7 Aug 2009, Amritpauri

The routine of the Ashram is what keeps the buzz uniform. Monday is supposedly a no-public-Darshan-day, Tuesday her Satsang day, Wednesday and Thursday are Darshan days like on Saturdays and Sundays and Friday, a meditative day. However Amma sets a high bar for her many children to follow.

The Friday last was one another of those special days. Amma hailed us all once again to the beachside. As the song “Neelkadakaraiyil Thavan cheyyum nithiya kannigaiyai” goes, Amma had sat down facing the sea and had started the meditation. The sight was really beautiful. We, her children, of various colors and shapes, sat around Amma to enjoy the perfect calmness that Amma shares during such special events. After a couple of minutes of guided meditation, Amma started asking all around for their share of spiritual humor. Some of her western children took the opportunity to share their jokes. Amma said although everyone present there was interested in spiritual bliss, each one of us should care about the ecology and environment around us. She went on to ask what was each of our opinion on how the environment can be returned back to some of its pristine pureness. Many of those present there started taking the microphone to share their opinions. Some talked of tree-planting, some others of spreading the awareness of discriminative use of resources and other topics, bringing out some of the main themes of Ashram’s currently ongoing humanitarian work. At one point Amma said that this discussion may go on for a long time and that the main thing that we have to remember is to save the environment around us from exploitation, reduce our needs, to be considerate of others, reduce waste of water and other precious elements in our everday lives. Amma even elaborated on the virtues of righteous living.

As the evening drew its shades by turning the sun mild and red, Amma requested all to move back to Ashram for bhajans and that she would follow after a couple of minutes behind them. Amma walked closer towards the edge of the sea. After few minutes, Amma was seen walking back to Ashram in the same path that she had used to reach the beach side.

A little while later, Amma came for bhajans. Like Tagore writes “When grace is lost from life,come with a burst of song.” Amma did come to all of us that night in her deeply moving melody of bhajans. At the very end of bhajans, it is lovely when Amma glances all with her corner of the eyes, scanning the hall from end to end in her unique subtle way giving her children the warm feel of the loving watchful Mother. Seeing that glimpse, the mind loses its questions. Gitanajali describes the moment better:
“When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut.
Oh, grant me my prayer that I may never lose
the bliss of the touch of the one in the play of many. ”

— Shyam