A Master And A Great Soul

20 January 2004, Chennai

A distinguished guest at the Chennai Brahmasthanam Festival, Mr. Ajay Kallam is an IAS officer with over 23 years of service. He currently serves on the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) Board, which oversees the famous Venkatesa Perumal temple of Tirupati, the principal deity of which is also called ‘The lord of the Seven Hill Fully supporting Amma's ideals, especially regarding value-based education, he said, “tender minds must be exposed to spirituality. Schools and colleges focusing on spirituality must be encouraged”.

Commenting on his first darshan with Amma, a visibly moved Mr. Kallam said, "the experience is hard to describe." Laughing, he added, “it takes at least five minutes to recover from the experience of that hug!” According to him, Amma's message of spreading love among humanity has come at the right time. “It is high time that goodness replaced ‘greatness'. By that I mean, each person wants to be known as ‘great', but goodness and love are the need of the day. Like Amma says, real love should replace possessiveness and desire."

- minu