Life and teaching of Sri Anandamayi
by Alexander Lipski (kam's notes)

As long as he in his ignorance believes that he can find happiness here, whether in the form of fame, riches, power, human love, he will, upon death, have to return to this world for further lessons.

Happiness that depends on anything, be it a person, money, comforts and so forth cannot endure………..God alone can give lasting contentment.

“O thou Supreme Being, thou art manifest in all forms-this universe, with all created things, wife, husband, father, mother and children, all in one. Man’s mind is clouded by worldly ties. But there is no cause for despair. With purity, unflinching faith and burning eagerness go ahead and you will realise your true Self.” Anandamayi

Grace is built into the very mechanism of the universe. For this reason Ma considers all actions and all experiences beneficial.

Through grace God can wipe out entirely the karmic debts (consequences) of those who appeal to Him sincerely and with utmost devotion.

Adverse conditions are not sent to torture us, but to lead us to liberation.

Everything happens according to one’s karma.

All human attachments eventually have to be given up.

When man becomes too engrossed in the world of delusion, the objects of his attachment are withdrawn from him, to remind him of his true home.

In the measure that your contemplation of the One becomes uninterrupted, you will advance towards full, unbroken Realisation.

Because man has within him a drive for perfection, he is bound to be frustrated in an imperfect world.

For the time being, God comes to you in the guise of suffering. He is purifying you in this manner.

To become aware of God’s presence and ultimately become one with Him, the beginner on the path will have to exert himself, but success is not attained until sadhana has become effortless. Spiritual effort appears unpleasant initially while gross pleasures of the senses are easily accessible.

When steady effort has resulted in the first glimpses of god’s bliss, one’s enthusiasm becomes aroused.

Worldly attractions decease as God’s magnetic pull is being felt, and in the end we approach effortlessly the divine goal. “To realise God means to realise oneself.”

If one practices hatha yoga, to attain stillness of the body, in order to perceive the divine better, then hatha yoga is beneficial.

Ma warns that it is easy to mistake the prompting of one’s mind for the inner guru. Only one who is freed from anger, greed, delusion, pride, egoism is attuned to the inner guru.

What if one unwittingly has found a false guru? Even this is only a seeming misfortune, for there will come a time when one awakens from one’s error and then one will assuredly know how to discover a genuine guru. More important than the guru is the devotee’s own attitude, because in the ultimate sense, no-one else can give us Self-realisation. We have to find it.

So long as we have not attained total emptiness, God, who is everything cannot occupy us, cannot pour his infinite divine bliss into us.

Actually the mass of mankind are renunciants of a sort, for they renounce God, who is Supreme Bliss, for the sake of paltry temporary material pleasures. When that true reality has been contacted, all cravings will drop off.

Anandhamayi ma’s innovative gestures in opening religious areas for women are in no way seen as woman’s liberationist moves in the western sense. The emphasis is on spiritual equality. The goal is liberation from sense enslavement and egocentricity. This is contrary to the contemporary western movement which chiefly claims the right for women to indulge in sense and pursue egotistic goals on par with men.

There is a subtle interrelationship between internal and external worship.

Sattvic food-no meat, fish, eggs, garlic or onions.

Accepting all conditions of life-whatever they be-as a gift. Abide in fortitude and do service.

Endeavour to keep your thoughts centred at all times on the divine Name and Form that appeals to you most. Let your mind be turned exclusively towards God-then and only then, may you hope for peace.

Why speak of Self-realisation in the future? It is here and now-only the veil that hides it has to be destroyed. That which in any case is doomed to destruction is to be destroyed. When the veil falls to pieces THAT which eternally IS shines forth- the One, Self-luminous.

A person who knows that he is ignorant must be credited with having most certainly attained to some measure of knowledge.

Your medicine is the repetition of the Divine Name, which has the power to wash away all sins, and contemplation of its meaning, your diet is self-control.

A little reflection will convince you that the play of life goes on in the upper centres of your body when your thoughts are pure and full of bliss.

When all the lethargy, primal urges and samskaras (mental dispositions) of the devotee gradually fade away like mists before the sun’s rays; along withthe unleashing of the block, our attachment to objects of the senses begins to relax, and the inner life starts to taking shape.