With Mother in Nature

More and more lately, Amma has been emphasizing the importance of respecting and preserving Mother Nature, stressing our dependence on Nature for surviving, not to mention thriving. Her recent speech in Paris upon being honored by Cinema Verite focused on this, with Amma saying that we have two choices: start caring for Nature or perish. Amma teaches us that as compassion awakens within, one will naturally begin restoring the lost balance within and without and in Nature.

Volunteering with Amma - travelling around the world from stadiums to hotel ballrooms day after day - sometimes the longing to be in the great outdoors or breathing fresh air arises. But for the most part, I forego being in Nature in order to do my small share in Amma's mission of love and service. My connection with Nature has become more of a quiet knowing that Amma is working tirelessly to bring our planet back into harmony and that Mother Nature is being benefited by this.

How many years now has Amma herself given up spending time outdoors in Nature in order to care for ailing humanity, hoping to restore its lost balance? It has been decades since Amma was last able to sit and watch a sunrise or to sing to the ocean at night the way she did as a young girl. Today, simply too many people need her, too many children crying - in a world out of balance.

So, the other day, on the way from Amma's programs in Munich to Milan, when Amma invited all of us to a breath-taking hill-top amid the Alps in Austria, it was profoundly fulfilling. Amma was taking this time from her infinite duties and responsibilities, simply because she knew how precious the experience would be for us.

Always hoping to have a chance to sit near her, as soon as the buses arrived to our stop, I ran as fast as I could to the top of the steep winding trail. There she was, sitting on a bench, radiating perfect peace as she welcomed us and distributed some snacks.

Sitting near her, I gazed into the blue sky and snowy caps reflected in the round mirrors of her eyes. I prayed that the Nature would always sustain its wholeness through the pure love and compassion I could see in Mother.s eyes as she beheld it. To be in such a pristine place with such a holy being was very uplifting. Amma asked her many children to gather around close so that she could see all of our faces. Looking around, I could see the faces of my brothers and sisters glowing with the usual happiness and harmony they do when we are near Amma, but now even more so due to being in this special place with her.

A child brought Amma some snow and she playfully threw a few snowballs at us, reminiscing about having recently played with snow in Michigan, when someone had offered her a snowball during darshan.

Amma said most of us spend so much time working on these tours, that if we ever feel sad, we are most welcome to come for darshan. This small gesture meant so much to me because I know that thousands of people come to see Amma every day and thousands more come every night, but still Amma wanted us to feel she is there for us, no matter how long she has to sit there.

Amma sang a new song in Italian with an Italian staff member for the upcoming program. As usual, when Amma starts singing new bhajans in other languages, she made lots of jokes as she tried to wrap her mouth around the words. She made a movement with her hand, gesturing that she was trying to twist her mouth into a new way.

Amma gave us a short sweet satsang [discourse] about the importance of remembering God all the time through practices like mantra japa. "While travelling on the bus, you should always chant your mantra," Amma said. "Chant as much as possible. Even if you fall asleep, when you wake up, resume your chanting the moment you awaken. If you forget, just start again when you remember. Our intensity for God should always increase. Imagine that you owned a precious diamond and lost it. After that, whatever you're doing - walking, talking, travelling - in all of your actions, you will always be thinking of the diamond and how to find it. In the same way, we should intensely remember God. We may fall asleep, but if we always resume our chanting upon remembering, slowly the gaps of forgetfulness will be bridged. We should be like a person sitting in a glass box. The person may look outside and enjoy the sights, but he always remains separate in his box. Likewise, on the bus we can look at the beautiful Nature outside, but we should try to see our Beloved Deity in all of this. We can enjoy everything, but always remember and be focused on God. We should try to see Creator in creation."

Just another grace-full effort from our mother to help us stay centered, in balance and focused on our goal of compassion, unity and harmony with our selves, all sentient beings and Mother Nature.

- Lakshmi

Amma in the west

Meeting Amma

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