It was almost three years ago, on September 2006, that by chance I heard a talk given by Swami Paramahamsa Nithyananda at a Hindu cultural program held in Cupertino, CA. It was in a relatively small auditorium and he – although obviously well-respected and revered – showed up with not much more fanfare than any of the other speakers scheduled to appear during that segment of the program.

This month I had another opportunity to listen to him speak, and this time the reverence and venue were kicked up a notch. Yes, this young enlightened master’s recognition had clearly spread in both intensity as well as numbers.

Who is Paramahamsa Nithyanda? The following was gleaned from various sources, including his website Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam:

He was born in India as Rajasekaran. Practically from birth his life has been centered around spiritual events and pursuits. Shortly after his birth, an astrologer cast his horoscope and, based on the unique configuration of planets in his birth chart, declared that he would grow up to be a Raja Sannyasi (King among Swamis). Since a young age, Rajasekaran would show interest in spiritual things – when he was a young child he would make idols out of mud, clay, and soap stone, decorate them and worship them. And from the age of three he was under the tutelage of various spiritual teachers. Upon graduating from high school, he studied mechanical engineering, but then decided to pursue the life of a wandering sadhu at the age of seventeen. This he did for nine years.

In 2003, Nithyananda founded a meditation ashram in Bidadi, India as the headquarters for his social activities around the world. He also founded the Life Bliss Foundation in Los Angeles, USA, to serve as the headquarters in the West. His mission statement is the “Transformation of humanity through transforming the individual, and spreading global peace and inner bliss”. In his own words, “Enlightenment flowers when individual consciousness disappears into Universal Consciousness. When you start living enlightenment, you automatically raise the human consciousness around you. Living enlightenment holds the key to global peace and inner bliss. Every individual should be a pioneer in the transition of human consciousness to divine consciousness.”

And so it was only six years after he started his work that he appeared at a Hindu cultural event held at a community college in Cupertino, California. What was his recent visit like, three years after that?

Another Darshan Experience

In 2009, he came to Milpitas, California as part of his Yogam 2009:North American tour for teaching the principles of yoga as created by Patanjali, the Father of Yoga. Accompanied by my son, I attended one of the free public talks that he gave. As we arrived at the Indian Community Center, the place was already filled – mostly with members of the Indian community! We made our way through the crowded lobby area, signed in at one of the side tables and received our token for the darshan, then went directly into the main auditorium and found a seat a few rows from the front. Yes, there were definitely more people to see him at this event than there were three years ago.

At the scheduled time, a devotee welcomed the audience, made some miscellaneous announcements, and then announced that after the talk there would be a darshan. OK, now this was getting serious. The only darshans I had ever attended were the ones that Amma gave. Nithyananda’s spiritual stature had now developed to the point where people would not only listen to him speak, but would also wait in a line to receive his blessing – to be close to an enlightened being and have an audience, however brief.

I have to say that I enjoyed the talk, based on Patanjali’s 22nd Yoga Sutra, which discussed how making intensity your focus is more important than pursuing enlightenment. More on that in another post. He definitely knows what he’s talking about and doesn’t claim to be presenting anything new – at least as far as world knowledge is concerned. This is how I evaluate the legitimacy of any self-proclaimed spiritual teacher. The information must harmonize with and build upon the core spiritual teachings underlying all religions. This was true of his talk, which he presented in a very personable way, yet with authority. As when I heard him in Cupertino, I was impressed by this event.

Afterward he finished his talk, the welcomer started to announce who could get in line for the darshan, based on the color and number of the tokens handed out. My son and I waited for our turn, which didn’t take long at all – especially since we were used to having to wait hours for Amma. This was a less involved process. Slowly we made our way up the stage to finally come face to face with the young guru.

I’m still not completely at ease at these things, so things kind of went by in a blur. I remember kneeling at his feet and bowing my head in reverence as he touched my forehead. My son stood behind me and actually held out his hand, which the guru took for a moment to bestow his blessing. They exchanged smiles, but when I looked up at Nithyananda to establish eye contact the time had passed and the next people in line were already approaching as the attendants guided us away from the platform. Still, to be that close to one whom I do believe is that spiritually evolved was not something I would have wanted to miss. Even my son, who has very little experience with these things, later exclaimed “that was awesome!”

So what’s the big deal?

I do understand that “belief” plays a role in the whole experience. Without some degree of belief, it would be hard to see any value in kneeling before another human being only to receive a token gesture in return. But even without believing in the exchange of spiritual energy that accompanies a darshan, I also feel there is more to be learned here.

The teachings such as those passed on by Nithyananda represent years of study in the human consciousness, carried out by through a system of reflection, and trial and error by wise men thousands of years ago. There have been those who have refined the teachings, such as Gautama Buddha, but even his teachings represent a discovery of truths already in existence – that there is a way to realize our human potential, a way to transcend suffering, and way to achieve peace in any situation. Seeing someone who has accomplished that to a significant degree in our day and age serves to remind us of that, and inspires hope that such a path is not futile.

See my related posts:

• Are there really enlightened beings?
• Journey into Spirit Time with the Hugging Saint

Imagine being transported from your everyday life to another world filled with magic and mystery. There are places in the world that offer that type of experience – Machu Picchu in Peru, Jerusalem, the pyramids of Eqypt, places loaded with spiritual and religious history. While I have yet to visit those places, I consider myself fortunate because I don’t have to go far to get a similar experience.

Twice a year, the hills of San Ramon, California are graced with the presence of a Hindu woman named Mata Amritanandamayi, also known as Amma or Ammachi. Many people consider her to be a self-realized being, and her own stated purpose is to bring comfort to others through her embrace. Because of her spiritual stature, she has a positive spiritual effect on those around her. See my post Are There Really Enlightened Beings for a brief explanation of why I go to see her during her visits. During her tours of North America she visits her ashram in San Ramon. The final evening of her visit is a special occasion called Devi Bhava. It is this event that I’ve been attending for the last several visits, and which I just enjoyed a week ago. The event never fails to be a special time filled with synchronicities and spiritual lessons that fill the entire evening.

Devi Bhava begins at around 6:30pm with an Atma Puja – a ceremony performed for the spiritual advancement of the world. This is followed by Amma’s darshan, where one by one she blesses all in attendance with a hug. During this darshan she embodies the spirit of the divine mother, and dresses in special ceremonial clothing. Because this involves several thousand people, the darshan usually lasts well into the next morning.

“Entering Spirit Time”

Because parking is limited at the ashram, they direct most people to a public transit parking lot a few miles away. From there, they have shuttles to get to the ashram. When looking at the people standing in line for a ride you catch a glimpse of the type of people who would go through this trouble to get a hug from a Hindu woman: couples with young children in tow, other young adults, some “older” baby boomers, and also some elderly, some who look like soccer moms, and others who look like they came straight from Woodstock, young white people with dreadlocks, and older men who look like retired Boeing engineers.

The anticipation is palpable, and on one occasion, after a group of us piled into the minivan, a rather mature looking woman turned around to face the rest of us and said, “We are now entering spirit time! Now the lessons begin.”

And so we were off. A group of strangers, yet connected through this common interest. For a short while we shared the same experience on the ride to the ashram, but once we arrived and unloaded, we each embarked on our individual journeys, to learn our individual lessons.

In a recent visit I thought I would be clever and go straight to the remote parking. This set off a comedy of errors as I first took a long time to even find the spot, and then when I did (after 30 minutes of driving around), I realized by the absence of anyone there that the BART public parking was no longer being used. So back to the ashram I went so I could get directions to the new parking. By the time I got there, got picked up by the shuttle (there was long line so this took awhile) and finally made it back to the ashram, I thought for sure I (and my son David who accompanied me on this occasion) had missed the atma puja. This provided an opportunity to accept the situation, not have expectations, and be at peace with whatever happens.

The Puja

Normally by the time I get there the temple is filled to capacity, so I would make my way to the cafeteria which serves as the overflow room during the puja ceremony. And on this occasion when I thought we were a hour late, the cups of water (I’ll explain later) were just being handed out – we hadn’t missed it after all!

A television monitor lets us see the stage of the temple where Amma performs part of the ceremony, blessing the elements. The water that she blesses is then poured into small cups and distributed to everyone. Holy water. On my first time at Devi Bhava, a friendly woman, who struck me as a a cross between a Hare Krishna devotee and Ruth Gordan (remember Harold and Maude?), offered me a tip, “I use this to bless all my drinking water. It goes a long way”. And then she explained with a twinkle in her eye, “because it only takes a drop!”

Then the chanting portion of the puja begins. We all stand and perform an expression of offering with our arms while chanting “Om parah shakti namaha”. This is an extremely powerful experience. The combined voices of everyone in the cafeteria and the broadcast of all those in the temple join to create a tremendous reverberation and outpouring of energy which increases with each repetition of the mantra. When it’s over and we sit back down, I always enjoy feeling the energy still flowing.

Shortly afterwards, Amma begins her darshan. They have a system where everyone who wishes to receive darshan is given a token, or ticket, with a number range or group printed on it. You enter the darshan line when they announce your number group (through placards in the temple). By the time I get my token the number on it is usually quite high, which means I have plenty of time to get something to eat, wander around the grounds, sit in the temple, and just soak in the atmosphere.

And that atmosphere is magical.

Synchronicities and Lessons

After the puja ceremony they serve a vegetarian Indian meal. It was while waiting in line that I met a woman who in the course of chit chat I found out lived in the same town as I, and had a daughter the same age as my son who attended the same high school.

On another occasion a man who was visiting for the first time left the dinner line to get a token for receiving darshan. While he was gone, a volunteer started to come through the line to hand out tokens . I felt bad that this guy was going to miss out. Right before the woman reached us, another volunteer engaged her in a long discussion about some procedure or detail of some assignment or whatever. Just as she resumed going through the line, the man came back looking disappointed that he couldn’t find where to get a token, but relieved when the attendant handed him one right away.

But perhaps the most auspicious event occurred this recent time when David was with me. We had just sat down at a table in one of the snack bars when David noticed a basket filled with paper shapes; each with a word written on it such as spirituality, encouragement, charity – all positive expressions. One of the words was “discrimination”, which David – not understanding the full meaning of the word – felt was not an appropriate sentiment. After David went through all the slips and stacked them neatly, an elderly man sat himself across from us and started looking through the basket. David, being more sociable than me, made some friendly comment about going through every slip. When the gentlemen turned over the slip that said “discrimination”, I mentioned that that one gave David some trouble. At that point the man went into a very intense discussion about why discrimination is important as a spiritual practice. He then started talking about spiritual practices in general and basically delivered a Spirituality 101 lecture. I enjoyed listening to him, but more importantly David enjoyed it as well. It seemed to come out of nowhere.

The cool part was that I could never have expressed myself the way this man did without feeling self conscious about lecturing, and there was no way that David would have wanted to listen to a long diatribe from Dad. But as I nodded along with practically everything the stranger said, David learned a lot about what I believed, and also received a balanced view of spirituality that hopefully tempered his cynicism towards religion. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Timelessness

Hindu bhajans are played inside the temple, providing a distinct Indian atmosphere as I wander though the crowd. Young devotees are often seen dancing on the upstairs balcony – especially with the more lively bhajans. As the evening wears on, many people settle in one spot, finding corners here and there to nestle as they wait. I’d even come across individuals who had no intention of getting a hug from Amma – they were there just to be in the temple during Devi Bhava.

Outside the air is cool and the sounds are more subdued. Various snack shacks line the paths around the temple. A snack tent provides a place to sit, drink some chai, or enjoy a variety of vegetarian snacks – including cheese pizza.

Every so often I make my way back to the temple to check on the progress of the line. In the beginning it seems as if the placards take so long to progress from one group number to the next. There often doesn’t seem to be any consistency either in how fast the numbers progress. Eventually the number is close enough so that the best thing to do is stay inside the temple. By then I can usually find an open seat and so I spend the remaining time seated and meditating to the sounds of the temple.

And then they flip the placard and my group number appears. From that point time seems to speed up as the ritual scooting on the floor and hopping from chair to chair goes on until the next thing you know you’re up on the stage at Amma’s feet, your back to temple crowds. After receiving Amma’s hug, I find myself walking down the steps off the stage. For me, the evening is over. The hug, as special as that is, is just the culmination of an entire evening-long experience.

I make my way out of the temple, locate my shoes, and head down the driveway. The light of dawn shifts the energy from the night to a new day. Had I really been awake all night? Throughout the entire evening time didn’t seem to exist in the normal way, and it doesn’t feel like ten hours had passed since I first arrived.

The Magic Continues

At the bottom of the temple driveway is a pick-up spot to catch a volunteer shuttle to the off-site parking. Some people arrived from some other route and need to find a ride to BART, the airport, or just to a bay area town. One man walks up saying he needs to catch a ride to Union City – one of dozens of towns in the area. The attendant flags down a car heading out and asks the driver “Where are you headed?”

“Union City.”

So even at this stage of the journey, magic abounds. One of the other people waiting for the shuttle said “Amma definitely had a hand in that.” I don’t have the same beliefs that many of the devotees have, but I do feel that around the temple and at these events there is a strong spiritual atmosphere that is conducive to synchronicities and the flow of grace.

An hour later I arrive home, grateful to have had yet one more opportunity to leave the cares of suburbia behind and immerse myself in the magic and grace that surrounds the hugging saint, Ammachi.

It’s just a hug.

So why take a long drive? Why endure the crowds?

It’s just a hug.

[This is the third in a three-part series about my first visit to see the Mata Amritanandamayima, also known as the "Hugging Guru" or "Hugging Saint". Be sure to read parts I and II.]

Since our token number would obviously not be coming up any time soon, we wandered around the inside of the temple for awhile. Aside from the stage where Amma sat, the front half of the building was floor seating, and the back half were chairs. Along the walls were small tables offering information about Amma’s charitable organizations, areas offering (for a price) chair massages, and an entire side was basically a shop with books, tapes, clothing, and devotional objects for sale.

We went outside to look for something to eat.

Fortunately, they were offering snacks in an outside tent, so we picked up a few things and then sat down to relax and eat. At this point everyone was just happy to be able find something they liked to eat. After awhile we finished up and made our way back to the temple.

Aaron Pulls a Surprise

The program had progressed faster than we expected and so we were surprised to see that our group of numbers would be coming up next. That was when my wife broke the news to me, “Aaron (our youngest son) doesn’t want to do this. ‘Mom’ he said, ‘I’m not comfortable hugging people I know, so why would I want to hug a stranger?’”. Oh great. And I knew what that meant – since there was no way he was going to be left by himself, Mom would have to stay back with him.

I looked at David.

“I’ll go with you, Dad.”

Yessss!!!

“OK, so it’ll just be you and me,” I gratefully acknowledged, “Our turn is coming up.”

When the attendants finally flipped the numbers to our range, we made our way to the end of the line, which consisted of a long row of chairs up the aisle along the edge of the chair seating section. As the line moved up, you were constantly hopping from chair to chair until you reached the end of that section, at which point you had to get on your knees on the floor and keep scooting along with the flow of the line. Attendants were there to make sure everyone hopped or scooted on que.

The Moment Arrives

The last few feet seemed like a blur.

An attendant asked if I was alone or with someone, so I said that my son and I were together. That meant that we would also get a group hug. They handed out kleenexes to wipe our faces and also took my glasses. Amma was hugging the people who were ahead of us and they directed David and I to kneel right – and I mean right – behind them. There were so many other people up on the stage – attendants and others who were just sitting/kneeling there basking in Amma’s presence – that those who were waiting for a hug and those who weren’t just melded into one large group. Amma finished hugging the people in front of us, and then they were ushered away.

Finally our time had arrived, the moment towards which the entire trip had led.

The attendants positioned David and myself at Amma’s chair, and then Amma brought me to her bosom. My eyes were closed, and as Amma murmured in my ears, I felt myself falling into a black vortex. Time seemed to stop, as if an eternity took place within those moments. The sounds of the crowd inside the temple became silent, and all I heard was the sound of Amma’s voice. It was as if only she and I existed in that eternal moment.

Then she stopped and I remember David being brought in and she hugged us both at the same time. When she let us go, the attendants guided us out of the way for the next in line and for a second there was this disoriented feeling, not knowing which way to go in all the commotion. But we soon found ourselves walking down the appropriate path, and as I looked at my hand I noticed for the first time the Hershey’s kiss and rose petal that Amma put there. (When did she do that?)

Reflections and Impressions

I didn’t feel any shaktipat (transference of spiritual energy) that I was aware of, yet I did experience a tremendous feeling of peace which was significant considering the hectic nature of the whole process – especially for a first-timer.

David just commented on how stressful it was for him to be directed at every turn. The one interesting thing was that what he described hearing Amma say during the hug was not at all what I remember hearing – as if we each heard different “words”. Strange.

My wife, who observed the whole thing from the back of the temple, did not come away with a good feeling about it. She did not like how the routine was too much like people-worship, especially with everyone “crawling on their knees” to approach her.

For some reason I saw no problem with it. It’s understandable that people raised in a western culture – where the common concept of God is that he is a single, separate being who tolerates the worship of no one other than himself – would find the scene at Amma’s temple objectionable. Yet in some eastern cultures such activities are common in a guru-disciple relationship.

I did not get on my knees because I felt that Amma was God. I did so out of respect for the process and also because I recognized within this woman an expression of the divine that is so strong, it deserves to be acknowledged. This is divinity that is in each one of us, though hidden for the most part. It’s so difficult to see it within ourselves, when we see it more clearly in another it should be regarded as an opportunity to embrace.

Being in the presence of a spiritually advanced person, experiencing darshan such as receiving a hug from Amma, can not only bring us close to our own divinity as reflected within them, but it can also awaken a little bit of that divinity within ourselves.

When my family and I arrived at the temple at the Mata Amritanandamayi’s ashram in San Ramon, a member greeted us and asked if we were first timers. We said yes, then she placed colored dots on our clothing as an indication of our “status”. There is definitely an effort to make newcomers feel welcome and to make sure that the first experience is a good one.

She also happened to be handing out tokens. These tokens let you know when to get in line for your hug. There are couple of large signs inside the temple that are constantly updated with a range of numbers. When the range includes your token, you can get in line. As part of the effort to make the first-time experience a pleasant one, we were given token numbers in the lower range so we wouldn’t have to wait too long.

Inside, the temple was filled with people. Many were normal looking, but there were also many dressed in robes, sandals, etc. There were large picures of Amma at various places, and the place had a definite Indian feel to it.

At this point, Amma hadn’t even arrived yet. But the time was close, and already people were gathering close to the entrance and standing on either side of an aisle way where we figured she would be walking from the back entrance up to the front of the temple. And as they waited, you could hear them quietly chanting:

Lokaha Samastaha Sukhino Bhavantu

Not wanting to miss anything, I made my way to the edge of the aisle, my family following behind. My youngest son was not thrilled at all to be there. He had a tight grip on my wife’s hand, and he asked her “Mommmmm, why do you let Dad bring us to these things!!?”

Dad, on the other hand, found himself lulled by the chanting, and started to spontaneously chant along with the crowd, “Lokaha samastaha sukhino bhavantu …” (which means ‘may all beings everywhere have peace’). At the time I didn’t know what it meant, or even what the words were, exactly, so I was surprised at how automatic it was to pick up the chant. But it felt very natural. I was enjoying it and realized that I had discovered something good, something that I knew would be a part of my life from that point onwards. And then it happened.

Amma appeared.

Or rather, she was still a few steps from the entrance but was visible to those who had a clear view out the door. And that’s all it took for the chanting to suddenly shoot up in volume. It was pretty startling for those of use who hadn’t been through the routine before. Immediately my son tightened his grip on my wife’s hand as if he were clinging for dear life. I can imagine how wide his eyes became, too. He wasn’t able to see Amma yet, but he knew something major was happening, and he wasn’t too sure he wanted to find out what it was.

And then Amma really appeared. A short Indian woman, dressed in white, walked through the door, a beaming smile across her face as she greeted everyone with her gaze. People were showering her with rose petals and at one point she took a few petals and playfully pressed them against the ears of one of the devotees. It made people laugh. I was struck by the definite contrast between her friendly, casual demeanor, and the solemn, worshipful, respect shown to her by the devotees.

Finally, she made her way to the front of the temple where she sat down and began offering darshan, her blessings in the form of a hug, and the reason why we, along with hundreds of others, were there that day.

[Read about that in part III: Crawling Up to the Hugging Guru.]

It was just supposed to be an interesting outing, something you do on a Sunday afternoon with your family – maybe a little something different. But when my family agreed to indulge Dad on Father’s day by going to see a Hindu woman who is known for giving free hugs, no one had any idea what they were in for – including myself.

Chocolate Kisses

The first time I had ever heard of this woman was quite by accident. At an event at the East West bookstore in Mountain View, a friend and I met a man who said he regularly visited an ashram devoted to a Hindu woman named Amma. My friend had heard of her, “Oh, yes, she hugs people and hands out chocolate kisses”. Not much else was said about her, but a few months later I saw an article in the paper about her plans to visit the area. When I showed it to my wife, she said that maybe we could go see her for Father’s Day. Now normally my family doesn’t share in my spiritual pursuits at all, but in the spirit of the day, they felt – hey, what can one day hurt.

Now all we were expecting was to go to some community park where she would be sitting and meeting people who came up to her. Nothing fancy. Maybe a large crowd, to be sure, but other than that we were expecting to go, check things out, then leave. Following directions printed out from mapquest, we arrived at the main driveway and right away knew that this was not going to be your typical park outing.

“First time to see Amma?”

Even by the time we pulled off the main highway we had travelled what seemed like a considerable distance deep into the heavily wooded hills of San Ramon. We entered a dirt road, and a long-haired man dressed in a white tunic stopped our van, greeted us and then asked if this was our first time to see Amma. We said yes, then he explained about the carpool arrangement and said that since we had four in our vehicle, we could drive on through. Now to our inexperienced, and I admit, prejudiced eyes, we got a little nervous thinking that this looked like the entrance to some cult compound. The feeling wasn’t helped by the fact that the small, windy road got progressively more rugged and isolated the further we drove.

As we continued on, we would pass a car coming the other direction every so often and noticed that there would be only one person in the car – the driver. “Look!” my wife said, “four go in, but only one come out. I guess you have to sacrifice three of your family.” My boys did not appreciate the joke.

Finally we arrived at an area where people were directing where to park. It was tight parking, and this particular lot was basically an elevated clearing, with our car right by the edge. But at least we had finally arrived, though I could tell my family was not too anxious to get out of the car. What has Chris gotten us into this time, I could hear them thinking. But we had come this far, and everyone did seem friendly (cult members always do). I realized that I needed to appear eager and relaxed in order to inspire confidence from my family. And the truth was by that time I was enjoying the adventure. As we walked from the car we saw others treading the dirt paths on the way to the temple. We were definitely far removed from the hustle and bustle of a familiar world and had entered a foreign place.

And we were about to have completely different experiences.

[This is part 1 of an account about my first time meeting Sri Mata Amritanandamayi. The story continues in part 2: Two Very Different Reactions to Chanting. ]