Meeting Devi Amma in Whitefield, Bangalore

It is around Saturday noon in Mumbai. I am fast asleep owing to some exhaustion from the working week that has just passed. On the 74th floor of a high rise in Parel, this body felt heavy in sleep. It was like something pushing down as a thrust and taking flight. Not an imaginary flight but like the universe flying into itself. Like how the universe expands and a particle within the universe which is the universe itself is also expanding or flying. Fast. And slow. I must have slept for 4 hours (10am-2pm) and this experience might be a tiny bit of it or maybe even an eternity. Basically, that space where time and space lose their relevance.

“I’ve had several experiences. Right from when I was fifteen and Agastya Muni appeared in front of me as god to a time when there was a lot of suffering in the material plane but an experience of infinitude in the spiritual plane. On one such occasion when I was feeling like travelling to spiritual places, a marvellous force took over me and took me to all the places on the earth, and beyond. We traveled from galaxy to galaxy and stars beyond human imagination. From that moment on, I haven’t stepped out of this house,” recollects Devi Amma, a saintly lady who lives on the first floor of an apartment in Whitefield, Bangalore.

For many, this would sound like just imaginary fancy. But Devi Amma’s story is purely dhairya– a beautiful word that literally translates to patience but is more of a mix of infinite patience resulting from incredible inner valor. Like Hanuman’s love for Ram. She went through a lot of suffering in life but god held her hand and kept giving her glimpses in the form of powerful experiences. Eventually it is all just grace but these glimpses gave her the strength and fortitude to not care much about the material world.

Imagine a person sitting for decades in a room with a beaming smile, welcoming one and all who come to sit in her divine presence. This is Devi Amma.

You know a saint when you meet a saint. The one who has no expectations, the one who shares unflinchingly, the one whose heart is as open as the universe, the one who doesn’t hold any judgement, the one in whom a personal ‘I’ or ego-sense does not exist. And we were extremely thrilled to meet a living saint like Devi Amma.

Very inviting and openly sharing her journey and helping aspirants on the path, Devi Amma is a treasure trove of jnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion). Her house which is more like a temple welcomes devotees to come and spend time in her presence. Most of the devotees coming to her are westerners and the pandemic ofcourse forced the temple to be closed for outsiders but she now sees people on a case to case basis. If someone really wants to see her, you’ll find a way.

Well, it took me a good few months after the meeting to publish this blog and I have surely missed out on some details but one of the intention behind publishing this blog is to bring to light how it is not necessary to go to some far away place to meditate. One can be with his/her true inner self in the middle of bustling metropolitan! I’ll quote from one of the verses in Sivanandana Lahiri to conclude:

One may practice austerities in a cave, or in a house, or in the open air, or in a forest, or on top of a mountain, or standing in water, or surrounded by fire, but what is the use? O Sambhu [Siva]! Real Yoga is the state in which one’s mind constantly abides at your feet. One who has realised this state is a true yogi. S/he alone enjoys bliss.

Adi Sankaracharya

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