From: Balakrishnan Shankar (balakrishnan_sh@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Oct 01 2002 - 04:00:04 PDT
From: "Balakrishnan Shankar" <balakrishnan_sh@hotmail.com> Subject: Amma's b'day in Amritapuri Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 07:00:04 -0400 Message-ID: <F112MgPPf3L9BGTuAyH00000359@hotmail.com>
Hi everyone,
This is bala- i was able to attend Amma's bday here in Amritapuri last
week by Amma's grace.. just a small note:
there were about 25 THOUSAND people for Devi Bhava ALONE!!! And in the
morning , after pada puja, there were about 5000 people - so overall, Amma
saw about 30000 people last thursday!
The Paada Puja was ... divine... I went in at about 5 am to sit in the
crowd that waited till 9.00 am for Amma to arrive... At 5 am we had about
10000 people there- all chanting the Sahasranama..
you can imagine the atmosphere there! 10000 people chanting 'Om Parashaktyai
namaha' can be quite a 'mantric nuclear explosion'...
followd by Swamiji's Satsang .. and the the Panchavadya started . This is
the traditional kerala style of welcoming kings etc .. or before the temple
doors are opened- drums and cynbals majestically resound heralding a divine
event..
and then when it reached a crescendo, under a twirling umbrella , Amma came
..
i wonder why i just didnt explode then and there .. there was so much energy
there ...
The Paadapuja started- we saw it on closed circuit TV .. the crowd was huge
.. and so devoted.. thousands were in tears chanting 'Om Amritheshwaryai
namaha' as Swamiji showered Amma's feet in lotus petals..
after the Puja , Amma gave a long satsang .. details later ...
and then Swamiji announced that next year's b'day, the 50th bday, is to be
an international festival- with delegates from 125 countries!!!! and One
Hundred thousand youths from india alone... and also Amma is going to build
One Hundred Thousand more houses for the poor over the next ten years ..
the huge crowd burst into thunderous applause at these announcements.
and then darshan started...
I tried going back to my room, to take a breather before coming back for
the evening Devi Bhava - well it was quite a task going towards the room
when you have 25000 people walking in the opposite direction!!!
there were people everywhere .... even when the morning darshan was going
on, there was quite a crowd lining up for darshan tokens for the evening
devi bhava-
Before Devi Bhava , there was ecstatic bhajans.. Amma finished morning
darshan at around 6 pm... then came back after a short break to start
bhajans and then a marathon Devi Bhava - thecrowd for Devi Bhava alone was
around 25000!!!!! Darshan went on till 9. 30 am... Amma met approx 1500
people per hour!!
At the end of the darshan Amma had sat for the entire 24 hours .. with
break of about an hour in between!!!
I got darshan at around 6.30 am .... i was wonderstruck at Her shining face
and bubbling energy after having hugged 20000 people!!!
....
more details later ....
bala
ps: By the way Ethan... have been reading your 'liberation' posts- I disagre
with your statement when you sat Amma is one of the few liberated beings...
Amma is not a Liberated Being- On the other hand,She is the Being that
Grants Liberation!!
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