The Art alone exists!
June 20, 2004
San Ramon, California
The Saturday evening performances at Amma's retreats are always
an enjoyable treat as well as evidence of how much Amma's children
wish to express their love for her through the arts. This retreat
was no exception and included a wide variety of artistic forms as
varied as Amma's children themselves.
Amma has said that all art "depends on love. These arts are
an expression of the person who does them. It is his heart which
is being expressed in that art. The artist pours himself into his
art. He disapperars...only the art exists." The outstanding
artists who performed for Amma certainly poured themselves into
their art, showing their love for Amma and their desire to please
her through their presentations.
17 year old Ameya who has been practicing traditional Indian Bharat
Natyam dancing since the age of 5, performed a set of two highly
expressive, storytelling dances. Ameya's first dance of the evening
was to a bhajan about Lord Krishna while her second was to a bhajan
by the great Indian saint Tulsidas. The bhajan was Tumak Chalat
Ramachandra, or "the sounds made by baby Rama," in
which the dancer acted the role of Lord Rama's mother, Kausalya,
who becomes mesmerized by the sounds of her son's anklets. Ameya
stated afterwards that whenever she dances, she imagines that Amma
is watching her, but "this Amma really was watching."
Another wonderful performance was a modern hula (hula auana)
dance. Hula is the traditional dance form of Hawaii, however this
performance was a contemporary piece called Pua Olena (Olena
flower). As the dancer Ka'imi explained, the Olena flower is a yellow
flower, which unlike most flowers, is found a the base of the plant.
To locate the flower required searching beneath the leaves. The
dance therefore symbolized a search for hidden beauty, and Ka'imi
indicated that this was a fitting dance to perform for Amma, who
finds the hidden beauty within all of us. Ka'imi, who studies at
the Halau O Keikiali'i dance school, said after her performance
that it was "awesome" to dance for Amma, and she was deeply
honored and very excited to share this tradition with Amma.
Also included in the evening were performances by a group of young
men comprised of two guitarists, a clarinet player and a drummer.
They played bhajans, including Jai Ambe Jagadambe, in a
jazz style. Next up were several young children who performed Srishitiyum
Niye in violin and flute.
The final performance of the evening was a group of Amma's daughters
who gave a sweet adaptation of the English version of Iswari
Jagadiswari (translated as "Wondrous Goddess, Precious
Goddess"). It was especially notable because rather than
singing, they stood and communicated the entire bhajan in American
Sign Language. The group was inspired by Amma's excitement at seeing
a recent performance of the English version of Iswar Tumhi in
sign language, by the students from her school for the hearing-impaired
in India. Sarvaga, who taught this group, was also responsible for
the teaching those students in India. As her daughters performed
this piece, Amma kept turning around to watch them . Some of the
teenage daughters of Amma later said their performance was "like
a prayer" and when one of them noted that everyone had watched
them, another responded "I didn't see anyone but Amma."
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