-
Amma news in Jamaica
Living Hindu saint embraces thousands published: Thursday | September 7, 2006 Do you need a hug? How about 75,000 hugs in less than a day? A bit much? Well, if you’re Amma, the living Hindu saint of hugs, then it’s all in a day’s work. Amma, which means ‘divine mother’, is the nickname given to 52-year-old Mata Amritanandamayi, who though born in extreme poverty in the slums of southern India, now presides over a network of schools, orphanages and hospitals. A living deity In India, Mata is considered a living deity and about 10,000 people a day travel miles to…
-
Rain in Amritapuri
Though the rainy season has supposedly passed, here in Amritapuri, it seems to have never ended. When I first arrived on August 14th, it rained every night for a week. Long, steady downpours that leave ankle deep puddles all over the Ashram. After that week of downpours, there seemed to be a break. But then it started again two days back. Just when you thought it was safe to hang your laundry on the roof – another downpour. ‘A second rinsing,’ joked an Ashramite. Tonight, it poured just after bhajans while dinner was being served in the Main Hall. Westerners…
-
Amma the Unpredictable
Today as Amma was coming for bhajans, She took a detour to the east-side of the bhajan hall where the Indian Shop and the two story building adjacent to it have been recently demolished to make more space for Amma’s upcoming birthday crowds. “Demolished!”, some people who have not yet heard about it might exclaim. It is actually quite nice, since the bhajan hall gets better air-circulation now. The shop is newly located at the side of the temple where the old library used to be. Anyway, Amma went to see the site before coming up for bhajans. I don’t…
-
because i know She Knows
This was my second meeting with Amma. I had gone to the Chicago O’hare International Airport to receive her, as had many others that day. In the last one year, I had already heard many powerful stories about Amma that clearly pointed to her being a Self-realized saint, no less than God Himself! While a part of me was quite convinced of Amma’s greatness, the other part wanted to ‘test’ her in some small, simple way. As Amma came out of the gate and started walking out with a sizable retinue of hers, I too began following her, managing to…
-
Another try
Arriving for the first time at Amma’s Ashram in India after 35 hours with hardly any sleep, two delayed flights, and a two-hour dirve on Indian roads was quite a shock. When somebody asked me for my first impressions I mostly answered: “Crowded, plain, and even though I have my Mom with me, I feel completely lost.” The Orientation Tour on the first day was a good start, but many more questions appeared and I had to look for information on my own. I felt like taking the next flight back home. The situation somehow changed when Amma gave me…
-
What can I say?
Om Namah Sivayah, I am spending a few weeks here in Amma’s Ashram. I’m asking myself: “What can I say?” I feel it impossible to put into words anything that happens in this ‘magic’ place on the planet. There’s not even a second of wasting time. Amma takes care of each one’s precise necessities at every moment. Sometimes, you get a sweet smile from Her and some other times you may get a look from Her right into your eyes. Meanwhile, She puts you in situations that are difficult for you to manage and She also sends some people you…
-
Two Prayers
I’m a left liberal academic from the USA who never dreamed I would ever be at a school where the day starts with the chanting of prayers, an act that is at the source of intense American political and cultural tension. At Amma’s University, however, the 8:30 AM prayers come from the heart of Sanatana Dharma, the teachings so the Eternal Wisdom. They seem so natural and so obvious a way to begin the day. Two of the prayers are the Shanti mantras that are chanted on Amma’s tours in which we ask to be lead from untruth to truth,…
-
Amma came early
I was sitting outside my room above the bhajan hall when I saw some white saris moving at the speed of light towards the stage which usually of course means that Amma is coming or going somewhere. My sisters, the brahmacharinis have a sixth sense of some sort, I feel. Amma was arriving for bhajans unusually early at around 6.10 pm, having finished darshan already. Quickly grabbing everything I ran down and made it just in time. Sometimes I feel that Amma wants to break routine in order to test the awareness of the ashramites. I remember long time ago…
-
Damayanthi Amma
Swamiji is pushing Damayanthi Amma, the mother of our beloved Amma, through the ashram grounds to darshan. Dhyanamrita 4 Sep 06
