Supernormal Powers

Amma’s biography details many instances in which Amma has used supernormal powers known as siddhis. 

“A true Master never gives importance to siddhis. He has all the powers needed under his sway. Even then, he will always remain simple and humble.”  Amma, Awaken Children, vol 1

Spiritual powers are not an indication of spiritual greatness.  However, divine incarnations – avatars – will be in possession of these powers.   It is possible for an individual who is not Self-realized to attain such powers.  Spiritual aspirants should avoid seeking siddhis as they will create ego and pride and ruin the aspirant.

Most everyone who has spent much time around Amma has experienced her omniscience at one time or another such as a clear indication that Amma had perceived our thoughts.

On one occasion, a woman from Yugoslavia was seeing Amma for the very first time.  Upon her approach to Amma, Amma began singing a Yugoslavian lullaby in the language of Yugoslavian which had been sung by the woman’s mother when the woman was a child.

The author knows a couple who went to see Amma for the first time in Santa Fe.  Let’s call them Marvin and Sally.  After a couple of hugs, Marvin was bitten with the not-worthy syndrome and decided he would not go up for any more hugs because, as he put it, he did not want to soil the Holy Mother’s presence with his miserable wretched self.  However, Sally was not having any of this and so she went for a hug without her partner.  At the hug, Amma gave Sally two chocolate candy kisses.  Normally, Amma gives each person one chocolate candy kiss. 

Sitting down by Marvin, Sally exclaimed, “See Marvin!  Amma thinks you should have gotten a hug.  She gave me two chocolates!”  Marvin still could not overcome his self-loathing and would not believe what Sally was suggesting.  At the end of the program, an isle formed for Amma to walk down as she exited the tent.  Marvin was on the inside edge of this isle on his knees as Amma approached.  Coming to Marvin, she stopped, bent over, looked at him squarely and holding up two fingers said, “Two chocolates!”

Levitation

In Awaken Children book 4 there is a description of Amma becoming the goddess Kali and levitating off the floor while sitting cross-legged.  This she did for a holy man who was desirous of having the darshan of the goddess and was witnessed by a dozen or more people.

Death and Resurrection of Her Own Body

There is an instance of this described in the biography.  Amma’s father demanded that the Divine Mother give his daughter back to him.  Amma replied that if she did, he would get only a corpse.  Her father continued to insist and at that point Amma instantly fell over - stone dead.  There was no pulse and no breathing.  After some time, rigor mortis set in.  There were many people witnessing this and there arose a great tumult of wailing, crying and grief.  At the end of 8 hours, Amma’s father was overcome with remorse and prayed sincerely through his tears to the Divine Mother that She restore Amma to life.  He promised never to interfere again.  At that point Amma’s body began to show signs of life and she fully recovered.  She had been dead for 8 hours and was as stiff as a board with rigor mortis.

Materialization

There is an instance in which a very young Amma put her finger in a pitcher of water in the presence of a thousand or more persons and turned the water into pudding.  It was then distributed to all the people gathered and the pitcher remained full the entire time.  Described in Amma’s biography.

Bi-location

This is the appearance of two flesh and blood Amma bodies in two places simultaneously.  There are many descriptions of this in the Awaken Children books and the biography.  In these she will appear and perform physical actions, maybe moving things or physically touch or caress an individual.  Then when the recipient is next in front of Amma she will make a comment indicating her full awareness of the event.

Talking to Subtle Beings

In the biography, Amma was taking sewing lessons at a nearby Catholic Church.  She describes sitting in the adjacent cemetery and conversing with the departed souls.  She would enquire into their wellbeing and console them. 

In 1987, during Amma’s first visit to the USA, she was to give a program in Santa Fe.  The morning after her first night there, she mentioned to her hosts that she had been up all night giving darshan to the most unusual beings.  She then proceeded to describe them.  Her hosts produced a picture book of Kachinas (deities of local Native American Indians) and Amma verified those were the beings to whom she had been giving darshan.

Perfume Smell

Many followers of Amma have experienced the scent of rose and sandalwood that Amma wears.  This can occur at anytime, anywhere and the fragrance will be quite strong.  The author has experienced this on a number of occasions as have many followers of Amma.

Fire Balls

On at least two occasions, Amma created large moving fire balls to disperse crowds of hostile non-believers.  This is described in Amma’s biography.

Healing

Amma’s healing events are very numerous.  The author once gave a woman a ride to a program and she recounted that she had ovarian cancer.  There was a tumor as big as a baseball in her abdomen and it was physically palpable by pressing with finger tips.  It had once been removed surgically but had grown back.  At the suggestion of a friend, the woman spent a weekend with Amma.  The following Monday at her doctor’s appointment, no trace of the tumor could be found.

One morning the author was ready to do morning meditations but his back between the shoulder blades was out and in so much pain he questioned that he could sit on the floor for any length of time.  After settling in and closing his eyes, suddenly, and quite without any thought of this, Amma appeared in his mind’s eye and said, “Son, does your back hurt?  Here, let Amma fix it for you.”  She then reached over his shoulder and placed her palm on his back between the shoulder blades.  The pain disappeared completely at that point and did not return.  There are many thousands of stories like this among devotees.

There is a well-known occurrence of Dattan the leper appearing in the back of the shed where Amma was giving darshan (hugging).   This was in the early days.  He was covered with puss filled sores and his clothes stuck to his body because of this.  His eyes were swollen to the point that they were just slits.   The smell that accompanied him was disgusting to everyone except Amma.  He waited outside the doorway watching until Amma had finished hugging. 

At this point, Amma motioned to him to come in.  She began biting and sucking the puss and blood from his wounds.  The scene was so repulsive that some vomited and others fainted.  Yet Amma continued undaunted and performed this healing ritual on him a number of times until he was cured.  It is miraculous that she cured the leper and it is also miraculous that she did not contract the disease herself after sucking so much puss and blood from his sores.  There are video clips of this scene in a DVD titled Vintage Scenes and also on YouTube® by searching “Amma Cures Dattan the Leper.”

Raising People from the Dead

There are two instances of this in the biography.  In one of them, a young girl with asthma died of an attack at the hospital.  Pronounced dead by the doctors, the grandmother took the girl to Amma’s temple and laid her on Amma’s seat wailing with grief all the time.  Amma, who was at a nearby house doing a puja ceremony, suddenly became very restless and left immediately for the temple.  When she got there, she put the girl’s body on her lap and meditated until the girl started to move and come back to life.  In another instance a girl who was fated to die by poisonous snake bite was bitten, died and then brought back to life by Amma.

Predicting the Future

There are numerous instances described in the back of the biography in which Amma warned individuals about pending calamities then gave them a formula to overcome it.  For example, she warned one family of a pending death which could be transferred to a domestic animal if the formula were observed.  In this case, the family dog got into a fight with a cobra and both died as a result.  The family member was spared.

Dispensing Divine Births

There are a number of instances described in the biography in which a couple that was unable to conceive, were gifted a child by Amma.  In one of these episodes, the woman was hugely pregnant after 16 months and doctors could still not see any baby – only a smoky mass.  At a certain point Amma told them to go to the hospital and a healthy baby was born by caesarian section.  Amma says about these events that she goes into meditation and a power is transferred from her to the childless woman.

Going Without Sleep

Amma normally sleeps about an hour a day.  Even then she is aware of everything that is going on about her.  This is called the Fourth State or Turiya.  The three normal states are waking, dreaming and deep sleep.  When one attains Turiya, consciousness remains unbroken through all the other three states.  One of Amma’s senior swamis once told the author he had seen her go seven days without any sleep.  It is common for her to go several days with no sleep.

This is a short review of a few instances in which Amma used her divine powers for the uplifting of devotees.  More can be explored by reading Amma’s biography and the Awaken Children books.

 

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