The Art alone exists!

June 20, 2004
San Ramon, California

The Saturday evening performances at Amma's retreats are always an enjoyable treat as well as evidence of how much Amma's children wish to express their love for her through the arts. This retreat was no exception and included a wide variety of artistic forms as varied as Amma's children themselves.

Amma has said that all art "depends on love. These arts are an expression of the person who does them. It is his heart which is being expressed in that art. The artist pours himself into his art. He disapperars...only the art exists." The outstanding artists who performed for Amma certainly poured themselves into their art, showing their love for Amma and their desire to please her through their presentations.

17 year old Ameya who has been practicing traditional Indian Bharat Natyam dancing since the age of 5, performed a set of two highly expressive, storytelling dances. Ameya's first dance of the evening was to a bhajan about Lord Krishna while her second was to a bhajan by the great Indian saint Tulsidas. The bhajan was Tumak Chalat Ramachandra, or "the sounds made by baby Rama," in which the dancer acted the role of Lord Rama's mother, Kausalya, who becomes mesmerized by the sounds of her son's anklets. Ameya stated afterwards that whenever she dances, she imagines that Amma is watching her, but "this Amma really was watching."

Another wonderful performance was a modern hula (hula auana) dance. Hula is the traditional dance form of Hawaii, however this performance was a contemporary piece called Pua Olena (Olena flower). As the dancer Ka'imi explained, the Olena flower is a yellow flower, which unlike most flowers, is found a the base of the plant. To locate the flower required searching beneath the leaves. The dance therefore symbolized a search for hidden beauty, and Ka'imi indicated that this was a fitting dance to perform for Amma, who finds the hidden beauty within all of us. Ka'imi, who studies at the Halau O Keikiali'i dance school, said after her performance that it was "awesome" to dance for Amma, and she was deeply honored and very excited to share this tradition with Amma.

Also included in the evening were performances by a group of young men comprised of two guitarists, a clarinet player and a drummer. They played bhajans, including Jai Ambe Jagadambe, in a jazz style. Next up were several young children who performed Srishitiyum Niye in violin and flute.

The final performance of the evening was a group of Amma's daughters who gave a sweet adaptation of the English version of Iswari Jagadiswari (translated as "Wondrous Goddess, Precious Goddess"). It was especially notable because rather than singing, they stood and communicated the entire bhajan in American Sign Language. The group was inspired by Amma's excitement at seeing a recent performance of the English version of Iswar Tumhi in sign language, by the students from her school for the hearing-impaired in India. Sarvaga, who taught this group, was also responsible for the teaching those students in India. As her daughters performed this piece, Amma kept turning around to watch them . Some of the teenage daughters of Amma later said their performance was "like a prayer" and when one of them noted that everyone had watched them, another responded "I didn't see anyone but Amma."