24 Dec 2010, Amritapuri

Another Christmas – so very meaningful when you are in the Divine Presence of a Master. And a play by Amma’s western children which was a reflection of the love they felt for their Master, Amma. The scenes were perfect, the execution wonderful. A true labour of love.
At one point during the performance Amma expressed some discomfort. It seemed like Amma was feeling cold. At that point one of Amma’s western children, whom I had not seen before, approached Her, stepping through the jam packed hall. He had a plastic carry bag in his hand. Not knowing what he was approaching Amma for I asked him to stop for the moment. He just handed me a bag and asked me to pass it to Amma. He said that it was for Amma to wrap around. I looked inside and I found some lengths of cloth. I offered it to Amma and when She asked I told Her that he had given it for Amma as he felt She was feeling cold. Amma took out one cloth – it looked like a new violet dhoti. Then She took out the next one – a white dhoti with a coloured border. She smiled at the person who had offered it and wrapped it around Herself. I felt so happy for him that Amma had accepted his offering with so much love and also because he had responded to Amma’s need with such an innocent offering.

In one part of the play Christ says, “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.”

“I was naked and you clothed me.” As I heard those words tears welled up in my eyes. How appropriate to what had happened. Amma, the master, God – felt cold and one of Her children had offered his new clothes to Her. How fortunate, how blessed he was to have been able to make this offering to God directly.
I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas – take this opportunity to feed God, to offer drink to God, to cloth God…

– Nijamrita