor of electricity or energy. Metaphysicians and scientific researchers are now concluding what the ancient seers have been saying all along-that our words and thoughts contain energies that vibrate at different frequencies, affecting the molecules of the universe.
Made famous by the movie, "What The Bleep Do We Know?", in which he reveals the connection between water and the collective consciousness, internationally renowned researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto believes that water holds the potential to create peace on earth. In his research of the molecular structure of water, he captures frozen water crystals in photographs to provide visual proof on the varying responses of water to thoughts, words and pictures. The formations show how water is affected by different words, music, photos and prayer; proving that water is living consciousness; and alive with memory. When the water was shown the words, "thank you" or "I love you" in Japanese, Chinese, German, French, Korean, Italian and English, exquisite snowflake-like crystals formed. When it was shown "you fool" in Japanese and English, no crystals formed and "I hate you" changed the molecule into a yellow mucosal blob. Water also doesn't seem to distinguish between languages but must be picking up on emotions that accompany the words and the visual images associated with our vibrations. We know through our human interactions that words hold the power to create or destroy but the movie shows how our thoughts too have the power to affect our bodies, minds and lives. Since our bodies are 70% water, in the movie they say, "If our thoughts can do that to water, imagine what they can do to us!"
And if our planet earth is mostly made up of water, how do our thoughts affect the waters of the ocean and how does the ocean affect the rest of the planet? Dr. Emoto believes by holding the intention of peace towards water, and thinking, speaking and acting with this intention towards it, water can and will bring peace to our bodies and to the world. I often wish I could see what visual crystals he would be able to capture from the water Amma blesses during Atma puja.
Watching Amma giving darshan daily to person after person into the thousands, some transformation is usually obvious in each of them-the signs of burdens disappear from their eyes and their faces suddenly glow from within with more joy. It is like she is transforming one molecule at a time. And every night, Amma sings bhajans for hundreds or thousands of people, depending on the venue and subtle transformations take place that one can feel if we tune in and are receptive. But to have the rare opportunity to visibly see the ocean respond to Amma's love and observe Amma's power of love to transform on such a large-scale was mind-blowing. It seemed Amma was blessing the entire planet Earth through the ocean.
I realized then how I really had no idea what respecting nature even is or what loving the ocean really is, and wondered if perhaps that was why Amma didn.t want me going in the ocean. What would have been my intention? Seeking pleasure, or maybe a little healing from the salt water, clearing my aura, some relaxation? I realized perhaps Amma wanted me to learn to really respect and really love the ocean or respect it at least for being dangerous. I didn't have to put my body in it to feel one with it to get its benefit. And I wondered how much my mind being out of balance might affect the water and supposed that perhaps that is why Amma didn.t want me to go swimming in the ocean on my own. Because she knew my mind was not safe to swim in at the moment.
At one point, I took advantage of her standing still, to submerge my head fully in the waters of pure love in front of her, which looked shallow but felt infinite. I prayed it would transform my molecules into love. It felt like a baptism in the waters of love and in a new appreciation for reverence. Now this is swimming, I thought. Why swim if it is not in the waters of pure love? Why do anything if it is not in or for Pure Love? A few people got concerned that my head was under water and asked me to come up. When I did, I felt reborn in my new understanding. When I came up, Amma was laughing with bright affirmation in her eyes. As usual, only she understood my intentions.
If water really does absorb and reflect thoughts, what ocean do I want to swim in - an ocean reflecting my unbalanced mind or an Ocean of Pure Love? I may have to wait longer for the latter and it will definitely take a whole lot of extra effort but it is worth every tear.
In most native cultures, one would ask permission before going in the water or taking food or whatever one needed. For instance, Native American hunters would go to a spot away from the tribe for sometimes four days to pray to Great Spirit for a dream of where the animal would be that they could hunt. Then sure enough the animal would come and offer itself as a sacrifice to the hunter to feed the tribe. And usually, the communication with the unseen realm was done through song. But in these days of convenience stores and immediate gratification, our harmony in the song of creation seems to be lost along with our traditional rituals of asking permission and relating to nature with reverence. We just consume and exhume the toxins like machines.
After what seemed like an eternity, somebody reminded Amma that our flight was leaving soon. So she called out to all of us to head back for the bus.
I looked at her and said emphatically, .NO!.
Amma turned to me in acknowledgement. She knew how I did not want to ever leave this feeling of bliss. Her gaze held mine as deep as the ocean floor. She knew my love for the ocean and how I have longed to experience it with her. She knew I had resisted the urges to swim, not even knowing I would get to share this moment with her. And she knew how badly I did not want to leave the miracle of this experience.
Her eyes anchored mine into the infinity of the moment there, as if saying, "Stay here then... let's stay here. We don't have to leave. This is your true home. This expansiveness, this pure love is within you. It is your very own self. Remember this experience and access the energy anytime you wish through prayer."
As she got up to go, she started singing Mata Rani, the celebratory Punjabi bhajan about how the Goddess fulfills all our wishes, making our lives complete and joyous. She laughed as she sang as if she just couldn't stop herself from singing to make herself leave.
Someone brought Amma's swim dress. She put it on and walked almost ceremoniously in reverie further out to the sea - a sweet sacred focus in her every step. There was a magnetism between her and the sea.
Then, as if an exaggerated demonstration of our carelessness in nature, someone from our group suddenly ran out, screaming, arms flailing about, and dashed into the waves for kicks - right in front of Amma, - completely interrupting the intimate communication between Amma and Mother Ocean. I guess she had not been tuning in to the tender holy space Amma was holding with the ocean. It shocked everyone, especially Amma. Amma turned away to leave, looking pained. The sacred connection of union with nature in reverence was interrupted. The moment was lost. Will we ever get it back? Will we ever learn? This is a lesson for all of us to look into whether we are listening, tuning in to Mother Nature like Amma always is. Amma says nature is so disturbed now, that only Divine Grace can save us. Let us pray for our reverence and gratitude to the Divinity in nature be restored and that we only perform actions with conscious loving intentions so that we evoke Divine Grace.
- Laksmi
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