Anandamayi Ma was born as Nirmala Devi in the village, Kheora of present-day Bangladesh in a traditional Brahmin family. She was given the name, Anandamayi by her disciple Bhaiji afterward. She was an incarnation of God. Most of her disciples refused to consider her an incarnation, rather they believed that she was God herself. This belief that she was herself god was very common amongst most of the people who met her.
Anandamayi Ma always used to be in a state of near samadhi since her childhood, and that is why her parents were worried about her. She was married to Ramani Mohan Chakrabarti at the age of about 13 years. Ramani Mohan Chakrabarti was later given the name Bholanath by her.
She went to live with her husband in Ashtagram when she was 17 years old. The marriage was never consummated because whenever thoughts of lust occurred to Bholanathji, Anandamayi Ma’s body would take different qualities, nearly looking like dead.
Anandamayi Ma was probably the only saint who was given ‘Diksha’ by her own Shakti in her self. She had no physical Guru.
When her true nature was realized, she stayed for some more years in East Bengal, and after that, she started her travel. She traveled throughout her life. Never staying at a place for more than 15 days. Her first stop was near Dehradun. From there, she traveled to many places all over India, and a large group of followers collected around her.
By the end of her physical life, about 30 ashrams were established by her disciples around the country.
Anandamayi Ma’s most significant messages were to do meditation, recite god’s name, do mantra chanting as per the instructions of Guru, and think of nothing but God all the time. She refused to become a guru of anyone. She asked everyone to search for their guru.
She emphasized that this world was a temporary stopover for everybody and the final destination was to merge oneself with God. She promised people that if they chanted God’s name continuously, one day, God would appear to them. She was always very smiling, and she had answers to all the questions put up to her by her devotees and disciples.
Anandamayi Ma left her body on 27th August 1982 in Dehradun. Her samadhi was constructed at Kankhal Aashram in Haridwar. A lot many people go to her samadhi to pray and travel to her different ashrams to do meditation and kirtan.
Amongst all her ashrams Anandamayi Ma had a special affection for her ashram at Vindhyachal Hill. She used to send all her main disciples to Vindhyachal.
Anandamayi Ma was a very simple lady. She used to wear white clothes, and she would walk very fast as if she was flying in the air. She had ready answers to every question. Most of the time, she was in a state of samadhi, and she had a habit of not staying in one place for a very long time. She used to travel from place to place, and she gave the benefit of her darshan to people around the country.
Her devotees have written many books, which are available online at shreeshreeanandamayeesangha.org website. Please visit the website and read the books to learn more about the leela of Anandamayi Ma on the earth.
To know more about Anandamayi Ma, please see her videos on the internet and read books written by her devotees. Listening to her question-answer sessions one would get clarity on all the spiritual issues.
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