Our Amma

My first contact with Amma occurred in October, 1998. While I was visiting my son in Toronto, a family friend suggested that we should go for dharshan of a spiritual person who was visiting from India. So, I took my family to the house where Amma was staying. We waited patiently for Amma's dharshan and a private audience.

When we entered Amma’s room, we immediately sensed that we were in a very special presence. Amma was patient answering my families’ questions, sharing divine wisdom and infectious laughter. Amma blessed our happy hearts with some fragrant vibuthi that Amma manifested and we went home happily. We had the pleasure of seeing Amma several times over the next few days. We had one wish – the honour of hosting Amma at our humble household in Calgary.

Amma promised that Amma would come to Calgary to satisfy the spiritual yearnings of several of the devotees and in May, 2000, Amma delivered on the promise. In addition to being part of the organizing committee, I was given the honour of being one of five hosts for that visit. Even though there was a tremendous amount work involved in hosting such an event, we never felt fatigue as Amma’s abundant energy was flowing through all of us. Even the visitors who came to our houses commented on the remarkable level of energy that they sensed.

During Amma’s 25-days stay in Calgary, we witnessed several miracles. We saw people who were wheelchair-bound gain enough strength through their meeting with Amma, to begin to amble once again. We came across people who, after meeting Amma, gained a sense of clarity and perspective about their life. It was amazing to see the number of people that assembled to see Amma who were at a crossroad in their lives, and afterwards have an awareness of the direction they were to take.

Some people, after having gained a personal audience with Amma, came out crying as if they had a release and became free from some of the emotional bonds that weighed them down. This phenomenon occurred even in young children. Others remarked on how Amma would be able to answer questions that were on their minds even before they had a chance to vocalize them. A few people commented that Amma was aware of the things about them or their pasts without any disclosure from them.

Everyone, however, noted that there was a sense of peace throughout the house, especially during Amma’s pujas. One of most anticipated feature of Amma’s daily rituals were Amma's discourses in which Amma would discuss a typical situation about life and spirituality. In these discourses Amma took seemingly complex life situations and convey them in simple terms to the audience.

After each session, people would talk amongst themselves about the wisdom that Amma had just shared. All of the topics were relevant to the current life styles and even though they applied to society in general, most people felt as if Amma was talking directly to them, and they all looked forward to Amma’s next discourse.

In the time that we have known Amma, we have experienced a spiritual awakening and a higher level of consciousness. We feel privileged that Amma stayed at our house (which in reality IS Amma’s house as Amma would rightly point out!) and we feel blessed. We are very grateful to Amma.