Category: AshramDiary
life at the Amritapuri ashram
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nanda gopan tapamirunnu
25 aug 2008, amritapuri the night of krishna jayanthi at amritapuri is some thing to be seen, to be a participant in, to be experienced. amma is always smiling. today her smile has a speciality – a bewitching one. she is ecstatic and she takes all others to this realm of bliss. how do i describe it? the bhagavata reading was fantastic. you can feel the devotion. the particular chapter describes how nature was preparing itself for the birth of sri krishna. as midnight strikes, when the stanzas are sung that krishna is with all the divine attributes, then the…
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the karma of a koorma
24 aug 2008, amritapuri it was sri krishna’s birthday. but there were such an enthusiasm that one would feels that its one ‘s own birthday. The whole ashram was in ecstasy. when amma came to the uriyadi grounds, there were about 400 small krishnas, radhas, gopas and gopis + the incarnations of lord vishnu. its a wonderful scene to watch the little krishnas with the ‘real krishna’ amongst them. different groups of people took part in uriyadi. children, boys, girls…. breaking the mud pots reminds one of the leelas of sri krishna. the venue set up near the cow shed…
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The Magic of Ammas Love
It is so nice to see people change in Amma’s Love.We had an IAM class last week. There were about 80 people – as usual from all over the world, from the East to the West.One lady came up to me during a break and asked me, “I do not know whether my question is right or not but I just did not feel anything when I met Amma. It was my first meeting with Amma and people told me that I was supposed to feel something, but I just did not.”I talked to her and told her to take…
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Eyes are on the Goal
Recently there was one lady at Amritapuri. After becoming a part of the Amma family, she had with the help of other local devotees initiated many new charitable service activities. And through these activities they had been really helping a lot of needy people, reaching out to a lot of new people with Amma’s message. But there was a problem. And so many times we too find it is so with us too – that one problem which mars perfection! There was another devotee who had been involved with the local activities for some time now and somehow both could…
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Chocolates for Meditation
There have been a series of IAM meditation classes here in Amritapuri – even for the children. It was the first time I was taking a class for children in Amritapuri. There were children from all over. Some serious and some…. – You Know! It was so beautiful to watch all the children and how Amma was so deep rooted in them. But thought that was the case – before the actual meditation we all sat with eyes closed and imagined that Amma was there right in front of us and She held a chocolate in Her hand. So obviously…
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Love & Life
an indian couple was getting amma’s darshan. the woman had lots of complaints. they fought often. amma told the man “you already married four times. you’re too old. you will not get another wife. take care of her children as well as yours. start loving them. without adjustments, peace is not possible.” it was a very interesting teaching and a fact of life. just by marrying as much as you want, you do not get love or evolve in love. love is something you have to give. allow yourself to accommodate the other in your heart as he or she…
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Parippuvada
a devotee brought parippuvada to amma during darshan. the moment she opened the vessel. the smell of curry leaves and dal fried in pure coconut oil filled the darshan stage. yummm.. my nostrils flared in appreciation. looking at amma i told her, it’s very good. very good smell. i took a lung full of air. uuuuuumhhhh amma took one parippuvada in each hand. she took a bite from her right hand. then. feeling that the one in her left hand was bigger and will feel sad. she took a bite from the left hand. then one from the right hand,…
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prayers be fulfilled
9 aug 2008 different people come to amma for different reasons. sometimes its interesting to know, what brings them to amma. i met monisha, 11 years, from chennai amrita vidyalayam, who participated in the asian chess competition held recently in iran. she got the 2nd prize. she wants to be recognized as a grand master in chess. she believes that amma will help her. darshini, aged 13, was the other one. she is also from amrita vidyalayam, chennai. darshini is into swimming competitions. she already won 8 medals in the last 8 months- from national and state level competitions. she…
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Recycling
I have found a new source of enjoyment in my current seva. It is sorting the recycling into categories that can be sold or disposed of. Bins are collected from all over the ashram; the burnable items are separated and taken to be burnt; then we sort the remainder by type: plastic water bottles, other plastic, drinks cartons, metal and glass. There are special containers for bottle tops, pens, batteries, light bulbs etc. The satisfaction comes from turning ‘rubbish’ into something useful and profitable for the ashram. It has certainly changed the way I view the material that I use…