Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

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The world is hungry, start giving gifts

24 December 2019

As is the custom in Amritapuri, Christmas Eve saw a tableau of offerings in the form of dance, song and drama from Amma’s children who have come from all parts of the globe to spend their Christmas holidays with Amma.

This year’s performances showcased the plethora of cultural traditions from which Amma’s children come, and demonstrated once again that Amma’s love transcends all boundaries as a universal language.

The audience was treated first to a shadow puppet play about the birth of Christ and the arrival of the three wise men, who immediately recognized Jesus as a divine King. The crowd was regaled with Christmas carols, sung with beautiful harmonies and melodies.

All were delighted by a traditional Spanish Flamenco dance, and by a joyous salsa dance performance from Amma’s Latin American children, to a song called “Festival.” The meaning of the song is:

Do not cry
understand life as a festival
live your life singing and dancing
and with that attitude you will be able to accomplish everything.

Indian classical and semi-classical dances evoked the sweetness of devotion and the unparalleled beauty of the Divine.

A group of Amma’s international daughters performed a spellbinding dance about the Divine Mother’s love for the devotee, with the message, “Even if we do not always see her, Amma is always with us.”

Dec. 24th was not only Christmas Eve, it was also one of the 8 nights of Chanukah, a Jewish holiday known as “The festival of light.” Traditionally celebrated for 8 nights, one candle is lit each evening and placed on a menorah (hanukia), in gratitude for God’s grace in our lives. In their offering, Amma’s Jewish children built a human menorah as a prayerful offering of gratitude. At the close of the dance, 8 candles were lit, each with a prayer. Each candle was lit with a prayer:

For peace on earth
For harmony among all
To restore nature’s balance
For service to humanity
That truth may prevail
For knowledge to dawn
For our hearts to blossom
To spread Amma’s light to all corners of the world

Amma’s international children closed the performances with a message for Amma and for all those assembled:

When we celebrate Christmas we are joining the world to reflect for a day on the qualities of love, sacrifice and selfless giving. But as we reflect on it, we can’t help but understand that for us, the children of Amma, everyday is Christmas. Everyday is a celebration of being with a master that embraces us in our darkness and helps us to see the light that is our true nature. When we sing “Joy to the world, the Lord has come,” we are not singing about a historical moment, but we are giving praise and gratitude for our great fortune of being a part of Amma’s story.

After the performances, Amma gave her annual Christmas address. In her remarks, Amma reminded the assembled crowd of the deeper meaning of the Christmas traditions, saying, “Children love Christmas because Santa Claus brings gifts for them. In fact, we can all become Santas. For this, we do not have to give material gifts. A compassionate glance, a few good words, a patient ear and small acts of kindness are actually big gifts we all can give. The world is hungry for such gifts. To start giving these gifts, we don’t have to wait for the Christmas season. We can give them always, every day.” Amma also reminded everyone of the true goal of this day, and of every day: “”At the very top of the Christmas tree, we place a brightly lit star. Its message is that our life’s supreme goal is to seek and attain that bright star: God. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we should not forget this truth. It is to remind us of this that spiritual masters incarnate from time to time.”

Following her address, Amma led the thousands gathered in a visualization and prayer for world peace, followed by uplifting and joyous bhajans. As the clock struck midnight, the ashram’s resident Santa Claus brought trays of chocolate Christmas cake to Amma for blessing, and she served the special Christmas prasad to one and all. It was indeed, to all a good night, filled with joy, contemplation, and prayer – a true holy day.

-Tulasi

What selfless actions we have done for others?

25 Dec 2018, Amritapuri – Xmas celebrations

As every year, Christmas at Amritapuri ashram was a very memorable and festive occasion. Devotees from all over the world joined in the celebration and cultural presentations in Ammas presence.

The evening programme started with a traditional German Christmas charol. Amma’s international little children and teenagers then showcased a scene from Jesus’ life through music and dance. After a traditional Chinese dance a much applauded mime story was presented, narrating the story of an old man, who was trying to remember his childhood days and regain an innocent heart. Various Ashram children presented a dance depicting the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The cultural programme culminated in the singing of the song “Silent Night” and a musical drama about love and compassion, ending with a powerful gospel rendition.

In her Christmas message, Amma said: “Today, our spiritual values are drowning in a flood of external comfort and pleasure. Rather than celebrating Christmas in worship, people prefer to indulge in the external celebrations. This Christmas, it might be good to reflect on a few things such as “How many good actions was I able to do in God’s name during the past year? How many people’s tears was I able to wipe? Were my actions able to bring a little light into a few lives?” We should spend some time in such self-reflection. “This past year, when people told me of their sorrows, did I spare a little time to listen to them? Were my words able to bring them comfort?” We should do some inner reflection. “Of the 24 hours given to us each day, was I able to spare at least one hour to help selflessly?” In this manner, we can transform ourselves into real human beings.”

In the spirit of Christmas, Amma sang the english song “Only love”: “Only love is our guiding light, only love can heal and unite, only love shines so bright, only love can end this night”. Soon after, she cheered the crowd with a rocking version of Mata Rani.

After a prayer and mediation for World Peace, Amma followed another Xmas tradition at Amritapuri: Blessing chocolate cake, which was distributed as prasad (blessed gift) to one and all, reminding us of the sweetness that comes with Divine Love.

-Dass

[Show thumbnails]
Amma on Christmas

Mahatmas never die

25 December 2006 — Amritapuri

Christmas celebrations in Amritapuri

Christmas play in Amritapuri

Christmas is always a special time in Amritapuri. Not only does it mark the anniversary of the birth of a Jesus Christ, but also—with so many people around the world having time off from work—the Ashram is overflowing with devotees from Europe, America, Russia, Japan and all over India.

On Christmas Eve, Amma gave darshan in the bhajan hall, beginning at 10 a.m. and continuing until midnight on the 25th.

For a few hours in the evening, Amma decided to sing a joyful set of bhajans as she gave darshan. It was a real celebration, with as many as 5,000 people singing along to bhajans in several different Indian languages, including “Inji Mahimano,” “Ramakrishna Govinda Narayana Hari,” “Sristiyum Niye” and “Banda Krishna.”

Around 11:00, devotees from the West gathered to sing Christmas carols, including a version of “Silent Night” that drew upon 15 different languages. There was also a short children’s play about finding God within.

Darshan finished about half way through the carols. Amma then came down and listened to the rest of the music sitting in a chair on the bhajan hall floor, requesting the carollers to take the stage.

Around 1 a.m., Amma delivered her Christmas message, speaking of Jesus as an embodiment of truth, love, compassion and self-sacrifice.

Amma speaking to the devotees on Christmas

“Although Jesus was born more than 2000 years ago, he still lives today in the hearts of countless people around the world,” Amma said. “Mahatmas never die. Even after their time, they continue to live through their teachings and the power of the example they set during their lives. To truly celebrate Christmas is to remember the teachings of Jesus Christ and to try to put them into practice in one’s life.”

Amma said that Jesus never abandoned his ideals in life, even when he was being crucified. “If we hold firm to our ideals, we can, in fact, transcend fear. This is what Mahatmas show us through their lives,” Amma said.

Amma concluded with a prayer that God take birth in everyone’s heart. “Let us decorate the manger of our heart with good thoughts, kind words and compassionate actions,” Amma said.

But that was not to be all. As has become the Christmas tradition in Amritapuri, Amma then began distributing chocolate-cake prasad.

—Kannadi

Christmas carols

Christmas in Amritapuri

25 December 2005 — Amritapuri

Christmas carols

Never is Amritapuri filled with more of Amma’s devotees from the West than during Christmas. Each year people from America, Europe, Australia and other parts of the Western world come all the way across the globe to spend their winter holidays with Amma. Many of them only get 10 days off from work, but still out of their love for Amma make the pilgrimage, which can take as many as 40 hours each way.

In fact, many of them had arrived when Amma was still conducting her programmes in Tamil Nadu. During the long journey back from those programmes, Amma’s mind was clearly on her newly arrived devotees. At a lunch stop on 24th, she reminded everyone that they had to go fast so they could reach the Ashram in time to celebrate Christmas with all her Western children.

Amma reached Amritapuri in the wee hours of Christmas morning. To her devotees’ delight, at 6:00 p.m. she came out for the nightly bhajan, singing bhajans in Malayalam, Tamil, English, Sindi, Marathi. (Devotees not only from the West but also from across India had come to Amritapuri during the work holidays.) Then, at 9:30, Amma again came out to the bhajan hall for the Christmas celebrations.

“The message of Christmas is the life of Jesus Christ itself,” Amma told the devotees gathered to celebrate the holiday. “It is said that God is the embodiment of infinite divine values. At the same time, God is beyond words and the mind. It is through the lives of Mahatmas that we are able to directly experience the divinity of God. Mahatmas teach us through their own lives. Christ was the embodiment of love, self-sacrifice and humility.

Surrender towards God and love towards the world—both of these qualities shined through him. He took birth in a barn, worked hard in life and lived in an ordinary hut. Though materially he had nothing, he was the embodiment of prosperity.”

To celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Christ, Amma’s Western devotees put on a children’s play, performed dances and sang Christmas carols–all of which Amma watched while seated in a chair in the midst of a sea of devotees.

The children’s play started off with a young child asking his mother the question, “Who is God?” When his mother couldn’t answer, the child sat down and started to think: “God is in the sun.. God is in the rivers, the moon, and the mountains.. God is also in the lion and the tiger..” And as the child thought, various children came out, enacting each image or animal. One child even came out as a train. (“God is in the chugga-chugga chugga-chugga of the train.) Amma laughed whenever the children–many of whom where very small–lingered too long on the stage, missed their cues or acted generally confused in the spotlight. At the end, the child realized that if God is in all these things, He must also be inside each child, mother, father, brother and sister as well.

The Western men and women who sang the Christmas carols kept switching back and forth from various different languages. For example, the verses of “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” were sung alternately in French, German, English and other languages, while the chorus remained in Latin. Carols were also sung in Finnish by a large group from Finland.

There was also a juggler from France, an Indian dance by a group of teenage Western girls, a Latin dance led by an Ashram resident from Venezuela. The performances ended with Murali, a professional pianist from France, playing a piece by Elbeniz.

When all the cultural performances were over Amma distributed chocolate cake as prasad–something that has become an Amritapuri Christmas tradition.

-Tulasi

Christmas Eve

24 December 2003, Amritapuri

Amma has said, “The Lord comes not once a year, but every moment. This Christmas Eve saw Amma, as in every moment, immersed in the spirit of giving … darshan. While She was doing so, some devotees began decorating a tree that lives in the garden in front of Amma’s house. When Amma finally came out of the temple it was night, and this tree had been transformed into a Christmas tree, lovingly draped in paper garlands, colourful Christmas lights and crowned with a star.

Towards the end of darshan, a lady devotee came to Amma and complained that her sandals had been ?tolen’ from in front of the temple . Amma then sent a brahmachari to find a plastic bag. When it was brought, Amma tried to fit a pair of sandals into the bag, but the bag was too small, and She made the brahmachari go find a larger bag. He returned with a new bag, and this time the sandals fit perfectly.

Amma then said that from now on, plastic bags should be given for devotees to put their footwear in, which they can then keep with them in their shoulder bags, thereby improving the situation in three ways; it will prevent them from being stolen or misplaced; there will no longer be any need for two people to guard the shoe-rack, saving that much man-power for other work; and finally there will no longer be any need for a shoe-rack at all, saving that much space for something more important!

Thus, as many mothers around the world were spending Christmas Eve wrapping gifts for their children, our Divine Mother, with characteristic humility, was busy wrapping our sandals, even while wrapping us in Her arms… the symbolism of all this is almost too poignant …

Christmas Day, 2003

India has always welcomed other faiths, and Kerala in particular is said to have been home to some of the earliest Christians, and preserves India’s largest Christian population to this day. Christmas is always an extra special day for both western and Indian Christians to receive darshan from Amma. Many consider Amma to be an embodiment of the same divinity that was born as Jesus Christ.

Amma’s children offered a Christmas performance while Amma gave darshan. There was a lively electronic keyboard performance, adding to the jovial atmosphere; an operatic serenade by one of the ashram residents, who is a professionally trained opera singer; and dances by both western and Indian children.

Children from one of Amma’s orphanages presented traditional Indian dances in full costume, their innocence endearing themselves to one and all. Later, some of Amma’s western children also offered a simple and elegant dance. All of the performances received a hearty applause by Amma Herself, who would pause the darshan line just long enough to clap and smile with approval and happiness.

In Amma’s Amritapuri ashram, all religions and their essential teachings are respected and supported. Amma truly honours all spiritual traditions in the most direct and meaningful way ” by encouraging the followers each to go deeper into their own faith, and become embodiments of the universal divine qualities that all religions hold sacred. Love, compassion, peace, wisdom, selflessness – these qualities all lie within us, and are in fact our true nature.

Amma has often said that many are prepared to die for their religion, but few are prepared to live by its principles. Amma is patiently guiding us all to the living Truth common to all spiritual traditions, and in so doing, to an everlasting Unity, for Truth is One …

And, as embodiments of this Truth, we are One.

Merry Christmas from Amritapuri!