Touching lives along the way
 During
the Indian tour that is going on now, wonderful events are happening
that are time to time posted in www.amritapuri.org
To present all those delicious meals for the mind in a single platter,
we have excerpted all those updates into this page for your covenience.
To read the whole article, please go to amritapuri.org
Amma's Indian Tour begins
With nine buses filled with pots, pans, music systems, cameras and
tons of stuff needed for a long journey the renunciate and householder
members of the M.A.Math begin their Indian tour with Amma.
This is the most gruelling tour where one has to bear with the
extremes of climate, bare minimum comforts and 20-hour long bumpy
bus-rides. Forgetting one's physical comforts for the welfare of
the people lies at the heart of these tours with Amma.
During the next two months Amma will be covering the length and
breadth of India, receiving hundreds of thousands of people in her
arms.
Amma arrives at Kannur district in Talassery
Padmashree Sugatakumari, a famous Malayalam poet, social worker
and environmentalist,said in her speech during the program, “
My only prayer to Amma is that there be no more bloodshed in the
land of Kannur. May the hatred and animosity inside people be transformed
by Amma into love and compassion."
The 70,000 or so people attending the program applauded her remarks.
Darshan in Kannur did not finish until 9:00 the next morning—from
start to finish Amma had been onstage for 15 hours continuously.
But there was no time for rest. Bangalore, the next stop on the
tour, lay 400 kilometres to the north. Given that in order to get
there Amma's caravan would have to cross the Sahya Mountains—60
kilometres of steep, winding hairpin turns—the drive would
clearly take 10 hours at the least. Still, Amma wanted to stop at
one devotee's house—16 kilometres out of the way.
No one understood why Amma would take such a detour after such a
gruelling program in Kannur. When they reached the house of the
devotee, they realized the significance of Amma's decision. The
couple had a severely handicapped child and were waiting for three
years hopefully that Amma would visit them and comfort them. And
so she did.
Amma arrives in Bangalore
"If the philosophy of Amma is followed, one day we can close
all the police stations in the country," said Sri. P. Vishwanath
Shetty, the Honorable Judge of the High Court of Karnataka.
On Behalf of the M.A.Math the Chief Minister of Karnataka and the
honorable Judge assisted Amma in distributing certificates of enrollment
into the Amrita Nidhi Pension plan of the M.A.Math. The Pension
program was extended to 1000 more beneficiaries
in the Bangalore area.
Amma in Mangalore
About 100,000 people attended the program.
Prime Minister Gowda helped distribute certificates of enrolment
in the Ashram’s Amrita Nidhi lifetime pension scheme, officially
extending the scheme by another 1000 beneficiaries
in the Mangalore area.
Among the 20 destitutes who received their certificate and first
pension installment onstage was a man suffering from "glass
bones" disease, a conditioned that radically stunts growth
and renders the bones extremely fragile. Amma lovingly took him
in her arms.
Amma's darshan did not finish until 12:00 noon the next day.
Surprise gift
After sitting for nearly 20 hours giving darshan, no one expected
Amma to stop on the way to the next stop in the tour.
Surprisingly Amma stopped on the way near the shore to delight and
relax the tour staff with her beautiful bhajans.
The tour staff joined her and so did the waves of the sea!
Amma reaches Karwar
Karwar is kind of sleepy seaside town of Karnataka state. Driving
along its coastal highway, one is overtaken by the beauty of its
craggy hills, massive inlet bays, towering coconut trees and barren
white beaches.
In fact, more than 75 percent of the district is forest.
It is the kind of place where farmers lead small teams of water
buffalo along the roadside—or, more often than not, the buffalo
are left to wander the same routes unsupervised.
Well in such a place, no one dreamed that 250
to 300 thousand people would come to see Amma. But they did.
Amma sat for 19 hours continuously and gave darshan to the hundreds
of thousands of people.
Dignitaries of India like Deshpande assisted Amma in distributing
certificates of enrolment in M.A.Math’s pension scheme. Altogether
1000 beneficiaries were added in the Karwar area and the
first three month pension was given on-stage to the new enrollees.
A Refreshing Break in the middle of a grueling
tour
On the way to Davanagere from Karwar the nine buses pullover and
find shade along with Amma under a Banyan tree.
A spiritual aspirant from America stood up
and asked if Amma could tell him what the best way was for one to
use the tour in order to gain maximum spiritual benefit.
If the mind is travelling it's travel, but if it is not it's not,"
Amma said.
"Wherever you are, every action should be with the remembrance
of God. This yatra is a chance to serve others.
Everyone in the world does not get a chance to serve others. It
is grace that has given you this opportunity."
Amma then explained that the desire to serve others is not a form
of attachment, but compassion. It comes when we are able to see
our self in others and see their pain, suffering and sorrow as our
own.
Even though the sun reflects in 100 pots, there is only one sun.
A Reporter’s question
 The
reporter from E-TV asked Amma what her opinion was regarding the
now infamous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed published in the Danish
newspaper and the response by the Muslim community.
In her response, which was aired on the 19th, Amma said, "Whatever
it may be, when you insult someone's form of worship, it will be
painful for them," Amma said.
"If someone draw's your wife or your mother in the nude or
in a ridiculing manner, is there anyone who will not feel bad? No,
they will be hurt.
Whether God exists or not is not the question. They [the Muslims]
have a certain sankalpa [conviction] regarding God; if someone mocks
that, it will wound them.
"Everyone has the freedom to draw, but there are also certain
dharmic ( righteous) rules to it as well. Will any son bear the
drawing of his mother in the nude?"
Amma arrives in Nagpur - The heart
of India welcomes Amma!
Deshmukh, famed environmentalist Sri. Girish Gandhi and District
Collector Sri. Purushotham Jadhau helped distribute certificates
of enrolment to the lifetime-pension program
of the M.A.Math, extending the plan by another 1000 beneficiaries
in the state.
.Amma arrives in Pune
On 31 January 2006, Amma was awarded "The Philosopher Saint
Sri Jnaneshwara World Peace Prize 2006" by the World Peace
Center (WPC), a Pune-based organization focused on bringing together
the forces of science, philosophy and religion for world peace,
Since Amma was not able to come personally to receive the prize,
when she arrived in Pune, the Prize Committee members Dr. Vishwanath
D. Karad, the renowned educationalist and director of Maharashtra
Institute of Technology, and Padmashree Dr. Vijay P. Bhatkar, the
renowned computer scientist, presented Amma with the citation of
honour, an idol of Sant Jnaneshwara and a cash prize of Rs. 500,000.
Amma with due respect and honor for the award, dedicated the cash
prize back to the mission of peace of sant Jnaneshwar and said that
the money should be put in the bank and the
interest used to create scholarships for poor children. "It
was given for peace, and peace is in serving the needy,"
said Amma.
Amma distributed certificates of enrolment to the life-time pension
program of the M.A.Math. This was symbolic of how the program has
been extended to an additional 1000 beneficiaries in the Pune. The
new enrolees also received their first three-month pension onstage.
 Amma
arrives in Mumbai
Mumbai Mayor Dattaji Dalvi distributes certificates of enrolment
in the Amrita Nidhi free lifetime pension programme. Upon Amma's
visit, the programme was extended to 1000 more widows and handicapped
destitutes in Mumbai.
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