Retreating with unforgettable moments ...

At the close of darshan at Amma's Boston program in Danvers, Massachusetts, Mother requested that everyone who had not received darshan to come up for a chocolate, prasad from Amma. Around a hundred of Amma’s children happily joined the line, all excited about this special treat. Many devotees elected not to go for darshan in Boston out of concern for Amma who had hugged thousands of her children in New York, including over 6,000 at the last New York program that ended at around 10:00 AM the day before. Most people thought that surely Amma must have been exhausted. However, before anyone realized what was happening, Amma had decided to give a standing-up darshan to everyone who came up for a hug and a candy. As always, Amma reached beyond our expectations in a forever-giving mood.

The darshan on the first night of the retreat at Bryant Collage in Smithfield, Rhode Island, ended at around five in the morning. Swamiji Amritaswarupananda was pleasantly surprised to find the hall full for his 9:00 AM talk just a few hours later. He delivered an inspiring speech about Universal Motherhood and our responsibility to the world once the attitude of Motherhood arises within us. Filled with anecdotes and clues about how to adopt the patience, compassion, and forgiveness of a mother, the talk delved deeply into the reasons why we need to learn to respond instead of react to in all of life's situations.

A Retreat with a bonus treat
On Friday night, the second night of the retreat, at about one in the morning, devotees were treated to a gala dance performance to the accompaniment of a live band and original lyrics. About 90 of Amma's children had been rehearsing for the event for many weeks. The several dances, inspired by musical comedies, were woven together by a joyous dance-chorus that acknowledged Amma's divinity in human form. The lines of the chorus, "By her love she will guide us, dancing right beside us day by day," rang out with ever-increasing intensity, over and over again, between each number as more and more costumed members joined the show. The finale included all ninety dancers twirling and whirling to the tune of the inspiring chorus.

One dancer said, "We practiced and practiced even though we hadn't slept. It brought us together in a way that we felt as though we were holding hands in everything we did. We had to communicate to each other in body language and because of that we acted as a unit even though there were over thirty of us dancing. We were laughing so much and for no particular reason except we had so much joy. It's an offering to the Divine. As such none of us had any anxiety or self-consciousness about the audience. We just felt total joy and that was all that mattered. It was our gift to Amma."

Latch-hooking of hearts, that beat together for the good of all ...
One retreatant, Jane Good, met Amma two years ago in Seattle. When she first came to Amma she was very skeptical and didn't want to follow anyone or worship idols. Though Jane found the rituals to be unfamiliar and strange, she stood near Amma for hours over a period of several days. Her observation was that Amma was not getting anything in return for all her giving, except perhaps a body ache. At that point Jane began to look around the hall. She noticed the vast network of Amma's humanitarian projects. She found out that all of Amma's charitable activities had been inspired by various individuals who were touched by Amma's selfless love and service to all humanity. Jane was impressed that people had the freedom to do it or not. There was no force and there were no rules. Furthermore, a person did not have to be from any particular religion to be a part of these projects. Ultimately Jane realized that that the driving force for all the activities was the love people had for the work, the same love that they had received from Amma. They wanted to pass it on.

Jane decided that she wanted to start a project. She wanted to be a part of this family of human workers who give something back to Amma. Jane had always loved the symbol of the Universal Mother, the Sri Yantra, a well-known meditation image in India. So Jane decided to put the Sri Yantra design into a big rug, using a latch hooking technique.
She carried the project from city to city where she sat on the floor and worked. She said that each part of the design where she set the yarns in place was a meditation, an experience of remembering Amma and what Amma stood for, her love and her giving. Over time, the project grew. Children and adults of all ages got involved hooking the yarns into the sacred Sri Yantra design. Some devotees who were hesitant in the beginning, ended up helping hook yarns into the rug for hours and hours. All seemed to have the awareness of connecting to a larger cause of serving humanity. When completed the rug would offered to raise money for Amma's charitable projects.

Batteries recharged ...
On the last day of the retreat the faces of those who wore signs of worry and stress when they arrived, were now shinning and full of smiles, reflecting the joy that they experienced by sitting in the presence of Amma, the Universal Mother. The gentle rain that fell for most of that final day reflected the sentiment of many of Amma's children who shed tears knowing that this was the last day of the U.S. tour. While Amma's children might be sad that Amma returned to India, everyone had a chance to recharge their batteries, thereby giving them the energy to spread the message of love and compassion to their workplaces and home towns all over the country.

- Savitri Bess