Innocent Desire:
Reaching Out to Homeless and Imprisoned

14 June 2006 — San Ramon, California, USA

Don't call them homeless people, don't call them prisoners or ex-cons. Call them "homeless children of Amma," "children of Amma who are currently incarcerated," "children of Amma who have served time." This is something that Themba Kelly {news}—a child of Amma who has himself been both homeless and imprisoned—stresses each time he talks about the work to which he is dedicating his life, a work inspired by Amma. {news}

Themba continues to bring busloads of homeless people and inner city young people for Amma's darshan. On June 9th, he brought 15 homeless people from Santa Cruz and a number of inner-city youth from a Latino activist group called the Brown Berets to have Amma's darshan in San Ramon.

"Last November, I went for darshan and asked Amma to bless my life so that I can be more influential in helping more people come to have her darshan. Amma at that time told me, 'Your innocent desire will happen in time.' So that is what we are calling this project: 'Your Innocent Desire' says Themba.

Many of the homeless people Themba brought on June 9th broke into tears upon coming before Amma. Some handed her letters. Others gave her small plastic bracelets and necklaces to bless. One asked Amma to please bless her two dead, and one living, husbands. One couple had Amma bless their three-month old baby. Many of them gave Amma small offerings as well.

"I am from Mexico," said one of the homeless men after his darshan. "I have never seen anything like this. I felt like I wanted to cry when she was hugging me—not outside, but inside, in my heart." Another said, "It was an awesome experience. I feel really blessed and serene. I feel like I am high on life. I feel peaceful. Everything is just feeling really good." "It's just a hug," said another. "But I never got energy like that from a hug."

After seeing to it that all of Amma's homeless children were served a free hot meal in the dining hall, Themba drove them all back to Santa Cruz. Some of them came back later in the week to see Amma again, and Themba brought another vanload a few days later.

"For me, Amma is everything. The reason I began to do this was because I believe that everyone deserves to see Amma's face, that everyone deserves to experience her darshan. And my prayer is that we will become more inspired to reach out to those who aren't as fortunate as we are. And that we could help to bring Amma's love to the homeless people right here in America, the people that feel forgotten and lonely and lost, the people who have no hope. That's my prayer. I hope that this is not just something that people see and, like, cry or whatever and then that's it, but that people actually begin to start saying, 'Okay, let's start making a difference where Amma's children in this particular situation are concerned.'"

A Hope for the Hopeless.

—Kali Charan