Scarves that warmed up hearts - Part 2

- By Karuna Poole and Madhuri Hosford

Another glorious Summer Tour with Mother is over, and now there is time for reflection. As always, so many heartful experiences occurred for everyone who prepared for and who attended the programs.

This year, Mother shocked the devotees in Seattle by sending word in January that she would like for us to find a different venue for the Northwest public program. We had been rather smug in thinking that we had our sites selected months in advance of the tour. It has always been very difficult to find halls in Seattle. In previous years we had explored over fifty possible sites, which for various reasons, would not work, so we were in a quandary. How would we find something when we had looked so hard in the past?

Our question was answered in an amazingly short period of time, when a devotee found an empty Gottschalk's department store in a small city south of Seattle. We discovered the building was owned by the City of Burien. The city had plans to demolish it in a year or so and build a new town square.

The building was amazing. It was one large room 40,000 square feet in size, with space to accommodate the darshan hall, the dining hall, the bookstore, astrology readings, seva desks, information and charity tables and childcare. Around the perimeter of the main room were many small rooms that could be used for various purposes. Abundant space was not the only gift. The city welcomed us like we have never been welcomed before. They asked a restaurant to close for the day so we could prepare and cook hot meals to serve during programs. They asked the city treasurer to loan us his house to use for staff accommodations. The Discover Burien staff member who was helping us organize also offered her own house for more staff housing. Although she had never met Mother, a friend of a local devotee offered her house for Mother and the Swamis to rest between programs. The city offered the use of the department store for a day of set up and a day of programs for a mere $1000! We were in awe, and could certainly see why Mother had instructed us to find a new venue.

To further demonstrate her limitless grace, Amma soon showed us more reasons for "discovering Burien." While the hall was really big, it was also very dirty. Furthermore, as it had been a clothing department store, there were thousands of straight pins imbedded into the carpet. Two weeks before Mother's arrival we held a big work party and cleaned it from top to bottom all weekend long, taking care to pull out each and every pin. Devotees traveled from throughout the Northwest to join the "party." We had so much fun working together, and some say that "bonding" in this way helped them feel so more a part of Amma's satsang than ever before.

Help continued to come from unexpected places. A professional event coordinator offered to help in any way needed. Without hesitation, he agreed to fill the parking seva role, a position we had been trying to fill for months! Soon thereafter, we received an email from the owners of the Waterfront Bakery in Silverdale, Washington. They had heard of Mother and offered to supply all of the bakery goods needed for the snack shop on the day of the public programs. They even offered to help staff the snack shop! Never had we had so many synchronicities in such a short period of time. We were in awe of the many intricate ways Mother was working.

Seattle has been Amma's first stop on her U.S. Tour since 1987. This year for the first time, we asked local dignitaries to welcome her. Cecile Hansen, a Native American elder, welcomed Amma to the United States. Cecile is the great, great, great, grand-niece of Chief Seattle and has served as the Chairperson of the Duwamish Tribe for 28 years. Next, Noel Gibb, Mayor of Burien, welcomed Mother to "his" city, as he happily invited all of the devotees surrounding Amma like honeybees following sweetness to explore Burien and feel at home.

The Burien residents were intrigued with the "divine atmosphere" of the public programs. The Fire Department - one block away from the public program site -required the presence of at least two firemen during the programs "to keep things safe." When one devotee mentioned to a fireman how much we appreciated all of the help the fire staff had given us, he eagerly said, "Well we would give you the fire station too, but I don't think it would do you any good." Another fireman decided to have Amma's darshan. After receiving her embrace, he was asked about his experience. "I don't know if it's my imagination," he said, "but my back had been killing me and now it doesn't hurt at all!"

Following the Northwest public programs, a three-day retreat was held on the beautiful pastoral Pacific Lutheran University campus in Tacoma, near the base of Mount Rainier. In addition to special times with Amma in meditation, singing bhajans (chants), daily darshan, spiritual instruction, and dinner served by Amma to all her Children, participants were treated to bhajans sung by many of the Northwest satsangs and by Amma's younger children, an instrumental program, a spiritual dance and a play produced by Northwest devotees. This year's play told the story of feuding adult siblings. Children ultimately showed the adults how to get along and spend more of their energy giving love to the world. The dance, poetry and music which supported the play were inspiring.

One of our goals this year was to make the public programs and retreat more of a Northwest event than a Seattle event. We expanded our seva coordination team to include seva coordinators from Oregon and Canada. This made finding sevites both before the tour and during the programs so much easier. It was also a process that helped us bond more at a regional level.

In January of this year, members of the Seattle satsang started a new seva project called "Amma's Helpers: Crafts for Charity." This group makes hats and scarves for the homeless as well as creates afghans for homeless people who are being moved off the streets and into apartments. As word of the project spread, devotees from other parts of the country began to participate, some starting groups in their own hometowns. A scrapbook about the group's work was available for interested individuals to look at, both in Seattle and on the rest of the Tour.

We decided to give everyone who attended Amma's Northwest programs the opportunity to participate in the craft seva. All items made during the four day period would be donated to Seattle's tent city, a roaming shelter where homeless people join together to live. A craft table was placed adjacent to our welcome table. Interested people could learn to knit and crochet, or if they already knew how, just dive in. Others were offered the chance to cut polar fleece to make scarves. Soon, all over the hall people could be seen with their hands working busily to contribute to this seva. One person was even spotted crocheting as she moved through the darshan line on her way to Mother! In the space of four days, 92 polar fleece scarves, 28 knitted or crocheted scarves, 18 knitted or crocheted hats and numerous afghan squares were produced. Towards the end of the retreat, we asked Amma to bless everything. As she showered flower petals on the items, she said "Premam, premam," which means "Supreme Love." She also commented that it is very good for people to keep their hands busy in this way.

As the Seattle programs closed, many marveled about all that had happened in such a short period of time. It is astounding how, year after year, Mother can meet the needs of her Children, individual and community alike, inspiring us all to learn and grow and follow in her footsteps.

Amma, may we always recognize your Grace in each and every circumstance. By allowing us to serve as a U.S. Tour city, you bring us deep and lasting joy. We humbly pray to watch and learn more and more from your tireless example all year through!

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