10 Best Facts about Anandamayi Ma

Image by Naresh Balakrishnan from Wikimedia

10 Best Facts about Anandamayi Ma

Anandamayi Ma was born Nirmala Sundari on April 30, 1896, to Bipinbihari Bhattacharya and Mokshada Sundari Devie in Kheora, Brahmanbaria District, British India, in what is now Bangladesh.

Her father was a Vaishnavite singer.

His daughter experienced the presence of divine power in herself since childhood and went into a trance on hearing kirtans. She attended the village school for barely two years.

Sri Anandamoyi Ma also called Anandamayi Ma (meaning “Joy Permeated Mother”), was a Hindu spiritual teacher (guru), saint, and mystic.

Often called “the finest flower that the soil of India had produced,” she engaged in religious cross-interactions with several notable Indian figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Paramahamsa Yogananda, and many other spiritual leaders during her lifetime.

Esteemed for her religious devotion and her cultivation of paranormal abilities (such as precognition and faith healings), many miracles were also reported of her.

She taught that there are so many different religions and sects because God reveals Himself to everyone through all of them so that each person may advance according to his or her inherent capabilities.

She regarded all religions as equal. The Muslim population of Kheora has continually venerated her as their “own Ma” (Mother).

Let’s take a look at the 10 best facts about Anaandamayi Ma.

1. Anandamayi Ma was Wedded at 13 to a Celibate Marriage

At the age of 13, in 1908, she was married to Ramani Mohan Chakrabarti of Vikramapura, who she called Bholanath and pitaji.

She spent five years after her marriage at her brother-in-law’s home, where she was in a trancelike state much of the time.

It was a celibate marriage because whenever thoughts of sex occurred to him, Anandamoyi’s body would take on the qualities of death and she would grow faint.

In 1918, they went on to live in Bajitpur, where she became famous for her beauty. Here they stayed until 1924, while Nirmala went deeper into her trances.

On his return from the office at the end of the working day, Bholanath often found Nirmala lying on the kitchen floor, the food half-cooked or burnt.

On the full moon night of August 1922, at midnight, 26-year old Nirmala went through the actions of spiritual initiation all by herself.

2. Anandamayi Ma’s Husband was Devotee No. 1

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Members of Bholanath’s family did not respond to his wife’s strange behaviour as calmly as he did. While his relatives suggested he remarry, he became her first disciple in 1922.

Her second disciple was Bhaiji who was the first to suggest that Nirmala be called Anandamayi Ma, meaning “Joy Permeated Mother,” or “Bliss Permeated Mother.”

He was chiefly responsible for the first ashram built for Anandamayi Ma in 1929 at Ramna, within the precinct of the Ramna Kali Mandir.

3. It is in Dhaka `that she was Christened Andamayi Ma

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Nirmala moved to Shahbag with her husband in 1924, where he had been appointed caretaker of the gardens of the Nawab of Dhaka.

During this period Nirmala used to manifest the ecstasy that resembled Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

In 1926, she set up a Kali temple in the Siddheshwari area and devoted herself to spirituality.

Nirmala underwent a mystic experience while praying in the temple one day. 

In her trance, she would hold difficult yogic positions for long periods and spontaneously form complex tantric hand positions and gestures.

Henceforth, she became known as Anandamoyi Ma, meaning the Joy Permeated Mother.

She set up an ashram at Ramna within the precinct of the Ramna Kali Mandir. Though her parents were Vaishnavas, she followed the Tantric creed.

4. Despite Limited Formal Education she Inspired Scholars

Image by Paramahansa Yogananda from Wikimedia

She attended the village school for barely two years.

Scholars were attracted to Anandamoyi Ma’s spiritualism, though she called herself “a little unlettered child”.

Gopinath Kaviraj, Sanskrit scholar, philosopher, and principal of Sanskrit College in Kolkata and the physician Triguna Sen were among them.

people like Arnaud Desjardins, the French producer of spiritual films, Melita Maschmann, the German novelist, and Dr. Collin Turnbull, the English author, became her disciples.

Kamala Nehru, the wife of the future prime Minster, Jawaharlal Nehru, became a devotee in 1933.

Although Ma had little formal education, she directly embodied enlightened wisdom to such a degree, she was able to convey the subtlest teachings to tens of thousands of followers from all walks of life.

Her teachings are precise, playful, gutsy, down-to-earth, inspiring and deeply moving. 

5. Miracles have been Attributed to Anandamayi Ma

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His devotees gave accounts of Andanamayi Ma’s miraculous intervention in their lives.

Pandit Kapindraji then related that when he and five other persons had left for Delhi by Jeep at midnight on the 11th, he himself drove.

As he was rather sleepy, the Jeep got out of control and fell into a ravine, 50 ft. deep.

However, as if by miracle, nobody was hurt and even the Jeep remained intact, so that they could proceed to their destination.

His daughter began to shriek with fear and then shouted: ‘Ma has come!’ Kapindraji said: ‘Yes, Ma is here.’

He could see Her distinctly standing in front of him, only She seemed much taller than usual.” (From the book “That Compassionate Touch of Ma Anandamayee” by Narayan Chaudhuri, Chapter 4, 20)

6. Andanamayi Ma the Universal Mother

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Her teaching was directed toward an extreme variety of individuals. In her entourage were ‘sadhakas’ who practised the Vichara marga (the path of knowledge), bhaktas, shaktas, karma yogis,

Who were people, who lived in the world and practised a spiritual discipline, spiritually advanced sadhus along with people learning the ABC of the spiritual path, Hindus, some Jains, Christians and Jews.

She was before everything else, the Mother, and she did not limit her teaching to some individuals, but wanted to save as great a number of people as possible.”

In 1984, her devotees took a pilgrimage to Kheora, they were welcomed by Muslim devotees who said, ‘Although Ma was born into a Hindu family, She is also the Ma of the Muslim. She is our own Ma.’

7. She Forbade Devotees from Preventing  Anyone from Coming to Her

In New Delhi a large crowd attended the Satsang three times daily. Sri Haribabaji Maharaj graced the function with their presence.

One morning in the middle of the meeting, a weird-looking man entered the garden. He was dressed in a queer fashion and his face bore a look of insanity.

Finally, he approached Mataji and repeated his request to Her as well. She at once complied with his wish and motioned to the girls sitting near Her to do likewise. Every woman in the assembly followed suit.

After some time however, he got up, announcing in a loud voice that he wanted to leave. Mataji handed an orange to someone to give to him.

This for some reason infuriated the stranger and he threw the fruit at Mataji and hit her. A wave of indignation surged through the crowd.

Two of Mataji’s bhaktas caught hold of the intruder and tried to lead him out of the garden.

After the meeting Mataji called the two young men who had dealt with the stranger. She wanted to know all the details.

On hearing them, She said, “You are not to prevent anyone from coming to this body1, moreover you must not beat anybody.

To atone for what you have done keep a fast tomorrow, and you have hit the stranger may not even drink water.” “

8.  Andanamayi Ma was Always the Same Through Time

Image by Naresh Balakrishan from Wikimedia

In response to Paramahansa Yogananda’s request Ānandamaẏī Mā tells about herself: “Father, there is little to tell.” She spread her graceful hands in a deprecatory gesture.

 “My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body.

Before I came on this earth, Father, ‘I was the same.’ As a little girl, ‘I was the same.’ I grew into womanhood, but still ‘I was the same.’ …And, Father, in front of you now, ‘I am the same.’

Ever afterwards, though the dance of creation changes around me in the hall of eternity, ‘I shall be the same.’”

(“Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramhansa Yogananda, Chapter 45)

9. Anandamayi Ma Led by Example

There were times when her temporal body ceased to exist. As heard later from those who witnessed it, this would sometimes become visible to others, striking them with amazement.

If this happened while this Body was engaged in some household work, everything seemed to go out of order.

It never occurred to Her to tell anyone about those states. Due to the lack of understanding of these phenomena, this Body was subjected to many adverse comments.

Without protesting She would listen, not uttering a word.

Invariably everyone realized the truth later, but in any case nothing made any difference to this Body.

It was Her custom to listen silently to whatever was said about Her while continuing to do Her duty meticulously and cheerfully.

10. Anandamayi Ma was Forbidden  from Worshipping Anyone

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Ānandamaẏī Mā says: “When the different stages of sādhanā were being manifested through this Body, what a variety of experiences I then had! …One day I distinctly got the command: ‘From today you are not to bow down to anybody.’

I asked my invisible monitor: ‘Who are you?’ The reply came: ‘Your Śakti’ (Power). I thought that there was a distinct Śakti residing in me and guiding me by issuing commands from time to time.

Since all this happened at the stage of sādhanā, Jñāna (Knowledge) was being revealed in a piecemeal fashion.

The integral knowledge which this Body was possessed of from the very beginning was broken, as it were, into parts and there was something like a superimposition of ignorance.

After some time I again heard the voice within myself which told me: ‘Whom do you want to make obeisance to? You are everything.’

At once I realized that the Universe was all my own manifestation. Partial knowledge then gave place to the integral, and I found myself face to face with the one that appears as many.

It was then that I understood why I had been forbidden for so long to bow down to anybody.

While accounts of her extraordinary lila, or enlightened activities, are legend, she lived her life as a householder in unusually close contact with her devotees, advising them about all aspects of life, laughing with them, comforting them, singing and simply allowing all those who came to find refuge in her presence.

Her guiding presence is still available to anyone who wishes to seek it out.