Mother Meera
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mother Meera, born Kamala Reddy (born 26 December 1960) is believed by her devotees to be an embodiment (
Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
) of the Divine Mother (
Shakti In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...
or
Devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conce ...
).


Life account

Born in Chandepally a small village in the
Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district Yadadri Bhuvanagiri District, is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The administrative headquarters is located at Bhuvanagiri Town. The district shares boundaries with Suryapet, Nalgonda, Jangaon, Siddipet, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Ranga ...
of
Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, she allegedly had her first
samādhi ''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditation, meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ash ...
, a state of complete spiritual absorption, at the age of six, which lasted for a whole day. When she was 12 her uncle Bulgur Venkat Reddy met her for the first time, and was convinced that the girl had already appeared to him in the form of visions. He came to believe that she is the Divine Mother and started to take care of her, allowing her to unfold her inner experiences. Her parents Antamma and Veera Reddy live in
Madanapalle Madanapalle is a town in Annamayya Rajampeta district and Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one if the largest city in the District. It is a Selection Grade Municipal City Council and located in Madan ...
,
Chittoor Chittoor is a city and district headquarters in Chittoor district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is also the mandal and divisional headquarters of Chittoor mandal and Chittoor revenue division, respectively. The city has a popul ...
district of
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
. In 1974, uncle Reddy brought Mother Meera to the
Sri Aurobindo Ashram The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry. The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from ...
in Pondicherry, India, of which he was a member. There she first met Westerners and started to give '' darshan''. She is however not associated with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram today. In 1979 she was invited by her first devotees to Canada, where she went several times. Meanwhile, uncle Reddy's health started to deteriorate. In 1981 she made her first trip to
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, where she, together with uncle Reddy and her close companion Adilakshmi, settled down a year later. She married a German in 1982. Uncle Reddy died in 1985 and was buried in the local cemetery in
Dornburg Dornburg is a town in the Saale-Holzland district, in Thuringia, Germany. It sits atop a small hill of 400 ft above the Saale. Since 1 December 2008, it is part of the town Dornburg-Camburg. History Within the German Empire (1871–1918), ...
-Thalheim,
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
. For some years now, she has been giving ''darshan'' (literally ''seeing'', primarily in a spiritual context) at Schloss Schaumburg in
Balduinstein Balduinstein is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...
, a small town in Germany. Previously, in the early 1990s, she gave ''darshan'' in a house in the town of Thalheim, some 5 km northwest of Hadamar in Germany. She also visits the United States on a regular basis (see links below).


Activities

Mother Meera receives thousands of visitors of all religions for ''darshan'' which she conducts in total silence. Her ''darshan'' consists of a ritual, where she will touch a person's head, and then look into their eyes. During this process, she reportedly 'unties knots' in the person's subtle system and permeates them with light. She doesn't charge any money for doing so and she will not give lectures. Mother Meera's reported task on Earth was in calling down a dynamic light-force from the Supreme (
Paramatman ''Paramatman'' (Sanskrit: परमात्मन्, IAST: Paramātman) or ''Paramātmā'' is the Absolute ''Atman'', or supreme Self, in various philosophies such as the Vedanta and Yoga schools in Hindu theology, as well as other Indian re ...
– the supreme
Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...
) in collaboration with other
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
s and divine beings, as she says, making spiritual progress on earth easier. About this light she says: Through
Japa ''Japa'' ( sa, जप) is the meditative repetition of a mantra or a divine name. It is a practice found in Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, with parallels found in other religions. ''Japa'' may be performed while sitting in a medit ...
, the mental remembrance of ''any'' Divine Name or
Mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...
, which may be done informally, and whenever convenient, people could open themselves up to this Light. 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 ''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
, that is devotion to God, and in that she accepts all denominations. Mother Meera does not belong to any particular tradition, except for a certain closeness to the work of
Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...
and the Mother, whom she was reported to have met in their
subtle bodies A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated W ...
, when she was a child, visiting their Samadhi (grave). She teaches the unity of all religions. Everyone can go their own ways. It is only important to be connected with the light (the personal spiritual role model) every day by praying, reading or meditating.


Critics

After splitting from Mother Meera, the writer and former follower Andrew Harvey wrote ''The Sun at Midnight''. In it, Harvey accused Meera of
homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
, 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 Mark Matousek (born February 5, 1957) is an American memoirist, teacher, and journalist. Early years Matousek was born in Los Angeles, California. His father James Matousek disappeared when he was four, leaving his mother in dire straits; his s ...
(1997), 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."Mark Matousek, "Sex, Death, Enlightenment"


Books

*''Answers, Part I'' – by Mother Meera, *''Answers, Part II'' – by Mother Meera,


Quotes

"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

*
Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. Mirabai was born into a Rathore ...


Notes


Further reading

*''The Mother'' – by Adilakshmi, *''At the Feet of Mother Meera: The Lessons of Silence'' – by Sonia Linebaugh, *''Hidden Journey: A Spiritual Awakening'' – by Andrew Harvey, *''In Search of the Divine Mother: The Mystery of Mother Meera'' – by Martin Goodman, *''Sex Death Enlightenment'' – Mark Matousek (1997), Riverhead books,


External links


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)




{{DEFAULTSORT:Meera, Mother 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 German people of Indian descent Indian Hindu saints Indian women religious leaders People considered avatars by their followers People from Nalgonda Telugu people Women mystics