Grace us with your compassion: "The language barrier has been bridged by Amma's love."

A Report from Barcelona, Spain & Toulon, France
October 14 - 19, 2003

Joy, rapture and absolute amazement were the reactions of the people during the two nights of bhajans in Barcelona when Amma sang "Iswar Tumhi" and "Ananta Mami" in Spanish. In Toulon, devotees were also treated to a hearty rendition of "Iswar Tumhi" when Amma sang in French. Czech, English, Finnish and Arabic are just a few of the 21 languages, which she now frequents through song. Her bhajan books have literally grown into an international encyclopedia of languages, and this is just the beginning. To hear Amma sing in the native language of a country is a touching experience. According to one Spanish devotee, "the mother tongue is such a powerful and important facet of our culture and now Amma has reached us through even that!"

A French devotee recalls, "Amma not only speaks to us through her universal love, she now even sings to us in colloquial French!" In Barcelona, the whole hall cheered with enthusiasm when "Amma will sing in Spanish!" was announced. Some wept silently while others sang along with Amma. On the second night, a few devotees held hands and started swaying back and forth during "Ananta Mami". Finally midway through the song, nearly the entire hall was holding hands, swaying back and forth, and singing. It was an awesome moment to see everyone so connected by Amma's love.

In India, Amma has achieved a similar feat by singing in nearly every Indian language including Bengali, Orissi and most recently Punjabi. "The language barrier has been bridged by Amma's love," recalls a Finnish devotee who was stunned by Amma's singing in Helsinki. When asked how Amma's pronunciation is, he responded "perfect." Amma often says, "All the countries of the world are petals on the same flower." And now Amma has connected all these countries through music.

"Grace is a very mysterious factor. It just happens. " --- Amma
True to this statement, a devoted couple (Do and Ishwari) received their Guru's grace most unexpectedly.....

It was a quiet night in Barcelona, and the darshan was drawing to the end. A long time resident of Amma's Ashram, Do, was standing to the side of the stage enjoying the peaceful night. Suddenly, Amma glanced his way. There was some laughter and gesticulating around Amma's chair and soon enough Amma turned towards Do and called out to him: "DO, you sing!" He was stunned since he never sang in front of Amma before. Thinking it was a joke, he tried to shirk off the comment, but suddenly realized that Amma really wanted him to sing. A cordless microphone was passed his way and he had no choice but to sing. Amma paused the darshan and looked Do's way expectantly waiting for a song, but he hesitated.

Then Amma did an amazing thing and reminded Do, "Today is Ishwari's birthday; you must sing a song for her." Do was surprised as when they had casually mentioned to Amma in the morning that it was Ishwari's birthday, Amma just smiled and acknowledged the fact. (After a long day, Ishwari had decided to go to sleep thinking Amma had blessed her already on her birthday by acknowledging it.) Although Ishwari was happy that she had told Amma about her birthday, she was a little sad thinking that she missed having Amma's darshan. However, Amma was now calling Ishwari to come hear Do sing a song. With no choice, Do surrendered and started singing.

The grand finale to his repertoire was a hearty "Happy Birthday" to Ishwari. She came running to the hall and was so overjoyed to experience that blissful moment. Seeing Ishwari standing with Do, Amma called her to receive darshan. She was so blessed to get a birthday darshan, a rose and a song from Do! Naturally, Do and Ishwari were surprised that Amma so sweetly remembered this special occasion. But it was Amma's beautiful way of reminding her children of her All-Knowing Grace which manifests most unexpectedly.