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Weekend Darshan
Over the weekend Amma was giving darshan to devotees constantly. Yesterday Amma gave darshan until 12.30 in the night. She was in a playful mood and going very slowly in the end. At one point She was smearing Gurudas Swami with chandanam until his whole head was covered with stripes. She was also giving mantra initiations and counseling people throughout the darshan. Swami Amritaswarupananda and Swami Amritatmanda both sang a set of bhajans. Amma will soon be leaving for Her North-Indian tour. The season here is starting to come to an end. After Shivaratri the weather usually starts getting hotter…
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Shivaratri Bhajans
When Amma came for bhajans, students from Amrita Vidyalayam were standing in line with lamps and flowers in their hands, all the way to the stage. Tonight is Shivaratri. Amma sang with immense force and Her voice was really powerful. Tonights bhajans were: Krishna Govinda GopalaOmkara SwararupiniPelava KaiviralOm Shakti Om ShaktiMano BuddhyahankaraGange Ginta PavitraluOm Namah ShivayaKannante KalochaDeep Within the SoulJai Ma Ambe Kannante Kalocha is always magnificent and melts the heart every time Amma sings it. The lyrics to Pelava Kaiviral strike me as profound and beautiful, and they could as well be a Shivaratri prayer: I long to walk…
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Manasa Vachana
Hari Bol Hari Bol (Shyamavarna Sundaranga) Prapanchamengum Pati Pukazhtuvan Mangu Me Tujhse Manasa Vacha Karmana Om Namah Shivaya New Song Durge Durge Amma shed some tears during Manasa Vacha tonight. She caught the tears as soon as they fell from the corner of Her eye. It’s just one of those songs that transports Amma somewhere where we cannot follow. In the old days Mother would have gone straight into Samadhi. I wonder how difficult it is to keep Her mind on this plane? Through my mind, speech and actions I am remembering Thee incessantly. Why then are Thou delaying to…
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Spotless beach
During my walk through the crowd, the grounds of the yajna shala was covered with paper and plastic. This made me sad, but as the sun was rising, to my surprise, I heard that Amma had called all her devotees to help clean the trash. About 30 people rushed to help, and in about 15 minutes, the whole place was clean! No one could believe it.. Yes, Amma is the greatest sweeper! Amma’s invitation to help in this service showed us how we can participate at each moment in caring for Mother Earth. Mother, we want to serve you in…
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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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New Bhajans
There were a couple of new songs tonight. In between a few songs there was some commotion as Amma wanted the wireless mikes to be changed. Some laughter followed from the audience as She took down one of the mikes while making a face at the mixer and handed it to Karthik, the sound guy. Amma sang the following bhajans tonight: Hare Murare Ushakala Neram Krishna Govinda Gopala Chintakalkantyam Om Namah Shivaya Tedal tudangaum Daiva Tedal ( Tamil) Kalpantarangalkkum Jinki Karuna Hai Apar The little girl that yesterday was coming up the ramp holding her hands over her ears mustered…
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Amma soap
‘Amma soap’ Today, Gaia Amrita, went to Amma for darshan. Then she went to her mother and said, “Having darshan is like taking a shower, because afterward, you smell so good. We need a soap that smells like Amma so we can always smell like her and pretend to be her.”— – – — — — — — Last night, after Bhajans, Gaia Amrita said, “I was so happy during bhajans tonight! Every time they started to play one, it sounded like they were going to play ‘Om Namah Sivayah.’ Then when they did finally play it, they played it…
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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…
