Category: WithAmma
travelling with amma
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musical chennai
23 jan, chennai – bharata yatra 2009 it was always a problem of space in chennai. too many people come to see amma in tooo little space. but there is space for everyone in amma. lot of politicians, film actors, musicians came to see amma apart from the general public. the musicians not only had darshan, they made every one the taste a bit of rasa they received from amma. famous play back singers ks chitra and chinmayi sang beautiful bhajans. umayalpuram k sivaram was the next. he did a solo in karnatic percussion instrument mridungam for about 20 minutes.…
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uncharacteristic tamil
19 jan, neyveli, tamil nadu – bharata yatra 2009 the industrial city of neyveli welcomed amma. this was amma’s first visit to the city. the crowds have been very quiet. even though it was big, they sat through the satsangs and bhajans and waited patiently for darshan. this rarely happened in amma’s programmes in tamil nadu. remember last year amma herself asked every one to sit quiet during her satsang in coimbatore {read here}. here it was so quiet. quiet uncharacteristic of tamil. many were seeing amma for the first time and they were in tears. neyveli is famous for…
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stop at the university
15 jan, bharata yatra 2009, ettimadai it was not scheduled. nothing in amma’s life is scheduled. amma says that her life is like that of a river. she is just flowing the way she wants with her own undisclosed plans. so here also the same thing happened. on the way to coimbatore, amma went straight to the swimming pool of the university. its an olympic standard pool, one of the best in south india. the blue water reflected the western ghats. amma walked alone to the other side of the pool, sat there on the steps. the group joined amma…
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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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Living in the present with Amma
We on tour with Amma are learning this lesson intensely – to live in the present, whether on the journey or in the destination. While our straight-jacket mind thinks of program places as the real events of the tour, it calculates the distance between places and time of journey etc. Sometimes more than even the program place we lose ourselves in thinking that once the bus stops we have to rush to secure a place for our mats. All for a stay as brief as one or two days! Sometimes mistaking it for the end of our lives. Amma’s tours…
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Free cellphone
Bharata Yatra 2009, When i arrived in the Ashram 3 days earlier I didnt know that i ‘d go on tour with Amma. And when i learned about it, I decided to go even if i was not very confident for I dont know much about AMMA, I dont even know what “Aum Namah Shivaya” means, i just say it becasus i feel what it means. So here I am in Kodungaloor alone, without any family,friends and any cellphone since it fell off the train during my way to the Ashram. I am surrounded by people i dont know. That…
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Love in Coimbatore
18 Jan 2009, Coimbatore In Coimbatore during a morning darshan I was standing on the first floor of the school which gave a full view of Amma giving darshan. She was doing this in full speed. People pushed and rushed to secure darshan tokens in exchange for the timecards served on their arrival. It looked like they wanted nothing else but the tokens for darshan. Sure the love in their hearts was stirred fully awake. But Amma seems much more eager to meet Her children or why would she undertake such travel travails upon herself on such large scales the…
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inner coolness
13- 14 jan 2009, Bharata Yatra 2009, Kodungallur on the 12th evening amma arrived at amrita vidyalayam, kodungullar. amma stayed there. the ashram is about one kilometer away. i saw an old man, who was supposed to be at amrita university for an ugc inspection – but was here. i asked him why he was here.” “this is the place amma initiated me to a mantra, and the lalita sahasranama. how can i forget?” this is the bond the old timers have with kodungullur. remember, in those days, the brahmasthanam festival was for 9 days, with 5 archanas of 1000…
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Blue Sky, Blue Sari, Jewels
29 November 2008 San Ramon Dawn gave way to sunshine as Amma continued to give darshan through the morning. Dozens if not nearly a hundred people were standing outside the hall waiting for the first rayso of the sun to clear the hilltops to the east. A blissful serenity has befallen MA Center. As the sun rose higher, the blue sky was adorned with white streaks of clouds and airplane trails – instantly reminding one of Amma inside with her blue sari adorned with golden threads. Swami Ramakrishna was singing his set for some time when Swami Amritaswarupananda came for…