Ammachi's appearances are no small event, art & design homework help

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"Ammachi's appearances are no small event. Her devotees arrive hours early (many from out of state) to "take a number" to receive personal darshan (blessing) from her. If you get there at starting time, the number is already up into the 500s.

In anticipation of her arrival, an aisle is formed from the entrance of the hotel to the lecture hall, lined with chanting, barefoot devotees. (Shoes are deposited on shelves in an adjacent room.) As her car pulls up to the door, the mantra picks up. Indian music begins blaring from a portable cassette player from inside the hotel. Two rows of young women in saris precede Ammachi, carrying silver platters of flower petals. Ammachi floats behind them, smiling and touching hands (Oprah-style) with admirers. Entering the door to the lecture hall, Ammachi pauses as another devotee washes her feet with sandalwood paste. A puja (a ritual where water, milk and flowers are offered to God) is performed. As Ammachi mounts the stage, those who have been waiting outside scramble to get a good spot on the floor in front of the stage, near her.

Her full name is Mata Amritanandamayi, but most call her "Mother," "Amma" or "Ammachi." Ama means love. She is considered by many to be an avatar, a fully realized master, an incarnation of God. Based in Kerala, India, she travels throughout the world, giving darshan to thousands of people, tirelessly, sometimes for 18 hours at a time.

Every year in early July Amma visits the Chicago area, this time at the Naperville Sheraton. After a short introduction, Amma speaks through an interpreter. She talks about love and unity. "When we experience physical problems," says Amma, "learn love and compassion and have concern for all beings. Then we can heal. Love is the best medicine. ... Just as our bodies need food to grow, our souls need love. ...Let love grow within us and unite all of us and let the supreme grace guide each and every one of us."

When we experience challenges, Amma says, "Sometimes we are faced with small obstacles which help us avoid larger obstacles in the future. We need spirituality to survive in the ocean of samsara (the physical world). The biggest trials and tribulations are actually lessons to teach us to be more careful in the future or to exhaust some of our karma."

After Amma's message, Indian music is performed by 8 to 10 musicians sitting on the stage behind Amma. Mantras are chanted, and darshan begins, lasting until 3 or 4 a.m., until the line ends. After two more days and evenings, Amma is off to another city where hundreds more devotees are waiting.

Amma was born with an intense longing for God. At the age of five, she began composing songs with deep, mystical meaning, which she sang throughout the village. She worked long hours in the service of her family, and at night she meditated instead of sleeping. She showed great compassion for the sick, the poor and the elderly. Often she brought them food and clothing from her family's home (for which she was severely punished). Although she underwent many hardships as a child, she sought solace only in God, in the form of Krishna, repeating his name incessantly.

As Amma reached her teens, her love for God grew even stronger. She sang and danced in ecstasy, intoxicated with God. Eventually she experienced a profound mystical union with God in which she no longer could distinguish between Krishna and herself. Her family considered her eccentric and eventually drove her out of the house. She slept outdoors, and animals fed her: a cow from her udder and a dog carried packets of food to her in his mouth.

One day Amma had a vision of the Divine Mother and became overwhelmed with yearning for union with her. She practiced rigorous spiritual discipline for several months, which culminated in the total dissolution of her personal self into the Divine Mother. She describes this experience as follows: "Smiling, The Divine Mother became a mass of effulgence and merged in me. My mind blossomed and was bathed in the many-hued light of Divinity. Thenceforth, I saw nothing as apart from my own Self."

After experiencing God-consciousness, Amma withdrew from the world and remained immersed in bliss. One day she heard a voice from within her say, "I am in all as the One Essence and do not have any particular abode. It is to give solace to suffering humanity that you have come into this world, and not merely for enjoying Divine Bliss. Therefore, worship Me by showing mankind the way back to Me."

Amma began teaching her philosophy of love, compassion and union with the divine to anyone who was interested. When the villagers asked for proof in the form of a miracle that she was indeed one with God, she told him that the greatest miracle is for one to realize their True Self. But out of compassion for them and to inspire faith, she asked one man to bring a small pitcher of milk. When he dipped his finger into it, it had changed into sweet jam which was distributed to hundreds of people there. After that, large crowds began to gather around her and her home became an ashram.

On another occasion, a devotee brought her an oil lamp which her older brother, one of her greatest antagonists, broke. Amma asked her devotees to bring shells into which water was poured and a wick was placed. She asked the people to light the wicks, and the light from the shells lasted the entire night.

Now, Amma sees up to 10,000 people each day in India. Her work has expanded into a worldwide organization, the Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, which sponsors orphanages, hospitals, shelters and schools. All of Amma's appearances are free and paid for by donations or from the sale of her books, photos, and other items that are sold at the events."

Respond (with open-mindedness & respect) to this practice, taking into consideration the Eck reading.


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Ahd why older god diis 2, new ac- votees are Diana L. Eck, from Darshan Religions, 134. any clear ned with endars), his time are sig- s listed A common of a temple 2 sight in India is a crowd of people gathered in the courtyard or at the doorway of a streetside shrine for the darshan of the cially to religious seeing, or the visual perception of the sacred. When deity. Darshan means “seeing.” In the Hindu ritual tradition it refers espe- the deity—be it Krishna or Durga, Shiva or Vishnu—present in the sanc- ship,” but rather, “I am going for darshan.” They go to “see” the image of tum of the temple, and they go especially at those times of day when the Goddess sion in ersity 93), the presence Mu- image is most beautifully adorned with fresh flowers and when the cur- tain is drawn back so that the image is fully visible. The central act of Hindu worship, from the point of view of the lay person, is to stand in of the deity and to behold the image with one's own eyes, to see and be seen by the deity. Darshan is sometimes translated as the “auspicious sight” of the divine, and its importance in the Hindu ritual complex reminds us that for Hindus “worship” is not only a matter of prayers and offerings and the devotional disposition of the heart. Since, in the Hindu understanding, the deity is present in the image, the visual ap- prehension of the image is charged with religious meaning. Beholding the image is an act of worship, and through the eyes one gains the blessings of the divine. In popular terminology, Hindus say that the deity or the sadhu [holy man) “gives darshan” (darshan dena is the Hindi expression), and the peo- ple “take darshan” (darshan lena). What does this mean? What is given and presents itself to be seen in its image, or the sadhu gives himself to be seen what is taken? The very expression is arresting, for "seeing”in this religious sense is not an act which is initiated by the worshiper. Rather, the deity by the villagers. And the people "receive” their darshan. One might say t this "sacred perception," which is the ability truly to see the divine image, Krishna in the theophany described in the Bhagavad Gita. is given to the devotee, just as Arjuna is given the eyes with which to see Diana L. Eck 172 nect the that it is not only the worshiper who sees the deity, but the deity sees the The prominence of the eyes of Hindu divine images also reminds us worshiper as well. The contact between devotee and deity is exchanged through the eyes. It is said in India that one of the ways in which the gods unblinking eyes. Their gaze and their watchfulness is uninterrupted. Jan Gonda, in his detailed monograph Eye and Gaze in the Veda, has enumer- Exam concl pears upon imagined cord werd said only for ing issu "se oft ing los to R ated the many ways in which the powerful gaze of the gods was and expressed even in a time before actual images of the gods were crafted. The eyes of Surya or Agni or Varuna are powerful and all-seeing, and the gods were entreated to look upon men with a kindly eye. In the later Hindu tradition, when divine images began to be made, the eyes were the final part of the anthropomorphic image to be carved or set in place. Even after the breath of life (prana) was established in the image, there was the ceremony in which the eyes were ritually opened with a golden needle or with the final stroke of a paintbrush. This is still common practice in the consecration of images, and today shiny oversized enamel eyes may be set in the eyesockets of the image during this rite. The gaze which falls from the newly-opened eyes of the deity is said to be so pow- erful that it must first fall upon some pleasing offering, such as sweets, or upon a mirror where it may see its own reflection. More than once has the tale been told of that powerful gaze falling upon some unwitting by- stander, who died instantly of its force. Hindu divine images are often striking for their large and conspicuous eyes. The famous image of Krishna Jagannath in Puri has enormous saucer-like eyes. Shiva and Ganesha are often depicted with a third verti- cal eye, set in the center of the forehead. Brahma, inheriting the name “Thousand-Eyes” from Indra, is sometimes depicted with eyes all over his body, like leopard spots. While it would take us too far afield to explore the many dimensions of eyepower in the Hindu tradition, it is important for this study of the divine image to recognize that just as the glance of the inauspicious is thought to be dangerous and is referred to as the “evil eye,” so is the glance of the auspicious person or the deity held to be profitable. When Hindus stand on tiptoe and crane their necks to see, through the crowd, the image of Lord Krishna, they wish not only to "see,” but to be seen. The gaze of the huge eyes of the image meets that of the worshiper, tr E and that exchange of vision lies at the heart of Hindu worship. In the Indian context, seeing is a kind of touching. The art historian Stella Kramrisch writes, Seeing, according to Indian notions, is a going forth of the sight towards the object. Sight touches it and acquires its form. Touch is the ultimate con- Darshan 173 eye touches o reminds us deity sees the is exchanged hich the gods th is by their rrupted. Jan has enumer- as imagined consciously regarded as a form of contact ap- nection by which the visible yields to being grasped. While the the object, the vitality that pulsates in it is communicated. .... Examining the words used in the Vedic literature, Gonda reaches the same conclusion: "That a look was s from the combination of flooking' and 'touching.' Casting one's upon a person and touching him were related activities.” eyes pears [...] -ere crafted ng, and the cording it; not him who has said 'I have heard it.” Seeing is not were to come said 'I have seen e made, the rved or set the image, ed with a common -d enamel The gaze so pow- Not only is seeing a form of “touching," it is a form of knowing. Ac- to the Brahmanas, “the eye is the truth (satyam). If two persons disputing with each other, ... we should believe him who only an activity of the eye, however. In India, as in many cultures, words for seeing have included within their semantic fields the notion of know- issue of complexity, of the “vision” of people of wisdom. In Vedic India the ing. We speak of “seeing” the point of an argument, of “insight” into an "seers” were called risis. In their hymns, collected in the Rig Veda, “to see”. often means a “mystical, supranatural beholding” or “visionary experienc- weets, or e has the ting by- ing." Later on, the term darshana was used to describe the systems of phi- losophy which developed in the Indian tradition. However, it is misleading to think of these as “systems” or “schools” of philosophical thought. Rather , they are “points of view” which represent the varied phases of the truth viewed from different angles of vision. picuous ormous d verti- THE VISIBLE INDIA 2 name over his explore portant of the 1 eye." Gtable. -h the Hinduism is an imaginative, an “image-making,” religious tradition in which the sacred is seen as present in the visible world—the world we see in multiple images and deities, in sacred places, and in people. The notion of darshan calls our attention, as students of Hinduism, to the fact that India is a visual and visionary culture, one in which the eyes have a prominent role in the apprehension of the sacred. For most ordinary Hindus, the notion of the divine as “invisible” would be foreign indeed. God is eminently visible, although human beings have not always had the refinement of sight to see. Furthermore, the divine is visible not only in temple and shrine, but also in the whole continuum of life-in dature, in people, in birth and growth and death. Although some Hin- to be niper, Orian dus, both philosophers and radical reformers, have always used the terms Nirguna ("qualityless") and nirakara ("formless") to speak of the One Brahman, this can most accurately be understood only from the per- spective of a tradition that has simultaneously affirmed that Brahman is also saguna ("with qualities"), and that the multitude of "names and e tasting, and hearing. One “sees” the image of the deity (darshan). One "touches" it with one's hands (sparta), and one also "touches” the limbs of one's own body to establish the presence of various deities (nyasa). One (shravana). The ringing of bells, the offering of oil lamps, the presentation of flowers, the pouring of water and "hears "the sacred sound of the mantras milk, the sipping of sanctified liquid offerings, the eating of consecrated food these are the basic constituents of Hindu worship, puja. For all of its famous otherworldliness, India is a culture that has also celebrated the life of this world and the realms of the senses. forms” of this world are the exuberant transformations of the One Brahman. India presents to the visitor an overwhelmingly visual impression. It is beautiful, colorful, sensuous. It is captivating and intriguing, repugnant and puzzling. It combines the intimacy and familiarity of English four o'clock tea with the dazzling foreignness of carpisoned elephants or vast crowds bathing in the Ganga during an eclipse. India's display of multi-armed im- ages, its processions and pilgrimages, its beggars and kings, its street life and markets, its diversity of peoples—all appear to the eye in a kaleidoscope of images. Much that is removed from public view in the modern West and taken into the privacy of rest homes, asylums, and institutions is open and visible in the life of an Indian city or village. The elderly, the infirm, the dead awaiting cremation—these sights, while they may have been ex- punged from the childhood palace of the Buddha, are not isolated from the public eye in India. Rather, they are present daily in the visible world in which Hindus, and those who visit India, move in the course of ordinary activities. In India, one sees everything. One sees people at work and X prayer; one sees plump, well-endowed merchants, simple renouncers, fraudulent “holy" men, frail widows, and emaciated lepers; one sees the fes- tival procession, the marriage procession, and the funeral procession. Whatever Hindus affirm of the meaning of life, death, and suffering, they affirm with their eyes wide open. So abundant are the data of the visual India, seen with the eye, that what one has learned from reading about “Hinduism” may seem pale and per- haps unrecognizable by comparison. As E. M. Forster wrote of the enter- prise of studying Hinduism: “Study it for years with the best of teachers , and when you raise your head, nothing they have told you quite fits.”' The medium of film is especially important for the student of Hin- duism, for it provides a way of entering the visual world, the world of sense and image, which is so important for the Hindu tradition. Raising the eye from the printed page to the street or the temple, as conveyed by the film, provides a new range of questions, a new set of data. In India's own terms, seeing is knowing. And India must be seen to be known. While Hindu spirituality is often portrayed in the West as interior, mystical, and other- worldly, one need only raise the head from the book to the image to see how mistakenly one-sided such a characterization is. The day to day life and ritual of Hindus is based not upon abstract interior truths, but upon the charged, concrete, and particular appearances of the divine in the sub- stance of the material world. Many Westerners, for example, upon seeing Hindu ritual observances for the first time, are impressed with how sensuous Hindu worship is. It is sensuous in that it makes full use of the senses-seeing, touching, smelling, iPad C* 23% 16:18 e catalyst.deanza.edu Re: 2: Eck (Amma) by Justine Gamez - Monday, March 13, 2017, 10:13 AM I thought that this chapter was very interesting to read. I had no idea the way that the Hindu worship in India and all around the world. It is interesting to me that the “amma” is a female and not a male. I think that this is a great thing and although I could not see the image in the link that was provided I am sure that she is an absolutely beautiful woman. The philosophy that the amma is teaching about love, compassion and union with the divine is very similar to what the Christians learn from the word of God. It is stated in the bible many times the importance of love, that God is love, and to love one another. It is state din the chapter the importance of the eyes in the Hindu religion. They stress the importance of all of the five senses but the eyes and vision being the most important. They say that you do not know anything until you have seen it. This here is a little different than what Christians believe. We are taught to have faith in what we cannot see. We cannot see God but we have faith that he is here with us and that little bit of faith will bring a person a long way. With the Hindu, they come from all around the world to see and be seen by the amma. They believe that it is not only good to see her for themselves but they also really want her to se them as well. They believe that once they both make eye contact with each other then they will be fulfilled with what it is they came there to do. I would love to experience this practice one day just out of curiosity to see what it is all about. Show parent Reply Re: 2: Eck (Amma) by Nicole Ngo - Thursday, March 16, 2017, 2:53 PM Hi Justine! I too thought it was really interesting and different that there was a female modern day saint. Usually whenever I think of a higher power or someone such as a God, I always think of a male. It think that it has to do with society and popular culture about how men are leaders and women are otherwise. What the Amma taught was definitely similar to what Christians believe which is to be good to others and treat people the way that you want to be treated. If anything, all religions in some sort of way preach this same thing. I found it interesting that Amma is a modern day saint but within Christianity, I have seen no saints with my own actual eyes. I'm Catholic but I don't really keep up with super recent news or anything, but I'm wondering if they still name new people saints in the Catholic church? Show parent | Reply Re: 2: Eck (Amma) by Francis Ngo - Saturday, March 18, 2017, 3:20 PM Hey Justine, I agree with you and thought this chapter was interesting
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The Hindu religion is endowed with a myriad of traditions, rituals, and deities. These
deities are believed to embody and represent the presence of the lords that are n...


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