Amma arrived at Melbourne international Airport on April 3^rd around 1pm after holding programmes in Singapore and Malaysia.

A hundred or so people were on hand at the airport gate to greet Amma – an unusual scene for this American – where only ticket holders are allowed past security and to the gate.   Amma was garlanded, a small pada puja was performed, and then Amma gave everyone brief darshan in the form of a kiss.  Amma  then walked through the terminal to the sidewalk where her car was waiting to take her  to the home where she would rest before the Melbourne programmes would start the next day.

The Melbourne programmes and retreat are being held at the Sandown Race Track in a room just next to the race track.   Glass windows along one side of the hall give a full view of the track – an even better view can be had from the dining hall just upstairs.  Being a race track with legalized betting, the hall is filled with dozens of TV screens which were happily connected to Amrita TV’s cameras so that darshan could be viewed on each screen.    Dozens of images of Amma giving darshan were Amma was literally everywhere in the hall!

During the second morning of programmes, race cars were practicing on the track outside – zooming along at breakneck speeds – the roar of their engines filtering into the room as they passed by the hall where Amma was giving darshan. While walking outside, she stopped and watched the cars race by.  Round and round they were going in circles.   Racing along their own ‘razor’s edge’  – perhaps  unaware that the woman just inside the hall they were passing was guiding everyone along their own path…..

 – Sri Pati

4-5 April, 2008, Sandown Racecourse, Springvale, Melbourne, Australia