Om Amriteshvaryai Namah
Weekends are incredibly busy here. Saturday and Sunday Amma is giving darshan on the big stage all day.
It is very like Devi Bhava except that it goes on all day. This morning Amma came at 10am and it is now 10.16pm and she is about to finish.
The ashram has been full of crowds of people; everywhere there are little stalls and canteens supplying food and drink late into the night.It has been raining heavily as well.

Where to find the inner silence?

Yesterday morning I found it! I attended an IAM refresher course led by Nijamrita Swami.

Somebody asked what he could do because he had such good meditations in Amritapuri but once he got home they lost their intensity and became stale and mechanical.
Nijamrita answered that it is the grace of Amma’s presence here which allows us to have such deep meditation and that if we want to have it anywhere and in all situations we will have to work for it for ourselves. She gives us a taste of what is possible for us. There is no other way to overcome obstacles than through effort. We have no option unless we wish to stay as we are.
He stressed how meditation is the most important thing in life and also that actually we choose what we think, it is our attention that feeds our thoughts. Only by turning our attention away from all the competing thoughts within us and focusing on one thought, whether it be Amma or whatever we are doing in the present moment, can we go beyond thought and achieve lasting peace. Meditation is awareness of what we are doing.

He ended with a beautiful explanation of the aarati. Aarati, he said, means love, full love. The fire of the aarati lamp represents knowledge and also love. The camphor burns leaving no trace behind. So during the aarati we should feel that we are completely merging with Amma in love, not to lose ourselves, but in order to gain the totality. As we came out to breakfast the world seemed fresh and new after the deep peace of the meditation.
Mike, Uk
Saturday 12 Aug 2006.