Giving - Only Giving...

Washington DC, July 15, 2004

On her arrival from Barcelona, Amma was immediately swept up in Washington DC programs - and the press was much in evidence. Newspaper, television and radio interviews took place during the thursday morning program.

Two questions elicited these answers from Amma:

Q:"What is the exchange between you and the people who come to you like this?"

Saying the reporter had better ask the people, Amma went on to say that she is trying to awaken the motherhood in both men and women - and that this motherhood is "patience, love, compassion, forgiveness and acceptance - and simply giving irrespective of whether one is deserving or not. Amma further explained that in ordinary human love, the predominant tendency is to take, but in motherhood it is only giving. And again "giving and only giving love and compassion without any reason". Just as we cannot really give a reason or answer to why a river flows, so can we not give a reason for Amma's love.

Q:"Why do you do things like this - embrace people- instead of something different? Did you choose this, or did it just come to you?"

Amma's answer was so simple: she spoke of how when a calf comes to nurse at it's mother's udder, milk is spontaneously there. She said that with human mothers, too, when they think of feeding their babies, their breast milk simply flows. "Similarly, when mother sees her children, love simply expresses itself naturally."

Q:"Why does Amma stress on motherhood?"

Amma answers, "There is a sense of responsibility in motherhood - responsibility towards humankind, and all of life. Only though true love can this kind of real responsibility arise."