Category: interesting
selected posts because its interesting
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Call of Nature – call for Awareness!
Amma always reminds us how important it is to have awareness in each and every action of ours. The following incident reminded me just how important it is to put Amma’s advice into practice in everyday life. It was during a spiritual programme with one of Amma’s disciples in Dublin, Ireland. It was my duty to pass around the wireless microphone to people in the audience who wanted to ask questions. As the session went on I suddenly felt the urgent call of Nature. I figured that in between two questions, while the response was going on, I could easily…
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Fabric Painting Classes
Out of all of Amma’s relief programs in Uttarakhand, the Vocational Training Centers have been the instant success story. Standardized curriculum from Amachi Labs, delivered by laptop made it possible to implement the classes so quickly. This week I attended the final session of the Fabric Painting Class in Guptakashi. This was the second batch of 20 students to complete the course there. The ladies were obviously enthusiastic about what they had learned and lined up to show off their finished products. Some were for their own use and some were working samples to show local shopkeepers. Fabric Painting is…
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Is it Rishi back?
“Please don’t pet or feed dogs and animals”. It is a sign that you will see when you visit Amritapuri. Yes, we do love and care for animals, but the ashram is not a place for animal care. By not feeding and petting them we make them understand that it is not a place where they are encouraged to build their needed attachments/family security. But during her childhood and teenage years, Amma did have a best-friend dog, which would stay by her side at all times. A big black and white dog, which would faithfully protect her when she meditated…
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The Old-New Kalari
The Old Kalari (or Krishna’s Temple) is probably the most precious and special place in Amritapuri… Everyone that visits the ashram makes it a point to visit this unique and blessed small place, either to participate in the pujas conducted there or just to sit and meditate for some time. Many years ago, when larger and larger number of people started coming daily to meet her and be in her presence, Amma’s father had no other place to offer her for meeting the visitors and early devotees but the small cowshed right next to the family house… The cows would…
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Child’s Play
Today is Sunday. On Sunday children around the world usually like to enjoy their day off from school and relax…but not the children of Batwadi Sonar. As soon as the Japanese students showed up to do seva this morning, all the village kids were waiting for them. Most of the kids got to help a bit yesterday after school, but today they wanted to be there right from the start. The kids jumped right in and began carrying sacks of sand, running and laughing up the hill to their village. Those too little to carry a sack on their own…
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Preparing the path where there is no road….
After major flash flooding devastated many of the himalayan valleys in Uttarakhand, Amma pledged to rebuild 500 homes in the area. The first phase of that work is going on in and around the village of Chandrapuri in the district of Rudraprayag, on the way up to Kedarnath. A week from now 73 Japanese university students will spend their semester break helping construct houses and to rebuild the lives of people who were struck by this tragedy last summer. Since volunteers have been teaming up with Embracing the World and coming to India to help build homes for those in need.…
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Vocational Education and Training at Uttarakhand
An important part of Amma’s rehabilitation work in Uttarakhand is the Vocational Training Program. It is off to a great start. Three centers have already been inaugurated — in Ukhimath, Gupthkashi, and Agastyamuni — and local trainers have been hired. Each center will offer economic empowerment through Computerized Vocational Education and Training programs (CVET) and social-democratic empowerment through Life Enrichment Education (LEE). Fabric Painting is the first program and a batch of 20 students is underway at each center. During the first session students were asked to make a simple drawing to evaluate their skills. The results were amazing as…
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The future home
To prepare for the MLA’s visit and the assembly of the villagers, Br. Premamrita was up most of the night building a scale model of the house to display. It was done with such care and love. The scale model was a big hit, with many seeing for the first time what their future home would be like. Some women had tears in their eyes as they looked through the windows. This would be their future home. The men, who observe our progress at the site each day, discussed every detail. – Scotti
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Back at Amritapuri
Back at Amritapuri, the Europe tour now becomes a beautiful memory and not a day to day adventure. Other lucky people are still on tour with Amma in the USA. However, it is also lucky to be at Amma’s ashram where there is construction everywhere for new housing. Looks like a lot more people are coming to Amritapuri to visit and live, both short and long term! And everywhere there is cleaning, paint and refurbishing to greet Amma and the hoards of people that are already beginning to arrive for the holiday season. There is fresh light sand covering the…