ANANDMURTI GURUMAA & SHAKTI
Master of Many Traditions
On Guru Purnima we celebrate the life of our gurus. Anyone could be a guru (spiritual teacher) for you. The person on the street could be your guru today. Even elements in nature and animals can be our gurus. Often we hear about male gurus, but there are a number of female gurus in India, United States and worldwide.
Anandmurti Gurumaa was born on April 8, 1966 in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Anandmurti means "an embodiment of Divine Bliss." Gurumaa means Master Mother in Hindi. She is well known for her wide knowledge of various traditions and philosophies. Her knowledge includes meditations, yoga and self-realization. Zen, Sufism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism are just a sampling of the wide knowledge of Gurumaa.
She accompanied her mother to spiritual gatherings and achieved enlightenment by the age of 16. Gurumaa entered college and continued her athletic activities she enjoyed as a child. She started doing discourses daily on Sony Entertainment Television in 1999. Her ashram was built in the Sonepat District in Haryama. Her daily message and program is called Amrit Varsha on SAB TV in India at 6:00 a.m., at 7:30 a.m. (Monday - Friday) on Life OK and worldwide on Star Plus at 6:30 a.m. (Monday - Friday). In the USA, UK and Canada the program is at 8:30 a.m.
She promotes self awareness and the need to be free of "the outer garb of religion." Enlightenment happens when you are not attached to obtaining it. She is very well known for her Shakti Mission. The organization's mission is to empower girls and women. She raises money for scholarships for girls of all backgrounds up until graduation from secondary school. It started in 1999 and continues today. She offers college scholarships for some girls and women. By 2010 about 10,000 girls received scholarships. There is some financial support for attendance at SGTB Institute of Nursing Education. Others have studied B-pharmacy as part of the scholarship program.
Another program is Shakti Udaan which is part of Shakti's Mission. Vocational courses in Kaithal, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Kanpur Center on computer science and home science (handicraft, tailoring/clothing design and henna application.) are taught at these institutes. These institutes in those cities and villages are set up by Shakti for these girls who want to learn these skills.
Blood Sharing Camps are promoted where people volunteer to share their blood. This is in affiliation with the Delhi Red Cross Society.
She has published a number of books including the poetry book Prem Kachalakta Jaan on the Sufi poetry of Rumi. This is just one of her books on various topics from Ayurveda, Yoga, health, healing and self-realization. She teaches a number of different courses on spiritual topics at her Rishi Chaitanya Ashram. She also travels to present workshops on various spiritual topics.
She is a very practical guru who gets disciples to improve their lives through seva (service). She is unique in the breadth of her knowledge of the various traditions. Her Shakti organization helps promote valuing females. When girls are valued, they are educated. For every 1,000 males born in India, 783 females survive. Girls are aborted, killed by midwives, drown in milk and thrown into wells. If these girls were educated, they would bring in needed income into the household. Instead of dowry murders and female infanticide these girls and women would be contributing to the wealth and income of the household. With so many in poverty, it would address this on-going problem. This practice of eliminating females is very much against the Vedic tradition of women being Divine Shakti on Earth. By promoting male lineage, females are de-valued. Dual lineage and matriarchal lineages are what India needs. The public schools now are providing lunches in order to promote keeping both genders educated. Gurumaa is being part of the change we want to see in India. Good for her!
JAI SHRI GURUMAA! JAI SHRI SHAKTI! JAI SHRI MA!
Radhapriestess
