The Mother of All Kinds of Children
Seattle, June 1, 2002
Mother enters the States in Seattle, holds a day of public programs
and a three-day retreat, and the "US Summer Tour" is begun.
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When She reaches the venue for the first morning program,
as will be the case for every morning program for the next
month and a half, there is a pada puja, She sits for meditation,
and then She sits for darshan.
Darshan for ALL kinds, as always, everywhere: first, some
small children, usually the quickest to reach that welcoming
Lap.
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Families, couples, friends, singles…all kinds come to
Mother. Most you might call "anonymous." To look
at them, you wouldn't know their stories: that this one has
cancer, that that one is celebrating her son's graduation,
that those two are expecting a third by Christmas, that this
other child is hoping for a puppy. You would know only that
they have come to the Mother who welcomes all kinds, for any
reason or none at all.
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All kinds. Some more readily distinguishable than others:
there is the woman in a grey robe, her head shaven, Eido Frances
Carnay, the head of the Buddhist community at the Olympia
Zen Center. She has brought some of her students to meet Amma.
The Zen teacher clasps her hands in front of her and bows
slightly. Mother looks softly pleased as She holds the nun
firmly by her shoulders and gazes into her eyes, and then
envelopes her hands in Her own for a moment.
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Here's another candidate for darshan; all nearby watch as
he moves softly, purposefully, till he is close enough to
Mother's outstretched Hand to sniff it, and then turn a soulful
gaze up towards Her laughing eyes: will She give him what
he longs for? Indeed, She will, then and there: She unwraps
a Hershey's Kiss and holds it out to him. In one quick snap
he's taken it into his mouth and stepped back out of the way
so that his blind companion can move to Mother's lap.
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After her darshan, he is ready to lead her away, but Mother
calls him back for another Kiss. That business accomplished,
tail wagging, he leads his friend to the side.
The morning darshan program continues, and there comes to
Mother's lap a living gift: She caresses it, sniffs it, presses
it to Her heart, and only then hands these blooming flowers,
complete in their pot of earth, to someone nearby who will
have to see to it that someone gives it a home in Mother Earth.
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We remember a few years ago when someone gave Mother a tiny living
Christmas tree in its own pot. The ashramite who carried it on the
long flight home to India became so attached to it that when customs
officials in one country tried to confiscate it she burst into tears
and was allowed to keep it!
In the States, as everywhere, Amma receives all kinds in only one
way: Her way of Love. All people, all animals, all plants - all
beings are loved by their Mother.
And so, with quiet eyes, an open heart and a ready embrace, Mother
began blessing America at the end of May.
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