Mata Amritanandamayi
Be like the honeybee who gathers only nectar wherever it goes. Seek the goodness that is found in everyone.Collection: Love
Love is our true essence. Love has no limitations of caste, religion, race, or nationality. We are all beads strung together on the same thread of love. To awaken this unity-and to spread to others the love that is our inherent nature-is the true goal of human life.Collection: Inspirational
Happiness depends on how you accept, understand and surrender to situations.Collection: Spiritual
Fill your hearts with love and gratitude. Life gives us what we need and not necessarily what we want. It follows its own wisdom, which is often incomprehensible to our gross minds. We should learn to accept situations in life. This attitude of acceptance is the secret to happiness.Collection: Gratitude
Most people are concerned only with what they can get from the world, but it is what we are able to give to others that determines the quality of our lifeCollection: Life
Love is the only medicine that can heal the wounds of the world.Collection: Love
Many of us may have watched the waves at sea. They rise, then fall, then rise again, then fall again... and this cycle continues endlessly. It is the same with our experience of the world and its objects and relationships. We may find happiness, but this happiness will soon turn to sorrow. The sorrow that we feel will subsequently turn back to happiness but this oscillation continues endlessly. In order to maintain inner balance, we need to find peace within instead of depending on the external world.Collection: Spiritual
Instead of "I love you," it would be better to say "I am love-I am the embodiment of Pure Love." Remove the I and you, and you will find that there is only Love. It is as if Love is imprisoned between the I and you. Remove the I and you, for they are unreal; they are self-imposed walls that don't exist. The gulf between I and you is the ego. When the ego is removed the distance disappears and the I and you also disappear. They merge to become one - and that is Love.Collection: Love
Make a firm decision: 'Whatever happens, I will be happy. I will be strong. God is always with me.'Collection: Spiritual
Learn to be thankful to everyone, to the entire creation, even to your enemy and also to those who insult, because they all help you to growCollection: Being Thankful
Grace is openness. By remaining open, you let go of your ego and narrow-minded views, and allow divine grace to express itself through you.Collection: Letting Go
The first step in spiritual life is to have compassion. A person who is kind and loving never needs to go searching for God. God rushes toward any heart that beats with compassion-it is God's favorite place.Collection: Love
The change will only happen outside once we change within ourselves.Collection: Happens
Happiness is within everyone, but we are not able to experience it because of our ego's likes and dislikes.Collection: Spiritual
Smiling is one of the highest forms of meditation.Collection: Meditation
When thoughts are reduced, power of the mind and its subtlety increases, tunes with the Universe. Then you can see the realms beyond the common understanding. When the mind is pure and quiet it becomes one with the universal mind. That mind is like a mirror. The secrets of the Universe will be revealed there.Collection: Mirrors
Look at Nature. Nature is a book from which we must learn. Each object in it is a page of that book.Collection: Nature
Any action done with the right attitude, understanding and discrimination will take you closer to liberation. If however, the same action is done without the right attitude, it will bind you.Collection: Attitude
Real life is developed from within. Real living means that the soul expresses itself through all one's thoughts, words and actions. A person becomes fearless once he understands the nature of the imperishable soul.Collection: Real
You can only feel love by expressing it.Collection: Love
Our highest, most important duty in this world is to help our fellow beings.Collection: Important
Life is like a garden. Quite naturally, leaves wither and flowers fade. Only if we clear the decay of the past then and there can we really enjoy the beauty of the new leaves and flowers. Likewise, we must clear the murkiness of the past bad experiences from our minds. Life is remembrance in forgetfulness. Forgive what ought to be forgiven; forget what ought to be forgotten. Let us embrace life with renewed vigor. We should be able to face every moment of life with renewed expectation, like a freshly blossomed flower.Collection: Flower
We are not isolated islands, we are connected links in a chain. Each kind word, each smiling face, each good action, benefits our neighbor, nation, world. Let us pray and meditate together and we shall reach the shore of peace, spreading the sweet holy fragrance of love and vibrations of unity and harmony. Tuning our minds to the supreme consciousness, let us open our hearts and chant the words, "May everyone everywhere be happy."Collection: Sweet
Don't be discouraged by your incapacity to dispel darkness from the world. Light your little candle and step forward.Collection: Light
When we come to know who we truly are, we will see ourselves in all people.Collection: Yoga
Ashrams and gurukulas (spiritual schools) are the pillars of spiritual culture. If we perform sadhana according to the guru's advice, we need not go anywhere else. We will get whatever we need from the guru.Collection: Spiritual
Trying to change the world is like trying to straighten the curly tail of a dog. Try as you might, it will still go hack to its natural curl. Your hands will become stronger from the exercise of trying to straighten the curly tail. Although you max' not he able to change the world, you would have acquired more spiritual strength within - and that alone will make a difference in the world.Collection: Spiritual
In the beginning, not everyone may be able to clearly repeat every mantra in the 1000 Names. In that case, everyone can respond to the chants with just one mantra. While chanting the 1000 Names, the response may be 'Om Parashaktyai Namaha' or 'Om Sivasaktyaikya Rupinyai Namaha'.Collection: Names
Isn't it human beings who impart vitality to the image in the temple? If no one sculpts the stone, it doesn't become an image. If no one installs it in the temple, it does not acquire any sanctity. If no worship is done, it does not acquire any power. Without human effort there cannot be any temples. What is wrong then in saying that we should view great masters as equal to God? Temples installed by such spiritual masters have a special energy of their own.Collection: Spiritual
Children, set aside at least half an hour in the morning and in the evening for spiritual practices. After bathing in the morning, a family should sit together and worship. Archana may be performed by chanting the 108 or 1000 Names of Devi or our chosen deity. We can also chant our mantra, meditate or sing hymns at this time.Collection: Spiritual
Today people live to work rather than work for a living. They have forgotten their true goal in life. Subsequently they have forgotten their dharma. There is no communication between hearts, there is no sharing. Having lost contact with other's hearts, we become totally isolated. But in truth we are not isolated islands, we are links that form one chain.Collection: Communication
With the exception of very few who have gained higher spiritual tendencies in prior lives, Self-realization is not possible for anyone without the blessings of a guru. Think of the guru as the manifestation of God in this world. Take even the most insignificant word of the guru as an order and obey it. That is the real service to the guru. There is no greater austerity. The guru's blessings flow automatically to any obedient disciple. That is the real service to the guru.Collection: Spiritual
Children, even if we lose a million dollars, we can recover it. If we lose one second, we cannot get it back. Every moment that we are not remembering God is lost to us.Collection: Children
The person who constantly studies without doing spiritual practice is like the fool who attempts to live in the blueprint of a house.Collection: Spiritual
Children, if we can do archana of the 1000 Names of the Divine Mother daily with devotion, we will grow spiritually. There will never be lack of life's essentials, food and clothing, in a family that chants the 1000 Names with devotion.Collection: Mother
When the storm brews and the waves swell, only an experienced captain can control the ship and save it.Collection: Storm
When you get up in the morning, let your first thought be directed towards God.Collection: Morning
Try to gather the strength to live as brother and sister after one or two children are born. This is essential for reaping the full benefit of spiritual practice and to make spiritual progress through mental restraint.Collection: Relationship
It is always advisable to obtain a mantra from a self-realized master. Until then we may use one of the mantras of our beloved deity like 'Om Namah Shivaya', 'Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya', 'Om Namo Narayanaya', 'Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare', 'Om Shivashaktyaikya Rupinyai Namaha' or even the names of Christ, Allah or Buddha.Collection: Self
Writing a diary every evening before going to bed is a good habit. We can record in the diary how much time we have devoted to our spiritual practice. The diary should be written in a way that helps us see our mistakes and correct them. It should not be a mere document of other peoples' faults or our daily transactions.Collection: Spiritual
It is my children who have made all this possible. My children are my wealth; they are my strength.Collection: Children
Children, we are told to make an offering at the temple or at the feet of the guru, not because the Lord or guru is in need of wealth or anything else. Real offering is the act of surrendering the mind and the intellect. How can it be done? We cannot offer our minds as they are, but only the things to which our minds are attached. Today our minds are greatly attached to money and other worldly things. By placing such thoughts at the feet of the Lord, we are offering Him our heart. This is the principle behind giving charities.Collection: Spiritual
It is a good practice to write at least on page of mantra daily. Many people get better concentration by writing than by chanting. Try also to inculcate in children the habit of chanting and neatly writing the mantra. This will help to improve their handwriting, too. The book in which the mantra is written should not be thrown around; it should be carefully kept in our meditation or shrine room.Collection: Children
The relation between husband and wife should turn into a love of the heart untouched by desire.Collection: Relationship
There is the path of karma, selfless action, the path of love and devotion, the path of training the mind and the path of Yoga, mantra and tantra this is what the various saints advocated.Collection: Karma
The mental disposition of the one who prepares the food is transmitted to all those who consume it. Therefore, as far as possible the mothers should do the cooking for the entire family. If it is done while chanting the mantra, the food will benefit everyone in a spiritual way.Collection: Mother
Children, we must cultivate reverence towards all great masters, monks and gurus.Collection: Spiritual
Children, we cannot control our mind without controlling our desire for taste. The health aspect, not the taste, should be the prime criteria in choosing the food. We cannot relish the blossoming of the heart without foregoing the taste of the tongue.Collection: Children
The essence of motherhood is not restricted to women who have given birth; it is a principle inherent in both women and men. It is an attitude of the mind. It is love - and that love is the very breath of life. No one would say, 'I will breathe only when I am with my family and friends; I won't breathe in front of my enemies.' Similarly, for those in whom motherhood has awakened, love and compassion for everyone are as much part of their being as breathing.Collection: Attitude
As long as her hands can move a little bit and reach out to those who come to Her, Amma will continue giving darshan.Collection: Moving