This evening, as I was walking towards the Bhajan Hall, I noticed a large group of westerners gathered in front of the main temple. Figuring they had just arrived and might need some help, I offered. Indeed, they had just arrived an hour ago and would be leaving around 7:30pm. They were all from Germany and were sad at having missed darshan – none of them had met Amma before. I gave them a brief introduction to the Ashram and managed to gather a few Embracing the World brochures even though the Information Center was closed at the time. I explained that Amma would be coming down for bhajans in a few moments and perhaps they would like to see Her come out of Her room.

So I brought them around to the front of Amma’s house where they patiently waited. I told them that Amma may not even come out for Bhajans, but they should wait and hopefully Amma would walk by on her way to the hall. As I looked at the group lined up on either side of the pathway, I wondered at how they would react to their first glimpse of Amma, and of course, how Amma would react to this large group of new comers.

After about 5 minutes, Amma came down the stairs and made her way through the gathered crowd. I was standing next to one of the women from the group. As Amma walked by, She briefly looked up at this woman, and with a beautiful big look of welcoming surprise, said ‘Ah!’, and with a huge smile, her hand gently stroked the woman’s face. Amma then walked off to the stage. Afterwards, I saw this woman beaming while recounting the event to her friend.

I’m sure this first meeting will be forever etched in this woman’s heart…

Sri Pati
17 August 2007