Mother Meera
Mother Meera | |
|---|---|
 Mother Meera | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Kamala Reddy 26 December 1960 Chandepalle, Telangana, India |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
Mother Meera (born Kamala Reddy on December 26,[1] 1960 in Chandepalle, a small village in the Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana, India) is an Indian spiritual teacher and author living in Germany. She gives darshan, a silent blessing, and meditations in Germany and many other countries to which she travels. Although she does not consider herself a guru,[2] and does not promote a particular religion, she is considered a contemporary female saint of India in the Anglo-European hemisphere.[3][4] She is referred to by followers as an avatar.[5]
Life account
[edit]
Mother Meera allegedly had her first samādhi, a state of complete spiritual absorption, at the age of six, which lasted for a whole day. Her uncle Bulgur Venkat Reddy met her for the first time when she was 11 years old and recognized her as the girl of his visions.[6] He became convinced that she was the divine mother, and he took her under his wing. In 1974, he first brought her to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, of which he was a member.[7] A few months later, he took her to a girls' school, where she stayed for about two years.[8]
In 1976, she returned to Pondicherry. There she met the first visitors from the West and began giving darshan.[1] In 1979, she was invited by her first followers to Montreal, Canada, where she gave darshan at larger audiences and returned several times.[9] In 1981, she visited Germany, where she settled a year later and married a German. Uncle Reddy died in 1985 and was buried in the local cemetery in Dornburg-Thalheim, Hesse.[10] She currently gives darshan at the "Waldecker Hof," the former outbuilding of Schaumburg Castle in Balduinstein, which has been converted into a hotel.[11].
Activities
[edit]Mother Meera receives many thousands of visitors for darshan, which takes place in silence.[12] During darshan, she touches the visitors on the temples and then looks into their eyes. She does not give lectures.[13]
According to her teachings, her task is to bring down the Paramatman light (explained as the "light of the highest Self").[14] One can open oneself to this light through japa, the mental repetition of a divine name or mantra.[15] This can be done quite informally. Her teachings belong to bhakti, the path of loving, emotional devotion to the Divine. About the light she says:
Like electricity, the Light is everywhere, but one must know how to activate it. I have come for that.[16]
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.[17] She does not claim to be a guru or have followers. To be connected to her work, people do not have to recognise 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 Indian tradition. However, her work has a certain affinity with Aurobindo.[18]
Mother Meera opened an international English-language school at her ashram in Madanapalle, India, on June 7, 2010.[19] As of April 2017, the school had approximately 1,300 students.
Trivia
[edit]According to an article in Entertainment Weekly in 1994, Madonna's global hit Secret was inspired by Mother Meera.[20]
Critics
[edit]After splitting from Mother Meera, the writer and former follower Andrew Harvey wrote The Sun at Midnight.[21] 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),[22] 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."[23]
Books
[edit]- Answers, Part I – by Mother Meera, ISBN 0-9622973-3-X
- Answers, Part II – by Mother Meera, ISBN 3-9805475-5-8
Quotes
[edit] |
"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 I
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b The Merry Mystic, New York Times Magazine 1993
- ^ Mark Matousek: Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera, Random House Publishing Group, New York City 2017, ISBN 978-1-958972-23-6, S. 57
- ^ Mithilesh Mishra: Presence of 'America' in Religious Circles of India, Comparative American Studies, 14775700, Jun. 2014, Bd./Jhrg. 12, Ausgabe 1/2
- ^ The contemporary guru field Religion Compass, 17498171, Feb. 2022, Bd./Jhrg. 16, Ausgabe 2
- ^ Floyd Skloot: Honeymooning with the feminine divine, Antioch Review, 00035769, Spring 95, Bd./Jhrg. 53, Ausgabe 2
- ^ Mark Matousek: Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera, Random House Publishing Group, New York City 2017, ISBN 978-1-958972-23-6, S. 11
- ^ Mark Matousek: Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera, Random House Publishing Group, New York City 2017, ISBN 978-1-958972-23-6, S. 16
- ^ Mark Matousek: Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera, Random House Publishing Group, New York City 2017, ISBN 978-1-958972-23-6, S. 19
- ^ Andrew Harvey: Hidden Journey, a spiritual awakening Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0140194487. P. 51
- ^ Adilakshmi, 'The Mother', page 7
- ^ Darshan in Balduinstein, Gemeinde Balduinstein
- ^ Rumours about Mother Meera (Gerüchte um Mutter Meera), Rheinzeitung 2012
- ^ Jack Schimmelman, Sitting With Mother Meera, Huffpost 2012
- ^ Grace Cooley: Receiving Darshan from Mother Meera, Elephantjournal, 2014
- ^ Sonia L. Linebaugh: At the Feet of Mother Meera: The Lessons of Silence. Xlibris Corp 2004, ISBN 978-1-4134-1054-9, p. 41
- ^ Answers, Part I
- ^ Mother Meera, "Answers, Part I", pages 89 -98
- ^ Brown, C. Mackenzie; Colonial and Post-Colonial Elaborations of Avataric Evolutionism, Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science. 2007, Vol. 42 Issue 3, S. 31
- ^ Mark Matousek: Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera, Random House Publishing Group, New York City 2017, ISBN 978-1-958972-23-6, p. 81
- ^ Devotional rescue. by: Gordinier, Jeff, Stukin, Stacie, Entertainment Weekly, 10490434, 10/28/94, edition 246
- ^ Harvey, Andrew, The Sun at Midnight: A Memoir of the Dark Night, 2002, ISBN 1-58542-179-0
- ^ Mark Matousek Homepage www.markmatousek.com, accessed 16 May 2021
- ^ Mark Matousek, "Sex, Death, Enlightenment"
Further reading
[edit]- 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
- Mother of the Unseen World: The Mystery of Mother Meera. - by Mark Matousek, ISBN 0-8129-9725-5
External links
[edit]
- Mother Meera Germany
- Mother Meera Foundation USA
- Darshan in the UK
- Mother Meera school in India
- Mere Meera (official french site)
- Matka Meera (official czech site)
- Mark Matousek on Mother Meera
- An experience of Darshan with Mother Meera
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
- 1960 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Hindu religious leaders
- 21st-century Hindu religious leaders
- 20th-century Indian women
- 20th-century Indian people
- 21st-century Indian women
- 21st-century Indian people
- German Hindus
- Indian Hindu saints
- Indian women religious leaders
- People considered avatars by their followers
- People from Nalgonda
- Telugu people
- Women mystics
- German people of Telugu descent