Encountering Bliss

by Melita Maschmann

 This book was first published in 1967 under the title "Der Tiger singt Kirtana" It was revised and enlarged and was published in 1990 under the title "Eine ganz gewohnliche Heilige" It was also published in paperback edition in 1992. The book gives a lively account of Anandamayi Ma`s life and work, of a saint whose both feet were firmly on the ground and who inspired not only people of all faiths, but could also give something to someone what one wanted-whtether a believer or an artist, an artist or an scho;ar, a politician or a housewife, a writer or simple farmer.  
                        
A lively account of the life and work of Anandamayi Ma, one of the great female Hindu teachers of modern times and journey through India with the author.A former Nazi functionary disagreed with the establishment and left Germany to settle in Afghanistan as a journalist. This journalist, Melita Maschmann, came to India on her way back to Germany in 1962, and ran into Ma Anandmayi, an encounter that changed her life, and after travelling to different places with Anandamayi, she decided to make India her home.

This book which is a kind of a diary of her travels with this woman saint of India has been rendered into English by Shridhar B. Shrotri who has taught German at Karnatak University, Dharwad. It is an account, not of an inquisitive journalist but of an ardent disciple, full of admiration and reverence.

The book contains a sketch of Ma Anandamayi’s life, describing her capacity to work miracles, to render her body insensitive to pain, to abstain from food for long periods, to appear somewhere without actually being there, and so on. It also records Melita Maschmann’s meetings with other Indian personalities, mostly religious people, but in her quest for the ultimate truth she also encounters persons like Mother Teresa, Railhana Tyabji, an associate of Gandhiji, and Tibetan lamas at Bodh Gaya, and watches Buddhist ceremonies at the monastery. At the end of it all, the German journalist draws the conclusion that the ultimate answer has to come from within.