Before coming to Mangalore, i had made a resolve that I would find a spot near the spigot where the Tirthum (Abhishekham water) would flow out of the Temple.\u00a0 Inside the Temple, Amma was going to pour a few dozen pots of sacred water imbued with herbs and sacred mantras.\u00a0 The murti’s first Abhishekham – for Devi, for Shiva, for Ganesh, for Rahu.\u00a0 I wanted to bathe in that water, to gulp it down fully, to imbibe it as if my life depended upon it.<\/p>\n
When Amma came down from the platform and went inside, the doors to the inner sanctum were shut.\u00a0 Only a few pujaris, Swamiji, and Swamini were permitted inside. We anxiously waited outside for the doors to re-open.\u00a0 Bodies were pressing against each other, necks straining for the best vantage point.\u00a0 I had my spot about two people from the spigot, with a somewhat unobstructed line-of-site where the door would open and hopefully offer a view of Amma.<\/p>\n
When the doors first opened, there was Amma – her face beaming out at her children.\u00a0 At once, the mass of bodies around me moved in unison as everyone shifted to improve their view.\u00a0 Amma looked much like she does during Devi Bhava in the west – her grin, her cheeks, her eyes – that extra special energy of love and divinity shining forth at her children gathered outside.<\/p>\n
Then the doors closed again.\u00a0 A group of about 8 Brahmacharis then appeared carrying the Murti to the Temple and circumambulated the Temple.\u00a0 It weighs about a half ton.\u00a0 We are told, and it is well known that inside the Temple, Amma herself lifts this alone onto the platform where it will sit.<\/p>\n
Then about two dozen people arrive with pots filled with the sacred water.\u00a0\u00a0 And we wait for the doors to re-open and for Amma to begin.<\/p>\n
The drums and horns have been playing continuously.\u00a0 They are about 8 feet behind me.\u00a0 It’s hot. Half my body is in the sun, half in the shade. I’m sweating.\u00a0 I’ve been on my feet for maybe an hour or so.\u00a0 But I don’t care.\u00a0 When the tirthum starts flowing, I am there.\u00a0\u00a0 It will happen.<\/p>\n
There are two or three women between me and the spigot.\u00a0 All of a sudden, I see them scrambling.\u00a0 The water is coming.\u00a0 Somehow the bodies shift as the women in front of me get their fill and move away.\u00a0 I’m right there.\u00a0 I cup my hands and partake. Three huge gulps.\u00a0 Then over my head.\u00a0 Handfulls. I stopped short of putting my head underneath then .\u00a0 I took a few more sips.<\/p>\n
Out of nowhere, dozens of cups and water bottles were passed forward and I found myself helping to fill each one.\u00a0 A bucket was underneath collecting the rest.\u00a0 The doors were opened and the empty pots were being passed out and passed overhead to one of the brahmacharis.\u00a0 One hit me in the face.\u00a0 I didn’t care.\u00a0 I was in bliss.<\/p>\n
I stayed there for about half an hour filling the bottles.\u00a0 Amma was inside, the doors were opened, but I couldn’t see her from my vantage point.\u00a0 I backed off and looked inside. There was Amma – even more looking like she does on Devi Bhava.<\/p>\n
Then it was over.\u00a0\u00a0 Amma came out of the Temple, and headed back to her room.\u00a0\u00a0 I circumambulated the Temple, and sat for a while taking in what had just happened.<\/p>\n
I was in bliss the rest of the day.<\/p>\n
Sri Pati
\n18-Feb 2008, Mangalore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before coming to Mangalore, i had made a resolve that I would find a spot near the spigot where the Tirthum (Abhishekham water) would flow out of the Temple.\u00a0 Inside the Temple, Amma was going to pour a few dozen pots of sacred water imbued with herbs and sacred mantras.\u00a0 The murti’s first Abhishekham – […]<\/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-637","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\/637","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=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}