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There have been recycling efforts of one kind or another at Amma’s Amritapuri ashram since 1999. Over the years, the program has enlarged and become more refined. The Recycling Center moved to its current location in 2012 and is a model for all of India and the world. Continue reading “Recycling: A Model for the World”
Warmth for me is being in Amma’s arms, any place, any time, for as long as possible! I feel especially warm inside if I am being held when she is laughing.
Submitted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Warmth
Instructions: Whether you live on my side of the planet or in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoying real heat on the beach or in your yard, show us your take on warmth. You can go from the literal (saunas! scarves! steaming cups of tea!) to the figurative (the embrace of family members coming together for the holidays, the look of affection on your pet’s face, or even just a photo with a particularly warm color palette, no matter its subject matter).
Clarification: I am Graced to have this photo but it is not one I personally took. I happened to be in Amma’s arms when she was watching a play during her Boston programs many years ago.
As I planned my reminiscing post, I remembered a song that I created in the late 90’s. I wrote the words first and then asked my friend Meera to translate them into Malayalam, Amma’s language. Once I had the words, I worked on the tune. I sung it for Amma both in English and Malayalam. (FYI, Amma means Mother.)
This is the song. Please pardon any pronuncation errors!
amma ende karangal ennum ninne sevikkatte
amma ende manass˘ mantrathāl nirayename
amma ende vākkukal ennum ninne pukazhthette
ende hridayam ānandam kond˘ nrittamādatte
ende sneham prakāshamāyi ennenum thilangatte
amma ende vishvāsam valarnnu kondirikkatte
ennenum ammayepole āyi varename
amma itinnu vendi mātram nyan prārthikkyunnu
Mother, may my hands be in service, my mind fill with mantra
May my voice forever sing your praise, my heart dance with joy
May my love shine ever brighter, my faith ever grow
Mother, may each day I become more like you, only for this I pray
Only for this I pray
This has been a week of learning to let go of plans. It occurred to me that this photo challenge is another opportunity to respond to that lesson. I had “planned” to create a post similar to Red, Red and More Red and A Pop of Color for the Yellow challenge. I even took some pictures for it, but I’m now realizing that the “perfect” response to the challenge is one of the first photos I took!
Submitted for Weekly Photo Challenge: Yellow
Challenge Description: This holiday season, we’re throwing you a photo challenge color curveball. Many of us around the world are ensconced in the holiday season. You may be surrounded with blue and silver if you’re celebrating Hanukkah; black, red, and green, if you’re celebrating Kwanzaa; or festooned with reds and greens if Christmas is coming to your house. With this week’s challenge, show us what yellow means to you.
I have come to Amma’s ashram in Amritapuri, India almost every year since January 1990. While to me it often feels like nothing has changed during that time, it is also obvious that so much is different.
When I first met Amma she was 35 years old. Now she is 61.
I arrived soon after the main part of the temple had been finished; the top floors were not complete. I remember participating in brick and gravel seva. We would form human chains and pass the bricks to the top floors, one at a time. We would also carry bags of gravel where ever they needed to go. I remember thinking that part of me would remain in Amritapuri when I left India because of all the bricks I had touched. This is a picture of the temple as it looks today. Continue reading “Reminiscing- 1990 to 2014”
December 15
After having so much emotion for the last two days, I was exhausted on the 15th. By the afternoon, I felt really ragged. Amma was at the beach meditating with the ashram residents. My general practice is to go late so I arrive just before a question and answer period begins; I’m as avoidant of meditation as ever!
Sreejit was in the kitchen cooking, so I decided to take some papaya to him before I went to the beach. On my way there, a crow dumped on my head. Some people say that is a blessing, I think it was more likely a consequence for my choice to skip the meditation. Continue reading “Living and Learning in Amritapuri- Dec 15-18, 2014”
When I saw the photo challenge yesterday, I thought of this beautiful altar that friends of mine built earlier this year for Navaratri.
For information and more pictures read From Darkness to Light
Prepared for Weekly Photo Challenge: Twinkle
As hard as it is for me to imagine, my son Sreejit is turning 40 years old today! He was born on December 13, 1974. He has been such a blessing to his dad and me and to so many others.
I have loved looking through the old pictures in preparation for this post. So many special ones, especially in this age group. This was also the period when his sister Chaitanya joined our family! I remember Sreejit came to see me at the hospital after she was born, bringing chocolates and flowers. When it was time to go home, he wanted me to come with him. When I said that wasn’t possible, he wanted to take the chocolates back! (His dad doesn’t have a memory of this event, but since it is a strong one for me I’m going to leave it in!)
Some of my memories of Sreejit’s school aged years were his involvement with Boy Scouts, summer camp and his love of Michael Jackson. He also started to draw during that time. A friend and he spent countless hours creating comic books.
During his preteen and teenage years, Sreejit played the saxophone, piano and both acoustic and electric guitar. I took him to his first rock concert, to see Prince! He loved it and so did I. He became very interested in heavy metal music and wanted to become a rock star!
Sreejit’s life goals changed abruptly when he met Amma in 1990. A resident from Amma’s San Ramon ashram came up to me the night he met her and said, “Did you see the way that boy looked at Amma, and the way she looked at him? He is going to become a brahmachari (monk).” The woman didn’t know Sreejit was my son at the time she said that to me. Her intuition was certainly right on though. He soon exchanged his black heavy metal clothes for the white attire that most devotees wear. He learned to play the harmonium (a keyboard instrument that has bellows) and the tabla (Indian drums).
Sreejit moved to Amma’s San Ramon ashram in 1994 and lived there for 15 years. During most of that time, he worked two or three jobs simultaneously, as well as doing the work required of an ashram resident. In addition, he completed his Philosophy degree at San Jose State College. Soon after he graduated, he wrote a book titled, Of Mind Or Matter. The book was fiction, but it incorporated his knowledge of philosophy and spirituality.
Sreejit’s love for music has continued throughout his life. He has composed many songs. One of my favorites is “It’s a Long Road”
It’s a long road
I’ve forgotten
who I am.
It’s a long road
I’ve forgotten
what’s the plan.
Your hands
hold me close
but your eyes
are to the sky,
millions seek your mercy
but you say
freedom is your right,
just fight.
Do you remember me,
for I don’t have the eyes to see,
do you remember me,
am I your everything,
for you’re everything to me.
To walk through this world
a human being
is to carry the burden
of countless lifetimes
of suffering.
As I grow weary
I remind myself
that every problem
I’ve created myself.
Do you remember me,
for I don’t have the eyes to see.
I know I don’t deserve
this life I’ve been given
– time after time
I’ve chosen easy over right.
But, still
you shower praise
and I can’t help but
think your crazy
– crazy for the life,
crazy for the fight,
crazy for the divine
and I know your right,
but do you remember me?
The recording features David Balakrishnan on Violin
Anu Aiyer on table,
Swarna Aiyer on keys
Amritapriya Schmidt on backing vocals
and Sreejit Poole on vocals and guitar
Sreejit was invited to come to Amma’s ashram in Amritapuri, India in 2009 to be a cook in the Western kitchen. That has been his primary ashram work since that time. 2009 was the same year that he and Chaitanya, who also lives at the ashram, started creating Broadway style musicals which are performed on Christmas Eve. Chaitanya writes and directs the plays; Sreejit and his friends write most of the tunes. During the musicals, Sreejit plays the harmonium and frequently sings and/or has a voice role (In Indian plays the voices often come from people on microphones behind the scenes.) A few years ago, Sreejit was an actor in the play as well as participating as a musician. As soon as one musical is over, Sreejit and his friends start writing the musical scores for the next one.
In 2012, Sreejit started a blog called The Seeker’s Dungeon. He said this about his blog:
There are plenty of people to write about a heaven that they haven’t experienced. But I want to write about the road traveled to get there. This is meant to be an intense and honest look into the motivations of the human spirit and a search for answers into how we can use the passions of humanity, not just to satisfy our base level instincts, but to bring about a positive change in our world. Maybe it is dark. That is fine. Only when we open the blinds do we see the dust in the room. The dust to me, if not the main goal, is still interesting all the same..
At first, The Seeker’s Dungeon was a poetry blog, but over time he started writing in many different styles. I was amazed at the depth and skill of his writing. I feel so much respect for his work. Many other bloggers were impressed as well; as of today he has 7,670 followers. For most of a year, he encouraged me to start a blog of my own. I began to feel the desire to participate in Dungeon Prompts, a weekly challenge he offered to other bloggers. One day, I decided to build the blog and answer one of his prompts without him knowing I was doing it. I loved surprising him in that way. I am so grateful to him for introducing me to blogging and the WordPress community.
You never know what Sreejit is going to do next. Recently he started a YouTube page and posted some of the music he has composed. He also has begun to play the guitar again. And most surprising, he has decided he wants to learn to tap dance! He asked me to bring tap shoes for him to India and has started teaching himself to tap.
Sreejit has dedicat
With Love, Mom
Notes:
Some of you may wonder why you are receiving this on December 12. India is 13 1/2 hours ahead of Seattle so it is already his birthday here!
Sights, Sounds, Smells of India
• When you arrive in India there is a distinct odor; one that is hard to describe. “Sweet” is the word that comes to my mind. I’ve heard numerous people say when they smell that fragrance, they want to kneel down and kiss the earth. I can relate to that experience. To me it is the smell of “Home.”
• Kerala, the state in southeastern India where Amritapuri is located is very tropical. When I gaze into the distance from one of the ashram roofs, the palm trees go as far north and south as my eye can see.
• From the ashram it is a three minute walk west to the Arabian Sea and a two minute walk east to the backwaters that separate the peninsula where the ashram is located from the mainland. I love to sit and gaze at both bodies of water.
• Every morning, there is tremendous sound from thousands of white and black birds as they fly away from the trees where they have spent the night.
• Every evening, the sound of the birds is even louder as they return to perch in the trees for the night.
• In the early morning, and throughout the day, you will hear music from nearby temples, sometimes coming from many directions at once.
• During the day, the sight and sound of crows are everywhere. Be careful or you will lose your food!
• Beautiful sunrises and sunsets occur at the same time of day throughout the year.
DECEMBER 4, 2014
Amma returned to the ashram
It is always so special to be here when Amma returns from her international programs. Anticipation builds for days. This time there were rumors that she would return around 10:30 a.m. Soon, there was a line of people stretching from the front gate, or beyond, to the house where she lives. Continue reading “Living and Learning in Amritapuri, India- Dec 5, 2014”
Amma at the Vatican
What an amazing experience it was to be able to watch the of representatives of the world’s religions speaking and signing a Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders against Modern Slavery. (We were able to see a live stream from the Vatican program.) I felt so privileged to be able to witness that event. I pray that their goal of ending modern day slavery by 2020 becomes a reality. And hopefully it will also lead to healing friction between the various religions. Continue reading “Living and Learning in Amritapuri, India- Dec 4, 2014”
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