27 Jan, Tirunelveli

We arrived in Tirunelveli at about 3am.  The women were staying at the Sri Sarada Devi Woman’s College and Hostel – a school founded by Vivekananda and inspired by Sri Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi.  The students here typically go to bed at 9:30pm and wake up between 3 and 4am for morning meditation.  But this night, many had been up since 11:30pm so that they could be awake and greet us when we arrived.  A beautiful mandala, artfully drawn with colored powders adorned the sidewalk at the entrance to the hostel where we were staying.  Beneath it read ‘Welcome’ in large colorful letters.

Giving us a little time to get settled, the girls then asked us to come to the dining hall for snacks.  There, they had us sit side by side on clean mats while they served us plates adorned with bananas, grapes, and various types of biscuits along with chai.  After completing a small seva task and taking a bath, I meditated and went to bed.

The sound of young women’s voices singing awakened me early.  I gently dressed and tried to trace the music to its source.  Students in the halls intercepted me and in response to my questioning, they led me to a large auditorium.  There sat about 150-200 girls in emerald green saris.  They had just finished singing their morning prayers.

My escorts insisted that I sit in a chair and wait while they spoke to the group’s instructor.  They returned saying that the group would sing more prayers for me.
By Amma’s Grace, I was then blessed with a concert of two beautiful songs.  The first was a bhajan that was sung with strong energy and spirit.  The second was more gentle, with a call and response led by the instructor.  Some of the girls kept glancing back at me with big smiles to see my response to their singing.  A the end of the chants, the instructor approached me innocently and asked, ‘Is it enough?’  I smiled and said ‘Yes’ and thanked them for their generous gift.  Then I was off to my next adventure at this amazing college.

Malini – USA