Yesterday while Amma was giving darshan in the evening, everyone was captivated by a divine play. There was this small child (about five years old) who could only speak broken, yet very sweet, Malayalam. It (not sure whether it was a boy or a girl) wanted to come near Amma, so it started making loud noises and its mother tried hard to calm it down. Suddenly Amma looked at it and called it to sit near her. The child was extremely happy. It went and sat right next to Amma. For some time it kept looking at Amma intently. Since there was a large crowd of devotees, people were trying to move the child away, in order to clear some space around Amma so that the crowd could move easily. But this child was not ready to budge even an inch from there. Even if someone forcefully moved it away, it would shout at them loudly, come back and sit right next to Amma.

Amma was laughing at all this. After some time she asked the child to also give darshan. And instantly, the child started giving darshan. It was so full of innocence and purity. Those who were on the male side of the darshan queue were now getting the darshan from this small child and then from Amma. The child would first hug them just like Amma does and then it would loudly say something like “medi kutti” thrice, just like Amma says “my darling son” or “my darling daughter” . After that, the child would even give prasad like Amma does, putting it in the hands of each person who came to it. Of course, the prasad was imaginary. Amma was laughing watching this, and so was everyone around. This went on for quite sometime. The child would try to reach out to the next person in queue as soon as Amma hugged the person in front. Whenever the child uttered “medi kutti” loudly, everyone burst out laughing.

Due to this double darshan, the pace slowed down. Seeing this, some ashramites who wanted Amma to take rest, since she had been giving darshan for so many days continuously, were trying hard to move the child away. At this, the child would make faces and scold them in Malayalam saying things like, “Don’t touch me,” “Go away.” etc. The sweet thing was that the very next moment, it would smile at them also. Amma was giggling and laughing at all this. Seeing all this for long time, the father of the child became worried. He stood up in a repentative posture, as if very upset about the whole thing. Amma immediately turned towards him and asked him not to worry. She told the parents that once when Amma had gone to North America, there was a child, who came up to Amma and said, “Amma, you take rest for some time; now I will give darshan for a while.” Everyone laughed hearing this. The double darshan continued.

Even though Amma was not bothered and was thoroughly enjoying what was happening, the father was getting restless. He came near the child and tried to forcibly take the child away. Of course that didn’t work. The child was glued next to Amma. It would make loud cries whenever its father tried to take it away. It would show a lot of anger and resentment on its face and say in Malayalam, “Don’t say Anything!” “I have to give darshan,” “Don’t bother me,” “Dad, go and sit there.” etc. Finally, the father gave up. Immediately the child smiled and said, “Accha [Dad], come I will give you darshan.” Everyone burst out laughing once again, including Amma. It seemed like this child was not going to move away. Anyway, the double darshan continued for about half an hour. Ashramites, parents and everyone else gave up because the child was just not ready to move away. However the devotees were thoroughly enjoying the double hug and imaginary prasad.

Amit
8 Aug 2007