First day in Rio

Now we are in Rio, Brazil. First it seemed as if there would not be a big crowd. But as the darshan started more people started coming. Till now all tokens for morning darshan were given out, many are waiting to get token for the evening darshan. We are in Intercontinental hotel which provides a big hall, but only a small part of that from Santiago.

One nice incident was there in the afternoon when a group of youth started playing for Amma. There were 9 young man with drums and other people with other rhythm instruments and one small guitar. As soon as they started playing, Mother turned her head back towards them with a beautiful expression on her face. She kept doing so several times. When I got closer to observe the situation I realized why it was so. The group played as the Indian devotees do in the temple festivals, also during Mother's tours in India, etc. when they play drums very loudly. The beat and sound was like in India. After hearing it, I understood why Mother looked behind with such a smiling face. She most probably was thinking of India, as we also who came to listen to it. Brazilian music has its root in Africa, and the rhythm is very important for them.

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Mother's first program today, the first of the three day programs in Rio, Brazil. The morning darshan ended only 6 pm and near the 8 pm Mother came back for the evening program. Now the evening program is going on.

In her first bhajans in Brazil Mother sang the following bhajans:

Kripa ho teri
Shyama sundara
Everyone in the world (in Portuguese)
Amma amma taye
Shyama Shyama kukadi me
Om Namah Shivaya
Jinki karuna he

In difference to Chile the Brazilians did not applaud after bhajans, except after the one in Portuguese. They sat quiet waiting for the next bhajan like the devotees do in India.

It seemed that in the public there were many devotees of Amma, who is better known here than in Chile, since Swami Ramakrishnananda has been coming here since years and there is also a temple dedicated to Amma here in Brazil.


Ahalya, Rio, 31 July, 2007