Christmas Time at Amritapuri (fwd from Amritanand)

[Guest guest]

Happy Holidays to All of Amma's Children - from

Amritapuri

 

May Amma, the Lord Jesus and all the saints and sages

bless you during this special time of year and in

2002.

 

I am sitting in the a/c at the computer sciences

school in the village of Vallickavu across from

Amritapuri.

 

My friend Mrityunjayan and I rode the ashram bus back

from Calicut on the 23rd - a 10 hour ride where we had

the pleasing fellowship of other American and European

devotees - wonderful conversation and company. There

was a scare at the end of the ride because the luggage

had been piled too high on the bus top so some pieces

fell on the ground. Also, the clamp that held the

spare tire almost came loose a couple times and made a

big racket. This concerned some people a lot. We

arrived here around 9 p.m. and we all had to get

signed in and set up in our rooms in the dark.

 

Christmas Eve programs were very good. Just before,

Amma entered the western cafe where they serve coffee

and tea drinks and had someone draw her a cappucino!

I happened to be right near her. She also took a

french fry and took a bit out of it and gave a funny

look to us as if to say: "Hmmm, pretty good taste!

Not bad..."

 

At the Christmas Eve programs in the new darshan hall,

they had a Dutch woman devotee singing a part of

Handel's Messiah and a extraordinary Indian dance

having to do with Sree Meenakshi - but it ran a long

time. This brought us to midnight when a Western

Christmas cake was served to each of us individually

by Amma herself, along with a kiss on the cheek. An

older man dressed up as Father Christmas and Amma

played with his stomach.

 

Christmas Day was the regular Tuesday meditation day

with questions and answers. The 2-3 questions mainly

had to do with Christ's original message and how (in

the questitoners view) the churches had distorted his

teachings. The concern was about the conversions that

go on, and the idea that some Christians say Christ is

the only means of attaining salvation.

 

I will only attempt to paraphrase and summarize what I

heard Amma say in reply:

 

Amma said Jesus' message was basically one of love and

compassion. It was a message of pure spirituality.

As usual she made the distinction between religion and

spirituality. She said that although this was

Christ's simple message, some people over the

centuries may have distorted this message to mean that

Christ is the ONLY means to salvation, and that people

need to be converted to Christianity. She says to

find Christ's message of forgiveness and outreach, we

need to look beyond the mere religious institutions

and find the real spiritual meaning. She noted that

some of these core teachings are contained in the

Bible. I believe she pointed to the gospel of St.

Matthew. Regarding the Resurrection of Jesus, she

basically meant to say that Jesus can be found not in

the body today, but in the hearts and minds of his

devotees.

 

She talked at length about the lives of the mahatmas

like Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. Like Jesus, they did

not "die" essentially. They knew beforehand that they

would at some point surrender their bodies in the

manner that they did and at the time that they did -

it was at their own will. A true mahatma can choose

the time of death in that manner. And so Jesus did

the same - he chose the time and manner of his death.

 

After her answers to the questions, she gave dinner to

all assembled and gave darshan to people arriving or

leaving that day.

 

 

 

Today is her first public darshan in Amritapuri after

the Calicut programs, so I am off to get darshan.

 

It is wonderful being here with her and seeing all the

love of the devotees. What a special Christmas that

I will never forget. I will write again in a few

days,

 

Amma's Grace to You All,

 

Amritanand

from Amritapuri