Selections from Amma’s Christmas Messages
Sometimes,
during the winter holidays, Amma speaks to thousands of her
beloved children in the West by phone. We gather in groups around
speaker phones across North America and Europe to log into an
international conference call and listen to Amma’s voice
coming from half a world away, as affectionate and intimate
as if she were fully present in each room. Selections
from those messages bear remembering as we enter again into
the holiday season.
“What is the real meaning of festivals?” Amma asked us last year,
the day after Christmas. “What comes first to most people’s minds
is wearing new clothes, eating sweets, meeting our friends, and enjoying ourselves,
but according to Sanatana Dharma, festivals have more meaning than that. They
awaken in everyone’s heart the great responsibility we all have towards
our society.
“We take so much from our society! We need to show gratitude,
and do some seva, some selfless service, for our society. Embedded
in the idea of festivals is love in our hearts towards everyone—universal
peace and universal unity.
“A festival is not just about enjoying ourselves.We need
to have the heart of universal brotherhood and to think about
the universe, to think about peace in our society and unity
in our entire world. This is the true meaning behind any festival
in the world.”
Amma went on to give us the spiritual meanings of the symbols
of this season:
“In India at Christmastime, we put a shining star in
front of every home. There is a beautiful saying in Telugu about
this star: ‘Goranta dipam kondanta velugu.’ Goranta
dipam means a small lamp, a cute little lamp. So the meaning
of the saying is: ‘A tiny little lamp is giving us a huge
mountain of bright light.’ Because of the hard times in
life, there is so much darkness around the light, and sometimes
people lose their faith in God. There are so many problems and
tribulations that come in life. Have a little faith—a
tiny little lamp of faith—in your heart. This tiny little
lamp of faith will give you so much inspiration, guidance, power,
and all the positive things in life. So, children, this is the
message of the star in front of the home.
“December is a very cold time—you know how cold
the winter is, with so much snow and darkness. In life, too,
there are so many dark forces that can enter people’s
lives. They are alone. They have pain and problems—tribulations
surround them. People are crying for help. This is the time
when we put a small star in front of the home. This star inspires
you with light. In any circumstance, do not become depressed.
Let your Self blossom inside. This is the dipa sandesha—the
message of the star. The star is a dipa—it is
like a lamp. This is the message of the star at Christmastime.
“And you know Santa Claus, who brings so many gifts to
everyone in their homes? There is also a very beautiful message,
a great message behind Santa Claus. Giving anything to others,
mentally or physically—books, clothes, any small gift,
thinking about others, praying for others—brings an abundance
of happiness and elevation to our inner lives. When we give
to others, we enjoy it more than the people who receive the
gift from us, because there is so much happiness in giving—giving
and giving and giving—anything to anybody. So this is
the great message behind Santa Claus: Giving gives us so much
happiness and elevation. We need to learn that ‘givingness’ from
Santa Claus towards everyone in our life.
“The Christmas tree is also very special and has another
important message for us. In the winter season, the weather
is totally opposed to the trees and plants. Nature is a little
bit unhappy in the cold snow, but the Christmas tree still has
all its greenery, even though all its branches are covered with
the snow. It is very alive and very beautiful. It shows lots
of patience, standing alone in the snow all winter without any
complaint. We need to learn that much patience and tolerance
from the Christmas tree. Facing so many problems in its lifetime,
the Christmas tree doesn’t complain to anybody about the
snow, about the cold, about any problems. Similarly, we need
to face any kinds of problems in our lives with a bold heart.
We need to be very strong when facing anything in our lives.
“The great Lord Jesus faced innumerable problems in his
lifetime and always showed nothing but the daivi sampata—the
divine attributes, such as patience, tolerance and forbearance.
People were opposed to Jesus, standing with closed hearts in
front of him, but he himself offered his life totally for their
problems. Throughout his entire lifetime, he showed us how to
experience truth by showing patience and tolerance for any kind
of problems.
“To grow a plant, we need to have seeds. But there is
a plant that grows in our world without any seeds, without any
water. What is that plant? The plant of egoism! For egoism there
is no need for water; no seeds are needed. It is growing and
growing and growing like anything!
“Jesus showed in his life how to burn this egoism through
patience and through love. When we stand for righteousness,
we can face all problems boldly, and finally experience the
truth. Jesus’ lesson is very beautiful: Love everyone
in the world like your Self. This message is also in the Rig
Veda. Love everyone in the entire universe like your Self.
When you experience your supreme Self, you are able to see the
same Self everywhere, in all living beings. Seeing God in everything,
everywhere, is the greatest and highest experience in life.
This is what makes a human being truly human. When people achieve
this self-control, this control over egoism, they experience
the real victory in life.
“This is the message of Christmas, a very beautiful message
from Jesus. When we look at the state of humanity in our twenty-first
century, sometimes we feel so sad about all the terrorism and
commotion in our world. We have so many problems all over the
world—health problems like AIDS and cancer. People are
suffering from so many insecurities and problems every day of
their lives.
“Selfishness is like a virus infecting our human family.
When we eradicate this selfishness, humanity will be sustained
with abundant happiness and divine consciousness for thousands
of years. Without that, there is no security at all. People
are always complaining about fear, always having so much anxiety
and stress on their hearts—health problems and all kinds
of mental commotion. This is a problem for all of humanity in
our twenty-first century, even with all the modern facilities
in our homes.
“To sustain humanity for thousands more years, we need
a very special medication. What kind of medication is that?
We need dharmic values, inner values! Without dharmic values,
life will become meaningless. Some people have their own minds
and their own thoughts; never thinking about anybody, but just
working with unrighteous behavior and selfish hearts. Then,
so much commotion comes into society. This commotion ruins the
entire universe, the world. That’s why we need peace of
mind in society and dharmic values.
“I want to see our world without crime and without unrighteousness.
I want to see dharma and peace in our society, without any crime
in our entire world. If we want to sustain all of humanity like
this, we need the inner values. Only then will our entire world
be sustained without any depression; humanity will become so
powerful because of dharma.
“Amma wants to see all of her children living in the
world with happiness and contentment. This contentment will
not come from enjoyment of material pleasures—this is
not our destiny. Our destiny is the attainment of Truth. In
meditation alone are we able to experience brahmananda, supreme
bliss. The experience of brahmananda fills us with
absolute and complete peace. When we are established in brahmananda, we
ourselves become liberated souls. Children, meditation is the
only path that leads to akhanda ananda, unending, supreme
and expansive bliss.
“I want to see our beautiful humanity with all these
inner values. Embodiments of divine souls, Amma’s most
beloved children, that’s why Amma is in front of you.
“Children, take a long jump and cross the subtle “I-ness” that
comes in our spiritual path Enter into the infinite peace
and pure bliss on the special festival day of Christmas. Understand
and realize the nature and power of our thoughts.
“I wish a very very Happy New Year and Merry Christmas
to all of you. Be not afraid of any difficulties. Be bold, children!
Take a long jump and cross the ocean of maya with the
power of your meditation. Enter into the realm of pure bliss
and highest divine knowledge.
“I love you so much! I love you millions and millions
and billions and billions and countless gazillions of times—all
of you children! I love you so much, children. Try to see God
within you. And try to see God everywhere—everywhere in
the entire world.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu
May All Beings Be Happy
Om Shantih Shantih Shantihi
May the Whole World Be in Peace
