Receiving the mantra: Sri Samba- murthy Sivachariyar, (standing on right, under cloth) recites the Saivite mantra during of Amba Caldwell (center)

very elaborate, as it coincided with the temples Brahmotsavam festival, which brought 150 priests for the rituals. There were ten other initiates that day, mostly young boys and men from Sivachariar's family. "I was the only woman and the only West- erner included in this ceremony," she said, "but I was told it was done for several Westerners be- fore." This was also the day that Sri Sambamurthy was presented this magazines Hindu Renais- sance Award honoring him as Hindu of the Year for 2002. [See Nov/Dec, 2001] The rituals preceding the initi- PEOPLE ation into the mantra were elaborate. At one point, Amba was asked to throw a handful of flowers onto a yantra, or sacred diagram, Leading Priest Initiates with five faces corresponding to the five faces of Lord Siva. The color segment in which the flowers land indicates the lineage Scholar into Saivism of Sivachariars that one is joining. Ambas landed in the white segment, indicating her Chennai ceremony fulfills long-term desire initiation lineage of Satyojata, which is in the western segment of the yantra. The , or feminine power, associated with ^BA CALDWELL BEGAN THE STUDY my knowledge of Saiva and Sakta worship." the Satyojata face of Shiva is Ambika or sf in 1978, under the guidance She sought and received permission from Amba, which the priests all felt was fitting of Swami Muktananda, and has con- her guru, and from Sri Sambamurthy him- as her name, Amba, already had been given. f sidered herself a Hindu ever since. self, for the initiation, and then went to They added, "You are white and you are She lived full time at his ashram in India un- Chennai in March, 2001, for the ceremony. from the West, so it's perfect!" The priests til 1982, and upon his mahasamadhi that "I was very warmly welcomed," she recalls, determined that the initiation name should year returned to the University of California "by the families of both Bairava Sundaram be "Satyojata Ganashakti Amba." at Berkeley. She completed her Ph.D. in an- in Madurai and Sri Sambamurthy Sivachari- Next came the moment of initiation, when thropology in 1995, having spent two years ar in Chennai, who hosted me at their the mantra is spoken in the ear of the initi- in Kerala on her thesis. During that time, homes with great love and kindness." ate by the priest while both are under a dec- she formally converted to through The initiation was set for the Thiruma- orative cloth. Amba recalls, "I then offered the Arya Samaj. She has remained a prac- zhissai Siva temple outside Chennai, the flowers into the yagna pit and to the presid- titioner of Siddha Yoga under the guidance birthplace and ancestral home of Sri Sam- ing priest and was seated under the red silk of one of Swami Muktanandas successors, bamurthy. The March 31 ceremony was cloth. For all the previous initiates the priest Swami Nityananda. Last year, Amba sitting near the yagna had been the held the post of visiting professor at one to give the mantra. But now Sri Harvard Divinity School Sambamurthy himself had joined us. Her spiritual life has continued to He loudly and powerfully bestowed develop, and in the fall of 2001, just the mantra in my ear, and then it was before Navaratri, she began to attend over." the Sri Mahalakshmi Temple in Ash- After the diksha, the priests who land, Massachusetts, where she was had presided over the ceremony car- befriended by the temples Saiva ried two kalasams, water pots, repre- priest, Sri Bairava Sundaram, and his senting Lord Siva and Parvati, around wife, Mangala. "Through their guid- the temple, then bathed the Siva Lin- ance and friendship," she told HIN- ga inside the sanctum. "The water DUISM TODAY, "I came to know about from the kalasam was also doused Mangalas father, Sri Sambamurthy over us initiates," Amba said, "and a Sivachariar. I developed a strong de- feeling of real ecstasy ensued." "^ sire to meet him and to take formal Contact Amba Caldwell at diksha, initiation, from him to deepen Blessing: Receiving kumkumfrom Sri Sambamurthy sarahleec@prodigy. net

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