27 November 2008
\nSan Ramon<\/p>\n
The second day of retreat in San Ramon fell on Thanksgiving.\u00a0 A day to give thanks for life, for food, for good health, for friends, family, and our livelihoods.\u00a0\u00a0 But what a wonderful way to give thanks!\u00a0 How blessed are we to have Amma in our lives and to be able to spend this time with her.<\/p>\n
The day began with the skies still overcast.\u00a0\u00a0 The ground was still wet and puddles were all around.\u00a0 But as the day progressed, the sun poked out from behind the low clouds.\u00a0 It wasn’t too cold.\u00a0\u00a0 A number of us in the bakery were able to spend time in the hall as we had most of the day’s baking done earlier than usual.\u00a0\u00a0 So we were able to give prasad (placing the hershey kiss and flower petal into Amma’s hand so she could then hand out after each darshan).\u00a0\u00a0 During this time, we were able to see a few cute happenings in the hall.<\/p>\n
One small boy brought a toy to Amma.\u00a0 It was a toy car that sprayed water.\u00a0 When he explained this to Amma, she asked for water – and a jug was immediately brought.\u00a0\u00a0 Amma filled it with water, then playfully sprayed the boy.\u00a0 Then she turned to Br. Dayamrita who was standing behind her – and gave a more than a few squirts!\u00a0 Everyone was laughing.<\/p>\n
Morning darshan ended around 3:30 pm.\u00a0\u00a0 The kitchen then was packed with veggie choppers and cooks who were preparing the meal that Amma would serve later in the evening.\u00a0 Around 6:30pm, Amma returned to the hall for a Question and Answer session.\u00a0 The minute Amma sat down on her petham on the stage after doing Namaskaram and\u00a0 Pranams to the gathered crowd, a small boy of about 3 or copied Amma exactly – and sat down right next to her on the petham.\u00a0 This caused many people to break out laughing.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, Amma headed to the Dining Hall to begin serving each and everyone of us.\u00a0\u00a0 When the line dwindled down, Amma sat at the children’s table and passed out papadams (crispy rounds of fried dough) to each child who lined up by her chair.\u00a0\u00a0 Amma then left the dining hall, and everyone finished eating.\u00a0 Br. Shantamrita gave satsang before Amma came to the main hall for Bhajans.\u00a0 The same little boy who had pranamed before the Question and Answer session sat down again next to Amma. This time, Amma gave him a microphone. He started to try to read what appeared to be either the meditation instructions, or Amma’s satsang.\u00a0\u00a0 As he struggled with the pronunciation, Amma and the crowd were cracking up with laughter.\u00a0 Then the boy began to do the Ma-Om meditation – ‘Maaaaaaaaaaaaaa……. Ommmmmmmmmm,’ he said into the microphone – Amma burst out laughing – it was adorable and hysterical at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0 Then he began to sing Daya Karo Tum – and the words were put up on the screen next to the stage.\u00a0\u00a0 It was so cute.\u00a0 Everyone had a good laugh and the boy received a around of applause from Amma and the crowd.<\/p>\n
Tonights Bhajans:<\/p>\n
Jai Jai Jai Gananatha Gajanana (Pahi Gajanana)
\nSudar Hai Nayana Tere
\nOru Koccu Pulnambin
\nDurge I Dhara Gilidibare
\nSri Rama Namanu
\nJai Jai Kali Ma<\/p>\n
If you happen to have a copy of Bhajanamritam Vol. 3, check out the translation of Oru Koccu Pulnambin which is in Malayalam.\u00a0 The poetic imagery is so rich and beautiful: Darshan is still going on in the hall.\u00a0\u00a0 Amma’s children are putting on plays, traditional Indian dances, and skits.<\/p>\n Tomorrow night is Devi Bhava.<\/p>\n – Sri Pati<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 27 November 2008 San Ramon The second day of retreat in San Ramon fell on Thanksgiving.\u00a0 A day to give thanks for life, for food, for good health, for friends, family, and our livelihoods.\u00a0\u00a0 But what a wonderful way to give thanks!\u00a0 How blessed are we to have Amma in our lives and to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-with-amma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\nI am a dew drop at the far edge of a tiny leaf of grass,
\nalive a while, aching, tremulous, delicately poised,
\ndripping, emptying, and will be no more.
\nPoor me, can I scan the meaning of the mystery of the mazy world,
\ntime’s ceaseless motion, its drift, thrust and goal?……<\/em><\/p>\n