Category: AshramDiary
life at the Amritapuri ashram
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Alps to Amritapuri on Bike
From the Alps to Amritapuri, on his… bicycle! Being at Amritapuri for 2 or 3 weeks while Amma is on tour in India, is a most precious and valuable opportunity to get in touch with your inner self and enjoy most precious moments of blissful peace. When Amma is here the place is a boiling pot, heated up daily by Amma’s intense ‘all-directional’ Shakti. When Amma is away, and most of her disciples and ashramites with Her (Which is the case for the Indian tours), this place, where She grew up, where She ‘experienced’ the most exalted mystical bhavas, and…
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Communicating with Dolphins
Communicating with Dolphins at Amma’s Beach! Two days ago, chatting with a friend here at Amritapuri, we shared some nice memories of seeing dolphins in the ocean, from Amma’s beach (just 2 minutes walk from the ashram, by the Ayurveda Research Center). My friend said that once someone was sad and complaining that the dolphins never came for her to see them. She was then told, that they would surely come when we call them with a pure and sincere heart. They feel such vibrations and will definitely answer the call. If they hadn’t come to her yet, it was…
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Sivaratri in Amritapuri
5 March 2008 This past Wednesday, Sivaratri was celebrated literally all day long in Amritapuri. While our Beloved Amma was somewhere in Gujarat or Rajasthan, on Her way to Jaipur, Her children in Amritapuri were like Parvati doing penance for their beloved Siva who had suddenly disappeared. For a full 24 hours, the Brahmacharinis held a marathon of chanting, singing, and pujas in the Kali Temple which began 4:30am and ended just before Archana the next morning. Sitting in the Kalari for one of the various scheduled pujas, one could hear the Brahmachrinis chanting either the Maha Mrityunjayan Mantra (Om…
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Bhakti Pilgrimage
In the days before the Mangalore Brahmastanam, the question that pretty much everyone in Amritapuri was asking each other was ‘are you going to Mangalore?’ Indeed, when word quickly spread that there was an inexpensive overnight train from Kayankulam station (about 7km from Amritapuri) to Mangalore, people started making plans. Train tickets were booked, hotel reservations made, and excited anticipation set in. So on departure night, buses were arranged to take people to Kayankulam, where two separate trains were scheduled to depart about 1/2 an hour apart – the Malabar Express, and the Malveli Express. The bus that I happened…
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What to do
What to do when Amma is gone…..The boys have returned to the stage, and the girls to the Temple for morning Archana and evening bhajans. The Arati bells have resumed their nightly chiming. Amma is physically away from Amritapuri and won’t be back until mid-April. The Ashram is very empty now. Almost all the Brahmacharis and Brahmahcarinis have gone with Amma on the North Indian Tour, as have most International visitors. Some have remained behind for any number of reasons. And there are always one or two dozen tourists who come by boat and spend the night. With no Devi Bhava webcasts…
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whose house?
6 feb 2008, amritapuri she came through the window. i was wondering why she is coming to the brahmacharis quarters. how dare she? she had few strands of fibre in her hand. she looked at me and smiled- a kind of an awkard smile. her eyes looked like asking me permission ‘can i come in?’. but she did not wait for any answer. jumped on to the cupboard and then to the shelf and disappeared behind the stuff that was there. aha! there she is making her home. oh ho… is she going to deliver babies and bring them up…
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The 1st Batch of Amrita Dr Graduates
4 February 2008—Amrita University, Cochin Campus We, the first batch of 96 MBBS interns visited Amritapuri on 3rd February 2008 to seek the blessings of our beloved Amma, the chancellor of Amrita University, prior to our graduation ceremony to be held at AIMS on 4th February. In spite of her busy schedule, Amma gave us some of her valuable time. When Amma called us for darshan, one of us took the initiative and prayed to Amma to hand over the certificates to each student after blessing them. All students clad in their best attire moved swiftly with smiling faces to…
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Bhajans in Amritapuri
2 Feb 2007, Amritapuri Amma is back from the South Indian tour and so is the bliss of singing bhajans in her presence. I Stayed back due to some work, and just two weeks without Amma are enough for the mind to start wandering a little, so it is invigorating to immerse oneself in Her presence again. If that happens here in the ashram I wonder how essential it is for devotees elsewhere to go and be in her presence at least once a year? One thing is true however, that if needed Amma can give to others in just…
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Sibling Good Manners
17 Jan 2007, Amritapuri. The other night, just after Bhajans, but before Arati, all the children who were sitting behind Amma got up and ran off the stage. All of them, that is, except my 6 year old daughter Gaiamrita. She had positioned herself sitting directly behind Amma and was sitting cross-legged, with spine straight. She stayed through Arati singing along. My 2-1/2 year old son, Ravi , who had been sitting out of view on the stage, walked out to join his sister at the end while they were chanting ‘Lokah Samastah Sukinau Bhavantu’. When the chanting had finished,…