Kenna's report #5-Amma answers a few questions and sings in many languages

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya.

 

In this report, will give some highlights from last few days at Amritapuri

before going to Cochin.

 

Those days were a very unique time at the Ashram because Amma was not giving

any public programs and more and more people were arriving from outside

India for the celebrations. Preparations were going on in every nook and

cranny. In the children¹s library people were making costumes for the peace

parade.

 

Musicians were rehearsing everywhere, so we were all treated to wonderful

previews of the international music program.

 

Many of the long term residents were in Cochin working hard to prepare. I

later heard that the stadium had not been used for 4 years (?). It had been

built as a soccer stadium and no one wanted to play soccer there. So Amma¹s

group rented, cleaned (massive project) and then turned over to Cochin.

How¹s that for service? And there was a rumor that the front of the temple

had been recreated in front of the stadium.

 

Amma herself was preparing. Every evening at bhajans Amma would sing Iswar

Tumhi in a different language. French, German, Finnish, Spanish, Czech,

Japanese. We all looked forward to what it would be this evening. She also

sang more songs in English, especially, ³Wonderous Goddess, Precious

Goddess².

I will add that I heard Her sing Iswar in French and Spanish at the Birthday

event and her spanish was so good that I could follow her though I didn¹t

have the translation memorized. Jai Ma!!!! As usual she was setting an

example for all of us to follow, twisting her tongue in ways it had never

been twisted.

 

Daily the temple bell would ring to let us all know that Amma would be

sitting with us in the temple to answer questions and hug the new arrivals.

One morning I was catching up on laundry, sweeping sand off the apt. floor,

enjoying life without ecoli when I heard Amma¹s voice say very clearly,

³Daughter, get over here, there¹s something I want you to hear.² The temple

was already crowded, so I could only find a seat in the balcony on the side

she was sitting, ie. no view of Amma. All the better to listen to what she

was saying. Now this is interesting, because her story was about building

homes for the homeless! Humm. How did she know I was going to be writing

this to our list where this has just become a topic of interest? The short

version is an image she has repeated many times, which has become one of my

favorite submantras these days, ³You can¹t straighten the tail of a dog.²

Long version:

 

Her brahmacharis went into a remote, hilly area to build some homes. This

involved hauling the materials by bullock cart up steep hillsides. No small

task. There was no offer of help from the people who were to receive the

homes. In fact, they sat around playing cards and were actually abusive. At

one point they broke into the storehouse and beat up some of the

brahmacharis. Some of the brahmacharis get very ill from malaria. The

brahamacharis came to Amma very upset. Of course she consoled them as best

she could. But her point in the story was, ³They got stronger.² Just like

the arm gets stronger from holding the tail of the dog straight. Now, Amma

is a practical person. I understand some changes were made in the home

building program, so people have to agree to support the program with help,

etc. But that wasn¹t Amma¹s point. Her point is the world is the way it is

and we do what we can without attachment to the end result in order to grow

spiritually. There was a quote from Amma to that effect on the board in the

dining area one day. Selfless service means service with no expectation of

outcome. It¹s one thing to serve people who say thank you. It¹s another to

serve those who can¹t or won¹t.  By her grace, this child hopes to serve

better from that place.

 

During darshan on those days, many of the cultural acts came to be blessed

and practice in front of all of us. One morning the Lion Dance group from

Malaysia brought their huge lion masks to Amma for blessing and a little

while later, to amazing drumming, came in to do their dance. Wow!! Several

times Amma called for the Michael Jackson song and everyone would sing and

wave. Apparently what Amma liked best was that everyone was standing and

waving their arms.

 

On Monday, the 22, the ³mat group²--those staying at Amma¹s brahmastanam

temple and school in Cochin, left before dawn. I helped my friend get her

stuff out to the buses. A lot of the residents left in this group and it

wasn¹t clear if Amma was going to go with them since there was so much to do

in Cochin. Later in the morning the temple bell rang and everyone left

rushed to the temple, expecting to see Amma one last time at the Ashram.

After waiting until noon, a brahmachari with downcast face appeared and

explained apologetically that a mistake had been made and Amma would not be

appearing as she had too much to do. Everyone went to lunch a little sad and

went about the business of preparing. Then, the sweetest of surprises. In

the late afternoon, Amma surprised us all and came wandering down her

stairs, saying, ³meditate, seashore² heading toward the back gate, picking

up eager children as she went. She led us to the roof of the new ayurvedic

clinic. I was blessed with a seat close to her on her left. Everyone was

scuttling to get her a good seat, a microphone, some lights as the sun went

down. It was all so divinely spontaneous and grace full. The whole time a

young girl with the pueblo dancer group from New Mexico was on her lap

holding on for dear life. There was one question about spiritual names. Amma

said something like, ³Well, I can give you a spiritual name, but you¹ve

still got to do the work.² Then someone asked, ³Amma, how can we best love

you?² And Amma replied, ³By loving your Selves and each other.² Then a young

man from the pueblo dancer group, in a deeply emotional way, told Amma about

how his culture was disappearing and Amma told him how sad she was.

She led us in a song, hugged the new comers, and we all headed back in the

dark. It was all so dreamlike.

 

On Tuesday, the 23, half of us got up at 5 to find our respective buses and

leave for Cochin. The other half would leave later in the day. We understood

that there would be about 2 people left in the ashram for the next 4 days.

And many of us wondered about the security of the ashram. I gather it was

all there when everyone returned?

 

In Amma¹s grace,

premarupa

Aum Amriteshvaryia Namah