The Venue: Manhattan Centre Place New York July 2006.
Walking along 34th St, Manhattan, New York, my attention was caught by a long winding queue of people, waiting to enter the Manhattan Centre, behind the ancient NEW YORKER Hotel.
Deciding to find what it is all about, my attention was immediately drawn by two large sign boards, that says” New York city welcomes Amma". Impressed by the eagerness on the face of the scores of people entering the building, I decided to join them.
I discovered that Amma alis Matha Amrithananda Mayi Devi,a saintly and holy person,53 year old dark skinned lady, was about to give"Darshan" to the hundreds of people thronging to get in for that unique opportunity. My memory immediately flashed a message that I have read about The "Hugging saint" (name coined by a NY Times journalist.) I remembered that she has given her "Darshan" to about 25 million people all over the world. Starting from about ten or fifteen years ago.
Many of the people who came and were anxiously waiting in the long lines, were certainly suffering from the agonies, difficulties and problems of modern present day life. This was obvious and would have been noticed by any keen observer.
I looked through a few documents displayed on the tables in the huge hall of Manhattan Centre, which was already full. That means at least about 6,000 people had already assembled there. I asked around and discussed with a few Americans there and was told that their internal feelings and mental perturbance had been reduced to a great degree. After her Darshan.For many hundreds of people.
Starting to observe the the whole process, I was surprises that the crowd contains of many different nationalities of people from Japan to Africa. And irrespective of any creed or religion or division, most of them were coming down from the podium, with tears in their eyes. Surely there was a passage of some kind of spiritual energy, from that saintly person, to these ordinary persons. The tears on the people's faces wore expressions of relief and an unknown kind of encouragement to continue with their lives.
Standing on the line, my own turn came up. She uttered a couple of words to my ears, hugging me closely. I felt a great sense of endearment as if a mother was calling her son with some sweet sounding words. Not knowing the language in which she spoke to me, I later on found that what she said was just "my little son, my darling child". I was filled with an uncanny emotion, the kind of which I had never experienced before. And this is all she tells to every one irrespective of religion , color of your skin or the place where you were born. What a great vision And value. What an outstandingly simple way to give relief to the ordinary man And woman of this world.
It is this kind and universal vision of hers, that has given relief to thousands of people all over the world. It is reported that the number of people who had obtained her Darshan has now crossed 26 million.! The concept of God as a Mother is slowly seeping in the layers of consciousness of thousands of people and that is a motherly love that alone will give comfort and solace, is all also penetrating the hitherto held concepts of society. The charitable institutions, hospitals and educational places, being run by Amma,Mathra AmrithandaMayi,also provide avenue for any concerned human being to offer a place for service. Service to mankind is service to God.
