Dec 19 – 20
Kozhikode Brahmasthanam
Amritamayi Nagar, Vellimadukunnu, Kozhikode – 673 012, Kerala, Phone: 0495-2371682
Dec 22 -23
Kodungallur Brahmasthanam
Lokamalleswaram, Kodungalloor 680 664, Kerala, Phone: 0488-2804262
16 – 21 Nov, San Ramon, US Yatra 2009
Amma was welcomed by devotees at the San Francisco airport upon her arrival in USA after her European Yatra.
At the San Ramon Ashram in California, Amma held regular programs and a retreat.
Even though it is winter and very cold, the weather certainly did not stop people from all over the country to come and see Amma. Very often people could not even fit inside the hall and had to be relocated in a second hall and some were looking through a window outside to catch a little glimpse of Amma.
Amma in Barcelona, Spain
11 – 13 November, Barcelona, Spain – 2009 Europe Yatra
A enormous amount of people lined up several blocks away from the hall in Barcelona to receive Amma’s darshan. Even six hours after the program started, people were still queuing in large numbers outside the program hall.
Amma was welcomed by Antoni Morral, Mayor of Cerdanyola del Vallès, the part of Barcelona where the program took place.
In an interview he said: “I am really satisfied and happy that Amma is visiting our city again; it is an important and exceptional event having Amma here. Meeting Amma was very touching and profound, through her darshan I discovered a new universe.”
Roger Pallarols, Member of City Council said: “It is a big honor to welcome Amma in Barcelona, and so we would like to show and share our joy to have her here.”
Renowned pianist Sira Hernandez performed famous sonatas from Bach and Chopin for Amma.
At the end of a long darshan, a little girl spontaneously started dancing for Amma, expressing her joy.
With this program in Barcelona, this year’s Europe Yatra came to an end, but Amma continues giving darshan. The next program will be in San Ramon, California, USA.
6 – 8 November, Milano, Italy — 2009 Europe Yatra
Amma’s program took place in Italy’s fashion city Milano. The Italians welcomed Amma in their very hearty way -whenever Amma came for the program or left after long darshan hours, the crowd thanked her with a long applause.
Devotees from all parts of Italy attended the program. The people from Milano showcased traditional Indian performances during the three-day program.
17 – 18 October 2009
Nabekura Plateau is within the prefectural boundaries of Niigata and Nagano prefectures in Japan. This plateau is home to 100 year old Buna trees in a primordial untouched natural forest. Buna trees are also called Japanese beeches which are native to Japan, where it is widespread and often one of the dominant trees of Japan’s deciduous forests. Surrounded by this incredible nature, Swami Purnamritananda’s weekend retreat was conducted in this picturesque place. Amma says that harmony with nature decreases our stress and restores our inner and outer balance. One could really experience this in the calm and serene atmosphere.
Bhajan, Chanting class, Satsang and a Laksmi Puja were the highlights of the first day of the retreat. The Lakshmi Puja was performed as part of Deepawali celebrations and Swamiji explained why Deepawali is called ‘festival of lights’. Amma’s Japanese children felt really blessed to have Swamiji instruct them to do the Puja in the traditional Indian way. After the Puja, there were cultural programs like Bharat Natyam and a Japanese folk dance. Towards the end, everyone joined together and danced joyously to Amma’s Punjabi Bhajan Matarani. On the second day, after the yoga and guided meditation session, Swamiji taught everyone to chant the Gayathri Mantra and explained the importance of chanting it every day. In the afternoon there was eco-meditation and a nature-walk. The retreat ended with an interesting Q&A session.
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2nd – 4th October, Toulon, France — Europe Yatra 2009
Amma’s program took place in Toulon, in the south of France, located close to the famous Cote d’Azur.
Huge crowds attended Amma’s program.
The people of Toulon welcomed Amma heartily and performed several cultural performances. The children of this area performed a dance and song for world peace.
Navagraha Homa is recommended for all and is an extremely useful & beneficial Homa, since its worship strengthens benefic planets & increases their positive influence and pacifies malefic planets & neutralizes their negative effect.
This homa was conducted by Br Shantamrita at the Amrita Watoto Boma, the orphange, on 1st November 2009.
A beautiful white & yellow kolam decorated the homa kunda. During the Homa, all devotees sang bhajans and the sound of ancient Vedic mantras also pervaded the space later in the ceremony. Over 150 people attended the homa, including special guests the Indian Deputy High Commissioner for Kenya, Mr Shukla, and the Honorable Member of Parliament for Naivasha constituency and Chairman Kenya Agriculture Commission, Mr John Mututh.
Every person present had the chance to make an offering in the fire, including the children who reside at the Children’s Home.
After the homa was completed, it started raining, and a beautiful double rainbow appeared in the sky. A sign that the prayers had reached the Divine?
25 Oct 2009, Nairobi, Kenya
AYUDH Kenya participated in the 350 movement on Saturday 24th October 2009. This day marked a milestone towards fighting against climate change as people from all over the world united with a common goal to be heard and try and save the planet. (http://www.350.org/)
AYUDH’s contribution was through organizing a tree planting event at the Amrita Watoto Boma (Children’s home) located by the Athi River in Nairobi. A total of 50 youth took part in the event and managed digging the ground and planting 500 trees during the course of the day. There were also 3 campaigners for the 350 movement from Denmark present for the event.
The day started with a short talk by Br. Shantamrita on how man depends on Mother Nature and the need to contribute towards preserving Mother Nature. There was a lot of enthusiasm amongst the youth who managed to finish planting 500 trees in the morning alone. This was the target intended for the entire day. There were a lot of innovative methods of teamwork on display as well, particularly whilst watering the trees. Only one water tank was available, which was pretty far away and all the participants formed a chain to transport the water to the trees.
After lunch and a small singing session, the youth gathered for the final activity, which was to create a small garden next to one of the children’s dorms. This was the most challenging activity of the day and it concluded at 3:30 pm.
The event ended on a very positive note with each person adopting at least one tree, showing their commitment towards ensuring that they would come back for another event and to make sure that the trees planted would also grow healthy. A round of ultimate Frisbee concluded the day. It was a fun-filled event for all who took part.
As the children’s center is nearing completion and the kids are about to move into their new home, AYUDH dedicated this day to create a more welcoming and beautiful surrounding for the children and at the same time contributed to the protection of Mother Nature.
Munich, Germany, 29th – 31st October
“We are so blessed that Amma has been coming to Munich for 22 years; we want to thank Amma deeply that she is giving us the opportunity to be in her inspiring presence. Thank you so much for being here.” with these words Amma was welcomed to Munich, Germany.
Felicitas von Schönborn, correspondent of the UNO, writer and publisher welcomed Amma saying: ” Because of the love that Amma is giving to every single being, humankind is merging together.”
Inspired by Amma, AYUDH Europe announced their new project ‘Growin‘, where young people start growing their own vegetables, especially in city areas. “Since many years Amma has been saying how important it is to cultivate our own food. With ‘Growin’ AYUDH is doing the first step; we are sowing the seeds of change”, they said.
Devotees from Hungary came to invite Amma to their country and presented their flag which Amma waved with respect.
Cultural performances accompanied the festivities of Amma’s visit to Munich.
14 Oct 2009, Port Blair
In order to provide super specialist services to the people of these islands through the GB Pant Hospital, Port Blair, the Principal Secretary (Health), Andaman & Nicobar administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Br. Sadashiva Chaitanya, Mata Amaritanandamayi Math and Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Kochi.
With the signing of the MoU, super specialist facilities in areas like Cardiology, Surgical Gastroenterology, Urology, Pediatric Surgery, Head & Neck Surgery, Gynecological Endoscopic Surgery, Arthroscopic Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Spinal Surgery will be made available to the public at GB Pant Hospital, Port Blair on a monthly basis, which will include consultation, diagnostics and surgical services. Nurses and Paramedics of GB Pant Hospital will be provided training in conducting the super specialty operations. The specialists from Amrita will also provide their expert advice to patients through Tele-medicine facilities as and when required.
It is expected that these facilities will come as a boon to the public of these islands and will save them the expenditure and trouble of going to various hospitals on the mainland for treatment.
AmmaChimes Amma Says