8 march 2009, enroute tiruvalla to amritapuri
it was special but not a surprise.
on the way back from tiruvalla programme, amma visited an old house. it has not been painted for years, not modified for the last 30 years at least. situated on the side of the main road, this is one of the houses amma used to visit in the early days.
the mother of the house, who is in her sixties, welcomed amma and did padapuja. she poured milk, curd, ghee.. chanting her mantra. and in excitement she forgot to wash amma's legs at the end. since i was assisting her, i had to pour water and insist her to wash them.
in their puja room, pictures of early days with amma, amma in krishna bhava--were all there.
this lady of the house used to bring for amma boiled kappa, chembu, kachil, all root items, whenever she came to the ashram. now here at the house she has prepared the same for amma. we also had our own healthy portions. it was really tasty... especially after the whole night program and empty stomachs even at 12 noon.
after talking to the family amma came out to the courtyard. amma started explaining
"this is the ground where i used play kabadi*1 with this mole (daughter)." that square-sized court yard seemed to rejoice once again in the memories...
there was a cashew tree standing in the courtyard. it had full of ripe mangos. the nut is attached outside to the mango. the mango is juicy and good to eat when ripe. seeing the ripe mango, my first thought was to give this one to amma. but how can i reach. lo... suddenly one mango just falls next to me. i tried to blow off the sand, took inside to wash.
i gave that to amma. amma asked for a knife and started to cut into pieces.
seeing the ripe ones on the top, my childhood vasanas rose up. i picked up a stone and flung it upward into the topmost branches. i got one. took another stone, and another one fell. seeing that, swamiji joined. he took a stick and tossed it up in the air. it went miles away from the mango. my next two or 3 throws didn't bring any result. this time we were together in the throw, aiming at the same mango, and two mangoes fell at the same time. swamiji claimed he did it. i accepted it. anyway the mangoes were for amma. and amma had got a knife and started cutting the mangoes into pieces...
the amusement didn't last long. the onlookers, people from the road came in to see amma.
~dhyanamrita
----
1. (kabadi is played as follows: two teams occupy opposite halves of a field and take turns sending a "raider" into the other half, in order to win points by tapping or wrestling members of the opposing team; the raider then tries to return to his own half, holding his breath during the whole raid.)
Posts
