Meditation & Yoga
The Eternal Wisdom of Anandamayi Ma
Guidance for Spiritual Seekers on the Path to Realization: A Commentary on Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma
Discover the living wisdom of Sri Anandamayi Ma through the commentary of a spiritual seeker who knew her personally for nearly two decades.
Sri Anandamayi Ma became one of the most revered spiritual figures of modern India. To many she was a perfected saint; to many others, an avatara–an embodiment of the Supreme Consciousness itself. Her teachings continually point beyond religious theory toward direct Self-knowledge, remembrance of God, meditation, disciplined spiritual practice, and the realization of the One Reality underlying all paths.
In The Eternal Wisdom of Anandamayi Ma, Swami Nirmalananda Giri offers an extensive commentary on teachings collected in Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma.
This is not a commentary written from books alone. Swami Nirmalananda first met Ma in India in 1962 and continued to meet and travel with her over the following nineteen years. During the last fifteen years of her earthly life, the Atma Jyoti Ashram in America was under her direct supervision. His explanations therefore combine close attention to Ma’s words with personal knowledge of her way of teaching and guiding spiritual aspirants.
Across these pages Ma speaks about meditation, japa, spiritual discipline, renunciation, devotion, Self-knowledge, the guru, the Divine Name, the nature of the mind, the meaning of genuine spiritual experience, and the many paths by which human beings approach the One.
Swami Nirmalananda’s commentary places these teachings within the wider context of Yoga, Vedanta, the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali, Sri Ramakrishna, Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Sivananda, Christianity, and the practical realities of spiritual life.
Again and again the book returns to one central demand: spiritual truth must become realization. Philosophy is not enough. Inspiration is not enough. The seeker must meditate, practice, persevere, awaken, and ultimately know the Self directly.
For those drawn to Anandamayi Ma, Vedanta, meditation, or serious spiritual practice, this volume offers something rare: the words of a great twentieth-century spiritual master accompanied by the reflections of a monk who personally knew her and spent decades putting those principles into practice.
A book to live with
Why Read This Book?
Encounter the teachings of Anandamayi Ma — Explore Ma’s teachings on meditation, God-remembrance, japa, renunciation, spiritual discipline, Self-knowledge, devotion, the guru, and the realization of the Divine.
Learn from a commentator who knew her personally — Swami Nirmalananda met Ma in 1962 and continued to meet and travel with her over the following nineteen years. His commentary includes insights shaped by personal contact and spiritual guidance.
Turn spiritual teaching into practice — Ma repeatedly brings the seeker back to sustained sadhana: meditation, japa, inwardness, self-discipline, remembrance of God, and perseverance on the path to realization.
See the unity behind many spiritual paths — The commentary connects Ma’s teachings with Vedanta, Yoga, the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Ramakrishna, Paramhansa Yogananda, Christianity, and other expressions of the universal spiritual quest.
Experience the writing
From the Book
Sri Anandamayi Ma · Commentary by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
Direct Your Longing Toward the Eternal
Sri Anandamayi Ma
Meditation should be practiced every day of one’s life.
Look, what is there in this world? Absolutely nothing that is lasting. Therefore direct your longing towards the Eternal.
Commentary
To realize that the world is insubstantial and even empty is a great blessing–not a disillusionment that leaves us sad and hopeless. It is a blessed insight that brings us onto the path to the ultimate and absolute beatitude and fulfillment: Self-realization. It is the turning from the No Thing to The All.
Sometimes we hear the question: “But isn’t the desire for Self-realization a desire?” No. It is the only way to absolute fulfillment–and therefore elimination–of all desire. Ma often said that the desire for God was the way to God. For the “longing towards the Eternal” She calls us to is not a desire, but an aspiration arising from the awakening Self. For sadhana truly is, as has been said: The flight of the alone to the Alone: the Ekam [one], Evam [only], Adwitiyam [non-dual] Brahman.
Sri Anandamayi Ma · Commentary by Swami Nirmalananda GiriThe Real Work of Human Life+
Sri Anandamayi Ma
Whether the mind co-operates or not, you must be adamant in your determination to do a certain amount of practice without fail–simply because sadhana is man’s real work.
Commentary
I can assure you that in the beginning the mind will not cooperate! But you are not the mind: you are the eternal, immortal Self. And free will is your fundamental nature and faculty. So by the force of your will every day put forth the effort to raise your consciousness through sadhana.
Note Ma’s last statement: Sadhana is the human being’s true work. “Sadhana” comes from the Sanskrit word sadh, which literally means: “to go straight to the goal” or “make something straight.” That is exactly what yoga meditation does. It is like aiming an arrow and sending it straight to the target: our own Self. Sadhana is Self-knowledge, and includes both the entire knowledge of our relative self and our eternal Self. Since liberation is our only purpose in existing, yoga sadhana is our only true and natural activity. When we mediate we are completely “real.” And outside meditation when we do japa we continue to be real. When we do not meditate or do japa we are only a mirage, a hint of what we should be. So for a true human being meditation is not an option but the One Essential.
Sri Anandamayi Ma · Commentary by Swami Nirmalananda GiriThe Eternal Light Within+
Sri Anandamayi Ma
The Light that is eternal can never be extinguished.
By this Light you behold the outer light and everything in the universe; it is only because It shines ever within you, that you can perceive the outer light.
Commentary
Enlightenment is not just a tentative potential, it is the eternal nature of every single sentient being. Nothing is more natural than Self-realization and the means to attain/reveal our inmost condition as the Self. We have always been the Self at every rung we have climbed in the evolutionary ladder. In the seed is the entire tree in potential form. The same is true of us. Perfect Self-realization is at the core of our being and IS our being. We do not even need to attain it: only perceive/realize/recognize it. This is what sadhana is all about–and only that.
Our true nature is irrevocable perfection, and sadhana is the process of perceiving/realizing it.
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