More from Calicut (fwd from Amritanand)

[Guest guest]

Dear Internet Sisters and Brothers,

 

More report from Calicut: It’s just a couple days

before Christmas and it was sweltering at the

Brahmasthanam temple here last night! A little

incongruous for a North American.

 

The crowds at the Calicut programs have been

increasing all week. About 3000 came for the morning

darshan yesterday. Many more were there last night

for the Mars puja and darshan after.

 

So there is a lot of publicity here about her programs

– posters are put up everywhere in this town and daily

pics and stories in the newspapers

 

It is interesting – there are many fewer Westerners at

the Calicut tour this year than I remember from 3

years ago. The consensus is that people who normally

come canceled their plans this year due to the 911

situation. It’s also a little tense here because of

the new conflict between India and Pakistan. India

just pulled its High Commissioner out of Islamabad, so

this tension is in the news every day. We must pray

for both India and America!

 

I had the good fortune yesterday of speaking with two

of Amma’s Indian devotees. One young man was studying

to be a CPA. He said what attracted him to Mother was

her boundless love. Then today, I ordered tea in my

hotel room and the room service man said he made a

point of being the one to come to my room because the

rumor was we were Amma devotees. Nice!

 

There have been articles every day in the Calicut

edition of the New Indian Express and other national

papers, about Mother’s visit. Here’s a selection from

the paper about last night: “Mata Amritanandamayi has

called upon her devotees to remain vigilant against

evil forces, those which are determined to promote

enmity and hatred between different sections of the

society…[she said] Those who refuse to open their

minds will not achieve anything in life. A smiling

face and a flawless mind are the supreme qualities of

being. However, most of the devotees are approaching

me with minds laden with burden. Compassion for

others and noble thoughts must be the hallmark of real

devotees.â€

 

Actually, Mother talked for quite a long time in

Malayalam, of course. She undoubtedly said a lot more

than that. The crowd was restless but very devoted to

her so maybe she was saying some things to quiet them

down. I don’t know.

 

 

 

Participating in the puja last night involved some

tapas for all. After the puja was done and we

circumnambulated the temple, there was a great rush

for a prime spot near Mother while she gave her

lecture and bhajans. I got up fairly close, but after

a few minutes, people crowded closer and closer

together until I was stuck in a position with my arms

around my knees that I could not get out of without

smashing someone else. Mother spoke for 15 minutes,

then there was a chant, then she spoke for another 15

minutes, then another chant, and I thought we would be

free to leave at that point (my back was really

starting to hurt). But then, as we stood up to leave,

she surprised us all by starting up more lecture! And

by that time, my space had been halved by more people

crowding in from the side. Those last 20 minutes of

Amma speaking were really like being in the fire so to

speak. And then there was the HUGE rush of people to

go up with their tokens for darshan and the one exit

for Westerners was entirely blocked. Some Westerners

panicked and pushed their way through but I tried to

be calm and wait for them to let some of the Indian

people through to queue up for darshan and then I

forcefully but patiently tried to get through and

succeeded. I was drenched in frustration and sweat,

but was very happy to be in an open and cool place

outside the temple.

 

One last thing, it has been hard to get back and forth

from the hotel to the Calicut ashram due to a serious

ammonia leak from a truck that collided with another

truck in the center of the city. It has taken them

two days to clean it up and so the traffic has been

bypassed around that section of the city. More

opportunity to learn patience and to practice mantra

japa.

 

Will send more about our bus trip back to Amritapuri.

We are expected to arrive there at 11 p.m. on the

23rd.

 

Amma's Love to All,

 

Amritanand