Month: May 2001

  • Amma’s rituals – with lotuses

    30,May, 2001 Generally as a religion matures, its rituals become fixed and unvarying. This preserves something fine from the early times; it also tends to breed mechanical repetition and to block the heart’s natural tendency to respond with newness and freshness. Ritual can be the death or the life of religious practices. We are blessed…

  • Tai Chi classes

    In ancient times Bodhidharma went from India to China, and it is said that for many years he meditated at the Shaolin monastery. He devised a system of physical exercises which served both as a means to maintain the health as well as a system of self-defense. The martial art he developed was Tai Chi.…

  • Amma, Healing the Heart of the World

    An American devotee, Judith Cornell, has written a biography of Amma for mainstream publication throughout the world. In addition, Judith will be on a very highly rated and very highly watched TV news/talk show in the US called “The Today Show” on 10 July, to talk about the book and Mother. ‘Amma, Healing the Heart…

  • Mother’s vacation

    23 May, 2001 A Wednesday in the middle of May was the last day Mother gave public darshan at Amritapuri before this year’s Japan/USA Tour. That was the day She started at around ten and finished only at the end of evening bhajans. There was still a week left before Her departure. What did She…

  • She is still whispering

    She is still whispering

    16 May, 2001, Amritapuri Today, the 16th of May, is the last scheduled public darshan before Mother leaves for the six-week US Tour. Mother came to the temple shortly after ten in the morning, and it is now nearly seven in the evening, bhajans should be in full swing, but they aren’t, for still the…

  • Will Mother visit our homes?

    15 May, 2001, Amritapuri The leaders of the villages Mother is adopting in Gujarat made the long train journey to southern Kerala just in time to see their new Mother before Her departure for the US Tour. They were on a mission: Representing the people of the villages where Mother is helping reconstruct homes, schools,…

  • Mother’s day

    13 May, 2001, Amritapuri During the last few days before Mother leaves for any extended tour, especially one to foreign countries, as if determined to have a final long swallow of water before crossing the desert, people converge on the oasis of the ashram. The crowds are huge. Baths start at about two thirty in…

  • Paying back a visit

    4 – 5 May, 2001, Coimbatore The last afternoon darshan in Coimbatore. The stage is packed-as usual. But the majority of devotees seated there to Mother’s left are children, girls and boys in green-checked uniforms. Why is there so much space between them? Ah! Many are sitting with their legs stretched out in front. Their…

  • Brahmasthanam Installation – Covai

    Brahmasthanam Installation – Covai

    2 May  2001, Covai, Tamil Nadu Between the hours of eleven in the morning and one in the afternoon on Wednesday, the 2nd of May, 2001, Amma consecrated a new Brahmasthanam temple at the new ashram in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, the southern state neighbouring Her home state of Kerala. At Mananthavadi just over two months…