Mother Meera
Encyclopedia
Mother Meera, born Kamala Reddy (born 26 December 1960) is believed by her devotees to be an embodiment (Avatar
) of the Divine Mother (Shakti
).
district of Andhra Pradesh
, India
, she had her first samādhi
, a state of complete spiritual absorption, at the age of six, which lasted for a whole day. When she was 12 her uncle Bulgur Venkat Reddy met her for the first time, and immediately recognized in her the girl of his visions. He became convinced that she is the Divine Mother and started to take care of her, allowing her to unfold her inner experiences. Her parents Antamma and Veera Reddy live in Madanapalle
, Chittoor
district of Andhra Pradesh
In 1974, Mr. Reddy brought Mother Meera to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram
in Pondicherry, India, of which he was a member. There she first met Westerners and started to give Darshan
. She is however not associated with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram today. In 1979 she was invited by her first devotees to Canada
, where she went several times. Meanwhile Reddy's health started to deteriorate.
In 1981 she made her first trip to West Germany
, where she, together with Mr. Reddy and her close companion Adilakshmi, settled down a year later. She married a German in 1982. Mr. Reddy died in 1985 and was buried in the local cemetery in Dornburg-Thalheim, Hesse
. For some years now, she has been giving Darshan (literally seeing, primarily in a spiritual context) at Schloss Schaumburg in Balduinstein
, a small town in Germany
. Previously, in the early 1990s, she gave Darshan in a house in the town of Thalheim, some 5 km northwest of Hadamar in Germany. She also visits the United States
on a regular basis (see links below).
receives thousands of visitors of all religions for darshan which she conducts in total silence. Her darshan consists of a ritual, where she will touch a person's head, and then look into their eyes. During this process, she reportedly 'unties knots' in the person's subtle system and permeates them with light. She doesn't charge any money for doing so and she will not give lectures. Mother Meera's reported task on Earth was in calling down a dynamic light
-force from the Supreme (Paramatman
- the supreme Self
) in collaboration with other saint
s and divine beings, as she says, making spiritual progress on earth easier. About this light she says:
"Like electricity, the Light is everywhere, but one must know how to activate it. I have come for that." ( Answers, Part I.)
Through Japa
, the mental remembrance of any Divine Name or Mantra
, which may be done informally, and whenever convenient, people could open themselves up to this Light. She does not claim to be a guru or have followers. To be connected to her work, people do not have to recognize her. Her teaching is mainly related to Bhakti
, that is devotion to God
, and in that she accepts all denominations.
Mother Meera does not belong to any particular tradition, except for a certain closeness to the work of Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother
, whom she was reported to have met in their subtle bodies
, when she was a child, visiting their Samadhi
(grave). She teaches the unity of all religions. Everyone can go his own way. It is only important to be connected with the light (the personal spiritual role model) every day by praying, reading or meditating.
wrote The Sun at Midnight. In it, Harvey accused Meera of homophobia
, saying that Mother Meera disapproved of Harvey's marriage to another man. In his first book about her, Hidden Journey, Harvey had originally praised her as an avatar, attributing his own claimed enlightenment to her. Harvey's accusation of homophobia is disputed. One of Harvey's former lovers, the writer Mark Matousek
(1997), said that: "I do know that the idea that she's homophobic is completely ridiculous. For God's sake, we were served breakfast in bed together in her house."
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
) of the Divine Mother (Shakti
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
).
Life account
Born in Chandepalle a small village in NalgondaNalgonda
Nalgonda is a town and a municipality in Nalgonda district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Its name is derived from two Telugu words Nalla and Konda . Nalgonda in the past is referred to as Nilagiri. During the period of Bahamani kingdom, it had been renamed as Nallagonda...
district of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, she had her first samādhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
, a state of complete spiritual absorption, at the age of six, which lasted for a whole day. When she was 12 her uncle Bulgur Venkat Reddy met her for the first time, and immediately recognized in her the girl of his visions. He became convinced that she is the Divine Mother and started to take care of her, allowing her to unfold her inner experiences. Her parents Antamma and Veera Reddy live in Madanapalle
Madanapalle
Madanapalle , is a town and a Municipality located in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh state, India - population 107,512 . Legend has it that the name of the town was originally " Maryaada raamanna puram" which has over time, changed into " Madanapalle".It is one of the biggest Revenue...
, Chittoor
Chittoor
Chittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
district of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
In 1974, Mr. Reddy brought Mother Meera to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Sri Aurobindo Ashram
The Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded by Sri Aurobindo on the 24 November 1926 . At the time there were no more than 24 disciples in the Ashram...
in Pondicherry, India, of which he was a member. There she first met Westerners and started to give Darshan
Darshan
or Darshan is a Sanskrit term meaning "sight" , vision, apparition, or glimpse. It is most commonly used for "visions of the divine" in Hindu worship, e.g. of a deity , or a very holy person or artifact...
. She is however not associated with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram today. In 1979 she was invited by her first devotees to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, where she went several times. Meanwhile Reddy's health started to deteriorate.
In 1981 she made her first trip to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, where she, together with Mr. Reddy and her close companion Adilakshmi, settled down a year later. She married a German in 1982. Mr. Reddy died in 1985 and was buried in the local cemetery in Dornburg-Thalheim, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. For some years now, she has been giving Darshan (literally seeing, primarily in a spiritual context) at Schloss Schaumburg in Balduinstein
Balduinstein
Balduinstein is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany....
, a small town in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Previously, in the early 1990s, she gave Darshan in a house in the town of Thalheim, some 5 km northwest of Hadamar in Germany. She also visits the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on a regular basis (see links below).
Activities
Mother MeeraMeera
Meerabai was an aristocratic Hindu mystical singer and devotee of Lord Krishna from Rajasthan and one of the most significant figures of the Sant tradition of the Vaishnava bhakti movement...
receives thousands of visitors of all religions for darshan which she conducts in total silence. Her darshan consists of a ritual, where she will touch a person's head, and then look into their eyes. During this process, she reportedly 'unties knots' in the person's subtle system and permeates them with light. She doesn't charge any money for doing so and she will not give lectures. Mother Meera's reported task on Earth was in calling down a dynamic light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
-force from the Supreme (Paramatman
Paramatman
In Hindu theology, Paramatman or Paramātmā is the Absolute Atman or Supreme Soul or Spirit in the Vedanta and Yoga philosophies of India....
- the supreme Self
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
) in collaboration with other saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s and divine beings, as she says, making spiritual progress on earth easier. About this light she says:
"Like electricity, the Light is everywhere, but one must know how to activate it. I have come for that." ( Answers, Part I.)
Through Japa
Japa
Japa is a spiritual discipline involving the meditative repetition of a mantra or name of a divine power. The mantra or name may be spoken softly, enough for the practitioner to hear it, or it may be spoken purely within the recitor's mind...
, the mental remembrance of any Divine Name or Mantra
Mantra
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...
, which may be done informally, and whenever convenient, people could open themselves up to this Light. She does not claim to be a guru or have followers. To be connected to her work, people do not have to recognize her. Her teaching is mainly related to Bhakti
Bhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
, that is devotion to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, and in that she accepts all denominations.
Mother Meera does not belong to any particular tradition, except for a certain closeness to the work of Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
and the Mother
Mirra Alfassa
-Early life:Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878, of a Turkish Jewish father, Maurice, and an Egyptian Jewish mother, Mathilde. She had an elder brother named Matteo. The family migrated to France the year before she was born. For the first eight years of her life she lived at 62 boulevard...
, whom she was reported to have met in their subtle bodies
Subtle body
A subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings...
, when she was a child, visiting their Samadhi
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
(grave). She teaches the unity of all religions. Everyone can go his own way. It is only important to be connected with the light (the personal spiritual role model) every day by praying, reading or meditating.
Critics
After splitting from Mother Meera, the writer and former follower Andrew HarveyAndrew Harvey
Andrew Harvey is an author, religious scholar and teacher of mystic traditions, known primarily for his popular nonfiction books on spiritual or mystical themes, beginning with his 1983 A Journey in Ladakh...
wrote The Sun at Midnight. In it, Harvey accused Meera of homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, saying that Mother Meera disapproved of Harvey's marriage to another man. In his first book about her, Hidden Journey, Harvey had originally praised her as an avatar, attributing his own claimed enlightenment to her. Harvey's accusation of homophobia is disputed. One of Harvey's former lovers, the writer Mark Matousek
Mark Matousek
Mark Matousek Mark Matousek is an American memoirist, teacher, essayist, and journalist.-Early years:Matousek was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, James Matousek, disappeared when he was four, leaving his mother, Ida Kaplan, to raise him and his sisters in poverty...
(1997), said that: "I do know that the idea that she's homophobic is completely ridiculous. For God's sake, we were served breakfast in bed together in her house."
Quotes
"One common mistake is to think that one reality is the reality. You must always be prepared to leave one reality for a greater one." - Answers, Part IBooks
- Answers, Part I - by Mother Meera, ISBN 0-9622973-3-X
- Answers, Part II - by Mother Meera, ISBN 3-9805475-5-8
- The Mother - by Adilakshmi, ISBN 3-00-000241-3
- At the Feet of Mother Meera: The Lessons of Silence - by Sonia Linebaugh, ISBN 1-4134-1053-7
- Hidden Journey: A Spiritual Awakening - by Andrew Harvey, ISBN 0-14-019448-7
- In Search of the Divine Mother: The Mystery of Mother Meera - by Martin Goodman, ISBN 0-06-251509-8
- Sex Death Enlightenment - Mark Matousek (1997), Riverhead books, ISBN 1-57322-581-9