Category: interesting
selected posts because its interesting
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Taking care like elder brothers and sisters
25 sep 2009, Amritapuri Every year, students and staff of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are active participants various service activities that an event of such large scale as Amma’s birthday celebrations entail. This year, their services call for something more than just their physical presence at the venue, but compassionate commitment towards a group of children who come from financially underprivileged sections of the society. These are beneficiaries of Mata Amritanandamayi Math’s Vidyamritam programme, around 10,000 children who find the quarterly stipend given by the Math their only window to the outside world. The children have started arriving at Amritapuri and…
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Winning to meet Amma
Sreeranjini, 8th standard, Kozhimala, Idukki District “My teacher told me that Mata Amritanandamayi Devi was giving scholarships. Before that, I’d never heard of Amma nor her ashram. I sent an application directly to Amma’s address. Amma read my letter and gave me Vidyamritam,” recollects Sreeranjini, a student in the 8th standard from the remote village of Kozhimala in Kerala’s Idukki District. Sreeranjini was one of the first Vidyamritam beneficiaries, enrolled in the scholarship program in 2007. Her mother—whom Sreeranjini’s father abandoned when Sreeranjini was only four years old—works at a cardamom plantation. Her meager wages are the sole support for…
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kuchela of sriranga-pattinam
23 mar, bharata yatra 2009, sriranga pattinam, karnataka en route to bangalore from mysore, we stopped at sriranga-pattinam for lunch. it was sangama of kaveri river. its a beautiful place; the river flowing around the tip of the land, big banyan trees shading the banks, serene atmosphere of the temple, chanting of the mantras by people doing the rituals for their ancestors… amma came and sat on the steps leading down to the river. she sat on the very uppermost step. people rushed to get a seat near amma as always. sometimes i see that the old adage is true…
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one who takes across the ocean
18 jan, bhavani, bharata yatra 2009 bhavani is always fascinating. i had written about it before {click here to read}. this time it was all different. amma reached after the tour group. the water in the river was full. amma sat on the banks and straight away took the mike and asked her children to narrate some spiritual stories. in between the stories amma added pearls of wisdom to the stories – giving more depth of spiritually to the stories. myself and kannan walked around with camera trying to capture those beautiful moments with amma at this pilgrimage center against…
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Mysterious Bhavani, Mysterious Amma
Jan, Bharata Yatra 2009 This south indian tour has been fascinating for me. Usually I have seen Amma on US tours- somehow seeing Her near temples and holy rivers, seems more appropriate than in hotels and ballrooms… This time was the first time I accompanied Amma’s famous trips to Her favorite Bhavani river. Little did I realise the rich symbology that was to hit me. I first thought that Bhavani was a simple river, whose banks have been sanctified by Amma each year. But somehow, I thought, if each time, Amma stops there, there must be something special there. I…
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A Polishing Walk
Some of Amma’s children have very unique ways of reaching Amma’s arms. One of them is Andrzei Makowski, a 61 year old retired police officer from Poland, who just walked 7000 kilometers by foot to reach Amritapuri. “I like challenges and risk in life,” says Andrzei, “I came to India four times before, but sitting in the plane for ten hours is very boring.” This is why on September 7th 2007 Andrzei set out with a 25kg backpack on his shoulders, a compass and map in his hand and a picture of Amma in his pocket to go on what…
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Ultimate satisfaction
I have been having Amma’s darshan for about 15 years. Amma had come to our place when I was in the 6th standard. We were staying in Suratkal at that time. The program was in a beach side village near Mangalore. My exams were going on at that time but my father forcibly took me to meet Amma. We started from our house at 1 am and reached the program site at 3 am. I had exams the next day so we thought that going early would help us get darshan earlier. I met Amma during the morning program –…
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The Golden Spectacles
It is astounding how Amma comes down to the level of the person with Her and works to uplift him/her. When you are sitting by Her side when She is giving darshan you see so many instances of Her astounding examples of Her love and understanding. Two days ago a family came to Amma. There was an ancient lady with white hair. A man of around 40 years and his sad, distraught wife & child. As the story unravelled we understood that the man was suffering from some ailment and so was unable to work and look after his family.…
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Seeds of Change
Eighty bags filled with rich soil and vegetable seeds currently line the cement wall inside Amrita Vidyalayam, an elementary and secondary learning institution created by Mata Amritanandamayi in Kerala, India. Although somewhat simple in appearance, these bags are the product of collectively eighty hours of passionate finding, folding, lifting, mixing, filling, planning, transporting and most importantly, Divine Grace. The process began on August 19, 2008 when eighteen individuals, aged 18-30, set out on an ecological mission: to introduce organic farming techniques to schoolchildren and in doing so, help mitigate the detrimental effects of global warming. This diverse and dedicated group,…