Amma arrived in Japan on May 27th. The weather was warm and pleasant. The people of Japan greeted her in a loving and quiet way. The atmosphere was very peaceful and Amma's beautiful smile was reflected in all the faces around her.

The program began the next day and was well organized with the typical perfection of the Japanese people. In the morning, as the darshan was going on there was a musical ensemble by the Japanese, Korean and Chinese. While receiving the people in her arms, Amma turned around a few times and greeted the singers of the three nationalities with a warm smile. Once again this year the dynamic Wadahiko drummers performed their age old Japanese tradition. Amma showed great interest in this art form and deeply appreciated their performance. When we asked the group leader Kizako, what inspired him to play for Amma, he replied, "To me, Amma stands for world peace. Today's performance is dedicated to world peace, to Amma. I don't know much about the existence or non existence of God", he continued, "But today I experienced something very special. Maybe this is what is called divine. I understand it as peace". It was interesting to note that there were many children playing the drums. Norika, age 10, said that she felt totally accepted when Amma gave her a hug. She felt good to perform and be in this atmosphere.

During the evening darshan, two young Japanese men came up to Amma shyly for darshan, expressing their desire to be celibate spiritual aspirants. One of them had learnt to say in Amma's native tongue, "Amma, I will do as you say". Amma listened to him with a mischievous smile and said, "Really? Why don't you marry?" Everyone burst into laughter as the young men was shaking his head in denial. One may wonder why would Amma ask an aspiring student to marry. Just as one goes through innumerable tests even to get admitted in a good school, a spiritual student needs to go through various tests from the Guru to qualify for the path. Amma often says that, the path of a celibate student is not so easy. One has to have strong aspiration for the goal of self-realization and unflinching faith and obedience to the spiritual master. Amma creates different situations to which we can respond or react. When we respond we succeed and we fail when we react. Amma says that the success or failure of her children directly relates to her success or failure. Further she always emphasizes to the aspiring spiritual students that failure is delayed success. In this context, Amma said that she was reminded of an incident that happened many years ago. Once she asked one of her senior disciples to go to another country and earn money. He was taken aback. He had left his hearth and home to be with Amma. Amma insisted that he should go while he kept protesting. At that time Amma noticed that he was writing something on a piece of paper and asked him to handout that paper to her. Incidentally this disciple had been writing over and over again "Amma I surrender to you" on that piece of paper. Taking the paper that he handed out and showing it to him Amma asked him "what is the meaning of this". The disciple was embarrassed and then realized his mistake. Amma says that "Surrender is not so easy, and the first and last step to surrender is one and the same. In other words there is only one step towards surrender. It is like jumping into a river".

It is always a wonder to be around Amma. Her life is the greatest teaching. The Japanese program was a memorable one, for each day spent in Amma's presence is so full of valuable lessons, that we can hardly keep track of them all

- Seetha

Tsunami Relief Efforts

Amma in the west

Meeting Amma

Events Calendar