Tuesday, July 31, 2007

from Rio

Santiago to Rio, written night of 30th July

We had hoped that there might have been a formal Guru Purnima ceremony in Santiago, with pada puja. Instead, Big Swami gave a short talk which was very nice. Many of us felt so full from the darshan and the response to Amma by the Chileans, I don’t think the ceremony was missed.

The huge crowd steadily thinned out through the night and morning. I suspect that all of those first-timers did not know what they would be missing, and many of them probably went home before receiving darshan, and many of the others who did get darshan may not have known about the flower shower. We had the huge line of people waiting for mantra to deal with. She gave mantras at a dizzying pace for about an hour. Then there was only one special event, a wedding – no baby feedings or first writings.

By 10:30 Amma left. After She got in Her car, the crowd of Chileans left in the hall were cheering, singing, dancing, hoisting the organizers on their shoulders, celebrating a huge success. The Chileans seemed so open and responsive to Amma. It was wonderful to see.

That day, since Amma was leaving, Nature was sad – it stayed cold and foggy all Sunday and Monday, our travel day. When we finally got into Rio, it had been cold and rainy for a week, but the full moon was clearly visible and it is forecast to be in the 70’s and sunny tomorrow as Nature welcomes Amma again.

There was more airport leela. The Amma group was spread across five flights, from 5:30 a.m. through early afternoon. I was on the only direct flight (five hours), and we were delayed nearly three hours. Then we waited at the airport with the greeters, waiting for one of our other flights. Eventually we gave up, since it was rescheduled for even later. Then the bus ride (the Brazilian organizers did have transport for us) took a little over an hour to reach the hotel. One of our flights had been rescheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. departure. With its connection through Sao Paulo, who knows when they will get in.

The Amma flight was scheduled through Sao Paulo. Some of us walked over to the Amma flight and hung around, hoping for a sight. This cheered us up, the concentration and hope that we might catch a glimpse of Her. However, they finally called our flight for boarding before we could see Her.

After darshan on Sunday, everyone was very tired, but many people did not seem to be in any hurry to get a nap – just sitting around basking in the glow of a wonderful program. It was the first day of rest in the two months of the tour, a much needed rest by the tour staff. I think that most everybody slept in the afternoon, hung around for a little while in the evening, then back to bed without going into town or doing any sightseeing. The major hotel for the event in Santiago was a five minute walk from the giant hall, which was great, but they rarely had hot water. We were given a 50% reduction in our bill for that inconvenience!


Shambugh

30 july 2007

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for keeping us updated!!

Anonymous said...

Namshivaya..Should attach amma's picture along with the updates..

namashivaya....amma pray for this world..save us