Dusky grey-green olive leaf branches fanning from twisted black tree trunks on tan fields, the jagged, blue-grey pinnacles of Mountserrat rising like a Disney castle in the distance; the Spanish ashram could not be more picturesquely located. These peaks are the home of the Black Madonna of Mountserrat, now overlooking the abode of the white robed, Brown Madonna from the Arabian Sea. Our caravan reached the ashram as the golden light of the late afternoon sun stroked the old stone walls of the classic Spanish farmhouse. Amma was already inside her room there, having come the day before after the close of the massive Toulon Devi Bhava.

We entered a large metal barnlike structure, which was heated with two wood stoves. A chair had been prepared for Amma covered with lavender pink cloth. Behind it was a simple backdrop of a heart, outlined with marigold flowers and small olive twigs. The olive branch, traditionally the symbol of peace, seemed very well placed behind Amma, the manifestation of perfect peace in every way.
Hundreds of dishes and huge pots of spaghetti were stationed at the side of the room. When Amma arrived, the servers began passing the plates, but Amma, with a large frown on her normally smiling face, indicated that she wanted the plates to come to her and she would pass them. Another attempt to spare Amma extra effort had failed once again!
After the prayers and when the delicious spaghetti had been consumed, Amma asked for jokes and stories. Some of them were quite funny. In one joke, a man had been dreaming that he was chased by a huge dinosaur. After trying all means to escape, he finally came up against a dead end. He turned to face the monster and asked, “Are you going to eat me?” “I don’t know,” said the creature. “It’s your dream!” We smiled at each other and laughed.
This joke had a deep significance. Amma keeps stressing we have choices in how we face situations. “Happiness is a decision,” she tells us in almost every satsang. In this joke, so were life and death! By extension, one could even say that in our “dream” of maya, we are also choosing life and death. Some decisions lead to life and some to death. It’s our choice.
One Spanish woman spoke eloquently about the Spanish ashram and how it is such a gift to the Spanish people. She described it as a kind of portal to the divine. She mentioned that Anand, the elderly man who supervises the ashram, spent many years in Amritapuri with Amma. She described that without knowing either Malayalam or English, he was somehow able to imbibe so many of Amma’s teachings and put them into practice in Spain. Indeed, the Spanish ashram is run along the lines of Amritapuri, with the same timetable and emphasis on sadana and seva.
As her children spoke, Amma proceeded to section and clean some pomegranates that had been given her. As usual, she did this with complete one-pointed attention and with every look and gesture full of melting love. She then invited each person to take one scarlet translucent seed of the fruit.
After the soul stirring bhajan, “Hari Narayana,” Amma stood up to leave. The locals sang to her as they waited for her to come to her car. The Spanish often serenade Amma as she comes and goes. This is a part of their tradition- to serenade the beloved. This night they sang “Om Namah Shivaya” as Amma left the ashram.
They would serenade her again as she left the hall 3 days later. Her visit to Spain featured the biggest program in European history on the first day, and a huge Devi Bhava, which ended before 10 in the morning only because the hall had a curfew.
They sang, “Amma, ven a mi corazon y llenamelo de Amor.” “Amma, ven a mi corazon y llenamelo de Amor.” (Amma, come into my heart and fill it with your overflowing love.) As Amma left the hall she stopped many times to give a few more hugs, a few more melting looks to the tearful faces. It seemed as hard for her to leave them as it was for them to have her leave. In fact, it seemed as if the song had come true, the Spanish devotees were filled with the overflowing, melting love of Amma. Now the real work would begin: to keep that love and express it in every thought, word and deed.
Rta
Granollers, Spain — 2010 Europe Yatra