26 September 2004 — Amritapuri

Amma’s 51st Birthday

As the 27th approaches, the number of people coming to Amritapuri to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Amma’s birth continues to climb. Truly, they are coming from all over—from Kerala, France, Australia, Pune…. Amritapuri.org took the chance to speak with some of the devotees and see how they are feeling on this auspicious occasion.

“We are celebrating God’s birthday. We left everything at home to celebrate for three days. We are here to have Her blessings and the valuable message of Her talks. We gain our strength from Amma and our peace of mind. My friends and I are here doing seva for three days to help Amma.”

—Smt. Paniker, Chengannur, Kerala

“This is our third celebration of Amma’s Birthday. We are doing seva to help make the birthday a success. Our seva brings us pleasure and we do it as a group with all of our enthusiasm. It so touches our hearts, it is difficult to express in words.”

—AICT, Amritapuri students
Santosh, Raghavendra, Jagadish
Aict boys

“This is our first time at Mother’s birthday. It is great to come in contact with so many cultures and people. We are Amma’s devotees. She is the source of our inspiration. So it is very special to be here on Her birthday.”

—Poornima & Praseedha
AICT Amritapuri

“Our main impression is one of overwhelm. We are overwhelmed by the numbers of people and the devotion to Amma expressed by all those here. The giving-ness is the strongest thing we see here. There is a wonderful festive feeling in this condensed village. We arrived yesterday and our seva was a three-hour stint washing the giant kitchen pots, the ones you climb into to clean. It got us in touch with this powerful sense of giving that is so strong here.”

—Julie and Nic, Melbourne, Australia

“It is my wish for Mother’s birthday to offer Mother’s Love to others. That is my present to Her. What could be more important today than to give love to others? By Amma’s example, I am learning to give love.”

—Angele, France