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Amma’s Heart…
Returning from the Calicut-Kodungallur tour, I was greeted by my 4-1/2 year old daughter Gaia Amrita who ran and jumped into my arms. The one-week tour was the longest time we had been separated, and when I first departed, she was in tears, begging me to stay. Upon our return, her mother later told me that while I was away, Gaia Amrita dreamed that our whole family was in Amma’s heart. She said that in the dream, Amma’s heart was bigger than our room at the Ashram, so it was ok that I was on tour with Amma. while they…
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Back from Kodungalloor
Amma is back from Kodungalloor and Kozhikode. She looked so fresh and beautiful despite having just given darshan to over a hundred thousand people within the last few days. And her voice was strong and clear, which surprised me, since She must have been talking day and night to devotees, and there is so much dust in the air during public programs. The bhajans tonight were: Nanda Nandana HareParinamam IyalattaKali Maheswariye JaganmataSri Rama Jaya RamaShyama Gopla MazaOm Namah ShivayaAmma BarammaJai Ma Ambe Parinamam Iyalatta always touches me in a deep place. Tonight Amma seemed to be in a deep Bhava…
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Sunny Faces
Amma’s Kodungallur Ashram was a nice surprise for a program location with beautiful nature surrounding it. The attractiveness of the area showed not only in many luxuriant trees and flowers, but also in the bright happy smiles of the local devotees. As I was wiping the ladies’ faces in the darshan line, I mostly only saw sunny faces even during the latest hours. Also the Amma doll that I was carrying with me received a lot of attention and ended up going through the arms of many women and children in the line who were eager to hold her. Amma…
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madness of the soul
huge crowds, big grounds, evening programmes. That’s about where the similarity stops between indore’s programme last year, and this year’s kozhikode programmes. On one hand, there was the external madness of devotion of the devotees in indore expressed in their rush to the stage by the 10s of thousands to receive darshan at the same time. On the other hand, there was the internal madness of devotion in kozhikode. the patience, the reverence, the respect. They say that Kozhikode is Amma’s Vrindavan. But couldn’t that also be said of the devotees of Indore? The gopis of Vrindavan experienced both types…
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sameness
every darshan program follows the same schedule. amma comes to the hall, gives a talk, followed by bhajans, meditation, then darshan. as a westerner we travel with amma, go to the program, help with seva and spend time on stage. after so many cities, so many tours, one would think that this sameness would get boring. Not with Amma and certainly not for Amma. for as she travels across India, she gets to see tens of thousands of her children who are doing her work out in the world. Students, doctors, engineers, labourers, politicians. All imbibing or trying to imbibe…
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just given dakshina
two children came onto the stage in elaborate dress and makeup to perform kathakali, a traditional dance of Kerala. I busied myself trying to make room for the dancers and musicians. This done, my attention was caught by a couple saying in unison to one of the child-dancers; “No, No!” I looked at the girl and saw that she wanted to wipe away a single tear that seemed frozen on the surface of the thick green theatrical makeup. My suspicion was confirmed when I turned to the father and he told me with a satisfied smile, “She had just given…
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get married again
amma stayed in the school building in kodungallur. after the morning darshan she stayed in the ashram building which is at the program site. the ashram building has only 3 small rooms. kodungalllur is the first brahmasthanam temple established by Amma. kodungallur is also home to the first amrita vidyalayam. it was nice to see the first ever enrolled student of amrita vidyalayam who had just became a doctor (Dr. Gokul) garlanding amma on the stage yesterday. all the school children and the devotees gave him a big applause. Amma has special connection with the devotees here. most of them…
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Amma’s Vrindavan
it was amazing to see the devotion of the kozhikode devotees. the crowd in kozhikode program was sooooooo huge. darshan began in the evening and continued till 3pm next day. in the morning people were still standing in line for amma’s darshan. most of them with families… mother, father, children, husband, wife… at night they were in the cold – mist and wind was flowing across the sports stadium. now they were standing in the sun. amma wanted to provide shade for them. some temporary shelters with shamiyana (decorative cloth) were made. but that was not enough. so they were…
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In Kodungallur
Amma’s darshan fininsed at 3.p.m the next day. After the Kozhikode programme Amma got into her van and left the stage. Amma reached Kodungallur in the evening. 3 days Amma will be here. Kodungallur 7 Jan 2007
