Amritapuri ashram

Category: WithAmma

travelling with amma

  • Forward on the path

    3:00 p.m. Darshan ended. I have never seen such a crowd lining her path from the hall, through the lobby, to the elevators. The looks on the faces of the people after Amma went by were priceless. At the same time, in the hall, there was and still is a crowd around the bookstore tables. One of the items not brought was bhajan books, which I found out the first night when I was asked where they could get a copy after they saw my bhajan books. Last night they projected the words to ‘Where Can I Go’ in Portugese…

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  • 3rd morning Rio

    Yesterday was a little overwhelming here. The first night darshan ended at 5:30 a.m .The second morning program was again packed, and She did not finish giving darshan until 6:15 p.m., a near record for world tours . The bookstore sales are doing very well. One of the odd-job sevas that I picked up was labeling CDs as they are duplicated. We made nearly 200 copies of CDs yesterday . They are selling fine with just hand lettered labels. That seva was very interesting and gave me more insight into Amma’s workings, and how She is forcing ever more progress…

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  • So beautiful Rio

    So beautifull the program in Rio. The best I have been to. Beetween a wonderfull beach and gorgeous mountains. Mild Temperature 20 degrees Celsius. Birds singing on the trees. Sky blue without a cloud. The hotel packed with people that stayed for hours patiently on line to get a token. Fervorous singing. Mother stayed for darshan till past 6 AM, we went to get some sleep, had a wonderfull breakfast by the swiming pool and there was Mother giving darshan again. Smiling, happy. It seems that wherever there is Mother´s children longing for Her she will always be there for…

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  • 2nd day bhajans in Rio

    Today the morning darshan lasted till 6:15 pm. Last night also, it seemed that many did not wait till end, yet, Mother finished darshan around 5:30 am or maybe it was near 6:00, did not look the exact time. In tonight’s bhajans Mother sang: He gananayaka siddivinayaka Sri Krishna saranam If this is not the place (in Portuguese) Mata rani Om namah shivaya Awaken Children (in English) Jai Jai janani jai ho teri At the beginning the people did not applaud after bhajans, but then they did it after If this is not the place and also Mata rani huge…

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  • Amma is big in Rio

    At meditation, the seats in the hall were pretty much filled. But there was still a long line outside the hotel. Some of the tour staff people didn’t arrive until 9:45 this morning (the airport leelas), the Amma flight people did not get to the hotel until about 10 p.m. So, during the first hour, bookstall bags were being unpacked, more tables were being set up, and more people were flowing in. Now, 11:15, the hotel lobby areas are crammed, the hall has little standing room left, and there is still a line that goes outside the hotel. Shambugh July…

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  • First day in Rio

    Now we are in Rio, Brazil. First it seemed as if there would not be a big crowd. But as the darshan started more people started coming. Till now all tokens for morning darshan were given out, many are waiting to get token for the evening darshan. We are in Intercontinental hotel which provides a big hall, but only a small part of that from Santiago. One nice incident was there in the afternoon when a group of youth started playing for Amma. There were 9 young man with drums and other people with other rhythm instruments and one small…

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  • from Rio

    Santiago to Rio, written night of 30th July We had hoped that there might have been a formal Guru Purnima ceremony in Santiago, with pada puja. Instead, Big Swami gave a short talk which was very nice. Many of us felt so full from the darshan and the response to Amma by the Chileans, I don’t think the ceremony was missed. The huge crowd steadily thinned out through the night and morning. I suspect that all of those first-timers did not know what they would be missing, and many of them probably went home before receiving darshan, and many of…

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  • taste of Chile

    We got our power back on (lots of people and wheelchairs were on the cables) with in an hour. The people are being very orderly and patient, it was only the initial overwhelming rush of people that the handlers were not ready for that created a mess. Amma is moving very quickly. It is amazing to watch Her in high gear, unlike the leisurely pace in the States. I still sense a heightened energy and a sense of peace at the same time. They are just starting dancing and singing in native costumes, very joyful sounds, colorful costumes (flat-topped black…

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  • Mass of human Heat

    Saturday July 28 7:30 pm What a glorious afternoon in Santiago. Warm, it feels like high 70’s, slightest of breeze, a perfect day to hang out with a few thousand of your friends. I took a lunch break about 1:30, and there were already several hundred in line outdoors for evening darshan. When I left the hall at 4:30, the outdoor line was several thousand. By the start of atma puja, there was a line of cars trying to get into the parking lot, a line of people outside, and the hall filled, and people being seated in the nearly…

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