Amma in Tokyo - a report
Tokyo, Japan
Amma arrived in Japan on May 27th. The weather was warm and pleasant.
The people of Japan greeted her in a loving and quiet way. The atmosphere
was very peaceful and Amma's beautiful smile was reflected in all the faces
around her.
The program began the next day and was well organized with the typical
perfection of the Japanese people. In the morning, as the darshan was going
on there was a musical ensemble by the Japanese, Korean and Chinese. While
receiving the people in her arms, Amma turned around a few times and greeted
the singers of the three nationalities with a warm smile. Once again this
year the dynamic Wadahiko drummers performed their age old Japanese tradition.
Amma showed great interest in this art form and deeply appreciated their
performance. When we asked the group leader Kizako, what inspired him to
play for Amma, he replied, "To me, Amma stands for world peace. Today's
performance is dedicated to world peace, to Amma. I don't know much about the
existence or non existence of God", he continued, "But today I experienced
something very special. Maybe this is what is called divine. I
understand it as peace". It was interesting to note that there were many
children playing the drums. Norika, age 10, said that she felt totally
accepted when Amma gave her a hug. She felt good to perform and be in
this atmosphere.
During the evening darshan, two young Japanese men came up to Amma shyly
for darshan, expressing their desire to be celibate spiritual aspirants. One
of them had learnt to say in Amma's native tongue, "Amma, I will do as you say".
Amma listened to him with a mischievous smile and said, "Really? Why don't
you marry?" Everyone burst into laughter as the young men was shaking his
head in denial. One may wonder why would Amma ask an aspiring student to marry.
Just as one goes through innumerable tests even to get admitted in a good
school, a spiritual student needs to go through various tests from the Guru to
qualify for the path. Amma often says that, the path of a celibate student is
not so easy. One has to have strong aspiration for the goal of self-realization
and unflinching faith and obedience to the spiritual master. Amma creates
different situations to which we can respond or react. When we respond we
succeed and we fail when we react. Amma says that the success or failure of
her children directly relates to her success or failure. Further she always
emphasizes to the aspiring spiritual students that failure is delayed success.
In this context, Amma said that she was reminded of an incident that happened
many years ago. Once she asked one of her senior disciples to go to another
country and earn money. He was taken aback. He had left his hearth and home to
be with Amma. Amma insisted that he should go while he kept protesting. At
that time Amma noticed that he was writing something on a piece of paper and
asked him to handout that paper to her. Incidentally this disciple had been
writing over and over again "Amma I surrender to you" on that piece of paper.
Taking the paper that he handed out and showing it to him Amma asked him "what
is the meaning of this". The disciple was embarrassed and then realized his
mistake. Amma says that "Surrender is not so easy, and the first and last step
to surrender is one and the same. In other words there is only one step towards
surrender. It is like jumping into a river".
It is always a wonder to be around Amma. Her life is the greatest teaching.
The Japanese program was a memorable one, for each day spent in Amma's presence
is so full of valuable lessons, that we can hardly keep track of them all
- Seetha
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