Anandamayi Ma literally means ‘Bliss-permeated Mother’. It was as early as 1920s that people close to her began to realize the essence of Mother Divine in her, and started calling her ‘Mataji’ or often, just ‘Ma’. It was one of her early disciples, called Bhaiji, who gave her the title of ‘Ma Anandamayi’, meaning, ‘Mother, full of Bliss’. Soon, people all over the country and from different quarters of the world who flocked to her for spiritual illumination started calling her Anandamayi Ma, or ‘Bliss-permeated Mother’. Birth and Early Life On April 30, 1896, in a remote rural village of Kheora in East Bengal, a girl child was born to a poor but devout Vaishnava Brahmin couple. They named her ‘Nirmala Sundari’, meaning ‘immaculate beauty’, or ‘Taintless Beauty’. According to Prof. Bithika Mukherjee, the principal biographer of Anandamayi Ma, she was a very detached child right from early years, showing little interest in her surrounding environment. People often thought she was intellectually challenged (Aymard 11). But this detachment did not mean any withdrawal from life. Nirmala Sundari was indeed a very happy child. She communed with animals and trees, like St Francis of Assissi, and often fell into spiritual trances. At the age of 13, Nirmala Sundari was married to a much older person, Ramani Mohan Chakravarty. He later became her disciple, and she called him ‘Bholanath’, one of the names for Lord Shiva. Ma went through her marriage life with complete commitment, treating her husband like a devoted wife. But she never consummated her marriage with sexual union or procreation. It is said that whenever the thoughts of physical attraction and lust occurred to her husband, Ma’s body would assume the terrible and awe-inspiring form of the Goddess Kali, and the poor husband would retreat in submission and guilt. Bholanath was troubled and frustrated at first, but was gradually convinced that his wife was in fact a manifestation of the Divine Mother. He later took spiritual initiation from his wife and began to relate to her as his guru. In a remarkable reversal from the perspective of dharmasastra, or the Hindu code, he spent the rest of his life as his wife's disciple, caring for her physical well-being, as she seemed completely uninterested in her body, and mediating between her and her growing number of devotees #anandamayima #spirituality #yoga #mantra #vedanta #srianandamayima #paramahansayogananda #kriyayoga #autobiographyofyogi Voiceover: Surjit Singh Script: Shaiju Koottucheradil Chacko Editor: Medo Score: Epidemic Music DISCLAIMER 01: All ideas expressed on this channel are for entertainment and general information purposes only. There is no advice on what an individual should or should not do. Any response made by anyone after hearing this communication is their interpretation and is their responsibility. Ideas expressed by this channel should not be treated as a substitute for medical advice or professional help. If expert assistance or counselling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought. DISCLAIMER 02: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to doseofquotes02@gmail.com. Copyright © 2022 Asangoham. All rights reserved. References: Aymard, Orianne. When A Goddess Dies: Worshipping Ma Anandamayi After Her Death. Oxford UP, 2014. Hallstrom, Lisa Lassell. Mother of Bliss: Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982). Oxford UP, 1999. Lipski, Alexander. The Essential Anandamayi Ma: Life and Teachings of a Twentieth Century Indian Saint. World Wisdom, 2007. Maschmann, Melita. Encountering Bliss: My Journey Through India With Anandamayi Ma. Translated by Sridhar B. Shrotri. Motilal Banarsidass, 2002. Pechilis, Karen. “The Female Guru:  Guru, Gender, and the Path of Personal Experience,” in The Guru in South Asia: New Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Jacob Copeman and Aya Ikegame. Routledge, 2012. Yogananda, Paramahamsa. Autobiography of a Yogi. Self-realization Fellowship, 1946.

• published: 12 Oct 2022
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