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Years ago, an online search

on Patal Bhuvaneshwar,

the mys ter ious Himalayan

underground cave in Pithoragarh,

led me to a website on Shree Maa.

She had, I learnt, spent years in

solitary meditation in the Patal

Bhuvaneshwar region, living

on tulsi leaves and water, and

acknowledged Sri Ramakrishna

Paramahansa as her ‘guru in

spirit’. What I read about her

brought images of a frail young

women moving on her own in

the imposing, danger-infested

Himalayas . I was s trangely

touched. Over the years, I have

regularly followed the website

hosted by her devotees, www.

shreemaa.org, which is a rich

source of mantras, on the specifics

of puja and how-to-live videos.

Thanks to the website, I have had

the opportunity to enjoy satsangh

in the comfort of my home.

In an age where meditation and

yoga are being endlessly discussed,

Shree Maa gently, unobtrusively,

brings one back to the basics: Puja

and mantra. In her teachings, puja

is the great leveller, leading the

mind magically to contemplation.

On a personal note, during the

2009 global recession, when the

scene was grim for businesses, I

remember stumbling upon the

Mahalakshmi sthotram with a

translation in English on her

website. I added the sthotram to

my regular Kriya Yoga practice and

witnessed a gradual improvement

in my situation. Around the

same time, my brother was going

through a difficult patch in his

Big-5 consulting job in the US.

shree maa, a saint who

considers sri ramakrishna as

her guru in spirit, is drawing

thousands of seekers with

her teachings on the

wonderful power of puja

and mantras

by Nandita Sarkar

Mother Divine

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I requested a Mahalakshmi puja

from Shree Maa’s Devi Mandir

in the US, in his name. Call it

synchro-destiny, but my brother

benef i t ted. He was able to

seamlessly switch jobs and remain

in the same town as his wife. They

were expecting a baby, and it was

vital for them to be in the same

city. In the earlier years of their

marriage, my brother had been

a perpetual in-transit husband,

hopping every week from city to

city, not able to remain for long

with his wife in Washington DC.

Songs of blissOn the website, there are videos

of Shree Maa singing the songs

of the famous Bengali mystic,

Ramprasad . I confess to a

weakness: whenever I listen to

Maa sing, Sakali tomar ichha

(everything is Divine will) I feel

blessed, protected, and it makes

courage well up in my heart. The

setting of the video is fantastic:

Maa in the woods beside a gently

flowing river, a witness of the day,

as it unfolds from dawn to dusk.

Another favourite is Ramprasad’s

Abhay Pade, which means ,

‘fearless is the one who has taken

refuge in the Divine Name’.Shree Maa has declined all

offers of temples and ashrams,

preferring the solitude of her

own spiritual discipline. Shree

Maa teaches that every home is

an ashram, a place of worship. All

actions, Maa says, can be service to

God and expressions of devotion.

Life itself is worship. Following are

some anecdotes from Shree Maa’s

life as recounted by devotees:

She knew from her birth that she

was divine. Her first recollection

was the sound of the voice

of Ramakrishna, the 19th century

B e n g a l i m y s t i c w h o m s h e

considers to be her guru, saying,

“Oh, you came again. Much more

needs to be done in this Age of

Darkness. You’ve got to show

what divine life means, what is

spiritual practice, and what is

sacrifice.” With that instruction,

she began her life’s work.

Prophesy fulfi lled Shree Maa’s birth was predicted

by Swami Bhuvananda Saraswati,

a Himalayan saint often to be

found at the famous Kamakhya

temple in Assam. She never cried.

Her parents never knew when to

feed her or change her diapers.

At the age of three she began

practising the sun salutation,

reciting mantras and making

offerings.

When she was seven, Shree Maa

began to wander into the forests

to visit sadhus, seekers who had

renounced the material world in

pursuit of a spiritual life. By the

time she was nine, she knew every

tree in the forest and spent most of

her free time in meditation.

At school Shree Maa was loved

by all who knew her and was

popular with both faculty and

fellow students. In her community,

she became involved with social

service organisations, organising

fund-raisers and festivals for

worship or celebration.

Throughout her high school and

college years, Shree Maa became

more and more introspective until

her family became concerned

that she was spending too much

time in meditation. When their

pressure became too great, Shree

Maa made plans to run away. After

writing a note and packing a few

belongings, she reached for the

door and glanced at a picture of

Jesus that hung over the door. As

she looked into his eyes, she heard

a voice deep within her saying, “I

am with you always. You don’t

need to run away to find me.”

SHREE MAA’S MESSAGEThe best way to pray is with mantra, literally, that which takes away the mind. Now when you have a stimulus and you are ready to respond, use a mantra and take away your mind. Take a breath and put a mantra with your breath. Hold it for a moment then say the mantra again. Get clear about your objectives, your motivations and your methods.

– From Shree Maa: The Guru and the Goddess

Every woman is a refl ection of the Divine Mother. Every woman’s nature is to be like a mother who gives to the world like she gives to her child.

–From Gems of Wisdom

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SHREE MAA ANSWERSA Q&A with the mother

What is the mantra for peace?Mantra comes from the Sanskrit ‘Man trayate’ or that which ‘takes away the mind’. When we repeat a mantra with full awareness, we give up our wandering minds. That is how we experience peace. Every mantra is a mantra for peace.

How should a working woman with family conduct herself in daily life? How should she live to attract grace for herself and her family?A working woman with family has the same objective as any other woman or man, married or unmarried: to be an example of an individual fi xed in dharma, seeking to demonstrate the ideals of perfection in every action performed by him or her. In Sanskrit, the term grace is called, kripa. ‘Kri’ means do and ‘pa’ means get. Grace is that which we receive as the fruit of our karma. When we do the right action, we get the right fruit, and set an excellent example for our families and friends.

How can we please the Divine Mother? What is the purpose of life?Just like all mothers, the Divine Mother is extremely pleased when She sees Her children moving steadily towards their goals with joy and effi ciency. The purpose of life is to become free from debt. We manifest in human birth because of outstanding debts of karma. We owe a debt to the devas, to all the gods and goddesses, which we discharge by making this world a better place. We discharge debt to the ancestors by respecting the elderly. We discharge our debt to the gurus by living in accordance with the wisdom they have imparted. All debts paid, we attain moksha.

Would you recommend any specifi c diet for well-being?If our goal is to achieve stillness and to enter into meditation, then eating the food which produces abundant physical energy will not be appropriate. A simple vegetarian diet is most conducive for meditation.

How does chanting and puja help us?Pu means punya, merit, and Ja means jata, to give birth. Puja is the action which gives birth to merit, the privilege to sit in the presence of God. Chanting and puja help us sit still and breathe according to the number of syllables in the mantras, and train our minds so we can focus our attention to the exclusion of delusion.

How can we cultivate love for God whom we have never seen?Sadhana is the regular practice of spiritual disciplines designed to achieve union with God. Make a time, a place, a discipline, which can be practised with regularity, and through those actions and God’s kripa, you will be able to do and get. I send you all my blessings.

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Shree Maa returned to her

shrine room and sat in solitude.

She looked at the picture of

Ramakrishna blessing her from

her altar, and suddenly she heard

his voice, “You must finish your

college education. I have much

work that must be done by you,

and to accomplish that, you must

be educated.”

Himalayan sadhanaAfter college, Shree Maa spent

years wandering in the Himalayas,

impervious to fear of the pythons,

bobcats and Bengal tigers that

roamed the wilderness. She had

few possessions other than the

simple clothing she wore, and

sometimes went for days without

food till she was reduced to 60

pounds. People who saw her in

deep communion with God for

hours and days at a time began

calling her the Goddess of the

Mountain, the Goddess of the

River, or simply Shree Maa.

She experienced such deep

samadhi for prolonged periods

that she radiated an aura that

attracted villagers in the area, who

heard of the meditating yogini in

the forest and left their homes and

jobs to be with her.

She expressed a desire to travel

throughout India and on one of

those journeys, she visited the

Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta,

where she stayed in what was once

the house of Shree Sarada Maa,

Sri Ramakrishna’s wife. Devotees

would gather outside the house

to receive Shree Maa’s blessings.

Often, she would sing. Most of the

time, however, she would sit with

her eyes closed, totally absorbed

in her love for God.

Spiritual partnership In 1980, she met Swami Satyananda

Saraswati, an American who had

been living in India for 20 years

and was acknowledged in India as a

great Vedic scholar. They travelled

together with Maa’s devotees

throughout India, and in 1983,

when she received an instruction

from Sri Ramakrishna to go to

the US, Swamiji accompanied

her. They established a temple

in Martinez, California, and in

1992, a new home, Devi Mandir,

was established in Napa Valley,

California, which has published

important translations of crucial

texts like the Chandi Path, Devi

Gita, Kali Puja, Bhagavad Gita,

Lalita Trishati, Guru Gita, Sundar

Kanda and Sadhu Stories from the Himalayas. The Nectar of Eternal Bliss, which is a biography of Shree

Maa’s guru, Sri Ramakrishna, and

Swami Satyananda’s account of

Shree Maa, Shree Maa, The Life of a Saint were also published at

this stage. Shree Maa has been

featured in a book by Linda

Johnsen titled Daughters of the Goddess: Women Saints of India

published by Yes International

Publications in 1994. She has

also been featured in numerous

articles in magazines such as

Yoga Journal and Hinduism Today , and in newspapers

like The Times of India, Contra Costa Times, India West and

Ananda Bazaar Patrika. ☯To read these articles online and post your comments,

go to http://www.lifepositive.com/Magazine/June2011We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article.

Mail us at editor@lifepositive.net

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