Category: WithAmma
travelling with amma
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Devotion in Calicut
We arrived at Amma’s school in Calicut at night and the next afternoon, the bus took us to the stadium for the programme. The fully filled stadium, the music, and the atmosphere around the stadium reminded us of the Amritavarsham in Cochin in 2003. We were crying with emotion and joyous to experience again so strong presence of Amma in the Calicut crowd of devotees. After numerous speech by local authorities and a great satsang Amma had given to her children, Amma gave her darshan with such energy, such joy, great speed, and so gentle. The darshan was the image…
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The birds of Kanyakumari?
The Kanyakumari programme was held in a large field just north of the city. It was bounded on two sides by groves of trees. Sitting on stage, I heard what I thought were the calls of many different birds. The sounds were clear, distinct, varied, and came from both sides of the stage. It was so beautiful to hear this, and I was internally thrilled. Some were sounds that I had not heard before. Others were somewhat familiar – they sounded like birds from the US. The ornithologist ‘expert’ in me was delighted to make the scientific conclusion that because…
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Attracted to the Light
In Madurai, the public programme was held just near the center of the city, on the grounds of a Medical Society. Thousands of people came from all around to receive Amma’s darshan, attracted to the light of her radiant smile, her warm embrace. Their egos burning in the flame of her infinite love. Amma’s light must have been exceedingly bright this evening, for not only did thousands of people come, but so did the bugs. Right at the start of Amma’s satsang. Tons and tons. By the millions. Small one-centimeter-long flying ants. Swarming all over. At first it started in…
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On the Beach
As the South Indian Tour progressed through Tamil Nadu towards KanyaKumari, finally ending up in Trivandrum, two questions many people on tour asked were ‘Where are our accommodations?’ and ‘Where is the programme site?’ For Brahmastanam Festivals, the programme would always be at the Ashram, and we would stay at Amma’s school. For Public Programmes, the programme would be on a huge field, and we would stay at some wedding hall. So many of us were intrigued when we were told that the Trivandrum programme would be held ‘Near the airport, next to the beach.’ So I figured that there…
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Blessed Catch
As darshan extended to the morning hours, all along the beach, local fishermen were extending their nets into the ocean just next to the programme site. The net made a semi circle which went out about 1 km into the waters. There were two lines of men tugging on the net – pulling it back to shore – about 30 men in all. Old and young. I asked how long it would be before the catch would come in. They said it would be about an hour. I headed back to the stage, and after about one hour, I eagerly…
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Transforming Darshan
At the Chennai Public Programmes, shortly after bhajans and meditation, I was working Security and Crowd Control – checking tokens near the corner of the stage on the men’s side. The tokens were to be taken a little further up the line. The crowd is mostly Indian, but there is an occasional Westerner. I was amazed at the sweetness and patience of the people in line. Once I learned to say ‘Token” in Tamil, (which is simple ‘Token” except with the appropriate accent!), pretty much everyone smiled, searched for the token, and showed it to me. It was as though…
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What Happened to the Bat?
The other week, towards the end of the Trichy public programme, Amma showered her blessings on a very small being. I had been sitting on stage, fighting (once more) against falling asleep after a long night, when suddenly a bunch of devotees rushed towards Amma. I normally don’t feel like jumping in the crowd, but this time, I wanted to see why everyone had a sweet smile on their face, so I stepped forward. I saw a tiny black baby bat lying in Amma’s right plam. She caressed it most tenderly with one finger, looking at it with so much…
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Return to Nagapattinam
When the dates and cities were first announced for the South Indian Tour, I was silently thrilled. The tour included two cities I had hoped to visit – Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari. It also included Nagapattanam – the epicenter of Amma’s tsunami relief efforts – where almost 2000 homes have been built. Amma had been here twice before – less than two months after the tsunami struck, and again about a year later – for a public programme. In the first visit, I saw first-hand, the devastation that struck a small fishing village. During the second visit, I went to see…
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Amma in Ramanathapuram
After the programme in Madurai, Amma reached ramanathapuram by 8 .p.m (5 feb). One of the priest of the Rameswaram temple was there to receive Amma upon arrival. This is Amma’s first visit to the city. Ramanathapuram is located 50 km away from the holy place – Rameswaram. the yatra has been so hectic, could not post any thing here in the last few days. namah sivaya Dhyanamrita