The Story of Anandamayi Ma

Translation of text from panel paintings
Anandamayi Ma Ashram, Haridwar

Ma’s grandmother prayed to the goddess Kali, forgetfully asking for a girl instead of a boy. She was born around 1896. A sage came and saw her when she was at the age of nine months and recognized her as the incarnation of the goddess Kali.

Later in life, she was at a meeting where the singing of devotional songs was taking place, with men on one side and women on the other. Sitting on her mother’s lap, she went into a trance. As a young lady, she was seen talking to plants. She was married in 1909. She was called “goddess” and “mother”. She once went into a trance while cooking food. She initiated her husband, Bholanath, into the worship of herself in the city of Dhaka.

At one time, Ma was shown with a halo around her head, talking to a group of sages and sadhus up on a platform while a congregation watched from below. One of her disciples gave her the name “Anandamayi”, which means to bestow joy on others. At another time, Ma was seen standing next to a stone in an ashram as a supreme soul emerged from the stone.

Ma had a bond with nature. She once sat next to a tree with an animal on her lap. A tear was falling from the animal’s eye. Another time, Ma was seated in a boat going down the river. A snake climbed out of the water into the boat. From that time on, it was said, “Even the goat and the snake are at the feet of Mother, the merciful.”

On 14 January 1947, Ma performed a large sacrifice called the Akund Maha Yugya. She was seated with a garland around her neck before a fire. A sadhu was attending to the fire while a group of saints in orange robes were scattered around, with food in vessels in the foreground. At another time, Ma was seated before a group of women. A holy man brought a plate of lighted wicks, offering them to her. In the background a holy man or statue was seated in the lotus position, and to the right a man stood with a book open on a stand, reciting the Bhagvad Gita. Incense was burning. Mother was worshipped as Shiva. A trident stood in the background. Her hair style was like Shiva’s, long with a top-knot. There were markings on her forehead. Ladies around her offered her platefuls of lighted wicks. She was seated in the lotus position.

Ma would often sit before ashram dwellers, while musicians played and sang, and incense burned. The people were seen in a sort of meditative state. She once rode an elephant with somebody beside her to the Kumbh Mela. A group of sadhus in loincloths with markings on their foreheads and garlands around their necks, were with her. Some lady devotees were on one side, while men stood on the other. In the background was the river with boats in it. During the sacrifice called Nama Yugya, Ma was seen with musicians and some learned-looking men around her. There was an idol before her. Incense was going up, and fruit was also there. The offering was given to a three-tiered image with Ma on the lowest tier, another god-like figure in the middle, and a blue-faced god at the top.