LA Retreat 2nd Day

Darshan ended around 2pm in the afternoon which gave ample time to rest before the evening Q&A session. Amma came down at around 6:30pm to one of the courtyards in the hotel and sat on a petham with a beautifully decorated backdrop. After meditation, hands went up in the air signaling a desire to ask a question. In all, three questions were answered by Amma, each response filled her infinitude wisdom, and, of course, embellished with lots of humor and fun. One devotee, who is known for his tattoo filed face, was one of the questioners. While Swamiji was translating Amma’s answer, Amma was quietly drawing on a clipboard next to Her. When finished, she held up the clipboard to show to the devotee who was standing about 10 feet away. Those of us close by immediately realized that Amma had drawn his face -tattoos and all!

At the end of the Q&A session, Amma sang Mukunda Murari Gopala. Then everyone headed to the dining hall for dinner

. Bhajans followed. Amma sang:

Daya Karo Tum
Sri Krishna Sharanam
Vedana Konduru
Nin Ormakal Matram (in Spanish)
Kali Maheshwariye
Sankara Siva Sankara (new)
Devi Devi Devi
Mayyaji Menu

As with all second retreat nights, Amma and everyone were treated to an evening of performances by local devotees. The first was a Bollywood skit about a woman from ancient India who was killed by cow just before their wedding. Both were incarnated in modern day

Mumbai – she a spiritual meditator, and he a Bollywood actor. They meet because the noise from his movie production was disturbing her meditation. Eventually, though, they get married. The performance was filled with wonderfully choreographed Bollywood style dancing and singing which Amma and the crowd wholeheartedly enjoyed. At the end, the performers received a standing ovation.

Next, the LA Satsang sang a number of beautiful hymns to Amma filled with multiple harmonies and styles including opera and gospel. They were followed by a harp player who entertained the crowd with a number of melodies from around the world.

The last performance featured a number of African dances by devotees from the San Diego satsang. Over the past few months, they had been practicing with Lamine Thiam – renowned West African drummer and dancer from Senagal. They were accompanied by Lamine on djembe and a number of other percussionists from the local sating.

For their final dance, they invited everyone in the crowd to come out and join them. One by one, people bolted out of their chairs and threw themselves in to the rhythm – arms, legs, bodies bounding in joy. A woman with a child on her hip, another with a small dog, young, old – everyone participated – whether tapping their shoes, clapping their hands, bouncing in their seats, or jumping up and down. (note: dogs were allowed in the hotel) When the drums finally came to a stop, a thunderous applause erupted and everyone started to disperse. But just at that moment, a young child took to the floor and began dancing. Not missing a beat, the drums started up again, and a circle formed around the youngster. The fun was not meant to end! A few more children joined in. Then one after another, an adult would spontaneously jump in and solo dance in rapture. This child was reminded of a few years back in Amritapuri when on the eve of Amma’s birthday, tribal Adivasis were performing a traditional dance during darshan Soon, a few westerners had joined in, followed by students, and before one knew it, the whole hall was bouncing in joy. The night here in LA seemed to resonate with that same energy. After what seemed like an eternity, the drumming finally stopped, and everyone went back to their seats.

Darshan continued for some time. Yet the best was still to come … as darshan was coming to an end, Amma was almost about to get out of her chair to leave the hall. A crowd had gathered around her in anticipation that she might sing as she had done a few nights back. With a smile and a twinkle in her eyes, Amma loudly exclaimed that we were all ‘intoxicated’. Indeed we were. For we were all riding on a wonderful high from the earlier performances and dances and were eager to join with the Divine Mother in more revelry. So apparently glued to Her seat by our intoxication and answering the calls of her children, Amma took a microphone and began singing Hari Narayana Jai Naranaya, Hari Narayan Gopala. On and on it went. As the chorus continued, Amma looked back to Ramanand who was standing directly behind her. She was motioning for him to add his wonderful calls to the chant, which he of course did. Amma also joined in. As the energy increased, Amma spontaneously called out ‘Hari Bol!’ with her hands raised upwards and index fingers pointed. The crowd joyously responded. This went back and forth a number of times, and Amma added one of her ‘drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr’ trills before ending with what must have been 6 or 7 ‘Mata Rani Ki….. Jai’s.

The thing is, this last ‘Jai’ was so powerful and so loud, one could almost see the fireworks and bolts of light shooting upwards from everyone’s extended hands and fingers. It was a grand ending to a wonderful evening with Amma.

– Sri Pati