Category: WithAmma
travelling with amma
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Amma’s special prasad
11 Feb 2013, ABC in Mangalore: During Her last visit Amma launched Amalabharatam project for Mangalore. Mangalore devotees and Amrita Vidyalayam school children have taken it to their heart as greatest Prasad and are earnestly pursuing it, on regular monthly basis. While on this extensive Indian tour Amma’s ashram children, mostly western children, have made a mark of the presence of Amma’s huge international programs –even the huge public programs in Bhubaneshwar and Vishakhapatnam- by leaving it spotlessly clean, with no litter at all. If local devotees clean up before the program, after Amma finishes the program,and all the while…
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There are so many sides to it all
As i travel with Amma and the caravan, things look one a certain way. When i took a short break after Mysore program and went to see them all off, it felt so totally different. In the former case, i was flowing down a torrent, headed by Amma, driving in a packed bus 700 kms a day on road, stopping for chai and dinner and night stay at the same time, be it 10 or 1 in the night; only to rise after a few hours , get ready and go into the bus to get packed in your spot,…
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All is holy
For years now Amma is repeating over and over again a certain precept. “The Creation and the Created are not two but one.” Amma insists on our seeing everything without exception as divine. While She took Her 700 children on the Indian tour, Amma never missed an opportunity to remind and demonstrate this Sanatana Satya –the eternal Truth- at any available opportunity. We were passing through Uttar Pradesh. It was in the context of the Mahakumbh Mela going on at the Prayag. The greatness of the Holy Ganga river was extolled by some at the stop in Fatehpur near the…
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Delhi to Kokata
On this Yatra, like any other yatra with Amma, there is so much to write: but even before one settles down to record one event another will have started. How can one afford to miss the present! And, when the present is so intense who would want to go back in time! Somehow today I sit down to write telling myself, hey, sandhya, if you don’t record at least a few things now, you may not be able to recall them later. So forgive me for being less meticulous as I jot down these things. If busy is the word,…
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Flying with Amma
For the first time on a North Indian tour, Amma flew one leg of the trip in order to reach Delhi in time to inaugurate the celebration of Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary. Those of the tour group who wanted and were able, were given the option to fly with Amma. Many seized this once in a lifetime opportunity. This included many ashram mothers who had never flown before. A mere 3 hours after the end of the Mumbai program the tour buses roared out of the ashram and down the highway in a marathon journey to make it to Delhi…
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On the road to Pune
After a gap of two years, the buses and trucks were loaded with (in short) giant cooking pots, burners, thousands of steel dishes and cups, hundreds of chairs, the bookstore, everything needed for the canteen and juice bar, ABC and the tour group luggage. In the early hours of the morning of January 2nd, the nine buses, several trucks and cars, a medical van and most importantly, Amma in her white camper, roared out of Amritapuri as the bells rang the wakeup call for archana. We were heading for Pune, the first program site of Bharat Yatra, 2013. The tour…
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Earth is More Beautiful than Heaven
“Earth is more beautiful than heaven.” Amma gave this teaching in every country across Europe. An interesting topic to ponder, as most of us have been taught the opposite! What could be the things on earth that are more beautiful than heaven? As we drove across Europe, the landscape certainly came to mind. The rolling green hills of England, the russet autumn vineyards of France, the shimmering golden leaves on hills of Germany, the olive groves of Spain… The drive from Manheim to Milano through the Alps really made us think that we had arrived in heaven. Lakes, clouds, mountains,…
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The Land of Miracles
Between the Toulon and Barcelona programs, Amma and the tour group stopped at the new ashram in the South of France, Le Domaine du Paralou near St. Michelle de Baume. St. Michelle de Baume is a charming 13th century town of tile roofed stone houses whose centerpiece is the cathedral of St. Maxime, famous for its association with Mary Magdalene. In regional tradition, the three Marys left the Holy Land after Christ’s death and journeyed in a sail-less and rudderless boat and landed in Southern France. Locals say that Mary Magdalene lived here, converting people and performing miracles and her…
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With Bhramari in the French Ashram
After the mammoth Devi Bhava in Paris, Amma and the tour group journeyed to the French ashram to spend the night. The ashram is located in a 14th Century fortified farmhouse complete with defense towers and moat (now a duck pond). After some delicious refreshments, many of us were ready for a tour of gardens, orchards, seed bank and many other features. We were particularly interested in seeing the “Bee Meditation Hut” which had been constructed by the youth. Bri Dipamrita, in charge of the French Centre, ushered us into the small, but exquisite, hexagonal structure. (The hexagon is the…