Anandamayi Ma

What is the Absolute? Does God exist?

There is nothing but Him: with form and without, all is God

Both personal and impersonalStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma set out no system, but her words, gathered by devotees in Matri Vani and Sad Vani, return again and again to one claim: there is nothing but Him alone, and everyone and everything are but a form of God. That One can be worshipped with form, as Krishna, Shiva or the Mother, or sought as the attributeless Self, and she refused to rank the two ways: with form and without form are the same, seen from different places. To those who asked about her religion she answered that she was also Christian, Muslim, or whatever they wished. For Anandamayi the existence of God is not proved: it is all there is, and the human task is to recognise it.

Who am I? Is there a true self?

‘I was the same’: consciousness was never tied to the body

The Self is the AbsoluteStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma spoke of herself as ‘this body’, never as ‘I’, and her devotees took this as a sign that she did not identify with the person. To Yogananda she declared that her consciousness had never associated itself with the transient body and that before birth, as a girl and as an adult she had been the same. To those who listened she put the same question: the self that identifies with a name, a family and a history is not what one is, and discovering one’s own nature is discovering God, for there is nothing but Him. That is why she recommended both remembrance of the Name and enquiry: both lead to recognising the one Self that appears in every form.

Why do we suffer?

All suffering comes from seeing duality where there is only One

Ignorance of what we areStated explicitly

In the words gathered by her devotees, Anandamayi Ma explains that all suffering arises from perceiving duality: from feeling separate from others and from God, and from seeking outside what one believes to be missing. Whoever finds the One in everything and everyone puts an end to pain, because there is no longer another who threatens nor anything to lose. At the same time she welcomed those who came with concrete sorrows, the death of a child or illness, and told them that suffering is also a way in which God calls his creature to himself. She neither denied pain nor idealised it: she placed it in a horizon where the only lasting cure is to recognise the Self.

What happens after death?

The body dies; what is does not come or go

What I am is never born and never diesStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma said of herself that before coming to earth, as a child and in maturity, she had been the same, and that her consciousness had never associated itself with the transient body. She invited her devotees to look at death from there: what dies is the body, and the Self is neither born nor dies. At the same time she spoke naturally of successive lives and of the value of practice for the hereafter: one of her recorded sayings contrasts the earthly pension, which ends with life, with the divine pension, which continues long after death. Realisation consists in knowing oneself already, now, beyond birth and death.

How is liberation or salvation attained?

Every sincere path leads to Him; the Name, always

Through devotion and surrenderStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma said she had no path of her own and accepted that each person advance according to their nature: through knowledge, meditation, action or devotion, every sincere path leads to the same end. Yet what she most often recommended was constant remembrance of God, above all through repetition of the Name (nama japa), and setting aside a fixed time each day for contemplation. She organised annual weeks of intensive discipline (samyam saptah) with fasting, silence and meditation. For her, seeking God-realisation is the supreme calling of the human being, and grace accompanies whoever seeks it steadily. What matters is never to stop seeking.

Is a teacher necessary?

Whoever denies the guru becomes guru to those who believe him

IndispensableStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma had no human teacher: according to her biographers she initiated herself in 1922 and went through the practices of many traditions alone. Even so, she defended the need for a guru for others. One of her recorded sayings puts it ironically: when someone says no guru and no practice are needed, they automatically become the guru of those who accept their view. For her the true guru is not an individual but God himself manifesting as teacher when the seeker is ready, and he can come through a person, a book or an event. But that encounter is necessary, and the disciple must obey with trust.

Is the world real?

Everyone and everything is but a form of God

Manifestation of the divineStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma’s answer is consistent with her central statement: there is nothing but Him alone, and everyone and everything are but a form of God. For her the world is not an illusion to be despised but the way the One shows itself; hence she asked people to serve others as forms of the divine and to carry out daily duties as an offering. At the same time she recalled that what appears changes and passes, and that whoever clings to forms without seeing what is in them suffers. The world’s reality therefore depends on how it is seen: as something separate it is transient; recognised as a form of God, it is He himself.

What is love?

To love God is to love Him in every form, for He alone exists

Longing and unionInferred from their doctrine

Anandamayi Ma lived in an atmosphere of intense devotion: her biographers describe states of ecstasy during kirtan and a motherly tenderness towards all who approached her. In her words, true love is directed to God, and all human love, if pure, reflects that longing. Since He alone exists, loving God does not take one away from others: it includes them, because each person is a form of Him. Hence she asked people to fulfil their duties with love and serve without expecting reward. She warned, however, against attachment, which confuses love with possession of a passing form. Longing for God is, for her, the supreme calling of the human being.

Are we free, or is everything determined?

All happens by His will; while you think you are the doer, strive

There is no doerStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma explained her own way of acting through the word kheyal: a spontaneous impulse that came not from a personal decision but from the divine will. Her devotees learned that there was no point asking her to make plans: whatever had to happen would happen. For her, ultimately, the only doer is God. But she did not apply that view to others as an excuse for passivity. She asked those who felt themselves authors of their acts to strive, to fulfil their duties seriously and to practise every day, because as long as there is a sense of being a doer there is also responsibility. True freedom consists in surrendering the will until only His remains.

Why meditate or pray?

A fixed time each day to remember God, until it becomes natural

Friendship with GodStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma asked everyone, lay and monastic, to set aside each day, morning and evening, a fixed time for contemplation, with the same punctuality with which working hours are kept; with habit, she said, contemplation becomes part of one’s nature. She especially recommended repetition of God’s Name (nama japa) and devotional singing, without excluding silent meditation or enquiry. The aim was not to attain experiences but to keep the remembrance of God in every activity, until there is no moment when He is absent. To pray is to live in God’s company, even if the mind does not yet fully know it.

Can reason know the ultimate?

Each is right from their own standpoint; Truth lies beyond

The ultimate lies beyond the mindInferred from their doctrine

Anandamayi Ma received philosophers, scholars and sceptics, and answered their questions briefly, often with paradoxes. In the face of doctrinal disputes she invited people to look at the point from which the other speaks: everyone is right from their own standpoint. This attitude was not relativism but recognition that the intellect grasps only partial aspects of a Truth that exceeds it. For her, what is reached by thinking remains within the mind; God-realisation is something else, a knowing in which there is no subject separate from object. Reason can orient and purify, but the ultimate is revealed when the mind is stilled and surrendered.

Withdraw from the world or transform it?

Fulfil each day’s duties with love, step by step towards God

Contemplation in actionStated explicitly

Anandamayi Ma did not ask most of her devotees to leave family or work. One of her recorded sayings sums it up: with seriousness, love and goodwill, fulfil the duties of each day and try to rise step by step. Seeking God is the supreme calling, but other obligations are not abandoned: they are carried out as service, seeing in each person a form of the divine. She asked people to set aside fixed times for contemplation within the day and to regard work as an offering. She herself lived in constant movement across India, surrounded by people, and her ashrams supported schools, hospitals and relief work.