From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 8:48 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Let God's will be done...but at someone else's expense...
This concept has come up for me when listening to Ron shill for his teacher, and when hearing the pitches for more money for butt-bouncing and rent-a-pundits. For the latter, the clear implication is that if you *don't* contribute, something is badly wrong with you. You're "withholding funds" from the truly spiritual people whose vision is clear and know that there is a better use for your money than what you might have imagined. For the record, Rick, this feeling has *never* come up for me when hearing you speak about Amma, The only fundraising I’ve seen in Amma’s organization is that at her events, a DVD is played at the beginning of each session explaining who she is and what she does – her various charitable and humanitarian activities. Then, around the periphery of the hall, there is a bookstore selling various items, and tables featuring one project or another – her hospitals, schools, orphanages, tsunami house building, projects to prevent farmer suicide or stop child prostitution, environmental projects, etc. People are free to walk up to those tables, learn more, and make a donation, or not. Then once, on the last evening of Amma’s visit to each city, an envelope is left at each person’s seat, and at the end of a group puja, someone announces that you may make a donation if you wish to support Amma’s charitable activities. In the same breath, the announcer states that no one is under any obligation to do this. I’ve never heard anyone ask, “What happens to all the money?” If anything, they ask, “How does she accomplish so much with so little?” Part of the answer is that there are thousands of devotees contributing their time to accomplish these projects, so there is little administrative overhead. Amma herself sets an example of everyone pulling their weight. She’s pretty busy doing what only she can do, but the first time I saw her, after she had sat there all night giving darshan, she started helping us clean up the hall, pulling up duct tape, rolling up carpets, etc. In India she has often set an example by cutting vegetables, carrying rocks, etc. In the early days she would work at these jobs for hours, alongside everyone else. These days, she just does this for a little while to set an example, so it’s largely symbolic. She has so much else to attend to, as she is intimately involved in making the administrative decisions necessary to run all these projects. In my eyes, Amma is evidently “special,” but I think she’s trying to convey the message that essentially, everyone is equally special and no one deserves a free ride. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.6/971 - Release Date: 8/24/2007 2:59 PM
