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October 2016 Events

Various events occurred during the month of October 2016.???

October 1, 2016 – The start of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11)???

The Ashram was busy with the devotees arriving from abroad and India; and, volunteer devotees scurrying around doing the last minute final touches for the grand celebration. The event marks the adoration of the Divine Mother in all her glorious forms and all the grandeur. For the Ashram it is the time to do charitable service to the society by giving free clothes (sarees) to needy women from the surrounding villages ceremoniously worshiping (Suvaasini Puja) them as the very embodiments of the Divine Mother, and serving all the devotees with free food throughout the 11 days of the festival.?

A separate post is published for sacred Navarathri Festival ?

October 13, 2016 – After a two weeks of energizing, intense and very memorable participation in the Navarathri festivities.

Quiet reigns back at the Ashram; in the evenings Amma is back at the Temple entrance receiving visiting devotees.???

October 15 – 16, 2016 – Amma’s Visit to Sri Jnana Prasunamba Sametha Konda Mallishwara Swami Alayam (Siva Temple), DRN Kandriga, near Pacchilapallam, Chittoor Dt., Andhra Pradesh, India.?

In conjunction with the visit to the Siva temple which is about 30 kilometers away from Tirupati, Amma has made a brief stopover at our Apartment in Tirupati. After lunch we left to the temple where Amma stayed overnight in the little apartment within the temple compound. Sri Ram Gubbala of Boston, Mass., USA who was on his way back after participating in the Navarathri festivities also accompanied Amma. The focus of Amma’s visit was to preside over the groundbreaking ceremony for building a road to the temple wich is located on a small hillock.?

Exercise for Amma? — It’s not the lunch that made Amma to get on my exercise bike or the tread mill; may be since now the exercise equipment got the Divine Blessings I will get more inspired and committed to do regular exercise.??

Amma arrives at the Siva temple?

As we arrived the Sun was setting behind the temple .

While the Moon was just rising in the front.?

Soon Amma got ready to do the evening worship and Arathi.

It was the full-moon night; there is that stillness and serenity in the air?

It is truly rewarding to be at the temple just to witness the glorious Sunrise that brings the Sun’s rays directly into the sanctum sanctorum.?

And the fog that rolls in into the valley below is very picturesque that would inspire any artist to capture on a canvas.?

The Sun God sends the rays into the sanctum sanctorum paying homage to Lord Siva.??

October 16, 2016 – The day of Full-moon Celebrations at the Siva Temple.
Around 7:45 AM we followed Amma down the hill where arrangements were made for a ceremonial groundbreaking. Since I was participating in the ceremony with Amma’s blessings unfortunately no one else took pictures. We left our most talented NRI priest ? Sri Ram Gubbala to continue with the vedic chants in the temple. We at the temple are so impressed with his proficiency witnessed both during the Navarathri event and now at the temple we will be pleased to have the him as our NRI priest at the temple.?

When the sponsors of the day’s event from the neighboring village brought loose flowers and did not bother make any garlands, Amma jumped into action and started making the garland like an expert. Of course then everyone joined the act.

But it is truly a sight to behold when Amma enters the sanctum sanctorum of any temple whether at the Ashram, or at the Shakti temple in Malaysia or now at the Siva temple. Amma exudes that authenticity, passion and scriptural knowledge that no ordinary priest can match; and, if anything it brings an element of apprehension about their own inadequacies. And, one more thing — there are no shortcuts or abridgments in Amma’s way of worship.?

Amma did the full priestly duties of doing the Abhishekam, Alankaaram, Naivedyam and Arathi with authenticity. Amma was short only one thing — taking Dakshina (money placed in the Arathi plate meant typically for the priest)?

While the worship continued villagers were performing stick dance in front of the temple to the accompaniment of devotional songs. At some point Amma also joined the dance.

In the afternoon, after the lunch another group of villagers gathered to carry on with bhajan singing. It is now a regular feature and a tradition that every village of the nearly 40 villages nearby sign up to sponsor and participate in a full-day program in the full-moon day od each month. The villagers spend nearly the whole day spending time in worship, dancing, singing bhajans and enacting plays based on themes of the epics or great saints.???

After lunch Amma and the entourage journeyed back to the Ashram.?

October 18, 2016 – Around 4 PM we joined the regular afternoon homa that Amma personally conducts everyday. Although these homas that Amma undertakes for the general welfare of all the beings in all the worlds, on occasion Amma does direct the prayers and benefits of them to specific individuals or families unasked.???

Later in the evening Pradeep, a longtime devotee from Naidupet arrived with his family. Pradeep’s cute young son received all the attention and the shower of affectionate loving blessings from Amma. ?

Arathi during the Vesper worship in the Ashram temple is truly a sight to behold.???

October 20, 2016 – The dreams of the nearby Vinnamala Harijanwada villagers are finally realized — the poor villagers just completed building a beautiful temple of Lord Sri Vekateswara for their community. The temple will have a two-day ceremony (Oct 22-23) of Kumbabhishekam and Praan Prathishta (invoking life in the deity that is installed). When I stated that this is a dream realized, I was not exaggerating. Because the villagers embarked on this project in earnest nearly 10 years ago, and they bought the idol around 9 years ago. Since they were unable to finance it and no donors came forward, the project went dormant. But these are the same devotees that come regularly to render beautiful bhajans at the Ashram and they had strong faith that Amma’s blessings would be enough and their prayers would be answered. And that happened when a devoted couple learnt about the dream of the villagers; impressed by seeing their devotion, dedication, commitment and enthusiasm they made a generous contribution enabling the villagers to complete the project. The devotee couple who made such magnanimous gesture are full of humility staying out of spotlight, and wish to remain anonymous.?
The Harijanwada devotees of Vinnamala brought the main deity on procession to the Ashram to seek Amma’s blessings for the Kumbabhishekam.

October 22, 2016 – Amma’s visit to the Go-shaala this morning was even more eventful. Amma was there comforting the cow going through the labor pains and besides her through the entire birthing process. What a lucky cow to have the very Mother of the Universe attending to her! And, at the end of that struggle a beautiful male calf was born; it was beautiful to watch that natural instinct and bond of love that God has placed between the mother and child.?

Amma is usually found seated in this natural shaded area in front of the residence adjoining the compound wall where Amma receives the visitors. Amma is never idle; this morning Amma started peeling the rhizomes of ‘Mango Ginger’ to prepare the mouth watering pickle with green peppers and lime juice. It was ready by the afternoon and Amma started distributing it rest of the day to the visitors.?

It is late afternoon, and Amma is at the Yaagashaala.??

A very beautiful sight to watch Amma walking back to the residence after completing the homa ceremony at the Yaagashaala.?

October 23, 2016 – We woke up at 3:45 AM with the blasting music of the traditional temple band with Mridangam and clarinet. As I peered down the balcony I saw Amma standing outside the residence and the procession with the idol of Lord Sri Venkateswara from the Vinnamala Harijanwada devotees who are inaugurating the new temple in their village.?

Amma was very gracious to these simple villagers who in their enthusiasm never informed Amma or the Ashram of bringing the procession at such an early hour.?

Shubhodayam! (Auspicious Morning)??

In the morning we all followed Amma to the Go-shaala to see the newborn calf. The day old was full of energy and once it was guided to its mother in the herd it went right to the udder, and the mother cow was eager to feed it as well.

Amma considers the dog in the picture above is truly a blessed soul for it stays on guard 24×7 at the Go-shaala and even accompanies the herd when they go for grazing.

Amma demonstrates as to how precious the cow dung cakes are by placing them on his own head; Amma uses them in the homa fire everyday along with ither sacred offerings.?

A mother’s sacrifice knows no bounds; here is a cow that is feeding another calf besides her own.?

Relaxing on the stone bench that Amma got installed just at the rare entry of the Ashram so that the passersby can take a little rest.

Does it remind you of the Gopala watching over the herd? — only the flute is missing!

Those of you who attended the Navarathri Festivities might remember that on the last day many devotees participated in the Shami puja at the sacred Shami tree. Amma just plucked out a couple of prayer notes from the tree. Amma smiled as he read out the contents, which are primarily seeking wealth.

Their prayers have truly reached the right desk and I am sure that they will be answered. No act of Divine is small or insignificant.
Yesterday evening as I followed Amma to the residence after the homa I saw Amma pouring out the sanctified water from the Kamandalu (sacred vessel) on the young pumpkin creepers along the path, and said that they are blessed. I chimed in saying that they will probably have animal birth in next life. Amma quickly corrected me saying, ‘No! They will have human birth. Nay! They will be liberated!’ Wow! I truly underestimated the power of the Divine Touch.

After the breakfast Amma and a small group of us went to visit Sri Nagarpamma temple (part of Amma’s Organization) located in Chendodu, a small village about 20 kilometers from the Ashram and the native place of Prasuna (my wife). The villagers also lead Amma to the location of the village goddess ‘Desamma’ on the outskirts of the village. The goddess who has been the protector of the villages from ancient times remains neglected and now they sought Amma’s guidance to build a modest temple for her. Amma has given them clear and detailed guidance. The idea of a village guardian, typically a Goddess that protects the village from all 8 directions from disease and famine and bestows prosperity is a centuries old tradition in India; Amma has great regard for this tradition and frequently reminds devotees to respect it and not neglect it.

The Village Goddess Deshamma

Under the Neem tree — seems so natural; another aspect of Datta tradition?

Back to the Ashram.

The newborn calf is having its fill at dusk under the watchful eye of Amma.?

October 24, 2016 – This morning Smt Vijaya Sreekaram of Hyderabad had the good fortune of participating in the sacred ceremony of Go-daanam (gifting a cow). The cow is none other than the one that gave birth to a beautiful calf a couple of days ago.???

October 28, 2016 ???
We arrived around 10:30 AM in the morning to be at the Ashram for the Diwali celebrations.
We found Amma seated under the shaded area in the front yard of the residence adjoining the compound wall. Now this place has become the primary gathering area where Amma receives the visitors until the lunch time.?

And the lunch is served in the natural setting where everyone is welcomed. Amma insists even a casual passerby to have the meal; that’s the mother in Amma.?

Let me lead you to the Darshan at the temple. It is still the Mother in the temple who makes the fashion statement, adorned each day with a fancy saree.?

Participating in the afternoon homa at the Yaagashaala.?

Returning to the temple for the evening worship, satsang ang concluding Mangala Arathi ?

October 29, 2016 – The weekend was set for the Diwali (festival of lights) celebration.??
Early in the morning a few devotees followed Amma to the temple area. While some got busy gathering flowers for the worship others were assisting Amma to harvest the Drumsicks for preparing the curry for the luncheon.
Soon Amma gotten into the lighter mood of harassing Rajesh (a longtime devotee who served as the priest) measuring him with the drumstick to show that he measures less than a 1.5 drumsticks in height — making him humiliated as vertically challenged.?

Being the weekend and the festival days there was a steady stream of devotees arriving to seek Amma’s blessings.
Dr. Srinivasulu was among the blessed devotees who expressed his love to Amma by garlanding and lovingly placing flowers at Amma’s feet.??

Among the many beings of the Universe who seek Amma this one found a comfortable place to rest in the Holy Paadukaas of Amma left at the front door of Amma’s residence. While Prasuna ran shrieking in horror Amma enjoyed the scene with a hearty laughter.

Evening satsang with Amma.??

Diwali celebration begins…

By the time we returned after the evening bhajans at the temple the women devotees decorated the front porch of Amma’s residence with the beautiful Rangoli.?

What a beautiful soul elevating sight to go to bed with.??

October 30, 2016 – Happy Diwali!
Finally the rains are here — a welcome relief from the heat! It started very early in the morning and washed out the beautiful Rangoli decorations from last night.
Amma was real happy to see the rains, and was telling us that all the plants and trees are rejoicing and this will spur the healthy new growth. Amma has always been very fond of plants and goes around to check that they are well cared for. Also, over the past year Amma has been inspiring devotees to bring and plant new flowering plants and shade trees; the effect can be already seen around the Ashram.???

Clear skies and that fresh air — The morning after the showers.?

One devotee leaves and others arrive! This morning Jerry Pesce (California, USA) who arrived about four days ago has left to Puttaparthi before returning home later this month. And the family of Shankar arrived from Chennai to celebrate Diwali in the Divine presence of Amma.?

The Divine Mother in all Her glory donning a very fanciful saree for the festive occasion.?

The kitchen is making preparations for the festive luncheon feast for the and Amma was ready to lend a helping hand.??????

There were some old time devotees who dropped by

But Amma carried on the usual chores; you find Amma balancing the fresh laundry on the head and carrying to his room.?

t is the day of festival of lights and the beginning of the sacred month of ‘Karthika Maasam’

Amma inspects the lighting of the lamps around the temple

Amma then lead us to the Shami tree on the bank of the pond in front of the temple where devotees started lighting the lamps in the formation of a Siva Linga?

Seated amidst the lighted lamps is the beacon of our lives leading us from darkness to light – “Thamasoma Jyothirgamaya”.??????

Navarathri 2016

Navarathri 2016

Here the flyer detailing the event details

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October 1, 2016 – The First Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Devi Kathyayani???

The day started very early at 4 AM with the invocation ceremonies of Ganapathi Puja, Punyahavachanam, Navagraha Puja, and Sarvathobhadra Mandala Puja, conducted by Sri Sheshagiri Rao garu, and presided over by our Beloved Amma. Amma also lit the ceremonial Akhanda Deepam (the Eternal lamp) that will stay lit continuously throughout the 11 days of the festival.?

Rangoli on the floor of the Yaagashaala where the morning invocation ceremonies took place.

Sarvathobadhra Mandala prepared painstakingly on a large board using grain, spices and edible materials demarcating the space for each of the presiding deities.

We all stood around as Amma climbed into this special walled in space where Amma charmingly drew a beautiful floral Rangoli with ease and elegance as a Master Painter, in preparation for the Akhanda Deepam ceremony.

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With literally no break Amma returned to the “Living room” for the next part of the morning program — The Paada Puja.???

No sooner was the Paada Puja concluded we were off to Smt Nageswaramma Hall for the first of the Suvaasini Pujas where the women from the surrounding villages are specially honored as the very embodiments of the Divine Mother are gifted with sarees following ceremonial Paada Puja.?

The sacred procession???

Suvaasini Puja?????

Kathyayani Puja – The first day of the Navarathri Festival.???

Amma does the Alankaaram of Sri Mahameru?

Sri Kathyayani Devi???

With the morning Puja completed devotees were served sumptuous feast in the large Hall of the Nageswaramma building.?

Around the afternoon it was the good fortune of Dr. Shobha Sharma to receive the blessings of the beautiful ‘Om’ ring from Amma on this sacred day?

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The gathering for the afternoon homa at the Yaagashaala ?

It was the loving offering of Smt Sushma and Smt Pavani of Vijayawada to Amma — a wonderful painting of Sri Sitha Mahayogini she especially painted for this occasion. Amma was truly pleased with their devotion.??

For those not very familiar, Sri Sitha Mahayogini is the Divine incarnate who lived during 1921-1959.

After the evening worship program there was a plan to take the small idol of Sri Rajarajeswari Devi for a ceremonial parade in a palanquin around the temple. But to our good luck (! or I consider the good fortune and Divine blessing) we were unable to find the hardware to properly secure the idol — so, we appealed to Amma that she take the place of the idol, the living Goddess itself. Amma was kind to readily bless our request. Joyously we went around the temple singing Amma’s glories and dancing in divine ecstasy.

As Amma stepped down from the palanquin devotees inebriated with Divine love appealed Amma to join them in the dance, and after much pleading Amma joined to please the children.?

As if to show that even the Gods are pleased with this unique love between tge Divine and devotees it began raining.

October 2, 2016 – Welcome to the Second Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Devi Bhavani???

The day started as per the program in the early morning hours in the temple with the worship of Sri Ganesha (Sri Vallabha Ganapathi) and Rudrabhishekam of Lord Siva (Sri Kameswara Swami). A little later as Amma arrived the devotees mostly who are from abroad rendered beautiful Bhajans.?

Glorious serene morning set the mood for the whole day of the sacred celebrations.?

Morning Paada Puja.??

Soon after the conclusion of the Paada Puja Amma was lead to the Hall in the Nageswaramma building to preside over the Suvaasini Puja.??

The simple village women who are worshipped in the Suvaasini Puja as the very embodiments of the Divine Mother receive the gift of a saree, bangles, turmeric, vermillion and a fruit, which are placed at Amma’s feet for blessings before the start of the event.

After the Suvaasini Puja involving the distributing over 300 sarees the program came to a close and Amma and the devotees proceeded to the temple for the morning worship of Divine Mother Sri Bhavani.

Sri Mahameru worship???

After an elaborate ceremony of doing Abhishekam to the Mahameru including milk, yogurt, ghee, honey, sugar, sandalwood paste, garika grass, Bilva leaves, jewelry etc., Amma applied fine fragrance to the Mahameru as the final step before the Alankaaram (decoration) begins with saree, jewelry and floral decoration.
You will notice that Amma is covering the nose when applying the fragrance as Amma is very sensitive to fragrances and malodors.
In the context of responding to a devotee regarding the worship of God with form (Saakaara) and God without form (Niraakaara), Amma said that even the worship of Mahameru is a worship of the formless God. Saying that for Amma who does the worship of the Mahameru Amma sees the living and breathing Divine Mother with the 33 crores of resident deities occupying the various corners and positions of the Mahameru.

SPOT REPORTING – I am sure that you are somewhat disappointed with the slow and spotty reporting of the Navarathri events in progress. Much of it is because of poor internet connectivity at the Ashram. Uploading each picture takes anywhere between 2 to 5 minutes; forget about posting the videos which take over half-an-hour and beyond and several tries.

Actually I want to share some “FLASH NEWS”, and not “SPOT NEWS”. From time to time I wake up to see if I can get some internet connectivity, because at late nights there is less congestion and better connectivity. So, I was up around 2:30 AM and out of curiosity walked out to the balcony, and curiosity was well rewarded. I found Amma walking towards the temple and return, and I took some pictures and greeted Amma as Amma returned to the residence.?? People who frequent the Ashram often tell me that Amma makes rounds around the Ashram in wee hours of the night, and there are stories of how Amma found the night watchmen fast asleep on duty. Amma would play pranks on them by having one of the devotees pick up and hide their cell phones, or startle them.?

You can see Amma on the bottom right corner of the picture above (tap on the picture for fuller view).

The ever vigilant Lord!???

Now for the continuation of October 2, 2016 – Presiding Deity – Devi Bhavani???

Here is Devi Bhavani fully decorated ?

Today, Oct 2nd also marks the first day of the 5-day medical camp especially organized by the visiting USA devotees including three practicing physicians, under the new structure “Sri Vasudevananda Swamy Society of Healthcare Charitable Services (SVSSHCS)”??

With Amma’s blessings the team started the noble volunteer work beginning with the prayers.??

See separate post on 5-day Medical Camp during Navarathri 2016

In the early evening hours the homa ceremony began at the Yaagashaala, and as is customary Amma made a stop before heading to the temple for the evening worship program.

During the evening worship program in the temple Amma blessed “Jagadamba” of California, USA by creating a beautiful pair of diamond earrings. The whole brood of Jagadamba family are in Amma’s fold, and are very much in love with Amma.?

Amma has fond pet names for few of her devotees — “Jagadamba” is one such. And then there is “Mishty Maa” who is Smt Swapna Kulshi of the Bay Area California who got that title for frequently bringing “Mishty Dahi”, a special Bengali treat, whenever Amma was visiting the USA. Following the evening program outside Amma’s residence Amma blessed Swapna by creating that beautiful ‘Om’ ring.❤?

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And not too soon after Sri Giridhar Reddy, part of the extended family of the late Smt Sudarshanamma was blessed to receive Amma’s creation of the sacred Mahameru pendant.

October 3, 2016 – Welcome to the Third Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Bala Tripurasundari???

Did I forget to tell you that those of us who ventured for the blessings of the early morning Darshan also got the blessings of the special treat after the morning bhajan session? It was the dreaded Theertham – “Go-moothram”, translation — fresh cow urine. Amma extols the inner cleansing potency and sanctity of this special Theertham; but I have yet to see an enthusiastic volunteer for this potion.?

After the early morning Ganapathi worship and Rudrabhishekam the visiting foreign devotees sang beautiful bhajans which ended with Mangala Arathi.

In the early morning hours Amma blessed Ching Baba of Singapore with the sacred Mahameru, one of the 108 that Amma ordered from the Vishwakarma (architect if the Universe) Himself.??

After the morning bhajan session in the temple Amma sat in the front porch of the residence. A few devotees brought offerings of dry fruit and sarees to Amma. As is typical, Amma showed much excitement and quickly distributed the dates, dry figs and apricots. And to the delight of everyone Amma elegantly wore each saree and gifted them to the devotees around, and borrowed Smt Swapna Kulshi’s Jhumkas (dangle earrings) and wore them bringing much laughter and applause. When it comes to doing the saree folds to wear it or to decorate the Mahameru or Sri Rajarajeswari Devi in the temple there is no one who can Amma’s skills. At one point out of pure fun Amma called for auctioning the sarees, and in the end the bid came to US$ 11,000. And Amma laughed off and said that the only currency he would accept is pure love.❤ ??

As Prasuna took out her glasses and bent down to take Paada-namaskaar Amma took the and wore them giving that mischievous look.??????

Checkout those fancy wooden sandals that the very thoughtful Smt Mani Kak brought from her recent visit to Japan; Amma seems very comfortable in the modernized wooden Paadukas.????

???Paadukas – Japanese style!??

Next — Paada Puja???

Today the paada puja participants are largely represented by the two noted families — the Padakantis and the Mukkas who are also related. All three generations of these families have great love for Amma and the two older generations are truly engaged heart and soul in doing unflinching service to the Ashram and in furthering the ever expanding mission of Amma. And it was the good fortune of the little 9 year old Anvi Padakanti to receive those unique earrings; and, a little later it was the birthday blessings to 11 year old Ameya Padakanti when Amma created the ‘Om’ ring during Suvaasini Puja.?

Anvi — that’s our little Bala Tripurasundari Devi; the Goddess in whose honor today is celebrated.?

Ameya receives his birthday blessings?

Earlier in the morning Amma was so pleased with the clarinet players of the Temple Band Team, Amma blessed them by creating that eternal ‘Om’ ring to Sivakumar and Prasad, the clarinet (sannayi) players.?

With the Suvaasini Puja over Amma proceeds to the temple for the morning’s worship program.?

Morning worship program gets started ??

Morning Alankaaram of the Mahameru completed

Worship concluded with Deepa Dhoopa Naivedyam

Divine Mother as Bala Tripurasundari???

Luncheon feast served; you can see many overseas devotees working shoulder to shoulder with the local volunteers. ?

Around 5 PM Amma visited the Yaagashaala to preside over the homa.?

The evening worship program concluded with Mangala Arathi.?

Finally as if in response to all of our prayers and with some good luck we finally located the hardware to secure the small idol of Sri Rajarajeswari Devi onto the Palanquin. And so we were truly blessed this evening to have the living Divine Mother our Beloved Amma to get seated along with the idol to be taken on a procession around the temple. As with the other night the procession was accompanied by bhajans and dancing; young and old locals and overseas devotees joined in the Divine frenzy of love that was wild and contagious. At the end of the procession everyone was coerced and literally dragged to dance overcoming their inhibitions; I too was a victim. Amma was so pleased and much amused with the wild moves of dancing of some of the dancing, at times bursting into laughter.
Unfortunately I have limited internet connectivity to upload the videos, so you have to contend with the pictures.???

Besides myself who was drafted to this Divine dance other victims include people like Shivamma.
None can match the elegance of Amma’s dancing, but remember that he is Nataraja Shiva himself who is thecreator of the Cosmic Dance. And, it is reminiscent of the ecstatic dancing in the Dwapara Yuga as Sri Krishna with the Gopikas, the famed “Raasakreeda”?

Catching a quick dinner arranged separately for the visiting overseas devotees.

What a wonderful way to conclude the festive day – satsang with Amma in the open front yard of Amma’s residence

Smt Renee Choudhury was grateful for the love and blessings when Amma created the ‘Om’ ring for her earlier today (October 3, 2016)

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October 4, 2016 – Welcome to the Fourth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Matha Annapurneshwari???
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?The daily program routine?

After the early morning Ganapathi worship and Rudrabhishekam the visiting foreign devotees sing bhajans which end with Mangala Arathi. And after the devotees are blessed by Amma with Paada-namaskar, for a few days Amma herself gave us the sacred Gomoothram (cow urine), and in later days distributed by the temple staff. Then we would all follow Amma to the front porch of Amma’s residence and have satsang with Amma. And as the morning coffee and tea was readied by the kitchen devotees in turns would take a break for the morning java and rejoin the satsang. And then it is time for Amma to go up to residential quarters to get ready for the formal Paadapuja ceremony held in the reception room downstairs. At tge conclusion of the Paasapuja Amma would proceed to the Nageswaramma building to presidd over the sacred Suvaasini puja entailing the worship of women as the embodiments of the Divine Mother and gifted with a saree, bangles, vermillion, turmeric and a fruit. At the end Amma would walk the aisles of the seated women and bless them with the Paadanamaskar. That concludes the Suvaasini puja program. Amma would walk back to the residence, and one more shower Amma gets ready for the morning worship program. Lead by the traditional temple band and accompanied by the devotees Amma goes to the temple. After an elaborate worship exclusively conducted by Amma herself devotees are allowed to do the Abhishekam to the Mahameru. During the worship Amma blesses most of the devotees by tossing the sanctified fruit offerings and pawn (beetle leaf preparation), calling out devotees individually making sure that no one missed out. Amma herself distributes theertham while one of the attendants blessed them by placing the Holy Paadukaas on devotees head. That concludes the morning worship program; and Amma would head to the residence for lunch and the devotees follow suit by going to the dining hall in the Nageswaramma building.
After a little rest some of tge devotees would proceed to the Yaagashaala around 3 PM while others await the satsang with Amma in the front porch of Amma’s residence. Despite the long hours of the celebrations Amma is always ready, and typically comes down around 4-5 PM and the discussions on spiritual matter ensues.
Around 6 PM the ceremonial walk starts and Amma is ready to conduct the evening worship which concludes with spectacular Arathis. Bhajan session was next, followed by kumkum puja, and the evening comes to a close with the Theertham distribution by Amma. Amma would then return to have dinner and the devotees reassembled for the satsang with Amma in the open front porch of Amma’s residence. While a number of the Telugu speaking devotees took turn to translate Amma’s precious words, it was Sri Ram Ramanujam of Carmichael, California who kept the watch on time to call for closing the session by ringing the bell. Amma lovingly gave Ram that sacred responsibility so that we all retired at a decent hour.???

Morning Arathi after the Bhajans??

??That early morning sacred Theertham of Gomoothram???

The day saw many creations from the Divine hands of Amma starting with Smt Gurudev (Elkgrove, California, USA) who received the earrings , followed a little later by her husband Sri Prakash (Amma calls him fondly as ‘Durgacharan Dhooli Das) who received the sacred Mahameru. ?

Now for the morning Paadapuja….

Amma heads to the Nageswaramma Building to preside over the. Suvaasini puja. Many of the overseas devotees enthusiastically participated in the worship ceremony, distribution of the sarees and overall organization of the event.?

Somewhere along the line before arriving for the Suvaasini puja Amma blessed Sri Malla Reddy of Hyderabad by creating a beautiful ring. And when confronted Amma’s typical response is the innocent “I don’t know”. Why should it be a surprise for as the saying goes, “God knows everything but acts as though He knows nothing. Man knows nothing and yet acts as though he knows everything.”?

Amma proceeded next to the temple to personally conduct the elaborate morning worship.?

Morning worship program begins?

There was an altercation this morning during Suvaasini Puja when one of the villagers slapped the lady volunteer despite the volunteer’s polite appeal to be orderly. A longtime devotee and a regular volunteer at the Navarathri event, Smt Kasturi who was the victim was truly hurt physically and emotionally. Amma who heard of the event was livid and addressed the audience reminding them to follow Ashram discipline, noted that any assault on the volunteers is a personal attack on Amma, and warned that such disorderly and violent behavior will not be tolerated. Amma was so moved by Smt Kasturi’s flight, Amma called and consoled her at length, and at the end materialized the ring for her to bestow protection.?

The courageous and devoted volunteer Smt Kasturi with her protective ring from Amma?

It is past noon when the morning worship program ended Amma left to the residence while masses of villagers lined up in queues fir the lunch. Volunteers including overseas devotees worked tirelessly to serve the festival feast.???

The great tradition of free Medical Camp during the Navarathri event continues. Manned mostly by the overseas devotees it was the most rewarding program for both the volunteers providing the service and the needy villagers receiving it. Today is the 3rd day of the Camp and everyone was thrilled to have Amma visit them and appreciate their humanitarian work.?

As Amma walked around at the camp, Suzanne Slyman receives Amma’s “blessing hand” over her head and the gift of the ‘Om’ ring that Amma created for her.?

How lucky indeed is this lad that found the lap of the Master of the Universe to rest???
Amma sang the lullaby like no other! to the child addressing, “O ye pure and eternal one strive to never return to this shack (body) full of urine and feces.”

It is true that the festival with all the rich ceremonies filling the day are very engaging and a feast to the eyes. But we would be amiss if we neglect and not acknowledge the Divine messages that we can gather from walking with Amma, watching his actions and hearing the small talk. One such notable and memorable event happened right in front of my eyes when one of the overseas devotees came forward for his turn to get the blessings from with those silver Paadukaas. The devotee urged Amma to bless him by hitting hard with them. Amma smiled compassionately and said, “this is your last birth”, and blessed him with the Paadukaas by placing them on his head ever so lightly.
Having personally known this devotee for more than a couple of days he always had a strong conviction that this is his last birth, and everyone else has the same potential. For him it was not a belief rather a fact to realize. Amma reflected his reality — ‘Yad-bhaavam Tad Bhavati’ or ‘So you think, So you will be.”

Over the last couple of days Amma has been enquiring me whether I posted a particular materialization or creation; and after a little pause question me whether it is necessary to share those miracle creations. More on this later……..??

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October 5, 2016 – Welcome to the Fifth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Gayathri Devi ???
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A word about Amma’s mind-boggling miracles, creations and materializations???
Anyone who came into Amma’s orb would vouch that the unbounded and unconditional Divine love of Amma is what is irresistible and what brings them to Amma. What is also undeniable is that what also makes us all awestruck and spellbound are those precious moments when Amma brings out sacred objects out of thin air and blesses by gifting them to the devotees. There are no boundaries to Amma’s creations in form, size, location or method; materialized sometimes in private and sometimes in public. Those on the receiving end are thrilled beyond belief and are eternally grateful for the good fortune of Divine blessings bestowed on them. When asked about the significance Amma would frequently tell the recipient that it is a token of his love and it is for their protection. While many of us long to have this affirmation from Amma only a limited number receive them. This leaves many to wonder whether they are not deserving of this blessing from Amma, and may evoke many other thoughts both positive and negative. Even for the recipient of the sacred blessing may evoke such reactions. And in the bigger picture of Amma’s Mission while these moments of Amma’s Divine manifestations are extraordinary to witness and admire they may take the focus away from the real gifts of Love and Service that Amma personifies and promotes.
With ever increasing number of these manifestations, even at a personal level I found it very challenging to keep up for sharing purposes. So, not only to just to ease my burden but also considering the lack of a compelling need to make a public display of these creations, Amma has instructed me that going forward not to post the pictures of these intimate precious moments across the board. In the past, there were only a limited number of occasions when Amma has asked me not to post the process of creation or the sacred object being given, to the reasons only known to Amma. Also, don’t be surprised that at some point in future if Amma no longer brings out the sacred objects in public but makes it a private affair. Please see all this with the proper perspective that Amma is planning to lead us to greater spiritual heights.???

Despite the feeling and hope that we continue to see this sacred phenomenon of Amma’s creations for a bit longer, i have decided to follow Amma’s directive and discontinue this aspect of the postings cold turkey.
Any exceptions to posting will be made only upon exclusive directive of Amma.?

Morning Puja began?

Beautiful Rangoli on the front porch of Amma’s residence.

Amma moves on next to preside over the Suvaasini puja at the Nageswaramma Hall.?

While at the Suvaasini puja a well meaning devotee brought a pair of golden bangles to gift Amma as a gesture of adoration of the Divine Mother. Little did he know that Amma who rarely accepts any gifts readily wore them to bless, removed them and then called on his mother who was sitting nearby and put them on her wrists — feels just right, from Daiva Matha to Deha Matha (Divine Mother to Birth Mother)?

Amma blessed the Suvaasinis allowing them to take Paadanamaskar ??

Amma is off to the temple for the elaborate morning worship.?

When it comes to the Alankaaram (decoration) of the deity no one can surpass Amma because Amma has keen eye for detail and a great aesthetic sense. When Amma arrives in the sanctum sanctorum for the final “inspection” everyone involved in doing the Alankaaram wait with bated breath for the Divine approval. Approval they get; but, despite their best efforts it does take the Divine touch to make it perfect — after all Amma is the Perfect Master.???

Early evening Amma arrived at the Yaagashaala to preside over the Homa ceremony that is already in progress.?

After the evening worship and bhajan session the program ended with Mangalarathi to Amma.?

The devotees then head to have dinner and satsang with Amma.

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October 6, 2016 – Welcome to the Sixth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Lalitha Devi ???
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Today also marked the final day of the 5-day Medical Camp providing free medical services to the many poor villagers from the surrounding areas.?

Few early risers get that privileged early morning darshan of Amma in all the simplicity and Divine glory.?

Seated in front of the Ashram temple.

The sacred Go-puja (worship of the Holy cow) in the early morning hours.?

The early morning bhajans that start around 5:45 AM are mostly the blessed privilege of the overseas devotees since very few local devotees show up at that hour.?

Morning Paada Puja ?

Following the Paada Puja Amma arrived at the Nageswaramma Hall to preside over the Suvaasini Puja?

The Suvaasinis line up and eagerly await for the bigger blessings for the day than the sarees they received — Amma’s blessings with Paada Namaskar??

Next on the program is the morning worship program, and Amma was lead to the temple with traditional temple band.

Amma makes one final inspection of the Alankaaram of the Divine Mother as Sri Lalitha Devi?

With the morning worship ended Amma stopped by at the large Dining Hall to personally serve the devotees with the feast. Amma’s love and energy to serve the food is not only something to be applauded but to be emulated.?

As the Medical Camp held their final day of free health services Amma dropped by to bless all the volunteers who rendered the noble selfless service.?

An Important Lesson from Amma:
Sometime in the morning as we were following Amma from the program at the temple, we passed by an area adjoining the Nageswaramma Building where there were discarded paper cups used for the morning tea/ coffee. Without saying a word and without any hesitation Amma crawled across the fence and in a flash started picking them. We were aghast and pleaded that we will take care of it, but Amma was too fast for us and completed the job. We all realized the lesson that Amma has shown in action; because it is easy to repeat like a parrot, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, but with that simple bold action of Amma we discern that “Cleanliness IS Godliness”. For the rest of the stay the overseas devotees bandied around to go around in small teams and pick up the trash.???

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October 7, 2016 – Welcome to the Eighth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Goddess Mahalakshmi ???
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As Prasuna and head to Tirupati to attend the Lakshmi Puja at the Siva temple on the 7th. No one covered the events at the Ashram for the remainder of October 6th and the entire day of the Lakshmi Puja day on the 7th. Here are few pictures collected from the attendees.

Here the Alankaaram of the Divine Mother as Sri Mahalakshmi?

Here are the Tulabaarm pictures from the evening.?

But here are the pictures of the Lakshmi Puja held on October 7th at the Siva Temple (Sri Jnana Prasunamba Sametha Kondamalliswara Swami Alayam, DRN Kandriga, near Pacchikapallam about 30 km from Tirupati), a part of Amma’s organization.?

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October 8, 2016 – Welcome to the Eighth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Goddess Saraswathi ???
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Morning Paada Puja ?

Amma arrives for the Suvaasini Puja.?

Amma gets ready for the morning worship program. As Amma descended the stairs in the beautiful saree it was a sight to behold.??

Welcome to the morning worship program ?

Ching Baba’s fashionable way of wearing the Sacred Garika grass and Bilva leaf that he received from Amma.

A few minor Divine adjustments to the decorations and Amma is very pleased.

Today being the day of Saraswathi Puja (worship of the Goddess of edocation or knowledge) large number of children assembled under the tent in front of the Nageswaramma Building to get the sacred syllables (Beejaksharas) written on their tongue which is believed to improve the clarity in understanding, comprehension and retention.?
Amma came to the building straight from the temple and continued to write the sacred syllables on the children’s tongues for six long hours without break even for food; Amma skipped lunch for the day. That is Divine love and sacrifice! Nearly 750 children took advantage of the Blessings of the Divine hand.?

Children were also rewarded with mementos of notebooks, coloring pens or pencils and candies.?

After the evening devotees were thrilled to participate in the procession around the temple carrying the idol of the Divine Mother and Beloved Amma.

The procession was accompanied by devotees singing devotional songs and dancing, and with fireworks lighting up the sky. You may notice Amma covering up to avoid inhaling the smoke from the fireworks; Amma is very sensive to malodors.?

Along with the local devotees many of the overseas devotees danced carried away with divine fervor. It was a pleasure to see that many overseas danced freely uninhibited and while most are talented Venu Gaddam seem to stand out with his energetic dance moves. ??????

Thus ended another glorious spiritually uplifting day of the Navarathri festival ??

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October 9, 2016 – Welcome to the Ninth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Durga Devi
Day Special – Chandi Homam???
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Amma the blissful and the graceful.???

After the early morning bhajans Amma called Ameya Padakanti (San Ramon, California, USA) near to specially bless him. Among many of the overseas devotees there were a handful of young children who joined the 11-day festivities. It was amazing and very rewarding to see how well the children behaved and enthusiastically participated in the programs. Ameya joined even the early morning bhajans providing musical accompaniment by playing tambourine or harmonium. For Amma’s part just as Amma never loses track of any devotee and pays attention even in such large gatherings does the same with these young devotees. Ameya was so thrilled with his experience that he is already looking forward for the next year’s celebrations.?

Amma the prankster (something about the phones that brings the child in Amma to grab and hide it or delete the pictures to the horror of the devotee)

Amma and the faithful (Sri Mukka Prakash who is always eager to serve Amma)?

Well folks, what I forewarned you about has just started happening — Amma makes the blessing of devotees with the Divine creations a private affair. After the morning bhajans Amma called Ben of Australia to follow him into the Siva temple and then clised the doors behind them. When they emerged from the temple a couple of minutes later Ben was holding his cupped hand filled with the sacred Vibhuti that Amma created. More precious was the expression of sweet bond of love between the devotee and the Lord.? A couple of days ago Amma blessed another devotee by creating a unique gold ring with sixteen diamonds; and in this case Amma forbade me to take any pictures of the devotee or the creation. So, please consider that these are the last of such postings until directed otherwise explicitly by Amma.??

We now return from the morning bhajans and gather around Amma in the front porch of Amma’s residence. A devotee brought the offerings of a beautiful saree and fruits for Amma. To please and bless the devotee Amma wore the saree and in a lighthearted vain called for a bidding of the saree. Many seriously started bidding for it including Elizabeth, and in the end Amma tossed the saree to Elizabeth and said that “Love is the only price.” To complete the decor one of the devotees handed her earrings for Amma to wear. Amma will go to any lengths to please the devotees.?

With the Paada Puja session over Amma arrived at the Nageswaramma Hall to preside over the Suvaasini Puja.?

The morning worship program began. Although outwardly each day the worship seems very similar special recitations and chantings are done to invoke the presiding deity of that day, and especially the Alankaaram (dress, decoration and ornaments) distinguishes adoration of the presiding deity.?

Feeding the luncheon feast is a massive undertaking but a rewarding one thanks to the wonderful attitude of loving service by the volunteers.?

Although there was the Homa ceremony on each day of the festival, today was the very special, elaborate (nearly 3.5 hours long) and the most sacred Chandi Homam. With Amma presiding over the ceremony Sri Sheshagiri Rao garu conducted the homa with the assistance of the US Devotees Sri Ravi Kiran reciting the Chandi with fluency accompanied by Sri Ram Gubbala. On several occasions Amma expressed appreciation for the vedic chanting and support in various puja activities of these and many other dedicated overseas devotees.
Here is a little background on Chandi Path that is the key part of the Chandi homam:
Durgā Saptashatī (दुर्गासप्तशती) or Caṇḍī Pāṭha (चण्डीपाठः), also known as Devi Mahatmyam is the sacred text containing 700 verses arranged into 13 chapters. The Devi Mahatmyam describes a storied battle between good and evil, where the Devi manifesting as goddess Durga leads the forces of good against the demon Mahishasura — The verses of this story also outline a philosophical foundation wherein the ultimate reality (Brahman in Hinduism) describing reverence and worship of the feminine aspect of God. ?

One of the overseas devotees bought for herself a beautiful diamond necklace and upon her earnest appeal Amma blessed it by wearing.?

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October 10, 2016 – Welcome to the Tenth Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Mahishasura Mardhini???
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Morning bhajan session gave the blessed opportunity to Smt Uma Naidu to worship her Beloved Amma, the very embodiment of Lord Siva, with the sacred Bilva leaves. ?

Morning Paada Puja.?

Suvaasini Puja next?

Amma gives the final nod of approval of the beautiful Alankaaram of the presiding deity of the day — Mahishasura Mardhini??

The evening worship program concludes with Mangala Arathi ?

And everyone is eager to have that wondrous opportunity to carry their Beloved Lord, and dance and sing the glories to their hearts’ content. The overseas devotees joined the locals in the joy fest.❤

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October 11, 2016 – Welcome to the Eleventh and Final Day of the Sacred Navarathri Festival (October 1 – 11); Presiding Deity – Sri Rajarajeswari Devi ???
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Today is Vijaya Dashami, the culmination of the ten joyous days of celebrations adoring the Divine Mother in all her glory and beauty personified in various forms of power and potency.
Dussehra or Vijaya Dashami is the tenth day of the Navratris. It calls an end to the festival and is often considered symbolic of victory of the good over evil. It is also evident of a new beginning.
For a better understanding of the significance of the Vijaya Dashami day, please visit:

Six reasons to celebrate Vijaya Dashami

The day also saw a slow exodus of devotees returning to their homes as the festivities wind down, although most stayed on till the following day.
Many participated in the Shami Tree Puja held in the afternoon. The reverence of the tree goes back to the story of Mahabharata. Devotees completed a small note with a prayer for getting a personal desire to be fulfilled, and tied them to the branches of the Shami tree. The prayer reads:
Shamee Shameeyathe Paapam
Shamee Shatru Vinashanam
Arjunasya Dhanurdhari
Ramasya Priyadarshineem||
~ With Blessings of Vasamma

Morning Paada Puja.???

Suvaasini Puja on the final day?

⁠⁠⁠The final day morning worship?

Amma makes final adjustments to the Alankaaram of Sri Rajarajeswari Devi.?

At the conclusion of the morning worship Amma graciously consented to release a book on the sacred subject of Divine Marriages in Telugu language. The book originally written in English by Dr. R. Srinivacharyulu garu who in collaboration with Dr. T. Sathyanarayana garu produced it. And, now the Telugu version titled “Divya Vivaham” was brought out and Amma has blessed the book by writing the Forward to it. On this auspicious Vijaya Dashami day the book was released in Amma’s Holy Presence.??

After having luncheon feast and with a little break everyone assembled near the Shami tree behind the Nageswaramma Building, and Amma began the Shami Puja. At the conclusion of the Puja devotees received blessing from Amma and everyone waited for their turn to hang the little rolled up paper with their wish written on it along with their name and lineage.?

Jai Sri Sri Sri Rajarajeswari Devi Mathajiki Jai!!! ( Victory to the Beloved Mother Sri Sri Sri Rajarajeswari Devi). And that concludes the coverage of the Glorious Navarathri Festivities at Sri Vasudevananda Swami Ashram, Naidupet, Nellore Dt., Andhra Pradesh, India.???

5-Day Medical Camp at the Ashram during Navarathri 2016

October 2, 2016 – Today marks the first day of the 5-day medical camp especially organized by the visiting USA devotees including three practicing physicians, under the new structure “Sri Vasudevananda Swamy Society of Healthcare Charitable Services (SVSSHCS)”??

Medical camp was held from October 2 to October 6, 2016 between 1:00pm to 5:00pm.

With Amma’s blessings the team started the noble volunteer work beginning with the prayers.??

Today is the 3rd day of the Camp and everyone was thrilled to have Amma visit them and appreciate their humanitarian work.?

Sri Ram Gubbala of Boston, USA who was fully occupied in registering the patients got a surprise “pat on the back” when Amma sneaked behind him and surprised him.?

As Amma walked around another volunteer at the camp, Suzanne Slyman receives Amma’s “blessing hand” over her head and the gift of the ‘Om’ ring that Amma created for her.?

Patients wait their turn while watching the slideshow on basic hygiene and tips on proper care for common health afflictions and conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and pregnancy.

As the Medical Camp held their final day of free health services Amma dropped by to bless all the volunteers who rendered the noble selfless service.?

That concludes the 5 day medical camp. ?

September 2016 Events

Various events occurred during the month of September 2016.???

September 3, 2016 – We made it to the Ashram by 3 AM., after a whirlwind tour of 2 weeks trip to Bali with Amma that was spiritually energizing, but in a strange way physically relaxing and exhausting!!! It will remain a very memorable trip for all of us and we are truly grateful to Amma for the blessings for allowing us to be part of the entourage, and to the devotees of these great nations for welcoming us and being great hosts.?????

September 4, 2016 – Smt Deepa, sweet and dear wife of Sri TN Shankar was thrilled with joy when this morning Amma created the beautiful silver ‘Om’ ring and blessed her.???
Smt Deepa, her husband and mother-in-law Susheela frequent the Ashram and are very supportive of the Ashram.?

September 5, 2016 – The holiest of the Holy days, today is the sacred celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi, widely celebrated around the world in honor of Lord Ganesha.???

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi

The Ashram also celebrated the festival with full observance of the traditional ceremony.?

The Ashram temple of Sri Rajarajeswari Devi where the presiding deity’s imposing center temple is flanked on one side by Lord Siva in the eternal form of Siva Lingam and His famous son Lord Ganesha on the other.?

Lord Ganesh, the First worshipped and the remover of all obstacles adorned with special offerings on this Holy day.???

Our own Beloved Amma accepting the prayerful offerings on this special day garlanded with special Garika-maala.?????

If you want to find God go to the Kitchen!
September 9, 2016 – At around 9:40 AM Prasuna and I arrived at the Ashram with one of our relatives and a friend, from our home in Tirupati. And just as we arrived we found Amma fully engaged in the large scale preparation of lunch. For the new visitors who were arriving at this time looking for Amma, with a straight face Amma tells them, ‘Oh! What a pity! Amma is out of town, come again later’. But the looks and smiles of those around surely give away the truth.
The lucky recipients of today’s luncheon feast cooked by the very Divine hands of Amma are the expectant mothers of a nearby Maternity Hospital; this has been an ongoing service that the Ashram renders on a regular basis. Today the Ashram served lunch to expectant mothers, attending relatives and staff totaling to over 280 people.???

A More details see the Seva Activities Post

September 11, 2016 – In the morning Smt Sunee of Ponnuru visited Amma with her family seeking the blessings. Amma truly overwhelmed her by creating beautiful diamond earrings for her. Smt Sunee is also a close relative of late Smt Sudarshanamma who made her mark in the annals of the Ashram history as a staunch devotee of Amma, and as dedicated servant of the Ashram. In her honor and lasting memory today one of the large residential building bears her name, and September 18th of every year is observed as the “Sudarshanamma Day” with a simple program of prayers, bhajans and feeding the needy.???

The day saw many other familiar faces, including Sri Balaji of Boston, Mass, USA, Sri Dilip of Texas, USA and family, Smt Jaynee of Singapore, and Smt Seethamma of Hyderabad.?

An opportune time for all the visiting devotees to gather around and do a little Paada Seva as Amma sits down on the front steps of the Ashram temple.?

Amma’s shower of blessings continues — first it was that sacred fragrant Vibhuti, soon to be followed up by that sparkling silver ring with sacred Om to Dilip’s wife.???

I say, watch out — Jaynee is here!!! If I say “she is wild and crazy” that is just too kind and generous. She is like a Tsunami in terms of the energy, chaos and excitement she brings in sharing her love of Amma in very creative ways with the young and old. Everyone eagerly awaits her visit and her zany programs. Here is what she planned for tomorrow, in her own sweet words.?

??….it’s the season mid-autumn time for lantern processions again. Children love this excitement. I m planning to come to the Ashram on sunday 11th as monday 12th being a public holiday the Islamic Holy Festival; it is also a holiday for the school children. In this regard, I would like to organize for the village children parading the paper-lanterns in the Ashram on 12th evening and makan makan ( it’s a Malay language) ?. One of the children favourite time of year.
Ashram Can Can ! ( in Malay ”Ashram boleh boleh”!!!)
So, let us Just do it! (famous Nike slogan)?

A preview from the last year’s celebration.?

September 12, 2016 – A blessed day for Dilip and family to take the opportunity of their brief visit to indulge in the sacred Paada Puja.???

September 12, 2016 — Welcone to the grand Celebration at the Ashram! Jaynee of Singapore lit up the Ashram and the sky this evening with special lantern parade ceremony. The Ashram, particularly the front yard of Amma’s residence and the temple had LED lit lanterns and Jaynee’s own creative festoons bringing the ambiance of the Chinatown with flashing LED lights. As much as Jaynee made this a children’s celebration she didn’t hesitate to drag the adults into the fun and frolic of the evening. And there was even some monkeying around when some of the adults donned the monkey masks and danced; Amma was amused too! You can see that the children are excited and joined the parade with the lighted lantern and headgear; and they were rewarded plenty with snacks and sumptuous dinner. When Jaynee orchestrates events like this at the Ashram, it feels like the Genie is out of the bottle, and at times Genie out of control.?
Here are the pictures and videos of the grand event, uncut and uncensored. Enjoy!!!

Pictures and videos are courtesy of Riyaz.??

September 14, 2016 – Today Birdavada Janardhan Reddy Garu and others old devotees of Amma and supporters of the ashram arrived at the Ashram seeking Amma’s blessings.???

September 16, 2016 – Smt Haritha and Sri Harinatha Reddy from Naidupeta, and also longtime ardent devotees of Amma came to offer their worshipful respects to Amma today. And Amma showered them with loving blessings by creating those charming diamond earrings for Smt Haritha; and even helped to put them on her ears.??

September 16, 2016 – THE AUSPICIOUS FULL MOON (POURNIMA) DAY???
The full moon day of each month is widely celebrated in many Hindu temples around the world, whether they are Vaishnavites, Shaivites or Shakti followers. It is done so with much more zeal and rigor in the Siva temples. At the Siva temple (Sri Jnana Prasunamba Sametha Konda Mallishwara Swami Alayam) located in DRN Kandriga, Pacchikapallam about 30 kilometers from Tirupati this great tradition is being followed as well. You may recall that the temple is operating under the spiritual guidance of our Beloved Amma. Since my wife Prasuna, and Jhansi went on the saree buying mission to adorn Sri Rajarajeswari Devi at the Ashram temple during Navarathri festival, I went to the Siva temple to join the Pournima (full moon) festivities. The villagers from nearly 40 villages surrounding the temple participate each month in this holy event, taking turns to sponsor the event each month. Typically the day starts with early morning worship to the presiding deity and other idols in the temple (Abhishekam, Alankaram & Naivedyams), amidst the chanting of prayers, stotras, and vedic recitations. After a session of melodious bhajans in the traditional and authentic village style, preparations were underway to arrange for large scale dinner preparation for the attendees to the all-night play in the open-air theater. The villagers from the surrounding villages gathered slowly by the evening and enjoyed the sumptuous dinner in the open grounds of the temple. And promptly at 9:30 PM, the play on the life and teachings of a great saint and seer of the 16th Century, Sri Pothuluri Veerabrahmendra Swamy began. Please visit the following URL for more background:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pothuluru_Veerabrahmendra
Within half-an-hour after the play got started it started to rain driving everyone to take shelter in the Mandapam of the temple. And the play continued with no further interruption until it concluded 4:30 AM the next morning. Despite a well performed play a third of the attendees fell asleep and the rest braved through the night. Truly you have to applaud the determination and discipline to pull of such a lengthy play; obviously it is the love for the Lord that inspired and motivated them to make such sweet offering.???

The evening before the Pournima event at the temple.. The beauty of nature is everywhere that the eye can behold.?

The sunrises are equally spectacular!

The morning worship began; and there were even eager newspaper reporters to cover the event.

Bhajan session began; more bhajans to follow.??

Dinner served?

Temple Gopuram all light up for the occasion.?

9:30 PM – Time for the play in the open-air theater.?

And then the rain drove us indoors.?

The Prompter – having seen a few if these marathon overnight plays that warrant massive memorization of the dialogues, I am used to the prompter who prompts or cues the forgotten lines or moves to the actors staying right on the stage along with the actors, and prompting so openly and loudly. In this case, the prompter is the harmonium player, Stage Manager and Director all rolled into one – What a talent! What efficiency!

MYSTERY!!!!!
Folks, I have no clue how some of my postings of Sept 12, 14 & 16 got reposted interspersed in my narrative of Sept 16th. I know that the American political parties are convinced that the Russians are behind the hacking of their databases. May be there are mysterious parties curious about my postings?

Time for me to say Goodnight, before someone questions my sanity; I don’t find the repostings!!!

September 18, 2016
???Sudarshanamma Day???
The late Smt Sudarshanamma who spent nearly more than a decade of her final years in the Divine company of Amma at the Ashram. She made her mark in the annals of the Ashram history as a staunch devotee of Amma, and as a dedicated servant of the Ashram in the critical early years of the Ashram development. In her honor and lasting memory, today one of the large residential building bears her name, and September 18th of every year is observed as the “Sudarshanamma Day”. Besides the members of the immediate family many devotees who were lucky enough to have met this noble soul attended today’s simple program of prayers, bhajans and feeding the needy, and which was also attended by our Beloved Amma.???

There was a steady stream of devotees starting very early in the morning. One of the devotees who arrived with his wife brought a special garland made of long cotton wick, and garlanded Amma.?

A few old time devotees including Smt Sithamma also arrived for the occasion and Amma now moved to the old kitchen shed adjoining Amma’s residential building. In my earlier postings I have detailed the unique bond of love that Smt Sithamma has with Amma which emulates that of Yashoda’s motherly love for the mischievous and mysterious Gopala. Her overflowing special love for Amma at times includes a little rough display of motherly affection — pulling the cheeks or slapping on Amma’s back, which I protested. Amma loves her sweet devotional singing; and Smt Sithamma has also composed quite a few songs exalting Amma’s Divinity.?

That is really Amma! Bothered by my intrusive picture taking and recording Amma is playing the hide-and-seek. True to form! But seriously who can win this game with the Divine who is adept at this game; so as devotees all we can do to “Find God” is earnestly pray for the Grace pleading to “Reveal Yourself”. And, that’s just what I did.?????

Around 10 AM the bhajan program started at the simple altar set up in honor of Smt Sudarshanamma, in the kitchen hall of the Nageswaramma building. ?

With the long bhajan program concluding with the Mangala Arathi a sumptuous luncheon feast was served for everyone. ???

Starting a week ago the construction of the “Goshaala” a permanent shelter for the cows at the Ashram has begun. The facility consisting of two large sheds each measuring 25’x60′ is being constructed at the rear end of the Ashram campus under the able guidance and supervision of Sri Sitharamaiah garu. Despite the sweltering heat he has been at the site making sure that every detail is being attended to in terms of quality and timeliness of completing the construction. We have every hope that the structures will be complete and operational by the Navarathri time, giving much protection to the herd from the elements of severe weather.????

I have to also mention that besides a number of generous supporters for this noble cause Sri Sridhar Gummadi has been the guiding force in the design and execution of this project as he brought in his operational experience with it.?

September 19, 2016 – Today is one of those rare occasions when Amma made the “House-call”. Amma visited the family of Sri Janardhan Reddy in Naidupeta which is one of the families that stood-by Amma especially in the early years of Ashram establishment. Amma has a special bond of love for the elderly lady of the house Smt Sridevi Avva, another longtime devotee and another Yashoda in her attitude towards Amma. In a way that visit was especially to bless this wonderful soul particularly in light of her limited mobility.?
During my short association with Amma I have observed one hallmark feature of Amma which is yet another Divine quality that we should all try to emulate. Essentially it is this — Amma never forgets the people who have done even the tiniest bit of help or service, and however long ago that might be. Amma would gratefully recall their help much to their embarrassment.
In a way Amma summarizes this succinctly, “Prosperity beckons those who are reminiscent of their past – పురోభివృద్ధి కోరువారు తమ పూర్వవృత్తాంతం మరువరాదు”
Actually there is even a grater Divine attribute of Amma that I have had the privilege to witness — and that is forgiveness; forgiving those who tried to place hurdles or cause harm to Amma’s mission. Personally, at times it appears so radical or unreal, I am tempted to call it “forgiveness to a fault”. When on occasion I share my personal judgement saying that someone is unforgivable, Amma would calmly and lovingly respond saying that ‘that one is my child too’. That is truly Divine!???

Sri Janardhan Reddy and his wife are overwhelmed with love and devotion to welcome Amma to their home in Naidupeta.?

The real reason for the visit — Smt Sridevi Avva; don’t underestimate her, she is truly feisty when it comes to protecting Amma. A case in example: and, this goes back to the days of our early visits to the Ashram when the Nageswaramma building was in the final stretch of construction. My wife Prasuna and Avva were doing a little paadaseva to Amma. Since Anma just returned from a brief visit to the construction site there was a small patch of cement stuck to the sole Amma’s foot. Prasuna tried to pull of the dried cement patch, but Amma would have none of it. She argued it was the sole and trying to pull it would hurt Amma. It took much convincing from others around before she reluctantly let go still not fully convinced. Avva is truly a blessed soul of the order of Yashoda and Shabari who adored the Divine but still held that unique loving human relationship with the Divine.???

September 23, 2016 – Smt Sitamma who is the modern day Kali Yuga version of that loving mother Yashoda of Dwapara Yuga combined with that loving devotee with single pointed devotion, Shabari of the Thretha Yuga, came to serenade Amma with her sweet rendering of devotional songs.???

September 24, 2016 – Amma went to the makeshift Goshaala as the new permanent structures are being built to spend time with the loving herd many of which eagerly await Amma’s visit; special of them is the ‘Nandi’ Bull which offers to let Amma ride its back as Lord Siva. And, in a way these are the descendants of the same cows who were enchanted by the sweet music of flute played by their Beloved Goplala. This unique bond between the so called ‘dumb’ animals with the Divine seems to be a lasting one and Hindu Mythology is filled with them covering every species of bird and beast; some of them serve as the Vahanas like the Bull, Lion, rat and peacock associated with Lord Siva, or like Hanuman, who served in fulfilling the Divine mission.
While these birds and animals continue to hold special place and privilege with the Divine, man is specially bestowed with an exclusive gift as described in this sloka:

आहारनिद्राभयमैथुनानि सामान्यमेतत्पशुभिर्नराणां |
ज्ञानं नराणांमधिको विशेषो ज्ञानेन हीनाः पशुभिः समानाः ||

Aahaar-nidra-bhaya-maithunaani saamaanyametat-pashubhirnaraanaam.
Gyaanam naraanaamadhiko vishesho gyaanena heenaah pashubhih samaanaah

The instincts of requiring food to remain alive, sleep, fear, and procreation — all these are common among man and animals. But the higher level of intelligence and knowledge for self-enquiry is a special boon bestowed on man alone. So, if a person who does not avail this unique gift is no different than a mere beast.???

New Goshaala construction in progress.?

That age-old bond of love is!

September 30, 2016 – It’s the night before.?? The night before the start of the sacred Navarathri Celebrations.???

The early birds to the event were also blessed to participate in the homa conducted by Amma, and evening satsang with Amma.??

Monthly Seva at Abode Homeless Shelter, Fremont CA

The monthly Seva at Abode shelter started in July of 2016. We provide several gallons of Milk, approximately 10-15 pounds fresh fruit and other items such as toilet paper, as requested by the shelter, once a month.

The Abode shelter in Fremont houses chronically homeless people since 1989. It provides transitional housing to low Income families, and supportive housing to displaced families.

Milk and fruits delivered to Abode shelter, Fremont CA

Acknowledgement letter from Adobe Services

Weekly Seva at Shephard’s Gate Homeless Shelter, Livermore CA

With Amma’s loving grace, we are doing seva activities at this shelter since December 2015. We take fresh fruits and vegetables and needed paper products for daily use, such as toilet paper. This seva activity has been ongoing on a weekly basis. VCOI members take 10 pounds of fresh fruit and 10 pounds of fresh vegetable every Tuesday to the homeless shelter along with some other items as need arises.

Shepherd’s Gate has earned a reputation for rebuilding shattered lives. Since 1984, they have provided housing to over 9,000 battered and homeless women and children. They provide a safe haven for women and their children who are homeless because of abusive relationships, addictions, loss of financial support and other factors. All services are provided to anyone regardless of race, age, religion, color, creed, national origin, disability, marital status, or veteran status.

The campus is designed with women and children in mind from women who have been living in their cars, to children who have never had an actual bed to sleep in. The residence halls are built to accommodate mothers and their children, so families can stay together as they recover. This campus cares for up to 70 women and children at a time (Shepherd’s Gate website).

Weekly donation of Fresh fruit and vegetable at Shephard’s Gate Homeless Shelter every Tuesday.

Weekly donation of Fresh fruit, vegetables and toilet rolls (or other needed products) at Shepherd’s Gate Shelter

Served lunch to expectant mothers at the Maternity Hospital

September 9, 2016 – Amma fully engaged in the large scale preparation of lunch. The lucky recipients of today’s luncheon feast cooked by the very Divine hands of Amma are the expectant mothers of a nearby Maternity Hospital; this has been an ongoing service that the Ashram renders on a regular basis. Today the Ashram served lunch to expectant mothers, attending relatives and staff totaling to over 280 people.???

Bali Trip 2016

???WE ARRIVED IN BEAUTIFUL BALI ???

August 27, 2016 – After nearly a four hour flight we have arrived safely in the beautiful Bali rich with ancient cultural and religious traditions and geopolitical history.

Amma received a very warm welcome at the Bali airport by Mr Pak Bagiarta and family members who are the primary hosts for predominant part of our stay at their beautiful Puri Lumbung resort, accompanied by Madam LC Wong the coordinator of Amma’s visit to Bali and a wonderful devotee of Amma who spent many tireless hours in preparing a rich agenda for Amma’s visit.?

As mentioned earlier Amma received a very warm welcome at the Bali airport from Mr Pak Bagiarta and family along with the visit coordinator Madam Wong. We left the airport to the Arma resort, our stay for the first night which is about 3 hour drive. On the way about an hour after we left the airport we stopped for lunch at a restaurant where we ate the wonderful box lunches arranged by the Arma resort owner Mr Agung Rai. (Some of the pictures of the airport reception and lunch halt mysteriously disappeared from my phone). We continued our journey and reached the Arma resort around 5 PM where Mr Agung Rai and family were eagerly awaiting Amma’s arrival.?

That was Mr Agung Rai and his wife and the other members of the family welcoming Amma to their beautiful resort. The site also has a beautiful large museum, and both the couple who are also artists filled the museum not only with their own works but also with many others from artists around the world. The family arranged a Balinese dance performance by young children in honor of Amma.?

A look at the surroundings of the Arma resort where we spent the night of August 27, 2016.?

Amma’s eyes fell on this shrine with offerings that include a cigarette; don’t ask which God it is that is fond of cigarettes. These type of shrines are found everywhere including homes and on roadside. Frequently the offerings also include boiled eggs along with fruits and cooked rice.

Meet the new kitchen staff at Arma resort; lets call them temporary staff just cooking for Amma?

Evening worship with Arma owner family members?

Morning Arathi

Host family along with staff members of Arma resort.?

Amma shows of a few Balinese dancer mudras; for the One who is the Nataraja Himself these moves come naturally ??

August 28, 2016 – After the morning worship we took leave of the Rai family, and left the Arma Resort to Puri Lumbung Resort about 2.5 hours away. Mr Pak Bagiarta the owner of the Resort who is the very personification of humility came to pick up Amma.
What makes these two Resort owners very dear to Amma is not only their passion for Hindu Dharma but also their dedication to be environmentally responsible beyond their own business operations. They spend much resources, energy, monies in raising consumer awareness and influence government to support environmental sustainability. Their dedication to promote native Balinese culture of dance, music and art are also very commendable. On the way to the Puri Lumbung Resort, Mr Bagiarta arranged for Amma to stop at an ancient Vishnu temple to bless for improving water resources. This is one if the primary missions for which Mr Bagiarta invited Amma, and has arranged a brief ceremony in some of the ancient temples around. So in recognition of this Amma started calling Mr Bagiarta as the great King Bhagiratha whose austerities brought River Ganga from the very heavens; what a play on words, and similar sounding are the names – Bagiarta and Bhagiratha!!!

Many of the Hindus in the community here are practicing Vaishnavites. But, they have full knowledge of the Hindu trinity – Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara, but rarely there is an idol in these imposing temples; and Ganesha is everywhere in the temples and along the roadside. Caste system is observed in its pure form where every caste takes pride but did not become a source of discrimination or feeling of societal hierarchy. Hindu names are prevalent, and in fact the grandchildren of Mr Bagiarta are named Kartika and Rama.?

At last we reached Puri Lumbung Resort where Mr Bagiarta’s family and the Resort’s staff were awaiting to extend a hearty welcome. The family did the Paadapuja and set up Amma in one of their premium cottages.
At the entrance Mr Bagiarta proudly showed Amma the new plaque with names of famous personalities that stayed at the Resort . The names include the earliest visitor, the Nobel laureate Sri Rabindranath Tagore who visited in 1928, and our own Beloved Amma who was here last year.?

On the way to the cottage there is a foot bridge called “DEHA MATA FOOT BRIDGE”, which Mr Bagiarta named in loving memory of his late mother (translated – Footbridge of bodily mother). Very much in line with the great Hindu tradition that teaches:
Mathru Devo Bhava (worship mother as God)
Pithru Devo Bhava (worship father as God)
Acharya Devo Bhava (worship teacher as God)
Athithi Devo Bhava (worship guest as God)
And also with the notion that:
Every person on this earth, has 5 mothers.They are –
– DehaMatha(the mother who gave birth to the Body),
– Desha Matha(One’s own Country),
– Gomatha (the Cow),
– Veda Matha (the Vedas), and
– Bhoomatha (Mother Earth).???

August 28, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Puri Lumbung Resort, Bali.??

The evening worship program was held at the nearby community hall of the Resort, which was attended by all the family members of Mr. Pak Bagiarta, Resort staff and the dancing troop of young girls who were scheduled to do a performance next day in honor of Amma.?

The host family.?

Three devotees from Malaysia joined with us for the Bali visit. Sri Kamalanathan, a retired Judge of the country’s highest court accompanied by his wife Smt Devi; and Sri Haji, who is always ready to render personal service to Amma.
The couple were thrilled and very grateful for the blessings to be in the Divine Presence of Amma.?

As Amma started to proceed towards the cottage Sri Kamalanthan who was standing along with his wife at the received a sudden blessing of the sacred Vibhuti to their overwhelming joy and disbelief.?

The Dance Troop to perform in honor of Amma’s visit later in the evening.?

As the worship ended Mr Pak Bagiarta received the blessing of the sacred Vibhuti created by Amma?

In the evening after the sunset Amma was welcomed for the open-air Balinese dance performance especially prepared in honor of Amma’s visit. ???

And within 15 minutes of the show what started out to be a drizzle turned into a full rain forcing the organizers to move indoors abandoning the beautiful outdoor settings and backdrop.

The themes of all of the dances are enactments of various stories from Hindu mythology — Siva-Parvathi and the birth of Lord Ganesha, story of Ramayana including the killing of Ravanasura.???

Amma with Mr Bagiarta’s grandchildren, Kartika and Rama??

After a eating the delicious dinner cooked by the two dedicated ladies of the entourage along with few of the Resort’s Balinese dishes everyone retired to bed and some of us had “sound” reverberating sleep at the expense of others. Seeing Amma’s tolerance to the snoring of the devotees who sleep in Amma’s room, I say ‘no wonder Amma is God’??

We woke up to the natural beauty of the surroundings and the murmuring flow of little streams crisscrossing the grounds.???

With all that breathtaking beauty around us there is one annoyance of nature that we have to endure, and that is the high pitch noise generated by the Cicadas, which went on like clockwork at 6AM , 2 PM and 7 PM, each time about 45 minutes and then go silent. Natural marvel or tolerance test — now you get to hear it!!!
http://www.cicadamania.com/audio/
Here is my own recording at the Resort.???

August 29, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Puri Lumbung Resort, Bali.??

The blessed couple Smt Devi and Sri Kamalanathan of Malaysia who joined us in Malaysia were truly blessed for making efforts to spend the two precious days with Amma in Bali. As they took leave of Amma this morning Amma blessed the Retired Judge of Malaysia with the beautiful silver Mahameru pendant. Obviously the couple were ecstatic for Amma’s shower of grace which also included Vibhuti blessing last night.???

It’s the second day after arrival and Amma already found the kitchen call irresistible, and joined the resident cooks of the entourage, Jhansi and Prasuna to prepare breakfast and lunch. The rest of us in the entourage take it seriously to savor every mirsel of the Divine cuisine ?

The host family joined the morning worship held under the front porch of Amma’s cottage.?

Here is Lord Nataraja in Balinese style???

After the morning worship the Resort owner Mr Pak Bagiarta requested Amma to inaugurate the new Children’s Library on the Resort site; another noble gesture of the family to connect with the community and render much needed service. ??????
Accompanied by the family members of Mr Bagiarta and Resort staff we followed Amma to the new Library building to ceremoniously open the facility.?

The Village Library for children (Perpustakaan Desa) is being dedicated in memory of the great son of India Sri Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate who visited this area in 1927 about the same month and days of the month (Aug-Sept) — coincidence ?
Amma unveiled the sculpture of Sri Rabindranath Tagore’s bust which was also done by a local artist whose painting of Tagore hung on the wall at the entrance.
The Balinese have great love and respect for Tagore particularly noting his great poem on Bali.?

On our last visit to the Resort in March of 2015 Amma inaugurated the Ayurveda Spa with the presiding deity Lord Dhanvantari.?

Placed strategically near the entrance of the resort is another beautiful shrine dedicated to Lord Nataraja and Sri Krishna carved in white stone.?

August 29, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Puri Lumbung Resort, Bali.??

After lunch and afternoon rest we were headed to an ancient Siva temple on a hilltop adjoining a lake. Mr Bagiarta arranged for Amma to bless this ancient temple where the Siva Linga has risen naturally from the earth (Swayambhu); again the desire is that with Amma’s grace the region will not have any dearth of water. Along with Sri Seshagiri Rao garu the local priest also did ceremonial worship to invoke the presiding deity.??

That is no volcanic lump of rock, It is the very form of Lord Siva that the locals have been faithfully worshipping for centuries (not decades!)

The evening Bhajans were held in the large open air community hall in front of this Altar. Despite the challenge the local devotees had with pronunciation of some of the words it is hard not to appreciate the love and devotion with which they sang the Bhgajans.???

August 30, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Puri Lumbung Resort, Bali.??

The morning worship began with Smt Yudhi Ishwari the eldest daughter of Mr Pak Bagiarta pouring her heart out in devotedly offering flowers at Amma’s Lotus Feet.?

Amma showed some mudras and everyone tried their best to show their talent in imitating Amma.?

Then as usual I was engrossed with my WhatsApp and vaguely recall Amma calling me to go for a walk.???

Amma finds guavas for us and risks to pluck them reaching out to the end of the branches and the edge of the sloping ridges of the hillside.?

Upon our return to the cottage while we were a bit exhausted Amma was full of energy to donn the dhoti with a new fashion statement. As much as Amma has many a Divine ‘trick’ up the sleeve (with no sleeves!) don’t confuse Amma to a lowly genie???

Sunsets at the Resort are truly spectacular!?

And at times one can discern clear formations of Divine forms like the one below which reminds one of the Siva Lingam with Paanipattam. ???

August 31, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Puri Lumbung Resort, Bali.??

The morning if August 31st we all followed Amma for a nature walk and we had the feast of not only nature’s beauty but also the Divine at play.???

While none of us wanted to try Amma was quick to climb up to this watch-station with ease and stay comfortable.?

Following God is fun??

Ready to feed the children.?

Ready for the evening worship

Guess who came for the evening worship — the three faithful dogs of the host family; they were mostly well behaved. Does it remind you of Lord Dattatreya who is accompanied by four dogs representing the four Vedas. Although three were in attendance who knows the fourth one was there too but in invisible form.?

And then it happened — to the utter amazement of all present and great excitement and gratefulness of Yudhi Ishwari and her husband who discovered the sacred silver Mahameru in the heap of flowers that they worshipped Amma’s feet with; they were gathering the flowers to spread all over the Resort premises.???

Sept 1, 2016 – Puri Lumbung Resort in Munduk Village .
As narrated before we had a sort of outing with Amma to Mr. Bagiarta’s cousin’s Villa and returned after lunch.
The evening was equally eventful. Mr Bagiarta arranged for Amma to attend the evening Bhajan program at a nearby Siva temple within walking distance. The temple has a large Siva Linga which was built over a naturally emerged one (Swayambhu). As soon as Amma arrived at the open temple Amma blessed a few of the devotees by creating Vibhuti.?

Opening at the front of the Siva Lingam partially showing the original lingam, used for decorating and making offerings.

The original Siva Lingam as seen from the door behind; may not look well defined from a traditional perspective but it serves to remember that it is the devotees who concretize the form of their chosen deity.??

Amma at the Siva temple in Munduk Village, Bali, September 1, 2016.?

Evening worship for the visit was also attended by a lady from Switzerland who took residence in Bali 25 years ago, and joined by Ananda, a healer, acupuncturist and ayurvedic practitioner all-in-one. Upon Amma’s suggestion a couple of members of the entourage yielded to ‘go under the needle’ with marginal benefit. Attached picture is of Prakash who is in prostrating position to receive the needles — only good thing is he is prostrating to Amma.?

September 2, 2016 – We all rose up early on as we were scheduled to leave to the Bali Airport (Ngurah Rai) Denpasar to return home to Chennai via KL.

I saw Amma was all ready, and wearing the Rudrakshamaala that Ananda wanted Amma to bless. Amma gave it to him later.

As we were leaving Puri Lumbung Resort, passing by the Reception I noticed the following beautiful idols of Sri Rma and Sitha and behind on the ledge sat the faithful servant and great devotee of Sri Rama, Bhakta Hanuman ??

We were off to the airport and Mr Bagiarta and Madam LC Wong along with few other well wishers came to bid goodbye.?

At the Bali International Airport.?

We left the Puri Lumbung Resort for a 2.5 hour drive to the airport to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for the connecting flight to Chennai. We had a 5 hour layover in KL. The wonderful devotees of KL lead by Sree Harry’ family and Chandran arranged for us to rest and relax in the nice hotel (Sama Sama) across the airport. And they also brought delicious dinner for us. After enjoying the sumptuous dinner Amma shared many events of the sacred life of Sri Sitha Mahayogini and suggested that everyone study the book. Amma also encouraged everyone who came, particularly the young adults to attend the two-week Yoga Course that Amma plans to teach during Dec 8-19, 2016. It was remarkable to see how much of a strong bond of love the Malaysian devotees developed with Amma; it was very much like a family get together. It was time to catch our flight, and as I said before having Chandran and his staff facilitating with immigration and customs clearance made the travel a breeze.???

Amma has their back!!! — Chandran & Sree Harry, wonderful devotees who were great hosts and made our Malaysia visit(s) very memorable. Thank you!

The loyal band of Malaysian devotees who followed Amma in the airport as far as they could.???

Two things I learnt on this trip from our Singapore and Malaysian devotees that I am very grateful for, and which Amma has reinforced during the Bali visit by repeating are:
Makan, Makan – eat, eat (food), and
Can! (Sometimes used as Can! Can!, for additional assurance). There are many American equivalents of this ‘can do’ attitude that seems pervasive — like ‘Sure’ or ‘No problem’
Until we see you again, for all of our devotees and great hosts:
Makan! makan!
Can! Can!
????????????????????????

Closing thoughts on journey with the Divine: All of us feel truly blessed for the sacred privilege of accompanying Amma on these historic visits. Only time will reveal the nature and profound transformative impact that they will bring in the overall plan of Amma’s mission. For us this has been a journey filled with spiritual lessons and lots of Divine fun. Who said spirituality has to be all serious, or dull and drab. There is no dull moment around Amma. Amma is full of humor and Amma is prankster supreme! Amma would scare your wits hiding and making scary noises, or talk in tongues.
Here are a few precious pictures of those lighter moments.?????

In following the model our good companion Prakash who remained a willing devoted victim of Amma’s humor, teasing and pranks.

By the time we landed at the Chennai airport and collected our luggage it was 1AM on September 3rd. But being late at night we made it to the Ashram by 3 AM. Most of the entourage took leave of Amma and headed to their homes by noon, after a whirlwind tour of 2 weeks with Amma that was spiritually energizing, but in a strange way physically relaxing and exhausting!!! It will remain a very memorable trip for all of us and we are truly grateful to Amma for the blessings for allowing us to be part of the entourage, and to the devotees of these great nations for welcoming us and being great hosts.?????

Kuala Lumpur Trip 2016

August 22, 2016 – After an hour flight we arrived at Kuala Lumpur airport where Sri Chandran Ramamurthy, CEO of the Malindo Airlines and an ardent devotee of Amma welcomed Amma right at the door of the plane along with his staff. With his staff facilitating retrieval of our luggage and Customs & Immigration clearance we were out of the airport very quickly headed to his palatial new home in Taman Menara, Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, Malaysia, about 45 minutes away from the airport.?
At home his parents, along with his wife Kalpana and two beautiful young daughters were eagerly awaiting to welcome Amma as devotees who gathered for the occasion chanted Vedic recitations.??

The evening continued with melodious bhajans and conclude with the host family participating in the worship.???

Paavana Charanam Sadaa Smaraami ?????

The host family participating in the evening worship to the Divine Mother Sri Rajarajeswari Devi, and Sri Mahameru.???

Cradling the newborn baby Hamsini, darling daughter of Kalpana and Chandran Amma sings a lullaby.????

After a sumptuous feast of dinner prasad the day ended with a brief satsang with Amma. Amma spike on many topics including control of senses, advaitic sadhana and adherence to Dharma. Amma said that the reason Amma is blessing Chandran by staying at his home is his love and dedication in attending to his parents. Amma also said for a devotee who serves his/her parents the very God will be at the doorsteps to do his/her bidding. Regarding sense control Amma noted that if one exercise control on the tongue all other senses can be controlled.?

August 23, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Smt Kalpana & Sri Chandran Ramamurthy’s home in Taman Menara, Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, Malaysia.?

The morning worship program …

Drawn to the kitchen is the Culinary Divine Master with superb creative cooking skills, the One who taught Nala and Bhima the celestial Chefs themselves. Todays creations included Drumstick leaves chutney, Palleela Podi, and Tomato Soggi.???

Revered Sri Muthukumaran Gurukkal, also the chief priest of the Bukit Rotan Sri Sakti temple of Malaysia visited Amma this morning to personally invite Amma to preside over the special Navavarna Puja to the Sri Mahameru at the temple, and to seek guidance to finalize the program.???

The Navavarna Puja is scheduled at the temple for the morning of August 24, 2016.?

Amma wandered around the large well designed home of Chandran & Kalpana and especially blessed by sitting at the beautiful Altar of their Puja Room.??

Sheetala Charanam, Komala Charanam ???; Manjula Charanam Mama-Gutu Charanam ?????

Ambiga presented a tray filled with all the puja items for the Suvasini Puja next day, for Amma’s approval. Amma carefully examined all the items on the tray and gave a nod of approval. And the suddenly out of no where (???) Amma created a pair of beautiful diamond earrings to bless Thanisha, the eldest daughter if Ambiga and Sree Harry. The couple with their three beautiful daughters are the ideal of a truly devoted God-centered family; Amma often speaks about their single-pointed devotion.???

August 23, 2016 – The evening Bhajan session began….

Towards the end of the bhajan session with melodious bhajans on Divine Mother were being sung we noticed Amma has already transcended the ordinary plane to a blissful state. Amma sat motionless with occasional tears streaming from the face and the body became cold. Some of us attending to Amma did our best to bring Amma down to the ordinary plane of existence by frantically but slowly rubbing Amma’s hands and feet, wiping away the tears, using hot towel and calling aloud Amma’s name. We breathed a sigh of relief when finally after several minutes Amma showed signs of movement and took a few sips of water.
When the Bhajans concluded Amma asked me to play one of the Tatwaalu sung by a famous singer, Sri M Balamuralikrishna – “Goodu Chinna Boyera”. This particular song distills the essence of Advaita and implores one to realize the impermanence of the body with the realization if the true resident of the body. Amma continued the discussion and expounded on this song at length during the satsang that followed the dinner. Here is the link for the song:
http://tidido.com/a35184373501736/al56012524e7c622686a7d48e2/t56012525e7c622686a7d4a0c

At the beginning of the post-dinner satsang Amma looked at the audience and said, “Do you know what Advaita is?” With a little trepidation I blurted out “non-duality”. Amma passed by response and looked at Deevesh, a young man who has been chanting Rudram and singing melodious bhajans during the evening programs, and called him to bless by creating the beautiful sacred silver Mahameru pendant– saying, this is Advaita!!! We will wait Amma is ready to disclose more on this pronouncement.???

Later as Amma retired for the night a number of devotees followed Amma to sing the lullabies. Resting on the bed Amma was very compassionate to call the young man Yoga and bless him with the sacred Vibhuti with the lingering heavenly scent.???

August 24, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Smt Kalpana & Sri Chandran Ramamurthy’s home in Taman Menara, Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, Malaysia.?
After the morning worship program we left early to the famous Bukit Rotan Sri Sakti temple of Malaysia at the express invitation of the Chief Priest Sri Muthukumaran Gurukkal for Amma to preside over the special Navavarna Puja to the Sri Mahameru at the temple. Amma also attended the Suvasini Puja that Ambiga and Sree Harry held on the occasion following the major temple event of Navavarna Puja. ???

The Sakti temple is an architectural marvel that brought every aspect of the Hindu temple building to the exactness and scriptural authenticity bringing that unambiguous ambiance and peace one would experience in the ancient temples, particularly of South India. Seeing such magnificent temple especially outside India is very rewarding from the sense of the love and dedication of the Malaysian Hindu Community to preserve their religious and cultural heritage.???

The Chief Priest Sri Muthukumaran Gurukkal along with the other temple priest welcomed Amma to the temple with the traditional Poorna Kumbham accompanied by Vedic Chants, leading Amma to the Sanctum Sanctorium to preside over the sacred Navsvarna Puja to the karge sri Mahameru. The special worship was considered ver sacred that not only imparts special spiritual energy but bestows much prosperity to the temple. With the assistance of the temple priests and our own member of the entourage Sri Seshagiri Rao Amma actually conducted the elaborate worship, seated without getting up or taking a break for almost six hours; Amma said that to do the full version of this sacred worship would have taken an additional two hours. Because of the temple policy unfortunately I was not permitted to record the event that was truly a feast to the eyes and ears. The worship involves worship to the 9 Aavarnas or stages invoking the presiding deities at each level with special mantras with mystical syllables, doing Abhishekam with various ingredients including milk, honey, yogurt, kumkum, gandham etc., worshipping with 9 types & colors of flowers, 9 types of fruits, and offering 9 types of Naivedyams, 9 color clothes, and performing Arathis to each of the 9 presiding deities. The program concluded with performance of s Homam at another site within the temple.?

Back at the Sakti temple Smt Ambiga and Sri Sree Harry along with their three devoted beautiful daughters have made a very organized set up in the mandap surrounding the temple to undertake the sacred Suvaasini Puja involving the worship of sixteen Suvaasinis (married women). The sacred ceremony is a blessed event for the family as they invoke the very Divine Mother as manifested in these sixteen women. In a way the Sree Harry family is very well equipped to undertake this special worship not just because of their financial disposition, or their devotion and dedication, but especially because of their devoted daughters who were enthusiastic participants in the event, making it a true family affair.???

Sacred items for honoring and worshipping the Suvaasinis.?

After a very spiritually enriching long day, and partaking the lunch at the Sakti temple we returned with Amma to the host family’s home.

August 24, 2016 – After a period of short rest the evening worship program got underway including the recitations of Gurupaduka Stavam, Manidweepa Varnana and Lalitha Chalisa.
The bhajan session followed.?

Right at the beginning of the Bhajan session Amma blessed Chandran by creating those beautiful fashionable earrings with diamonds, for his devoted wife Kalpana. Is Amma doing an extra favor by giving the earrings to Chandran rather than directly to Smt Kalpana? You be the judge! Because it makes Chandran look good in more than one way — he can also claim that he gave the diamond earrings; although in reality, not only in this situation but on all other occasions THE TRUE GIVER OF ALL GIFTS IS GOD.?

Prasuna who now is ver adept in helping with putting on the earrings jumped in to assist Smt Kalpana.?

The blessed host family with their lovely children, Sai Janani & Sai Hamsini ?

After the dinner there was a brief satsang with Amma covering a wide range of topics.
A small group of devotees followed Amma to the private chambers to sing lullabies and do a little Paadaseva.
As Amma went to sleep I noticed that most of the devotees emerging out of Amma’s room were wearing evidence of the blessings of Vibhuti; Sree Harry carrying the bulk of the loot.?

August 25, 2016 – Amma’s stay at Smt Kalpana & Sri Chandran Ramamurthy’s home in Taman Menara, Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, Malaysia. ???

In the short time Amma entered the kitchen Amma whipped up two wonderful culinary creations — Perugu Pacchadi (yogurt chutney) and Pumpkin Curry.???

It’s Sai Hamsini the sweet baby daughter of Kalpana and Chandran whom Amma endearingly calls “Chinna Lakshmi” as she takes after the looks of her grandmother Smt Lakshmi, whom Amma now refers to as “Periya Lakshmi”?

Chinna Lakshmi and Periya Lakshmi vying for Amma’s attention; obviously you can surmise who one that contest.?

Amma sings a beautiful song swinging on the Jhoola with great spiritual import, the refrain of which is “Vedanta veedhulalo viharinche Giridhari; Edira nee murali, oodara oka-saari”???

From time to time Amma asks for my phone to review the pictures that I have taken. And at times Amma gives clear guidance as to what is appropriate and what may not be. It is no type of censorship but a way to receive valuable input. And today when Amma borrowed my phone in a playful mood Amma took some beautiful selfies. And why not? Today is Sri Krishna Janmashtami; the birthday of the playful prankster of all time. It only occurred to my slow thinking now why Amma sang that special song sitting on the Jhoola about Sri Krishna especially on this day.???

That’s Keeshoore (don’t ever call him Kishore) brimming with joy as Amma blessed him with the sacred Sri Mahameru silver ring. Keeshoore’s t-shirt reads “YESTERDAY IS LEFT BEHIND”, and his notion is don’t dwell on the past. While I appreciated his sentiment I have also shared with him Amma’s own message regarding the past – “Prosperity beckons those who are reminiscent of their past” or “పురోభివృద్ధి కోరువారు తమ పూర్వవృత్తాంతం మరువరాదు”???

August 25, 2016 – Evening program of special celebration of Sri Krishna Janmashtami in progress.?

And it was the good fortune of the young man Selvendrrah to receive the beautiful silver ring with the sacred ‘Om’ in gold, on this most holy festival occasion of Sri Krishna Janmashtami. Selvendrrah is among the band of young adults who are genuine spiritual seekers that come to participate in the bhajan session daily and eager to hear the nectarine words of Amma.?

Amma showered special blessings on this devoted couple who sought Amma’s grace to deal with their life’s challenges, by creating the sacred Vibhuti for them and blessing the gentleman with a precious gemstone which Amma asked him not to show to anyone or anyone touch it but have it mounted and wear it as a ring. Amma also blessed them with the special privilege of doing the Paadaseva unsolicited, on this very auspicious day.???

Amma instructs the gentleman to keep the special gemstone created for him out of pulic eye; that includes my camera!

The evening bhajan session in observance and special celebration of Sri Krishna Janmashtami.???

After enjoyed a sumptuous meal everyone assembled upstairs for the satsang with Amma. Although a wide range of topics were covered, the primary thrust was on the insurmountable law of Karma, discipline in regularity and priority of spiritual practices in daily life. Amma was so forceful in delivering the message some devotees felt uncomfortable and wondered if they have done anything to invoke what appeared to be anger in Amma. Later when I conveyed the concerns of devotees to Amma, Amma shrugged it off saying why should they feel like that — I only want to wake them up and bring transformation.
During the satsang Amma learnt about a lady who sings tatwalu, and he called on her to sing. What she sang were beautiful Telugu devotional songs which Amma sang along.???

Thus ended another spiritually suffused glorious day in the Holy Company of our Beloved Amma.???

August 26, 2016 – Amma’s last day of stay at Smt Kalpana & Sri Chandran Ramamurthy’s home in Taman Menara, Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, Malaysia. ???
Morning worship program continued with more and more of Chandran’s immediate family members who have arrived from other parts of Malaysia and as far as Australia joining seeking Amma’s blessings.

Elegant altar setup of the morning program

Chandran’s twin brother from Australia basking in Amma’s love?

What is very impressive and laudable of the Indian diaspora especially in these Far Eastern countries is their true passion, admiration and tenacity for their cultural and spiritual heritage. As a community they continue to make concerted efforts to pass down and foster the music, dance, religion, literature, and language(s). But with time despite their sincere efforts some of these lose their originality, but not the authenticity; this is particularly noticeable in the area of the spoken language(s) which get corrupted and adapted within the diversity of the community itself.
The lady who sangthe beautiful Telugu devotional songs the other night had such an accent that Amma was teasing her by imitating her talking; but mind you she sang the ancient Annamayya Keertanas with accuracy of diction and musical conformity. She visited again this morning, and with Amma’s encouragement sang some devotional songs.?

The morning worship concluded with Arathi done by the twin brothers, Chandran and Saravanan.?

August 26, 2016 – With the evening worship completed the bhajan session started.?????

After a sumptuous dinner everyone assembled upstairs for one last satsang session with Amma. Being the last day of Amma’s stay there was a steady stream of devotees throughout the day; many of them seeking private audience with Amma. This has been a classic phenomenon in all the places Amma visits; despite the long stay of Amma in these places devotees somehow realize the opportunity on the last day or two. So, the last night satsang was well attended and one could feel that love for the Divine in the air. Beyond the usual spiritual discussion,

Amma invited all the devotees to the upcoming major festival at the Ashram – Navarathri during Oct 1-11. Amma also welcomed the devotees to a two-week Yoga Class in December. Amma forewarned that the class will be very demanding requiring much strict discipline and practice. While that itself sounded daunting Amma scared the audience by mentioning that as part of the class regimen the requirement is the student is required to gulp down a holy cocktail made what else — fresh cow urine, cow dung, milk, curd, and ghee, for internal cleansing?. No joke — Reflect on that before signing up for the class??

Saravanan, the twin brother of Chandran got the best of the evening as Amma blessed him by creating a beautiful diamond ring.????

August 27, 2016 – We had an early morning flight to catch from KL to Bali. Having friends at high level does help to make travel less tedious. Sri Chandran Ramamurthy, a very ardent devotee of Amma who is also the CEO of the Malindo airlines we are flying attended to every detail including making arrangements for expedited immigration and customs clearance. He and his beautiful wife Kalpana along with the rest of the family were great hosts making our stay at their home in KL a comfortable and very memorable one. ???

Amma is very fond of Chandran not only for his devotion to Amma, but more importantly for the love and care he shows to his parents.?

The host family and extended family members at KL – August 27, 2016?

Homage to Smt. Nageswaramma

August 24, 2016 – August 24th is another important day in the annals of Sri Vasudevanadaswamy’s Ashram and Mission for it marks the departure of a very noble soul from the earthly existence — Smt Nageswaramma. We, the devotees of Amma should be ever grateful to her as the mother who gifted Amma to the World for the greater good of humanity, for he descended on earth to not only relieve human misery but also uplift us spiritually to realize our true nature. Many who had the blessed privilege of meeting her remember her fondly her soft-spoken loving demeanor and the dignity with which she carried out the Ashram work tirelessly, inspiring everyone; true to Amma, she too was zealous making sure that the visitor the ashram is well fed. She is also remembered for her dedication to attending and assuring that the worship to Sri Rajarajeswari Devi in the Ashram temple went on perfectly; and her outstanding unique skills and aesthetic sense in doing the Alankaaram (decoration) of the deity.???
The Ashram observed this day in her loving memory by doing simple worship, singing bhajans, and distributing free food to the needy.??

A simple altar to pay homage to Smt Nageswaramma. In her loving remembrance the largest building in the Ashram grounds bears her name.?

Bhajans in her memory ?

Sharing her love is sharing food with the needy.?