The most beautiful moment though, for me, in this birthday was going to the ‘Amritapadam’ stall- where there were kept a series of paintings that depicted Amma’s life. This was the most beautiful sublime moment- when i saw a painting depicting Amma’s childhood -Amma, as a little girl, sweeping her courtyard, outside a small hut, immersed in thoughts of Lord Krishna, ostracized by society as a crazy girl…. and when i was seeing this picture, outside there were 5 lakh people who had gathered for this girls’ darshan -and the president, the prime minister of the country had sent messages, and nobel laureates and chancellors from abroad were all at Her feet…. the contrast was stunning … this simple girl, sweeping her courtyard, unknown, uneducated, uncared for was some 50 years later to become India’s leading spiritual master, for whose 5 second hug, 10 lakh people had travelled from all the world…

But the beauty is -this ‘girl’ has remained the same. The same love that led her to give up her food for her neighbours and that made her come late to class because she was cleaning someone’s hut on the way, is the same Love with which She adopts 101 villages, adopts offers miraculous technical products to society , and offers darshan to millions.

The beauty is that every one of those 10 lakh people who came- be it the ex president or the nobel laureate or the future prime minister- or the village sweeper who came in for darshan , receives the same Love and feels the same warmth when those eyes look into theirs, and that voice says ‘ende mone ende mone‘…..

Pranams to all who made Amritavarsham 60 possible- starting from Swamiji, the Swamis, all the ashramites, and all of Amma’s children .

bala