Amma was in a very playful mood tonight during the bhajans. There were moments of laughter as She playfully scolded Swamiji and twisted his ear. A few times She would name a song that She wanted to sing but as I was announcing it to the audience She pointed Her drumstick at me \u2013 then She called for different song and looked at me mischievously as I fumbled through the index trying hard to get it right. Usually I have about ten seconds to find the song in the index before it kicks off and if Amma decides to change it last second, well, I just rustle through the pages like an idiot and somehow find it – hopefully. I guess all this helps to create some awareness and alertness in my slow mind. Anyhow, that occasional innocent and sweet smile from Amma makes it all worthwhile. It is also blissful to watch Amma interacting with the musicians around Her.<\/p>\n
She sang the following songs tonight:<\/p>\n
Govinda Gopala
\nArikil Undengilum
\nAnutapam Valarunnu
\nBadi Duvidha Me
\nBanda Krishna
\nOmkara Swararupini
\nShyam Shyam Kukadi Me
\nSri Rama Namamu
\nBandamuntu Sontamuntu
\nYou Have Come To Sacrifice
\nDevi Saranam<\/p>\n
There was again the simple and innocent English song You Have come To Sacrifice. After this song Amma suddenly addressed the devotees gathered in the hall, asking if there is reason (yukti) in devotion (bhakti). She asked those who thought that in devotion there is no reason to put their hands up. Quite many did stick their hands in the air but certainly not all. Amma then confirmed that indeed in devotion there is no rhyme or reason. Somehow I think all this was triggered because of the innocent devotion embodied in this new song written by non other than our beloved sister Lakshmi Akka. Those who know her no explanation is needed. Those who don\u2019t know, no explanation is possible. The beauty of the lyrics speak for themselves:<\/p>\n
You have come to sacrifice
\nYou are the candle that burns
\nMelting down to give us light
\nCalling us with all your might<\/p>\n
We are just playing around
\nLonging for the things that can\u2019t last
\nEven then, You won\u2019t throw us out
\nEven when we break your trust<\/p>\n
But time is going by, going by right now
\nStill we don\u2019t know how to use
\nThe candle that burns in front of our eyes<\/p>\n
And all the while, time is going by, right now
\nStill we don\u2019t know the Queen of our heart<\/p>\n
Only you know to where this will lead
\nTo where we all go
\nWill it be a sad or happy end
\nBut wherever you go
\nDon\u2019t leave us behind
\nPlease, Don\u2019t leave us behind<\/p>\n
24.8.2006
\nVishwanath<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amma was in a very playful mood tonight during the bhajans. There were moments of laughter as She playfully scolded Swamiji and twisted his ear. A few times She would name a song that She wanted to sing but as I was announcing it to the audience She pointed Her drumstick at me \u2013 then […]<\/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":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ashram-diary"],"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\/459","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=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}