~ Amma's Message ~
Facing Problems with Courage
Jai Karunamayi!
Recently Amma was discussing some important spiritual points and she requested that the essence be conveyed to all of her children. Amma began by mentioning some of the characters in the Mahabharata, which is a sacred epic about a war that took place about five thousand years ago between two parts of a royal family - the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The story seems to be about a physical war, but really it is about the war between righteousness and unrighteousness, between selflessness and selfishness, between fear and courage.
Amma discussed how the Mahabharata shows us everything about human psychology, because through the characters, we can see all the different ways people react to problems in life. She made the particular point that when we are selfish, we experience fear and find it impossible to be courageous, but when we are selfless, we discover a lot of courage and strength within ourselves. Selfishness leads to problems for society, whereas selflessness is a blessing for society. She mentioned that selfless people are the very backbone of society, because of their nature and also the noble acts they perform.
Divine Mother's trident is always with us in unseen form,
ready to protect and guide us on the path of dharma
Amma went on to comment that when problems come in our lives, we must be very courageous and face those problems with a brave heart. If our lives are guided by truth and dharma, we will always find new strength and energy to deal with any kind of problems. Sometimes, our problems may even help us in unseen or unknown ways. For example, Amma said that many people have told her that their problems brought them closer to God and helped them to realize that spirituality is the most important part of life.
Even those who were facing serious illnesses came to feel that on a spiritual level, the illness was a blessing for them. Even though they had to go through so much suffering on the physical level, they felt very close to God and realized the profound importance of doing sadhana each and every day.
Amma told the story of Shivaji, who was an Indian king who lived several centuries ago. When unable to defend his country from a powerful invading army, he became despondent. In the depths of despair, he traveled to Sri Sailam, planning to end his life there. But as he was about to end his life, he suddenly heard the sound of jingling bangles and saw a most beautifully decorated hand reaching towards him, holding a radiant sword. A voice said, “Son, what are you doing?” Shivaji replied that as he had no more hope, he was going to kill himself. The voice said “No son, don’t give up hope. Take this sword and fight—you will be victorious!” So Shivaji received the divine sword and went on to defeat the enemy attacking his kingdom. Amma commented that this kind of divine event still happens to people in our world.
So the moral of the story is that when problems come in our lives, we must pray to Divine Mother for the strength and energy to face those problems, and then we must fight courageously with our problems. At the same time, we should try to take our problems in a positive way, not a negative way, by seeing what we can learn from them. By studying sacred scriptures like the Mahabharata or Ramayana, we can learn how divine, noble people face problems, and seek to emulate their example.
Hari Om Tat Sat
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May All Beings Be Happy
Om Shantih Shantih Shantihi
May All Be in Peace
