Hey, That's My Mother You're Talking About!

2 March, 2004
Fourteen-year-old Purnima from Pune is one of those blessed children who have known Amma their entire life. At school, Her favourite subjects are math and environmental studies, but her real passion is Amma. And people who speak badly of Amma better be careful: Purnima does not take that lightly!

"The first memory I have of Amma is when I was two or three. Amma asked me to sing a bhajan. Then after singing one line I asked Her for a chocolate. Amma gave one to me. Then after the next line, I asked Her for another one. Amma gave me about 10 chocolates like that. After that, I always would ask Amma if I could sing a bhajan for Her, but She always said, 'No, you take too many chocolates!' "Amma is everything to me. Everyday, without seeing Her, I feel Her presence; She is always next to me, hugging me. That makes my tensions and problems cool down."

"When I was 11, a man came to our house. After some time, he started saying bad things about Amma. I could not take that. I told him to get out of the house! When I told Amma some time later, She started laughing and said, 'Do you love me so much?'

"Last December, we went to Amma's ashram in Vallikkavu. We went by train with a group of 15 people. There was a man in our wagon, and after he had heard us talking about Amma, he started criticizing Her. It made me feel very bad; it was more than I could bear. I told him it would be better if he would stop it, but he just went on saying how what Amma does is no big deal. He even said, 'Amma hugs so many people, even the gents, does She not have any shame or dignity?' He then said all this hugging was no big deal. Then I confronted him, I said, 'If it is no big deal, can you then hug me now like Amma does?' The man was stupefied and left the wagon immediately!

"When Amma heard the story, She laughed and said: 'What will you do if someone talks badly about me?' I said, 'Amma, I will hit him!'

"Amma then asked me what I would you do if my father and mother were to talk badly about her? I replied, 'I would just ignore them, but if they did it too much, I would leave the house!' I cannot hear bad about Amma."

"Amma always jokes with me. Last time when Amma was in Pune, a lady came with twin babies. She requested me to carry one of them; they were just 20 days old. When I came to Amma, She said, 'Is this your daughter?' I said 'No.' Then Amma looked again at me and said, 'Tell me the truth.' I said: 'No, really, Amma, she is not my daughter.' Amma then jokingly tossed a lime at my head!

"After that, I stood next to Amma and helped by lifting up the children who were coming for darshan. Amma was joking with me by giving me different instructions all the time: 'to the left,' 'to the right,' etc. Then She said, 'Lift them as high as possible,' and when I had my hands high above my head, She started tickling me!

"I have no bhakti [devotion], and I don't do any sadhana [spiritual practices]. My relationship with Amma is just how a child loves its mother. Amma is like a tree that gives shade for everything. My best friend in the world is Amma!"

—Deva