The Nourisher - Editor’s Blog

Recently, Australia was blessed to receive a visit from Anandagiriji, a director of the Oneness University of India. Wes and I attended the Oneness Conference in Adelaide and also met with Anandagiriji here in Byron Bay. We were blown away.

This gorgeous man is only 28 years old and has been ‘awakened’ since he was 17. He is physically beautiful and carries and air of power and compassion you don’t often feel. Extraordinarily though, the longer time we spent in his presence the more we realised just how ordinary he was.

I have met awakened people before. Amma (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) is one of them. For many years, she has been coming to Australia and I’ve managed to get to her Darshans and have a few cuddles with her. Being in her presence is truly transformational.

I don’t know if it’s Amma’s devotees’ protection of her or the thousands of people thronging to her for her awesome cuddles which creates the air of superstardom around her. Or perhaps my own sense of separation was larger when meeting her. I do know, however, that sitting in a room of friends with this awakened man and ‘chit chatting’, as Ananadagiriji called it, was a wonderful opportunity to experience the awakened mind first hand. The experience was quite ordinary. That is ‘in the natural order of things’.

Anandagiriji told us that Sri Amma Bhagavan, his teachers, two married avatars and leaders of the Oneness Movement, say the difference between an awakened human and unawakened one is neurobiological, not psychological as many believe.

Anandgiriji’s brain works differently to most humans. It works the way the human brain is supposed to work.

Anandagiriji told us that before the age of two, humans experience everything as part of themselves. They are one with the leaves in the trees, the food they are squashing in their hands, the breast of their mother and the face of their father. This is their experience. At around two (and he says it’s happening earlier in recent times) they begin to experience a separation of self and other. (Ever wondered about the ‘terrible twos’?) This process is entirely natural. It’s part of the grand scheme of things. The human brain begins to work more from the parietal lobes and less from the frontal lobe.

During this time the brain develops the capacity to analyse, compare and ensure survival of the self. This is quite natural. However, at around the age of 18 the brain should begin to return to its former function and work more from the frontal lobe, leaving the parietal lobes to function only when necessary. The human begins to free herself from the ‘mind’ and experience oneness again. This is not happening for most humans. This did happen for Anandagiriji.

Through divine providence, Anandagiriji was placed in a school which was goverened by Sri Bhagavan and his wife, Amma who were already enlightened (although this was not known by the children’s parents). It was at this school the phenomenon called Deeksha or Oneness Blessing manifested. In 1989, a child named Krishnaji came to Bhagavan speaking of a golden ball which had arisen in his heart. He was in a state of oneness and bliss and when he laid his hands on the other children, astonishingly, the same would happen to them. Today, 18 years later, Oneness Blessing givers around the world do the same thing.

Bhagavan speaks of the impossibility of the human mind freeing us of our limitations. The mind is obsessed with being right or significant. While the human brain remains stuck with its switch on survival of the self, we remain slaves to the mind. It is impossible to free ourselves and be who we truly are. He says Grace is the only way this can happen. By surrendering to Grace, we become en-lightened. It is not possible any other way. Effort and striving is a product of the mind and the mind can not free us of the mind. There are many ways grace occurs, one is through the Oneness Blessing.

I asked Anandagiriji how we can help children to become who they truly are? How can we ensure they flower into their natural state; one of oneness and bliss? Just as he did. His answer was firstly to stop being a mother. What?

“No one likes to be owned”, he said, “most children have deep disdain for their parents for this very reason. When you allow your children to be themselves, without evaluating or owning their thoughts and actions they flower. If you do not, their hearts close, never to open again.”

“Wow,” I thought, “tall order!”

He went on to say, “Chidren do not belong to you, they are on loan. You must be the child’s friend if you want to help them to flower.” This satisfied me for a while but then another question bubbled up.

“How do we be a friend?”

His answer struck me deeply in my heart. “You can not learn this” he said. “You can learn to be polite. You can learn to be kind. You can learn to be helpful. All these are not friendship. True friendship only occurs when the heart has flowered.” Back to Grace. Back to the natural order of things, the ordinariness of enlightenment.

Probably the most poignant message he had for us was this. “Trying to be the perfect person, to be this idea that the human mind has generated over milennia of the perfect human, an enlightened being; trying to live the life of an awakened one when you are not yet awakened….is a life of misery.” My Goddess, how much do I do this? How non-nourishing is this? He suggests we just be who we are and grace will take care of the rest. The human heart will flower.

He looked into my eyes. I felt like I was floating and twisting around in the air. And he said with a smile, “Don’t worry. It will happen.”

About the Author...

Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).