mommy, i want a guru

This is India, and anything and everything can happen. Gurus are ubiquitous, but you're blessed if you find a good one.

My friend Tarun told me about his guru over dinner a month ago. He comes here from Canada every year to visit her in Kerala, S. India. I was supposed to go to the gym that night, but ended up staying late to listen to this story. After hearing about her, I believe that Amma is a kind of cross between St. Francis of Assisi and Mother Theresa.

Amma was born with a huge smile on her face, according to the legend. She grew up singing and laughing, yet seemingly “mature” for her age. Her family regarded her as strange for not acting like the other children, and less superior because she had darker skin. For these factors she became a servant and worker for her immediate and extended families. But soon she found that she had a love growing inside of her which she could no longer contain. She began to hug people, mainly the people in her village, to the great shame of her family. Soon after that, her family shunned her from their home, citing that she was strange and disrespectful, and not acting appropriately for a child.



Animals brought her food in the forest. Hawks dropped fish so that they fell upon her and the forest floor; she picked up and ate the fish raw. So it was only by her own choice to escape in order to live alone in the forest that she was able to survive, and be faithful to what she believed in that she was able to become who she is.

One day after she had been living in the forest for quite some time, she was walking through a village, when she came upon the good monks of that place. In front of the hare krishna temple, she struck a pose that demonstrated that she was completely possessed by God. Upon seeing her, the monks knew that Krishna was present in her body and that she had transformed into God. All these men prostrated themselves before her then and there in complete adoration.

Tarun, a soft-spoken fellow who follows Amma all over the world, happens to be half Indian. He told me that he feels complete in India, and he is considering leaving his job as an international DJ to seek her advice. He said that when he goes back to Vancouver and tries to meditate, something isn’t right: He feels the emptiness of his Western upbringing there. And that point made me think: I was raised to be Christian, but our American culture doesn’t foster spirituality... in fact, it mocks it.

I feel that I’m content sans spirituality in my life, but after I consider stories about people like Amma, I do acknowledge that this factor is missing from my daily routine. I do hope to find some peace of mind (or soul) through my stay here, maybe by going back to meditation and finding myself on a more intrapersonal level. Perhaps that is one of the big factors that has brought me here.