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
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