Some stories!

[Guest guest]

Dear Divine Siblings,

In response to some personal mails I received, and after a lot of inner

struggle (to share or not!), I am finally ready to share a gist of a

year-long struggle with the beautiful culmination of Amma's visit to

this poor child's home in Massachusetts.

As I said earlier in another email, I had all along thought that my

house was too small and that I could NEVER house Amma and Her entourage.

Amma came in my dream and assured me that in a year, I would have a

bigger house and it would have a swing outside. (The underlying

presumption was that She would grace the home.)

Next followed chaos, confusion, turmoil and heartaches (I don't think I

need subject you all with the painful details.) But finally, the house

was ready and Amma after subjecting me to a 'melting process' finally

gave the consent of coming.

The beautiful hour arrived during the Boston program in Andover. Around

midnight, the heralder of the Divine Presence arrived in the form of

Lakshmi (who , but the Goddess of Wealth) Amma's attendant and Meera. (I

thought this itself was an auspicious beginning as I am very attracted

to the saint Mirabai.) As I was helping them to get settled and get

things ready for Amma, Swami Ramakrishna, Amritatma, and Purnamrita

arrived, looking quite tired but RADIANT. Taking a water bottle with

them, they went upstairs to retire for the night.

My husband, Narayan was in the hall waiting for Amma to conclude the

darshan. I waited with my brother Parsuram and son Vinayak at home.

Around 4 am it began to drizzle. This is considered extremely auspicious

as we think that the gods are shedding tears of joy. This also allowed

Vinayak to hold an umbrella (as per the South Indian custom of welcoming

a dignitary!)over Amma as he escorted Her when She arrived at 4:30 am.

Amma had left Her slippers in the car and just climbed the steps to the

front door on Her bare feet. Once in the foyer, She stood smiling,

waiting for me to give Her directions. I said, pleadingly, "Amma, I just

want you to go to your room, eat, rest and get some sleep." Laughing She

went upstairs.

Swami Dayamrita and Shantamrita ate their dinner after taking dinner

upstairs for Swamiji. Amma had also asked Madhu (Bala's wife) to come

along and therefore I had the pleasure of meeting Madhu.

Throughout the night, (or shall I say morning) I got to see the

'behind-the-scenes' workings of Amma's attendants. Haika (a German girl)

stood hours ironing Amma's clothes. Meera hastily washed Amma's clothes

that had been taken off. It is no small feat to wash Amma's saris - the

makeup, lipstick, mascara, tears etc. have to be bleached, the 'blued'

and finally rinsed. Saris cannot be thrown into the dryer. They have to

be dried outside and ironed.

In between this, Lakshmi had kept all Amma's food in tupperware, ready

to be microwaved. I had prepared rotis and spinach for Amma, but seeing

so many dishes, my heart samk. I thought, "Oh why did I prepare this?

Now Amma won't eat this as She has too many things to eat. I lost all

shraddha in preparing the spinach. I merely boiled the mung dal, spinach

with salt and mashed to a creamy paste. I did not even care to give it a

garnish. Disinterestedly, I packed two rotis in a sandwich bag and left

the dish of spinach on the stove. Lakshmi must have taken the rotis and

spinach, because at about 6 am she came down, with half a roti and a

tiny portion of the spinach (it had been taken in quite a large

portion!) as prasad. Needless to say, I had this maha-prasad!

At about 5:30 am, Lakshmi came down the basement, where I was resting

and said, "Amma is cold! Do you have a heater? (I had turned on the ac,

thinking it would get stuffy in Amma's room!). Luckily, we had a heater

sand I gave her. I heard later that Amma had liked Her room and slept

peacefully. (The previous day, a few of us had gone to Her room and sung

some bhajans, concluding with Gopabalaka as a lullaby, hoping to put Her

to sleep!)

By 9 am the Swamis were waking up. Next followed a routine of coffees,

teas and breakfast of idlis )only for Swami Pranavamritaji). He and

Sanjay (Schmidt) loved the soft idlis. Swammiji said, "Oh, she is an

artist. She sings well and cooks well!" I thought ruefully, (Ok where is

the sledge hammer for my ego?) It was not long in coming.

When the Swamis trooped down for lunch at 12:30 pm, I realized with

horror that I had forgotton to cook rice! They asked for white rice and

I had to sheepishly make the confession that that I had started the rice

cookers just then and it would take 20 minutes to get done. The problem

was somehow rectified because Nisha (Iowa) had made plenty parathas and

that saved the day!

As everyone was getting ready to go to the airport in batches (for

checking in baggages), we started a hectic final preparation for puja

and pada-puja. Amma summoned Narayan, Vinayak and myself upstairs and

chatted for sbout 10 minutes. Then She came down at about 3:30 pm to do

a quick puja. Summoning the gods, She prayed that Her children be

granted food, shelter, clothing etc. be free from diseases, untimely

deaths. I thought incredulously- the Divine Mother is praying to the

gods for Her children! The gods are at Her beck and call -ever so eager

to execute Her directives at a split second - and here was Amma, praying

for Her children!

As She got up after singing "Amba Bhavani Jayajagadambe", I said, "Amma,

it has become the tradition of this house to do pada-puja last, so won't

you please sit on the swing? (We had placed a white-and-gold ornate

swing in the sunroom). At first Amma made a wry face (as though to say,

now do you want me to really sit on a swing?). But She meekly went and

sat! Narayan and I did pada-puja with milk, yogurt, honey, ghee,

rose-water etc.) Lakshmi and Debra (Ohio) had made a crown for Radha,

which Amma put on! (I wish we had taken some good photos) .Amma

distributed the panchamridam that Madhu and Cathi (NM) had made. Madhu

also saw Her eat some. Next Amma walked into the kitchen to wash Her

hands. (Visa, a Southindian lady, who had brought in the lunch was

pleasantly startled to find Amma by her side.) As Amma came out, I ran

to get Her slippers. I had ordered an identical pair and wanted to swich

them with Amma's permission. Amma said, "Let me try them on." But She

did not like the newness and preferred the well-worn old slippers. I too

said, "Amma, I would rather have you comfortable than force a new pair

on you." Amma sweetly replied, "You only want a pair worn by me. Now

that I have tried them on, you may keep them." Needless to say I was

ecstatic! Before I knew what happened, Amma had left for the airport!

Yesterday, we relived some of those memories when about 60 devotees met

for satsangh and meditated in Amma's room.

I cannot believe that so much has happened in a year! All the trials and

tribulations have been worth the bliss! I thank Amma for giving me all

the experiences. I have grown stronger in the faith that Amma knows what

is best for us and will not hesitate to grant them. Even the seemingly

negative experiences (more so!) are good for our spiritual growth. I

want to take this opportunity to thank with deep gratitude, all the

children of Amma, who helped give a concrete shape to this dream of

mine!

Jai Ma!

Chandrika

[Guest guest]

Dear Chandrika,

thanks for the letter.I was waitng to e-mail you and

get all the details by then I received it.We wish we

were there to experience AMMAs visit.

We were lucky to go to Chicago to see Amma.after the

Devi bhavam Sunus daughter Sandya had her Vidyarambham

done by Amma.It was beautiful.My mother is here with

Sunu so she too got to see AMMA.

PLEASE say hello to all our friends,regards to

Narayanan and his mother.

love,Usha

--- Chandrika Sharma <Chandrika_Sharma wrote:

> Dear Divine Siblings,

> In response to some personal mails I received, and

> after a lot of inner

> struggle (to share or not!), I am finally ready to

> share a gist of a

> year-long struggle with the beautiful culmination of

> Amma's visit to

> this poor child's home in Massachusetts.

> As I said earlier in another email, I had all along

> thought that my

> house was too small and that I could NEVER house

> Amma and Her entourage.

> Amma came in my dream and assured me that in a year,

> I would have a

> bigger house and it would have a swing outside. (The

> underlying

> presumption was that She would grace the home.)

> Next followed chaos, confusion, turmoil and

> heartaches (I don't think I

> need subject you all with the painful details.) But

> finally, the house

> was ready and Amma after subjecting me to a 'melting

> process' finally

> gave the consent of coming.

> The beautiful hour arrived during the Boston program

> in Andover. Around

> midnight, the heralder of the Divine Presence

> arrived in the form of

> Lakshmi (who , but the Goddess of Wealth) Amma's

> attendant and Meera. (I

> thought this itself was an auspicious beginning as I

> am very attracted

> to the saint Mirabai.) As I was helping them to get

> settled and get

> things ready for Amma, Swami Ramakrishna, Amritatma,

> and Purnamrita

> arrived, looking quite tired but RADIANT. Taking a

> water bottle with

> them, they went upstairs to retire for the night.

> My husband, Narayan was in the hall waiting for Amma

> to conclude the

> darshan. I waited with my brother Parsuram and son

> Vinayak at home.

> Around 4 am it began to drizzle. This is considered

> extremely auspicious

> as we think that the gods are shedding tears of joy.

> This also allowed

> Vinayak to hold an umbrella (as per the South Indian

> custom of welcoming

> a dignitary!)over Amma as he escorted Her when She

> arrived at 4:30 am.

> Amma had left Her slippers in the car and just

> climbed the steps to the

> front door on Her bare feet. Once in the foyer, She

> stood smiling,

> waiting for me to give Her directions. I said,

> pleadingly, "Amma, I just

> want you to go to your room, eat, rest and get some

> sleep." Laughing She

> went upstairs.

> Swami Dayamrita and Shantamrita ate their dinner

> after taking dinner

> upstairs for Swamiji. Amma had also asked Madhu

> (Bala's wife) to come

> along and therefore I had the pleasure of meeting

> Madhu.

> Throughout the night, (or shall I say morning) I got

> to see the

> 'behind-the-scenes' workings of Amma's attendants.

> Haika (a German girl)

> stood hours ironing Amma's clothes. Meera hastily

> washed Amma's clothes

> that had been taken off. It is no small feat to wash

> Amma's saris - the

> makeup, lipstick, mascara, tears etc. have to be

> bleached, the 'blued'

> and finally rinsed. Saris cannot be thrown into the

> dryer. They have to

> be dried outside and ironed.

> In between this, Lakshmi had kept all Amma's food in

> tupperware, ready

> to be microwaved. I had prepared rotis and spinach

> for Amma, but seeing

> so many dishes, my heart samk. I thought, "Oh why

> did I prepare this?

> Now Amma won't eat this as She has too many things

> to eat. I lost all

> shraddha in preparing the spinach. I merely boiled

> the mung dal, spinach

> with salt and mashed to a creamy paste. I did not

> even care to give it a

> garnish. Disinterestedly, I packed two rotis in a

> sandwich bag and left

> the dish of spinach on the stove. Lakshmi must have

> taken the rotis and

> spinach, because at about 6 am she came down, with

> half a roti and a

> tiny portion of the spinach (it had been taken in

> quite a large

> portion!) as prasad. Needless to say, I had this

> maha-prasad!

> At about 5:30 am, Lakshmi came down the basement,

> where I was resting

> and said, "Amma is cold! Do you have a heater? (I

> had turned on the ac,

> thinking it would get stuffy in Amma's room!).

> Luckily, we had a heater

> sand I gave her. I heard later that Amma had liked

> Her room and slept

> peacefully. (The previous day, a few of us had gone

> to Her room and sung

> some bhajans, concluding with Gopabalaka as a

> lullaby, hoping to put Her

> to sleep!)

> By 9 am the Swamis were waking up. Next followed a

> routine of coffees,

> teas and breakfast of idlis )only for Swami

> Pranavamritaji). He and

> Sanjay (Schmidt) loved the soft idlis. Swammiji

> said, "Oh, she is an

> artist. She sings well and cooks well!" I thought

> ruefully, (Ok where is

> the sledge hammer for my ego?) It was not long in

> coming.

> When the Swamis trooped down for lunch at 12:30 pm,

> I realized with

> horror that I had forgotton to cook rice! They asked

> for white rice and

> I had to sheepishly make the confession that that I

> had started the rice

> cookers just then and it would take 20 minutes to

> get done. The problem

> was somehow rectified because Nisha (Iowa) had made

> plenty parathas and

> that saved the day!

> As everyone was getting ready to go to the airport

> in batches (for

> checking in baggages), we started a hectic final

> preparation for puja

> and pada-puja. Amma summoned Narayan, Vinayak and

> myself upstairs and

> chatted for sbout 10 minutes. Then She came down at

> about 3:30 pm to do

> a quick puja. Summoning the gods, She prayed that

> Her children be

> granted food, shelter, clothing etc. be free from

> diseases, untimely

> deaths. I thought incredulously- the Divine Mother

> is praying to the

> gods for Her children! The gods are at Her beck and

> call -ever so eager

> to execute Her directives at a split second - and

> here was Amma, praying

> for Her children!

> As She got up after singing "Amba Bhavani

> Jayajagadambe", I said, "Amma,

> it has become the tradition of this house to do

> pada-puja last, so won't

> you please sit on the swing? (We had placed a

> white-and-gold ornate

> swing in the sunroom). At first Amma made a wry face

> (as though to say,

> now do you want me to really sit on a swing?). But

> She meekly went and

> sat! Narayan and I did pada-puja with milk, yogurt,

> honey, ghee,

> rose-water etc.) Lakshmi and Debra (Ohio) had made a

> crown for Radha,

> which Amma put on! (I wish we had taken some good

> photos) .Amma

> distributed the panchamridam that Madhu and Cathi

> (NM) had made. Madhu

> also saw Her eat some. Next Amma walked into the

> kitchen to wash Her

> hands. (Visa, a Southindian lady, who had brought in

> the lunch was

> pleasantly startled to find Amma by her side.) As

> Amma came out, I ran

> to get Her slippers. I had ordered an identical pair

> and wanted to swich

> them with Amma's permission. Amma said, "Let me try

> them on." But She

> did not like the newness and preferred the well-worn

> old slippers. I too

> said, "Amma, I would rather have you comfortable

> than force a new pair

> on you." Amma sweetly replied, "You only want a pair

> worn by me. Now

> that I have tried them on, you may keep them."

> Needless to say I was

> ecstatic! Before I knew what happened, Amma had left

> for the airport!

> Yesterday, we relived some of those memories when

> about 60 devotees met

> for satsangh and meditated in Amma's room.

> I cannot believe that so much has happened in a

> year! All the trials and

> tribulations have been worth the bliss! I thank Amma

> for giving me all

> the experiences. I have grown stronger in the faith

> that Amma knows what

>

=== message truncated ===

 

 

 

 

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