Amma's here...

When Amma's at the Ashram, the whole place changes. There's double the amount of people and the energy is high. I didn't think I would see her while I was there but it turns out she came back early...

On my last night at the ashram, I was lucky enough that Amma came out to sing the Bhajans. We were in the large auditorium, with about 800 people sitting on the floor and everyone was singing. (I did my usual "sing along even though you don't know the words"gig.) There's no cameras allowed at the ashram but if you want to see what the Bhajans are like, here's a video of one of Amma's tours.. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/amma-bhajan-chant-la-mre-divine/2829790732

The next morning, everyone gathered in the Temple for meditations. Amma came in around 10:30 and after meditation, answered questions that people had sent into her. First she answered in Malayalam and then the swami would translate it into english. You can tell she knows english as she kept interupting him to add to what he was saying...
On Tuesdays, Amma also participates in feeding everyone lunch. They bring in the big pots of food, put it on plates and then Amma personally hands each person their plate. No one eats until everyone is served. It's the most amazing process as there are hundreds of people in the temple...it took almost an hour before everyone was served and we were ready to eat.

Amma is known around the world as the "hugging saint". This is called Darshan... Usually Amma does darshan only on Wed, Thurs, Sat and Sun...but she does it on Tuesdays for those leaving the ashram on that day. (and who can't use a good hug? ) After lunch, I waited in line for Darshan. People will wait in line for days to get a hug from Amma. You can check it out in the video here... http://www.amma.org/amma/index.html

The video also talks about all the amazing work that Amma is doing around the world. Disaster relief, education, hospitals...Amma was actually one of the first groups to help in the USA with Hurricane Katrina...

Amma... Embracing the World for Peace & Harmony

Ashram Basics 101

So you wanna know about what an Ashram is all about?
Here's a typical day at the ashram....
4:50-6:00 Archana*
6:30 - 7:30 Meditation at the Beach
9:00 Breakfast
10:00-13:00 Seva
13:00 Lunch
14:00-17:00 Seva
17:30 - 18:30 Meditation at the Beach
18:30-20:00 Bhajans**
20:00 Dinner

* Chanting of the 1,000 names of the Devine Mother (I listen to this from the comfort of my bed)
** Traditional devotional songs.

Amma has actually been on tour for the last month. When she is on tour, as many as 500 of here devotees go with her. For the few days, the ashram has been pretty quiet. (maybe only a 1000 or so people.) Amma is arriving back at the Ashram tomorrow so it will be quite a celebration for the next few days. I'll keep you posted!

Seva

Seva is a form of selfless service where you expect no pay, recognition or thanks. Each person at the ashram is expected to do at least two hours of seva per day. They say that you should choose a seva activity that you do not like so that you can learn about discomfort and sacrifice and possibly get more enlightened. Personally, I think that’s just a way to get people to sign up for the crappy jobs. They had a sign up for a toilet cleaner… (those of you who travel can imagine the toilets in India) but I chose to be a dish washer. I figure I should leave the toilets for someone who really needs some enlightening. (too bad Penny’s not here) After all, I did cleanse my soul in the holy waters at Kanyekumara and I don’t want to become too angelic so that my friends and family can’t relate to me…

My first day of dishwashing turned out pretty good. My supervisor is Helga from Austria…She had been doing it on her own for a few days so I think she was willing to put up with my slow, and chatty behaviour just to have someone help...

Michelle C ended up working in the ecology department in the wheatgrass store...More on how she likes it later...

And no, Michelle C is working not looking for lunch...

Getting There....

Now each ride in India is always an adventure but this drive took things to a new level. We left in our Ambassador taxi in the middle of a torrential downpour. (very odd for rain this time of year here) I think I’ve already described driving here in India. The highways usually have room across for about two buses, one car, two auto rickshaws and various walkers/bikers. There is a constant race to pass here so when the cab pulls out, you just pray that that there’s not a bus or truck coming right at you. I swear that I get more of an ab workout sucking in my breath while driving than in all of my yoga sessions!! Our driver was especially wild on this drive because he wasn’t feeling well. About every five minutes, he hung his entire head out the window to do a major hoarck. (sp?) Everytime he did this, I had to lean over to Mich C’s side to avoid it coming back in the window… You think that would have prepared me for what came next, (and Danielle, I wish you were there to see this!), but as we were passing through a small town, an oncoming truck sent a tsunami through the driver’s window and it hit Michelle and I directly in the face!

After we got over the panic of the driver not being able to see and that we might crash, we burst into laughter. Mich C was ready to drink a bottle of hand sanitizer to clean out her mouth. Considering that we drink nothing but bottled water here in India, a mouthful of road sludge was not what the doctor ordered. We had visions of Charlotte in “Sex in the City” and we still had an hour to drive.
Arriving at Amma’s is quite the experience. You’re going through small towns and then all of sudden you see high rise buildings. It turns out that when Amma was trying to expand the Ashram, the government wouldn’t give her more land, so she built up.

The taxi dropped us off at the side of the river. We had two choices, up and over a large, large (did I say large) step bridge,

or by boat. I think the boat driver almost pulled a muscle getting my luggage out of the boat so I think it was worth the 10 rupees not to have to carry our bags over the bridge. On our tour of the Ashram, we learned that Amma built the bridge after the tsunami to help evacuate the town and ashram in case of another one. At the time of the tsunami in 2006, there were 15,000 people at the ashram and Amma coordinated the evacuation of everyone by small boat across the river. Not one person was injured.
Settling into our rooms here took a little massaging…Our first roommate, (three in a room) was a Slovakian older lady. The room was on the top floor, all the windows were shut, fan off and she was burning all kinds of incense and bug coils. Both Mich C and I were choking as we went to get our bags… Luckily a double room had become available so we happily said a sad goodbye to our roommate. On the way out, she scarily said in her strong Eastern bloc accent, “you will get bit…by mo-ski-toes!” Finding our new room was a bit of a challenge… one would think that D0804 would be on the 8th floor…but no. The building starts on floor zero so the 800’s are of course on the 7th floor. The winding hallways make us feel like we’re in a funhouse. We often bump into each other as we hit dead ends and have to go back. Sometimes I wonder how I travel all around the world…when I can’t even find my room?

The Ashram itself has the backwaters on one side of it.


And the Arabian Sea on the other.

There's big temple in the centre of the Ashram. Most of the building look about 100 years old but they were mostly built in the 1990's.

Michelle & Michelle at the Ashram - Planning...

First of all, I would like to apologize to all of my friends who are much more enlightened than me on yoga, Hinduism and spirituality. If you think that my lack of knowledge, lack of perceived seriousness or uneducated observances might offend you, please stop reading now...

My roommate for the Habitat Build was a girl from Vancouver named Michelle. She is on a year leave and will be traveling around India, Nepal and Japan. One of her first stops was to an Ashram so I decided to stay a little longer and join her. There are also some others from the build who will be at the ashram.

What I know about ashrams wouldn’t even fill the back of a postcard...But here’s what I know so far...

-Amma’s Ashram is one of the most revered as it is one of the few where the Guru is still alive. I guess they lose their proximity to the original purpose of the ashram as they are passed down through the generations. You can check it out at http://www.amritapuri.org/

-You should only wear white or light clothing here, as it is more soothing. (Hey Cooper, there goes my pink jacket!)

-There is quiet time ... this is the one that really scares me!

-You need to do service everyday. (called Seva)

I guess I should have read the website more...Wish us luck!

Michelle Burlock and Michelle Crowley