Amma's ashram in Kollum

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Greetings from Amritashram,

Lela and I arrived at the ashram in Kollum on the 19th and I don't know where to begin. The ashram at the moment has about two thousand people in it. It is run on volunteer work with many "old-timers" supervising. Today I served food. Split pea soup was my job. I did the butter as well. The ashram has 3 different food centers. The Indian food is free, and the western cafes are paid, but very inexpensive. There are about 300 westerners here at the moment. The whole ashram is the headquarters for Amma. She's incredible. She's nicknamed "the hugging guru" and will hug all of the guests that are staying here in one day. When there are a lot of people here (8000) she may sit for upto 24 hours in a row. No breaks, no food, no water. She started this morning at 11am and is still going now. It's 4:14pm. And the westerners haven't started yet.

I got a hug from Amma yesterday. I must say that I was a little disappointed. It didn't feel like a real meeting of souls. It felt a bit mass produced and was very fast. She has about 20 people around her at all times, helping, waiting for a hug, passing her Prashads ( small food gift - usually candy)to give to each person.

Lela and I got the opportunity to travel with Amma to Sri Lanka. Its extra money (about $400) but I don't want to say, "No" just because of money and regret that I didn't go for the rest of my life. How often is it that you get to go to another country with a "master"

With the money she gets from donations and book sales, she's started hospitals, villages, thousands of small simple homes for the homeless. It's amazing what this woman has manifested in this world already at the age of 53.


It's really hot here. Since the ashram doesn't allow shorts, and my pants are just too hot, I've gone "Indian style" I'm wearing and Lungi. Not sure of the spelling, but it's basically a sheet the size of a long towel that you wrap around your waste and wear like a skirt. It's much cooler to wear and allows "easy access" in a "tight situation". 😉

I don't want to jinx myself, but the travel bug hasn't found us yet and we are doing really well. We've been eating in some places that you wouldn't believe are sanitary. And by North American standards, they'd be closed, but they put out some of the most delicious foods. Southern India does a lot of breads, soups and rice-flour...dumpling things that are called Idlys. We have them for breakfast. They're light and very bland. We dunk them in a sauce that tastes sort of like peanut butter but is made from fried ground lentils. It's delicious and is a good start of the day.

Thank you all for your messages. I'm enjoying reading your comments.

I don't think I'll be able to get to an internet station for the next few days in Sri Lanka, but I will if I can.

I haven't been able to post any pictures yet. We have to go to a special place that can take the memory cards from the digital camera we have. Lela and I have been having such a good time looking over our saved pics and deleting the bad ones and keeping the good ones. The good thing about digital cameras is you can take 15 pictures of the same thing and then keep the 3 best. For a while the "deletion" of any pictures was a source of stress between Lela and I. She's much better and just getting rid of all that aren't beautiful. And I wanted more of a running picture travel log. The beautiful thing about being in a relationship is that you get to compromise about lots of things....eh?

Ok....gotta run.

Lots of love to everybody.

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Comments

[Arlyn]

Sri Lanka -- Ommm!
Good decision about Sri Lanka -- I'm still kicking myself for not going to the Grand Canyon because it was 70 miles from my planned route! Also, what a great opportunity to partake of some Buddist traditions and sites. Now that you are traveling, maybe you should invest in an Indian Kurta (pajamas) -- when you come back you will be fully transformed -- afterall, all those Indians can't be wrong. I heard about a guy who moved to the US from India in his early 20s say that when he first arrived he registered as a Republican. "Easy mistake," he said, "I'm a Hindu... they are elephants...." (okay, it sounded funnier when he said it). Love, Arlyn