25 Dec 2007, Amritapuri
It wakes you up at the crack of dawn.  Speakers across the backwaters. Speakers near the Ashram.  Full blast, and it continues on until dusk.  Sometimes it starts earlier, sometimes ends later.

It’s Festival Time again.  Of course, in Amritapuri, everyday is a festival.  But on some occasions during the year, there are festivals going on at temples all over the area.  These days, there is one going on across the backwaters at a small temple.  Someone has sponsored the chanting of the Srimad Bhaghavatam (stories about the incarnations of Vishnu).  There are at least three speakers   They are small, megaphone-shaped, and high up in the palm trees.   Strategically placed to maximize coverage.  But they are not in synch, so there is a delay. And an echo.  9 times I counted the other day.  The sound bounces off the flats.    The chanting is in Malayalam or Sanskrit, but it sounds like mumbo-jumbo.  Even if you know the languages, we can’t figure out how anyone understands what is being said.   Sometimes, there are two or three festivals going on simultaneously.  And then one can imagine what that sounds like….The whole scenario boggles the western mind.  But is the fabric of India.   A part of the culture

A visitor once asked Amma what to do.  He couldn’t meditate and wasn’t getting enough sleep.  Amma asked, ‘What are they playing?’   ‘They are chanting the sacred names of Krishna.”   Amma just sighed, smiled, closed Her eyes, and placed Hands on Her heart..  End of story.  For wasn’t it the same chanting that caused Amma to stop in Her tracks so many years back and go into Krishna bhava for the first time?

Sri Pati