79 Years Young!

Detroit, November 23, 2003

Yesterday in Detroit we witnessed a captivating interaction between Amma and one of her children. This time, the 'child' was a 79-year-old man.

Waving his arms with dramatic flourishes and pointing to her, he was reciting a poem to Amma. Amma, amused and delighted, was encouraging him as he recited two whole pages of poetry. The fond expression on Amma's face was reminiscent of a mother's when her three-year-old manages to lisp 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' for her correctly.

After his recitation, when the man fell into Amma's lap for his hug, Amma noticed his wife's worried expression.

"Why are you worrying about your problems?" Amma enquired. Pointing to the man in her lap, she exclaimed, "He is so joyful and childlike even at his age! Every year he writes poems and articles and offers them to me. He even offered me an animated Power Point presentation."

Indeed, the man had, displaying understandable pride and excitement, presented Amma with a soft copy of this work. It turned out in addition that he was to stay up every night working on articles and reports about Amma and her mission.

Amma enquired what time he went to bed. "Midnight," he claimed.

Amma shook her head in disagreement, and with the embarrassment of a guilty boy caught in a lie, he confessed that he stayed up until half past three in the morning. "I knew that you didn't sleep at midnight," Amma said smilingly.

This 79-year old grandfather joined in a dance with 5-year-old children at the Detroit program. The joining of young and old, in front of someone who considers every being her child, suited well the accompanying song "Lokah Samasthah ...", calling for universal peace.

"Your dance reminds me of baby Krishna," Amma told the aged man when the dance was done.

Amma says, "A child's expressions have a beauty of their own. Being purely natural and spontaneous, they are free of ego."