In Madurai, the public programme was held just near the center of the city, on the grounds of a Medical Society. Thousands of people came from all around to receive Amma’s darshan, attracted to the light of her radiant smile, her warm embrace. Their egos burning in the flame of her infinite love. Amma’s light must have been exceedingly bright this evening, for not only did thousands of people come, but so did the bugs. Right at the start of Amma’s satsang. Tons and tons. By the millions. Small one-centimeter-long flying ants. Swarming all over. At first it started in the crowd – stage left. Looking out at the crowd, everyone to the left was swatting – papers, saris, dhotis. The right side seemed unaffected. Then they made their way to the stage. Crawling up people’s legs, in their hair, on the carpet, up their pants. I found myself nearly undressing – to the amusement of a few brahmacharis who were watching me as I struggled to free the critters from inside my shirt. They were also crawling up the banner backdrop of the stage – heading upwards in a race to nowhere. After about an hour or so, the invasion abated. But many remained – clustered around the lights on the stage, crawling on the carpet, struggling to take flight again. Perhaps they really did come for Amma’s darshan, a civilization of beings taking one last birth to exhaust their karma in the flame of Amma’s arms.

Sri Pati – US

Madurai Public Programme