Kenna's report #3--Prasad from Ram and other highlights from Amritapuri before AV50

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya.

 

 

No words to describe the joy of returning to the temple for morning prayers.

Now the woman gather in the old temple and several brahmacharinis take turns

leading on different days. This practice has been the center of my life

since the visit in 2000 and returning to it was utter delight.

 

(The men pray together in the new hall.)

 

After 108 Names and 1000 Names we chanted the Sri Mahisasuramardini Stotram,

which can be found in the 2002 Bhajan supplement. Does anyone know when Amma

first directed that this be chanted? I think it's significant that it is

being chanted now and would appreciate others' perspectives on it. I have

continued the practice as part of morning prayers and find it to be a very

powerful practice. The last line of each verse is translated as "To You, the

whole world is one family." And at the end, that line is repeated several

times to the melody of the whole verse.

 

Since it was Friday, Amma came to the temple mid morning and answered

questions and gave darshan to new comers. Unfortunately I was still in jet

lag mode and can't remember anything of substance from it except the joy of

being there again.

 

In the evening after bhajans as Amma left, I joined the small herd of people

who dashed from the hall to the area by her apartment to get a good spot to

watch her feed Ram, the elephant. This was high on my list because Ram had

arrived just after we left in 2000, and I had been wishing so much to meet

him. They brought him past the back of hall and into Swami alley just as I

got there and I managed to get in behind him as they closed the gate into

the alley. A friend led me to the pond side where the crowd was lining up

and we weren't far from where Amma stood at the bottom on her steps. There

was a wooden gate separating Ram from Her and she fed him handful after

handful and it was all simply delicious. She had to give him some medicine,

which he didn't like, but which he would take from his beloved mother. Hence

my reference in the last post: Amma knows how to get us to take the medicine

we otherwise wouldn't take, even though we need it. At the end of the

feeding, Ram took water and sprayed some of us. He blessed me with a good

spray, and all I could do was thank Sri Ganesh for clearing the way that led

me back there.

 

 

Since a large group was doing the IAM meditation training, there was a need

for vegetable choppers, so I joined the vegetable chopping team after

morning prayers. What lovely company with whom to be peeling onions and

garlic and cleaning beets and potatoes and cabbage! I especially enjoyed

meeting Hamsa from Germany and learned that the first IAM meditation taught

outside India was there. For some reason I felt to ask him if he had ever

dreamed his mantra, because awhile back it occurred to me that dreaming

mantra could be an indicator of progress in the practice of japa. And sure

enough, he confirmed that during a nightmare, when he was afraid in the

dream, he did japa. Wow! How inspiring! Jai Hamsa. Jai Ma!

 

Sunday was to be the last day of public programs for a whole week before we

all left for Cochin. Amma had decided to take a break in order to give

herself and others more time to prepare and also to give more space to all

the AV50 travelers who kept arriving in larger and larger numbers.

 

This was the day Amma dressed me as my own mother never had. The day before

at the public program, I was admiring the way the mothers would dress their

daughters for darshan. I spent a lot of time studying the way so many Indian

mothers are with their small children, so gentle and loving. Witnessing this

was very healing for me and helped me grow closer to Amma as a loving

mother. Anyway, I was at the Indian grocery for a couple of things and

observed a western woman shopping for an outfit for her grown daughter. Here

it was again: a mother showing love for her daughter. She examined a

beautiful pink punjabi and decided it was too small. Next thing I knew I was

buying it and went to put it on before darshan started. It really felt like

Amma had arranged it all. I spent a lot of time in the front of the temple

letting go of a few more layers before going for darshan. I remember

standing in the darshan line mentally asking Amma to please prepare me for

the IAM meditation training which I was scheduled to take in a couple of

days.

 

The next morning I woke up freezing, barely made it through prayers, and had

my roommate summon nurse Prasida. It was eventually decided that I had ecoli

infection and I was put on a 5 day round of Cipro, which turned me around in

time to actually take the training. I was one of the first. There were many

more. We were very well treated. The doctor came to my room. Swami

Dayamritaji inquired about me. Many days later, in Cochin, someone told me

that once a homeopathic expert was at the ashram developing a remedy to

address malaria, parasites and other such problems and Amma called her off

of it saying, "You're taking away all my tools."

 

All I can say is, as with the poison bug that flew into my eye on my first

visit to the ashram, I never doubted that Amma was giving me exactly what I

needed. That it was all her grace.

 

Pranams to my roommates, who went without the fan for a couple of days until

I got over the chills. Never expected to be so cold in Kerala!

 

Next: Amma answers some questions and sings in many languages.

 

Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah